E.S. Lell's Blog, page 8

Quick Update

Hey everyone!

Just a quick note to let you know that things are still in motion!

I made it to 1000 words on the Fifth Key of Kalijor last night, so the final chapter of the main story arc has begun writing!

The RPG license is still pending, but I am assured it will be happening, so I will be assigning art in teh next few days here. Still looking good for a late February release on this one (still aiming for GalaxyFest 2012).

The Fourth Key is coming back from test readers with good reviews and some great suggestions, so this is still on track for an April release to the public (still aiming for StarFest 2012).

Lastly, remember that The First Key of Kalijor is on sale across all eReaders this month. You can snap up a copy for just $0.99 on Kindle, Nook, or iBooks until January 1st rolls around. This is a great opportunity to check out the series if you've been on teh fence, or would like to gift it to someone for the holidays.

That's pretty much it for me, aside from saying Merry ChristmaHaunnaKwanzaDanivuS to each and every one of you, and thank you for your support!

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Paul

Digital December!

Hello everyone!

Just a quick update today.

Firstly, I have arranged for the First Key of Kalijor to enjoy a month-long sale across all of our supported families of ebook stores (that's iBooks, kindle, and nook, sorry about no Kobo support, but Borders seems to not enjoy dealing with authors directly so there is no Kalijor on any Borders device or in any of their ever-dwindling stores).

So, for the month of December, The First Key of Kalijor is only $0.99 in electronic format. Nows the time to check it out if you're still on the fence. $0.99 isn't even a cup of coffee at a local filling station! Most of us could probably find that kind of coin in our couch cushions! So, give it a shot, folks. I suspect you'll be glad you did.

Next, we will be at the First Friday gallery opening for Galaxy Gallery. This is the gallery for David Magoun of Full Spectrum Arts, the amazing man behind the cover art for the Kalijor novels, and very soon the Kalijor RPG as well).

Come on down and see us Friday, December 2nd from around 5PM until around midnight at Galaxy Gallery, 802 Santa Fe, studio 5, upstairs over the furniture store.

Next up, The Fourth Key of Kalijor is in the can! Yep, we finished it last night and copies are going out to test readers this week. Barring any major issues, we are still on target for an April release at StarFest 2012!

On a similar note, the 2012 event short story is being rewritten this week after an editing pass. I need to get a cover for it, but it should also be done in plenty of time for GalaxyFest in February.

Then there is the Kalijor RPG. I will be starting revisions on the main book this week or this weekend. We had loads of great feedback from our most recent games and I think this book is going to be amazing when it's done! We're still waiting for the license paperwork and David is chomping at the bit to get the art going. He swears he can have it all done in time for a February release at GalaxyFest, but I'm not promising anything at this point. We'll do our darnedest to make it though.

Okay, I think that's about it for now. I hope everyone's doing well and I look forward to chatting you all up the next time we meet!

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Paul

US Thanksgiving Day!

To all of our US fans/readers, happy Thanksgiving!

To everyone, thank you all for your continued support and energy. Revising the fourth key this weekend so it can get out to test readers in the next two weeks.

Don't forget to head on over to our store and enter coupon code BUYMYBOOK305 to save 25% (up to $50 total) on books for you, your family, and your friends for this holiday season!

It's the little things…

Hello everyone!

Just a few things to let you all know about today. I know it's been a while since I posted here, but I assure you that I have been busy in my absence!

I've made a couple little tweaks around the site, and with the help of my awesome friend, new links have been posted form the book pages to iBooks, so you can now link from book pages, directly to their pages in the iBooks store on your iOS device!

Lots of little tweaks continue to go on over at the Kalijor Wiki, mostly formatting changes right now before the next big push to add additional content, which could be coming as soon as mid-December.

In bigger news, the rough draft of the Fourth Key of Kalijor has been finished and is most of the way through preliminary editing! This is amazing news as it puts us still on course for an April release, although it is a bit tight. Still, I think we can make it happen!

I am also editing/rewriting the story for the 2012 convention/event book as well, so that will be ready come January.

On the RPG front, we've had some major revisions slated to go in, and that will happen just as son as the first revision of the new novel is finished. We're hoping to hear back on the license soon. I still hope to get the first book out by February, but it may have to wait for an April release as well. if that's the case, it just means StarFest in April will be that much more amazing!

Also coming next year, hard-covers for all the novels! You've asked, and we've heard you!

We are making tentative plans to attend GenCon 2012 in Indianapolis, but we won't know anything more concrete until after the RPG launches and we know how it's going to be accepted by fans. Here's hoping we get to go out and see those amazing folks once more!

Lastly, check out our Facebook page for a coupon code good at our Lulu store for up $50 in savings on books for you and your friends and family this holiday season!

User clean up…

Hello everyone.

This is not a terribly informative post, really.

I just wanted to let everyone know that we have been getting an inordinately large number of spam user registrations over the past couple of days.

I don't like it. Not one bit.

Although, I am not sure there is much, if anything, I can truly do about it. THey don't seem to be coming from any particular domain, IP, or other discernibly common point of origin, so I can't block them at the source. Thankfully, we have some measures in place to prevent most bot-posting, but it still sucks.

TO help make me feel better, I went ahead and deleted a large number of users from the site. I deleted any user accounts that I did not recognize the actual name on, and did not have any posts to their credit. I sincerely hope that I did not delete anyone who is a legitimate person, and if I did, I humbly apologize. Deleted users cannot be undeleted, but they can be recreated.

Jus know that things like… names… are actually important, even if you choose to not publicly display them, to account management. Please, use them.

In other news, the Fourth Key is getting further along. I am approaching a point that ~could~ be a nice stopping point in the story, and it will certainly be a long book already (compared to the others in the series), but I am waffling a bit on carrying on through the next few plot points in order to keep the final book of a similar size, instead of making it potentially huge, rather than just large…

I am certainly open to suggestions.

I am still awaiting the paperwork for the RPG licensing agreement, so I still can't say anything official about that, but once it lands, we are ready to hit the ground running and get the RPG to press inside of a couple of months (still aiming for GalaxyFest in February for this one). The first sourcebook is already 99% written, and the second one is about 75%, so we could get three RPG books to market next year pretty easily, once the deal is signed, and if sales support the sourcebooks after the main book is released.

Oh!

We will also be at First Friday for Galaxy Gallery this Friday, November 4th, from 6pm until around 11 or 12. It's located at 802 Santa Fe, upstairs in unit 5. I will be there selling and signing books, David Magoun, the amazing cover artist for Kalijor Press will be there chatting and signing books, and selling prints and original pieces of his incredible, original works.

Also on site will be my wife, with her superb black and white images of animals of all kinds. She works primarily in black ink on paper, but also does some scratch board and the occasional color piece, but her work is richly detailed and very reasonably priced, especially considering the fact that it's all matted and framed (ranging from $20 up to $500, for all original, one of a kind pieces).

THere will be other artists, and live music, and a portion of all sales will be donated to a great cause. Arts in education at a local school.

So, come out and see us, and if I deleted your user name, please remake it and include your name so I don't axe you again the next time I get upset at spam registrations!

Have an awesome day.

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Paul

Quick Sale on books!

Heyas all!

Just a note to let you all know that, until this Friday, the 28th, you can save up to 25% on any orders from Lulu.com. So, click (or tap) on over to the Kalijor Press store and get copies for you, your friends, and/or your family. The holidays are coming up and even 20% off is more than the cost of shipping, so strike now, while the plasma cannons are still all nice and toasty from that broadside we just put on last weekend!

Here's a link to our store!

Enter coupon code BURIED305 at checkout and receive 20% off your order. The maximum savings for this offer is $200.

-or-

Enter coupon code MUMMIFIED305 at checkout and receive 25% off your order of $400 or more.

Good reading folks!

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Paul

Mile Hi Con 'Post-Mortem'

Heyas everyone!

Well, Mile Hi Con was a blast! I met a ton of new and interesting people, learned a few new things (signing eBooks anyone?), and came away with an idea for an incredible new spin-off novel for the Kalijor world!

I sold a few books, and I think I'll sell quite a few eBooks in the next few days. And for al of that, I want to thank ~you~! That's right, you! Thank you! Without you, none of this would be necessary, or even possible. So again, thank you all for your energy and enthusiasm.

All of that said, I want to assure you all that work still continues unabated. The Fourth Key is already in editing, even though I am still working on the final chapters still. I believe we are still on track for an April release, but it's going to be tight, so bear with me if updates slow down a bit to focus on meeting that goal.

In the meantime, the RPG deal remains on track for a February release, and the Graphic Novel is still in the pipe and ready to go once we can fund the art (which means the RPG has to do well for the graphic novel to come to pass).

Thus far, next year's con schedule looks thusly:

GalaxyFest in February

StarFest in April

Denver Comic Con in June

Mile Hi Con in October

Our plan is to have the RPG and the new con/event book in print for GalaxyFest, The Fourth Key in print by StarFest, and, with luck, the first RPG sourcebook by Mile Hi Con. Of course, if things go well, we could advance this schedule and add more products, such as a second sourcebook, a graphic novel, to even another regular novel. All depending upon how much you all can help us support the schedule.

How can you help? I'm very glad you asked. It's simple really. All you have to do is tell ten people how awesome the Kalijor world is, and get at least one of them to pick up a copy in the format of their support!

So, let's make it happen folks. Let's get Kalijor in every household in the world. Make it an everyday name that nobody can ignore! It all starts with you, and ten of your friends or family.

Go ahead. I'll wait right here for you.

I'll be writing whilst you're away.

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Paul

Mile Hi Con – Tomorrow!!

Well folks. Mile Hi Con begins tomorrow (Friday the 21st) at around 2pm!

It's at the following location:

Hyatt Regency – Tech Center

7800 E. Tufts Ave

Denver CO

Mile Hi Con is in its 43rd year and is an incredible Science Fiction and Fantasy literature convention. There is a huge list of amazing authors that will be there this year, not to mention the fun games, anime screenings, robot death matches (critter crunch), costume contest, and much, much more.

Also, Mile Hi Con is home to one of the best art shows/sales at like conventions in the state of Colorado. It really is worth checking out if only for that.

There isn't an author's table that can be rented, but there is a local authors table that can be used to sell and sign books. This is where we'll be, as much as we can be without getting in the way of other authors who want to use the space. Last year we shared the table with several awesome authors, and were able to use the table all weekend, but that may not still be the case. We'll see!

Even if we can't sit the table all weekend, we'll still be around, and books will be available for purchase and signing. We have a lot of great stuff this year, including copies of all three of the Kalijor novels, Jumah's World, and this year's 'event' book, a short story called 'The Trouble with Goblins' and will only be available at events this year (2011). Next year we're doing a whole new event book, so if you want a copy, this will be your last chance to get one as we have no more conventions or events planned for 2011!

We have loads of great news this year too. Things like Fiction Feed, the Kalijor RPG (pen and paper game), graphic novel(s), and much more, are all on the docket for the very near future. We'd love to chat with you about any and all of the above, and don't forget that the holidays are approaching, and books make excellent gifts that keep on giving year after year. (And remember, I sell most of my books below retail at conventions!)

So, we'll be there in all our splendor, with Riana wandering about to chat with folks and pose for pictures (Saturday will probably be the best day to meet her if that's why you're stopping by).

Mile Hi Con is next week!

Holy crow!

Where does the time go? Last I looked, it was mid summer and 2011 was still fairly young. Now, all of a sudden, it's going on November, and the last con of the year (for us), is only a week away!

Well, at least I can say it's been a good year, and it isn't over yet either. Still plenty to do yet! I am working away at the Fourth Key, and I've given the first half, or thereabouts, to my editor, so we can get the book out to test readers as quickly as possible. I'm still aiming to have physical copies for StarFest 2012 at this point.

The RPG deal is still in the works, and play-testing is about to resume on sourcebooks so that, once the main RPG book is in print, we can quickly follow it up with several supplements. Once the RPG goes live, I am hoping to get two sourcebooks out per year, for as long as we can keep making them. All around the regular novel writing and publishing, of course.

Okay. All of that being said, I need to get back to writing the Fourth Key, so I can get the Fifth book done for y'all and resume working on some of these other writing projects.

So, please come out to Mile Hi Con and say hello. We'll have plenty of books, including the last few copies of this year's event only short story, The Trouble with Goblins. The only way to get one of those is at a live event in the year of 2011 (2012′s event book is already written and just needs editing and cover art).

Here's a link to the con info site.

Riana will be there in the flesh, for those who'd like to meet her (probably Saturday and part of Sunday). She loves to chat with fans and sign pictures and books.

We hope to see you there!

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Paul

Event Recap!

So, the event on Friday went splendidly!

Taeva came down in one of her Riana costumes and mingled up and down the street a bit, spreading the word an handing out cards and bookmarks.

We had a load of people come by the table and check things out. We chatted a bunch, met lots of new folks, and had a generally awesome time of it. I'm looking forward to the next round. Hopefully we can get even more people up to see us now that there have been some eyes on the new gallery and the word can spread.

We were told that the previous tenant was a bit odd and his work was kind of strange, so the space may have a sort of bad stigma attached to it that we need to wash off and rebuild, but I am quite confident that we can do just that!

Next public event will be Mile Hi Con toward the end of this month. Stay tuned for details!

As for me, I am currently working on the Fourth Key manuscript. I printed the first half (or so) of the book and got it to my editor so she can start going over it as I finish up the manuscript. I"m still hoping to get it into revision and out to test readers next month.

Okay, back to work with me!

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Paul