R.R. Campbell's Blog, page 12

EMPATHY on Tour – Thank You, Beloit!

This weekend kicked off the 2019 spring tour for the EMPATHY series! I had a wonderful time hanging out at Turtle Creek Books in Beloit, Wisconsin, where I signed copies of Imminent Dawn and Mourning Dove while answering questions for folks who swung by during the city’s first farmers’ market of the year.

The Turtle Creek event was also the first to be held after the release of Mourning Dove, and the excitement for book two in this series was really extraordinary.

So thank you, Beloit. I look forward to continuing the EMPATHY tour in Eau Claire on May 11th at Dotters Books.

Until then, here are some photos from my visit to Beloit!

Still need to get your copies of Imminent Dawn and Mourning Dove? You can find them at the links below.

Imminent Dawn

Mourning Dove

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Published on May 06, 2019 07:30

Congratulations! Giveaway Winners Announced

Congratulations to the winners of the Imminent Dawn ebook giveaway! The full list of winners can be found below.

Laura
Lisa
David-Jack
Jodi
Amara
Amber

The above-named readers have already received emails of congratulations, and their Imminent Dawn ebooks will be disbursed soon.

If you weren’t a winner, that’s okay! You can still get copies of both Imminent Dawn and Mourning Dove at the links below.

Imminent Dawn

Mourning Dove

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Published on May 03, 2019 09:00

EMPATHY featured on Matt Doyle Media

Matt Doyle Media recently interviewed me about the EMPATHY science fiction saga in the lead up to the release of Mourning Dove, which debuted this week!

In this interview, I open up about how things progress for our favorite (and not so favorite) characters from book one, Imminent Dawn, into book two. I also comment on how the writing is coming for book three in the series, Event Horizon!

So give it a read at the link above, and don’t forget to snag your copies of the first two books in the series below.

Imminent Dawn

Mourning Dove

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Published on May 03, 2019 07:30

Author’s Angle: Mourning Dove and R.R. Campbell on G1NBC

G1NBC of Livingston County, Michigan recently featured me and the EMPATHY series in this interview on their site!

Over the course of our conversation, I dive into the challenges I faced while writing Mourning Dove, and what led me to writing in the first place.

You can learn all about Mourning Dove and book one in the EMPATHY sci-fi saga, Imminent Dawn, at the link above! And if you haven’t yet purchased your copies of the first two installments in the series, you can find them below.

Imminent Dawn

Mourning Dove

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Published on May 03, 2019 07:00

Author Interview on BethTurnage.com

Author Beth Turnage was kind enough to host an author interview as part of Mourning Dove‘s launch week. So what did I have to say about the the EMPATHY saga’s themes and misconceptions some have had about book one, Imminent Dawn?

You’ll have to read this interview to find out.

Still need to get a copy of either of the first two books in the series? You can find them below.

Imminent Dawn

Mourning Dove

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Published on May 02, 2019 07:30

Royalties Day is the Worst Day

Admit it. You’re here for the headline. How could anyone ever be upset about getting paid to write? About getting checks (PayPal deposits) by (e)mail to compensate them for their work, their time spent, their art?

I’ll answer those questions, don’t you worry, but first—an exercise.

Your book is published (yay!), and everyone on social media and IRL loves, loves, loves your book (double yay!).

And then it’s time. Royalties time (triple yay!).

The email with your royalty statement hits your inbox and you fly to open it, stoked beyond belief that this is it, the big moment.

You hover over the email. You prepare yourself to rejoice, to bask in this next stage of success.

Now pause. Don’t open the email, not yet.

What, exactly, are you expecting to find inside?

Uh, cash money, r.r. What kind of question is that?

Okay, but quantify it. Are you expecting ten dollars? A hundred? A thousand? What would any of those values even mean, really?

That final question is the one that makes royalties day the worst of days. The focus inevitably lands there, on the effect your book’s most recent sales will have on your bank account, on your ability to get some decent cat food for your kitties or pay off those lingering medical bills or save up for that trip to see your ailing grandmother on the far side of the country.

After seeing what kind of cash your statement has in store for you, it’s easy to cycle into “Well, how much does this come out to on an hourly basis (yikes!)?” and “If this is coming in consistently, I’ll only end up with how many dollars over the course of the year (double yikes!),” and “OMG WHAT AM I EVEN DOING WITH MY LIFE (triple yikes!).”

Yes, the angst can get real in a hurry, mostly because unless you’re a chart-topping wordsmith or someone whose bibliography is expansive enough to bring in cash that, when taken in sum, adds up to a living wage, you’re probably not able to retire just yet.

Nope, not even close.

In fact, most (read: nearly every) writer I know isn’t getting by on their book income alone (yours truly included, trust me), and royalties day can far too often become a reminder of how you’re not “in that class” or “worthy” or “good enough” or however else your runaway brain might choose to frame it.

But that’s a problem, isn’t it, because none of that is (hopefully) why you started writing in the first place.

Simply put, royalties day inevitably quantifies something that is better left unquantified: your art. It shifts one’s focus away from the joy, from all of the great words you wrote since the last statement came in, from all of the wonderful readers and writers you’ve met. Royalties day liquifies the beauty of it all before reconstituting it as a single number, one it’s all to easy to let our passion become governed by.

And it’s a truly miserable feeling if one succumbs to it (as I myself often do).

Though the focus above is on royalties payments that don’t make one’s every dream come true, imagine if you did get a check (or series of checks) that did that very thing.

Money! Yes! Yippee!

Yeah, until you’ve got that pressure bearing down on you when you take to the page.

Hello yes uh it was a dark and stormy night and then our protagonist and their love interest shared a big sloppy smooch and oh god this is trash I’m going to let down all of those people who bought my last book, aren’t I?

Royalties day really is the worst regardless of how things shake out.

Now look, there are folks who will read this and grumble about a lack of gratitude, about a disconnect between a writer (me) and pre-published folks in the writing community at large.

That’s a fair criticism; it really is a big deal to get paid for one’s passion, but rather than look at this is as an r.r. plays “woe is me,” what about a yeesh, we’re all in this together, aren’t we?

Because we are. Whether you’re yet to be published, waiting to earn out your advance, scraping by with marginal royalties disbursements, or sitting on a mountain of cash, every one of us is part of the community.

It’s important we support each other, and part of that support is preparing ourselves for this stage of our careers.

With that in mind, I’ll leave you with this.

We’re here because our stories delight us and, hopefully, others. We’re here because we believe in the power of storytelling, of empathy. We’re here because there’s magic in what we do, and it’s an honor to be a part of that.

So look forward to royalties day, sure, but never let it become a royal pain.

Like what you’ve read here? You can find more content like this on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and my newsletter. Or, hey, you can pad a fellow writer’s next royalties statement by nabbing copies of my books on this site, my publisher’s site, Amazon, or by requesting them at your local bookstore. And I’m on Goodreads over here. Come say hi?

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Published on May 02, 2019 06:29

This Saturday: r. r. campbell at Turtle Creek Books, Beloit

Don’t forget—I’ll be in Beloit this Saturday at Turtle Creek Books to talk all things sci-fi and read from Imminent Dawn and Mourning Dove, the first two installments in my EMPATHY sci-fi saga! You can learn more below.

Timed perfectly to coincide with Beloit’s first farmer’s market of the year, author r. r. campbell will be signing and reading books only a block away at Turtle Creek Bookstore on May 4th, 2019 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

r. r. will read from and have available his novels IMMINENT DAWN and MOURNING DOVE, the first two installments in his epic EMPATHY sci-fi saga.

New York Times bestselling author (and Beloit native!) Matt Forbeck has called IMMINENT DAWN an “incisive techno-thriller that gets more tense with every page,” and Ravenous for Reads has described it as a “Black-Mirror-esque sci-fi thriller.”

Though I encourage you to get your copies of the books while in attendance, if you’re going to be out of town or can’t make it to Beloit, you can find both books online below.

Imminent Dawn

Mourning Dove

(preorders)

NineStar Press (ebook) | Goodreads | Author Website (print)

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Published on May 01, 2019 12:00

EMPATHY Series featured on AlexHarrow.com

Alex Harrow, author of the Voyance series, recently interviewed me on their blog about all things EMPATHY. If you’re looking for insight into the craft behind creating a series of any kind—and, in particular, the EMPATHY sci-fi saga—this is an interview you won’t want to miss.

Give it a read here and be sure to check out Empire of Light, too, which is book one in Harrow’s Voyance series.

Need to get a copy of Imminent Dawn or Mourning Dove? You can find them at the links below.

Imminent Dawn

Mourning Dove

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Published on May 01, 2019 07:00

Author H.A. Lynn Hosts Mourning Dove

The release week buzz continues with this feature of Mourning Dove over on the blog of author H.A. Lynn. In this one, we get both an overview of the book and an excerpt from chapter twenty-one!

So what are you waiting for? Read the excerpt at the link above.

Still need to get your hands on either Imminent Dawn or Mourning Dove? Buy your copies at the links below.

Imminent Dawn

Mourning Dove

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Published on April 30, 2019 08:24

Thank You! Launch Day Livestream Success

I want to take a moment to thank everyone who was able to tune into either of yesterday’s livestreams on Facebook and Twitter. I had a great time sharing excerpts from Imminent Dawn and Mourning Dove with everyone, and viewers had some great questions during the Facebook livestream in particular.

If you weren’t able to watch live, I’ve got links to both sets of readings below! Note, however, that the readings for both events were the same. I do, however, take different questions or address different topics within the world of EMPATHY across the two videos.

Enjoy!

Facebook

Twitter

LIVE NOW: readings from #ImminentDawn and #MourningDove to celebrate the release of book two in the EMPATHY sci-fi saga!#ScienceFiction #SciFi #promoLGBTQ https://t.co/837ysvyqog

— r. r. campbell (@iamrrcampbell) April 29, 2019

If you haven’t yet snagged a copy of either Imminent Dawn or Mourning Dove, you can do so at the links below!

Imminent Dawn

Mourning Dove

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Published on April 30, 2019 07:30