D.C. Akers's Blog, page 9

HAVEN BREAKS TOP 5 ON AMAZON BEST SELLERS!

Just two behind A Games of Thrones. What an honor!

NEW RECORDS!! Haven Breaks TOP 20 in Amazon Best Sellers List!

The Haven series has just hit a NEW RECORD breaking the TOP 20 in the Amazon Best Sellers List for Anthologies & Short Stories and breaking the Amazon Best Sellers TOP 100 in Magic & Wizards!

Haven Series (Books 1 & 2) – NEW COVER

This is the concept art work for the Haven Series book set coming soon. Get started today with book 1, Haven: A Stranger Magic at Amazon.com for only .99!

 

Haven: A Stranger Magic

Sam Dalcome thinks he is so completely average that no one ever notices him. Until he discovers a mysterious stranger outside his home. Bewildered, he tries to uncover the stranger’s intentions. But Sam is sidetracked when he and his friend Travis discover a secret passageway deep in the town’s quarry that leads to a hidden cavern. What they uncover next will not only change their lives forever, but will uncover the first clue to a deadly Dalcome family secret. Sam finds himself drawn into a world of mystery and magic he never knew existed, which brings him closer to a destiny he never knew was possible.

HAVEN SERIES: Known as a place of refuge, Haven is a sanctuary for those with supernatural abilities. Decades of peace between the Witches, Vampires, Goblins, Elves, and Orcs is coming to an end. Now the once tranquil world is shrouded in deception and corruption. Dark secrets tear at the very fabric of their alliance giving way to an evil that stirs in the shadows. Exhilarating and utterly gripping!

 

Haven Shorts – Chapter 2 – Episode 4 – A Stranger Magic

Chapter 2 – Episode 4

The morning came in a blink of an eye. Sam was barely awake when he smelled it—it was awful. There was no other word for it. The smell was so pungent it not only woke him up from his deep sleep—it was starting to make his stomach turn too.

He jerked abruptly and his eyes opened, but instead of seeing his room as he expected, he saw nothing. There was something covering his eyes. It was white—well, kind of white, and made of a soft material. Sam reached up and grabbed the fabric from his face. He squinted as the sunlight rushed into his room like a blinding spotlight.

He hated mornings.

The room slowly came into focus as he tried to figure out what the material in his hand was. To his surprise it was a sock, but it wasn’t just any sock. It was one of his filthy, extremely smelly gym socks.

Laughter erupted from just beyond the doorway of his bedroom. Sam looked up to see Sarah. She was standing in the hallway, half-dressed for school, with a black top on and blue pajama bottoms with hearts on them. Sarah was laughing and snapping what looked to be salad tongs in her right hand. Apparently, she had not wanted to touch the sock.

snap snap snap

Sam also noticed that she was pointing her cell phone in his direction with her left hand.

click click

Was she taking his freaking picture?

“You are such a dork!” she said, laughing. “That was absolutely brilliant! You should have seen your face when you finally got a whiff of that stench! This is sooo going on Facebook!”

Sarah’s face was red from laughter, and her voice was giddy with delight. Her long brown hair was wrapped in a loose bun that was starting to come unraveled, and her blue eyes were watering like she had been crying.

Sarah threw the salad tongs on his bed where they bounced off and landed on the floor next to a pile of clothes. Still laughing, she reached up and wiped a small tear that seeped from her eye.

“You know, freak show, I don’t think I have ever laughed that hard in my life!”

Sam blinked one eye and then another. Is this really happening? Did my sister just take a picture of me with a nasty gym sock on my face?

After a minute or so, Sarah finally pulled herself together. “Time to eat, moron, and Mom said to clean your room before you go to school.” She turned and walked down the hallway talking to herself and shaking her head.

“Man, I’m good. That was awesome!” he heard her say.

She reached the end of the hallway and stopped. She turned around slowly and looked straight back into her brother’s eyes.

Sam, who had not moved anything but his eyelids at this point, sat motionless watching the corners of Sarah’s mouth curl up ever so slightly.

Ooh no! his brain warned him. THE GRIN!

It was like watching a train wreck in slow motion.

The “grin”, if that’s what you wanted to call it, was like that of a sly wolf, the cat that ate the canary, or the Grinch who stole Christmas. It was the kind of grin that would have consequences. It was mischievous in every sense of the word, and whatever happened next would not be good for Sam, that much he knew. He was already visualizing the duct tape over her mouth.

“Hey, Mom,” she called out. The grin was gone, replaced with a gleaming white smile. “Sam said he’s NOT getting up OR cleaning his room!”

As if on cue, a voice from downstairs shouted out like a drill sergeant, “Samuel Rylan Dalcome, you get yourself out of that bed right now and clean your room or you will be grounded! You’re going to be late for school again!”

Sam cringed when he heard his mother’s voice. She was not happy. His eyes narrowed as they fixed on his sister.

Sarah quickly turned and began to walk down the stairs, when suddenly she stopped, turned, and walked back up. Still smiling, she looked at her younger brother and proceeded to take a bow.

When she stood, she pointed at Sam and winked. “Thank you, I’m here all week,” she said.

Sam could feel his blood begin to boil.

Any similarity between his sister and a human being had to be purely coincidental. It just had to be!

Sarah turned and casually strolled down the stairs as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

Sam sat up, threw the sock into the hallway, and looked around his room in frustration.

The room was a disaster; it looked like his closet had thrown up on his floor. There were piles of clothes in just about every corner of the room. But, to Sam’s satisfaction, the piles were all color-coordinated in lights and darks. Just in case the world ended and he was forced to do his own laundry, he was good to go.

His wooden dresser and matching desk were a complete mess. The dresser was covered with sport bottles, coffee mugs, skateboard parts, and broken PlayStation controllers, while the desk was cluttered with school books, magazines and more clothes. He was sure there was a computer under there somewhere, but he hadn’t seen it in months.

The Sony PlayStation, which sat atop a small entertainment center with a twenty-inch TV, seemed to have the least amount of clothes thrown on it.

The only thing remotely straight, or that had any kind of order whatsoever in Sam’s room, were the dragon posters on his walls. They were almost like wallpaper. Each poster was roughly the same size; every corner matched and lined up perfectly. His room looked like one large cave of dragons. A messy cave, but a cave nonetheless.

Sam loved dragons. Sarah made fun of him because she thought it was childish, but he didn’t care. It was something he had loved since he was a small child. He had pictures of dragons in all shapes, sizes, and colors. His father had been interested in dragons as a kid too; at least that’s what his mother told him, since he had never really met his father.

Sam’s father died a few months after Sam was born. His mother didn’t like to talk about it much; it made her sad. But when she did she would always say the same thing.

“Your father was the most caring man I have ever met; he was my better half, and my soul mate. The day your father died was the day I lost a part of myself, a part that I will never get back.”

Sam didn’t really know what all that meant, but it sure made her miserable when she did talk about him. His mother would always have her husband’s love, and Sam, well Sam shared his father’s fascination with dragons. It was strange, he thought, to miss someone he never even knew. But he did, and that was something he would have to learn to live with.

Sam reluctantly spun around in his bed and placed his feet on the cold, wooden floor. He needed to get moving or he would be staring at the inside of his room for the next week. Ten minutes had already passed since his mother warned him to get up. There was no way he had time to clean his room now. Sam looked around for the shorts he had on last night, but they were nowhere in sight. He must have taken them off in the middle of the night, because all he had on now were his boxers. He would need to find them; those shorts contained the only evidence of the vanishing stranger. He still could not believe what had happened. The man had actually disappeared right in front of his eyes! Sam made a mental note to keep his mouth shut and say nothing to anyone about the disappearing stranger. Not even to Travis. A person thinking you were crazy was one thing; talking as if you were crazy was something totally different.

Haven Shorts – Chapter 1 – Episode 3 – A Stranger Magic

Chapter 1 – Episode 3

He quickly reached for his shirt and shorts that hung on his desk chair and put them on. Moving as fast and as quietly as he could, he scrambled down the stairs. Each step he took on the rickety staircase was like a house alarm going off. It was a good thing his mother was a heavy sleeper. He just hoped Sarah would not wake up again. But knowing Sarah, she was not getting out of bed unless someone was screaming her name. Even if there were a burglar or something she would probably stay in bed. In fact, she probably thought if she was really quiet they would just take Sam, and she could be an only child again.

It seemed like an eternity had passed by the time Sam reached the bottom floor and made his way over to the small living room window.

The room was dark except for the dim light above the stove that shone in from the kitchen. Sam’s mother always left it on at night. It made a great night-light when Sam needed to raid the refrigerator. The living room was small, just like every other room in Sam’s house. The brown worn-out couch sat in the center of the room, and was used as a divider between the living room and the kitchen. Pictures of Sam and Sarah, and a few candle sconces sat neatly arranged on the mantle. Everything was quiet until the grandfather clock to Sam’s right chimed three o’clock. Sam jerked forward, almost falling over.

“Jeeze,” he muttered, disappointed at his spying skills.

He moved back into position and looked between the curtain and wall hoping the stranger was still there.

Sure enough, the stranger was still standing next to the large maple tree in Mrs. Cambridge’s yard, looking up at Sam’s window.

He was a tall man, well over six feet if Sam had to guess, and lean. He wore a long, black coat that hung close to his ankles. Sam could not see his face; it was too dark for that, but he could see the large stick the man gripped in his right hand. It looked like a large root of a tree, naturally twisted and tan in color. There was a stained glass sphere that sat perched on top of it.

The man stood there for some time, periodically moving his hand to his mouth as if to scratch his chin, or maybe to eat something. But it was so dark that Sam wasn’t sure what the man was doing. For all he knew he could he be talking on his cell phone, but why?

Who in their right mind would be out at three o’clock in the morning on their cell phone wearing a coat in ninety-degree weather holding a stick? Circus people maybe, but no one like that lived on Giddyup Lane.

Sam watched closely, trying to make out some of the finer details of the stranger, but it was impossible. It was just too dark. Muscles twitched in the back of Sam’s neck. His eyes were straining so hard to see that his head began to ache. He needed to get closer. He needed to go outside.

With that thought, Sam pressed himself back against the wall and darted across the living room and the kitchen to the back door. Slowly, using his stealthiest moves, he unlocked the deadbolt and turned the door knob.

The door let out a loud prolonged squeak, one that Sam had never noticed in the daytime. It was no wonder his mother never got a house alarm. Who needed one when the house was falling apart?

Sam inched the door back halfway and stepped outside. The moonlight was bright on the back of the house and the night air was humid. He shut the door and gradually inched his way past the flower beds to the side of the house. It was much darker and somewhat cooler there, but that did not stop the small beads of sweat from forming on Sam’s forehead.

Looking down, he noticed the outside faucet was still leaking and the cracks in the foundation were getting worse. The entire house was falling apart all around them. He was probably safer sleeping outside of the house than he was inside.

Cautiously Sam pressed on, hoping all the hours he had logged playing Ninja Warrior 5 would pay off. He was scared, but excited. His blatant curiosity drove his every step toward the front of the house.

The gravel beneath his feet hurt as the jagged rocks dug into his bare skin. Sweat streamed down the sides of his face as he reached the two garbage cans near the front of the house and crouched down behind them.

Finally he could see the outline of the stranger perfectly. Sam was right—he was holding a long staff with a round glass pommel. He wore black pants and tall black boots that came up to his knees. His face was still in shadow but Sam could see the bottom of his rigid jaw line. He leaned forward staring at the stranger, thinking how eerie the night had become. There was no breeze, no chirping crickets; there was nothing but the sound of Sam’s breathing.

Something hairy brushed up against Sam’s leg. He jumped up and staggered forward into the garbage cans, knocking them over. The tin lids slid to the ground with a loud crash. Barron, the neighborhood’s stray cat, hissed and darted across the lawn.

Sam panicked and tried to grab the lids as they banged and clattered around his feet. So much for the ninja moves, he thought. He looked over at the stranger, who was startled as well. The man was crouched down next to Mrs. Cambridge’s maple tree with his staff across his chest in a defensive position. Then in one fluent movement he stood, lifted his staff and tapped it once on the ground. A flash of emerald light burst from the glass ball and engulfed the man, leaving only a green haze in his wake.

Sam stood there, mesmerized as the last of the two lids came to a stop at his feet. He could not believe his eyes. Did that just happen, or was he really going nuts? There was no way anyone with half a brain was going to believe this. He wasn’t even sure he did.

Sam was more than just scared; he was also fascinated, and a little dumb-founded at what had just happened. But who wouldn’t be? he thought. It’s not every day someone is staring up at your window and then disappears into thin air!

While Sam was trying to process all this the toppled trash cans had rolled down his driveway, churning out trash as they went. This forced Sam back to the reality of the situation at hand. With a half-hearted run, he quickly recovered the cans at the end of the driveway.

He looked over to the tree in Mrs. Cambridge’s yard where the stranger had stood just minutes ago. He still could not believe it had happened. How in the world did he do that and where did he go?

Sam noticed several small pieces of white paper scattered near the base of the tree. Quickly he scanned the rest of the yard.

The lady may have been a witch, but she was a witch with a green thumb. She had an extensive collection of shrubs and conifers that bordered the perimeter of the house. Daffodils and apricot tulips lined the curved stone pathway that led from the sidewalk to the front porch. Her grass was so green it looked like a golf course. The white pieces of paper were the only things out of place.

Sam set the cans upright before they rolled into the street, and swiftly crept across the street to Mrs. Cambridge’s yard to take a better look. The street was still warm from the hundred-degree day and the tiny rocks continued to poke away at the bottom of his already tender feet.

He reached the cool, plush grass and made his way to the tree. He scanned the surrounding houses just to make sure no one had come out during the great trash can debacle.

Sam looked down at the small white papers, which were thrown carelessly on the ground. He picked one up and carefully scrutinized it. It was a candy wrapper.

The wrapper itself was made of cloth paper, not regular wax paper like you see today. The name “Becker’s Famous Chocolates” was written in bold red letters across the wrapper. The letter style looked old-fashioned to Sam, like something you see in a black-and-white movie, large and overstated.

Sam thought it odd because the name Becker’s Famous Chocolates did not sound familiar to him, and he was well-versed in the ways of the chocolate. Whatever it was, he was sure it was not as good as the Goldkenn Chocolate Bar his best friend Travis Martin had brought back for him after his family went on vacation in Switzerland. The Black Praline Goldkenn was sweet, but not too sweet, and its creaminess was offset by thin layers of almonds and hazelnuts. It was chocolate perfection. When it came to chocolate no one could out-do the Swiss, as far as Sam was concerned, and Travis was probably the only person on earth who knew chocolate better than Sam.

Sam surveyed the area one last time, then gathered at least five wrappers from the ground and headed back toward the garbage cans.

He grudgingly gathered the trash that had fallen out of the cans earlier and replaced the lids. He placed the garbage cans back where they belonged and headed back into the house and up to his room.

Finally, he reached his bedroom door. There was no sign of his mom, and more importantly there was no sign of Sarah either. Sam quietly opened the door and crawled into bed. The rickety ceiling fan was still turning overhead, sending out a cool, gentle breeze. The crooked street lamp outside had somehow resurrected itself, casting flickering shadows on his bedroom wall, but Sam was too tired to care.

His mind continued to work through every detail of the night, from the monster in his dream to the disappearing stranger.

He was tired. The adrenaline he felt when he first saw the stranger was gone, replaced by exhaustion. His mind was drifting with fading thoughts of the stranger, his disappearance, and Becker’s Famous Chocolates.

Need Help Selecting The Right Category For Your Book?

Do you want better book sales? Getting your book into the right categories is key. Here are some helpful hints straight from KDP themselves!

Selecting Browse Categories

Selecting a browse category for your book is a lot like deciding where your book should be shelved in a library.

When customers browse through the Amazon Kindle Store for books that might interest them, they are presented with genres and subgenres. By selecting browse categories, you decide which genres feature your book. KDP uses BISAC Subject Codes, an industry standard system, to help determine where your book should show up for browsing and searching customers. You can read more about the BISAC Subject Code system and see the most current list of codes here:

http://www.bisg.org/activities-programs/activity.php?cid=20&id=73&n=d

When creating a new title in KDP, you may choose up to 2 categories for your book. To help determine which categories best fit your book, you may consider searching for other titles in the Amazon catalog that are similar to yours. You can then find the browse categories that are assigned to those titles by scrolling down the book’s detail page to the “Look for Similar Items by Category” section located at the bottom of the page. The categories you select for your book will be used to filter it into the most relevant customer searches and browse sections on Amazon.

Choosing the Best Browse Categories

There are three main criteria that will help you choose the best browse categories.

• Picking the most accurate categories. Make sure the categories you’ve picked correctly describe the subject matter of your book.

• Selecting the most specific categories. It’s better to choose more specific categories instead of more general categories. Customers looking for very specific topics will more easily find your book, and your book will be displayed in more general categories as well (for example, a book in the “FICTION > Fantasy > Historical” category will also show up in searches for general fiction and general fantasy books). You should only select a “General” category if your book is actually a general book about a broad topic.

• Ensuring the categories you choose are not redundant. Since your book will be displayed in a variety of searches by choosing even a single category, you shouldn’t place it in both a category and any of that category’s sub-categories (for example, selecting both “FICTION > Fantasy > Historical” and “FICTION > Fantasy”). Even selecting just one specific, accurate category is preferable to selecting an inaccurate category just to have a second category listed.

Categories With Keyword Requirements

In order to list your title in certain sub-categories, you’ll need to add Search Keywords in addition to the categories you choose for your title. Click a category in the list below to see the keyword requirements.

Romance

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Children’s

Teen & Young Adult

Mystery, Thriller, & Suspense

Series Categories

We’re regularly adding to the list of Series categories, but we aren’t able to accept requests for new Series categories at this time. Please check back later to see if the Series you’re looking for has been added to the list.

News From The Romance Writer’s America Conference

Joanna Penn, author, internet entrepreneur and international speaker is simply fantastic when it comes to sharing marketing information for the Indie writer. I’m a huge fan so I wanted to share a little something she shared with me.

“Also encouraging is this report out of the Romance Writer’s America

conference, where it seems self-publishing is now the dominant force

and agents/publishers are now pitching authors

=> http://bit.ly/142NTI0

How times have changed … and I’m hoping the enthusiasm will make it

to England before 2015!”

Very interesting information here and encouraging for Indie writers as a whole!

You can find more on Joanna Penn at: http://www.thecreativepenn.com/

Moving Up On The Amazon Best Sellers List!

We moved from #98 to #86 on the Amazon Best Sellers List in our category! Thank you so much HAVEN fans for sharing the links, pages and stories! Big thanks to our Facebook, Twitter and Blogger fans! You are AWESOME! Check out the reviews: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CR4IR7A

PAID: Amazon Best Sellers List

We are pretty excited today here at the Haven Camp. We just made it into the PAID Amazon Best Sellers list for our category.

Haven Hits Amazon’s Best Sellers List!

Well, we did it! We achieved our short term goal of hitting Amazon’s Best Sellers Top 100 in our category! A big thank you to all the fans, and my team of very talented individuals for helping to make this happen! You are the BEST!

D.C. Akers