Roh Morgon's Blog, page 3

~ Seeker Excerpt and a Big Sale!

Those of you who subscribe to my newsletter found a surprise in the November issue in the form of the first excerpt from Seeker: Book III of The Chosen. It was brief, as I don’t want to release any spoilers, especially for folks who haven’t read Runner: Book II of The Chosen. But I wanted to give readers who’ve been asking about the progress on Seeker a little something just so they know I’m really working on it!

Monster (the Watcher prequel) is nearly done. I hope to have that available soon.

Excerpts from both works are exclusive to my newsletter, The Chosen Updates. You can sign up for the Updates here.

The other news I have to share is that today is the last day of a sale I’ve been running all week in honor of Veteran’s Day (and my daughter’s birthday, who is also a veteran ). All four books in the series—Watcher: Book I of The Chosen, Runner: Book II of The Chosen, and the related novellas The Last Trace and The Games Monsters Play—are available in Kindle format on Amazon for 99 cents. So if you like to give ebooks for presents (or buy them for yourself!) this is a great opportunity to purchase the set for less than $4.00!

That’s it for now – hope you have a great Thanksgiving holiday!

Til next time,

~RM~

 

 

 

~ October Giveaways!

Been a busy (and chaotic) month here in Roh-land.

The Great Valley Bookfest was awesome this year! I participated in a fun author panel (The Many Faces of Romance), sold lots of books, and met long-time fans as well as new ones. I enjoy myself each time I do this event, and look forward to doing it again next year.

I was also able to costume in celebration of Halloween, which helped to end the month on a positive note. My daughter and I attended a Beats Antique concert as a werewolf and a vampire. For my day job, I went as a phlebotomist — wore scrubs and fangs, and carried a pocketful of syringes and an empty fake blood bag. For some reason, no one took me up on my mock requests to fill the bag!

The month also ended with my participation in several giveaways:

1) AXP’s Horror & Thrills Giveaway – thru November 5

In this giveaway, entrants can select their preferred subgenres (vampire, werewolf, shapeshifter, ghosts, etc).

https://authorsxp.com/win-ebooks

2) Booksweeps’ Urban Fantasy Sweepstakes – thru November 7

This giveaway allows entrants to select by author

https://booksweeps.com/book-give away/urban-fantasy-october-2018/

Check them out, and enter for a chance to win free books!

~RM~

 

~ Great Valley Bookfest

Saturday, October 13, is the Great Valley Bookfest in Manteca, California.

This annual event hosts over 100 authors of all genres selling and signing books. In addition, this year they’re offering a series of writer workshops, a children’s pavilion, and author panels, all kicked off by a costume parade in the morning.

I’m moderating an author panel called “The Many Faces of Romance” at 3:00pm. Fellow authors Debra Salonen and Raquel Solomon will be joining me for a discussion on the various subgenres of romance and why we write in this popular genre.

I’ll have a table in author alley and will be there all day (except during the panel). So stop by if you’re in the area and say “Hi!”

~ Awards, Reads, & Fall Update

Been a busy summer here in Roh-land.

Several visits by family meant some much-needed time away from work (both the day job and the writing job) doing some pretty fun stuff:

Sequoia National Park to see the Big Trees (as in 33 FEET in diameter!)
Horseback riding
Train trip to get ice cream (world-renowned ice cream!)
Native American festival
Star party by the local astronomers club (Mars and Jupiter were stunning through the high-powered telescopes)
Large cat sanctuary (lions and tigers and leopards, but no bears)
And an escape room (which was really cool!)

And somewhere in there, we fit in a Harry Potter marathon (the kids had not seen any of these movies).

All that kept us running each day from dawn until midnight. And it was a blast!

Everyone needs to take a little time out to spend with family and enjoy life. That’s what it’s supposed to be about, right?

But it’s nice to get back to the writing world, and I’ve got a few updates for you.

Appearances

Mark your calendars! The Great Valley Bookfest in Manteca, CA is being held on October 13, and I’m excited to be one of their featured authors! I’m also moderating a panel, “The Many Faces of Romance” that includes fellow Yosemite Romance Writers Debra Salonen and Sandra Masters. The event is free, so be sure to come by and say “Hi!”

Award News

In a previous post, I mentioned that I’d entered Saving Magic, an unpublished YA historical fantasy, in a writing contest. The contest was sponsored by the Futuristic, Fantasy, and Paranormal chapter of the Romance Writers of America.

Saving Magic ended up winning second place in the Young Adult category, and won FIRST PLACE in the New Adult category!  In addition, Andrea Somberg of the Harvey Klinger Literary Agency requested the full manuscript.

Needless to say, I’m pretty jazzed. Magic was originally written as a short story (it’s now a novel) for a writers group anthology which, unfortunately, never got off the ground. I’m looking forward to hearing what Ms. Somberg has to say about it. 

Recommended Reads – The Jane Yellowrock Series by Faith Hunter

I just finished reading the 12-volume series about Cherokee skinwalker Jane Yellowrock, and what a wild ride!

The series starts with Skinwalker (2009) and ends (for now) with Dark Queen (2018). Through it all, rogue vampire killer Jane kicks butt, nearly dies a few times, falls in love, and helps save the world. Set in New Orleans for most of the series, author Faith Hunter brings the story to life with vivid setting descriptions and nearly non-stop action. For urban fantasy fans, this series is a must-read.

 

Newsletter
The September edition (my third newsletter) of The Chosen Updates went out last weekend. If you missed it, and would like me to send it (or any earlier editions), please contact me. Although some of the content is posted here on my blog, there are a few features that only subscribers receive – namely, special sale notifications and excerpts from my works-in-progress. Below is a list of the typical features, though some do not appear every edition:

In the News – features news about vampire and urban fantasy pop cultures, such as upcoming books, movies, TV shows, etc.
Recommended Reads – generally features a work from urban fantasy or vampire literature along with what I’m currently reading


Vampire Collectibles – photos from my extensive (and rather silly) collection of vampire knick-knacks


Music for the Muse – spotlight on the inspirational music used by many authors (including me) in their writing
Behind the Scenes – background information on my stories (like strange happenings I call “Watcher Weirdness”)


Author Corner – news about me and my stories, such as awards, events and appearances, what I’m working on, etc.
The Chosen Update – exclusive excerpts from a work in progress in The Chosen series; the last two newsletters included excerpts from Monster, the prequel to Watcher
Sales – Announcements about periodic sales; Watcher AND Runner were both on sale over the Labor Day weekend

If you’d like to receive the newsletter and keep up with current developments in my writing world (like getting exclusive excerpts!), please subscribe to The Chosen Updates. They go out almost every month (sometimes I miss a month), but no more often than that. I hope that urban fantasy (and particularly vampire) fans find it a bit entertaining, a bit informative, and a bit different from some of the other author newsletters out there.

That’s it for now!

~RM~

~ Romania remembrances

Two years ago, my hubby and I embarked upon the trip of a lifetime: a 12-day guided tour of Romania, led by Dacre Stoker and Romanian Treasures Travel. It was amazing. We traveled through Wallachia and Transylvania (the very words send delicious chills up my spine), hiked the Carpathians (another thrill), and immersed ourselves in all things Vlad Tepes, Dracula, and the beautiful country and people of Romania.

That trip was research for the upcoming Seeker: Book III of The Chosen.

Here’s the itinerary and route we took:

 

And from my Vampire Collectibles, here’s a little hanging sign I picked up from one the hotels in which we stayed, the Hotel Castel Dracula:

 

Since my plan to blog the trip at the time fell through due to our intense schedule (and my exhaustion!), I’ll be posting tidbits about it over the next several weeks, roughly parallel to where we were each day two years ago.

‘Til next time,

~RM~

~ Summer Splurge Giveaway

Do you like to read? Wouldn’t it be cool to buy whatever books you’d like without spending a dime? Well, this SUMMER SPLURGE GIVEAWAY is just for you! The prize is a $240 Amazon gift card to spend however you like. All you have to do is follow the sponsoring authors on their *BookBub pages.

To enter, click on the Rafflecopter link below. Email addresses will not be shared with the authors; instead, you just follow the authors on BookBub! That’s it! (You must follow all of the participating authors to enter the contest. If you’re already following some of them, don’t worry – those follows will still count toward your entry).

The giveaway runs from July 1 thru July 10. The winner will be randomly chosen by Rafflecopter and notified shortly thereafter.

You can enter here: Summer Splash Giveaway – Amazon $240 Gift Card

No purchase necessary. Open internationally.

*BookBub is not responsible for this giveaway.

Good luck!

~RM~

~ Awards News & July 4th Sale

Yes, I have more award news!

Another story of mine is a finalist, this time in a writing contest. Saving Magic is a young adult fantasy from my Forbidden Doorways series, and is currently a Top 3 finalist in both the Young Adult and New Adult categories.

The On the Far Side contest is hosted by the Fantasy, Futuristic, and Paranormal chapter of the Romance Writers of America.

I’m pretty excited that this lighthearted story about a magical healing witch finaled in BOTH categories.

The category winners will be notified the first week of August – keep your fingers crossed for me!

As for Watcher: Book I of The Chosen‘s entry in ReadFree.ly’s 2018 Best Book We’ve Read All Year contest, the competition was tough. Watcher didn’t win, but it came really close, and I’m okay with that. As runner-up, it occupies the first row of the award announcement page on the ReadFree.ly website, right below the winner. That blue cover with the stunning red dress stands out near the top of the page and is hard to miss. Hopefully visitors to the website will notice it and check it out.

On a last note, I’m running another special on Watcher this week, in honor of July 4th and summer reading. Be sure to take advantage of its low price if you don’t already own a copy.

That’s it for now – happy reading!

~RM~

~ Awards News

Yes, I have more award news!

Another story of mine is a finalist, this time in a writing contest. Saving Magic is a young adult fantasy from my Forbidden Doorways series, and is currently a Top 3 finalist in both the Young Adult and New Adult categories.

The On the Far Side contest is hosted by the Fantasy, Futuristic, and Paranormal chapter of the Romance Writers of America.

I’m pretty excited that this lighthearted story about a magical healing witch finaled in BOTH categories.

The category winners will be notified the first week of August – keep your fingers crossed for me!

As for Watcher: Book I of The Chosen‘s entry in ReadFree.ly’s 2018 Best Book We’ve Read All Year contest, the competition was tough. Watcher didn’t win, but it came really close, and I’m okay with that. As runner-up, it occupies the first row of the award announcement page on the ReadFree.ly website, right below the winner. That blue cover with the stunning red dress stands out near the top of the page and is hard to miss. Hopefully visitors to the website will notice it and check it out.

On a last note, I’m running another special on Watcher this week, in honor of July 4th and summer reading. Be sure to take advantage of its low price if you don’t already own a copy.

That’s it for now – happy reading!

~RM~

~ Big Weekend Sale & Other News

First off – both Watcher and Runner are on sale this weekend thru tomorrow, June 10! Don’t miss this chance to pick up both at a nice discount on Amazon.

 

The last month has been an exciting one for me in the world of books. Some of my marketing efforts are FINALLY starting to pay off.

Can I tell you how hard it is to learn book marketing? How many ways there are to do this?

OMG – it’s a tangled web of sticky threads, each one enticing, each one a temptation that THIS ONE might be THE ONE. The one that’s going to get your book noticed, that’s going to translate into sales, the one that may mean you MIGHT be able to break even or even make a little money.

Prior to last October’s release of Watcher (2nd ed.) and Runner, I had done little to no marketing. Just didn’t have enough product.

But with two novels and two novellas now in The Chosen series, it was time to start learning this stuff.

I tried a few things, most of them unsuccessful — although I did learn how to do them better and will try them again in the future, such as Amazon and Facebook advertising.

But in May I found something that started turning the tide for me.

Newsletters. Not just my own, but promo newsletters run by other folks.

The one that has made the most difference is ReadFree.ly.

Participating was simple. All I did was submit Watcher to be considered for Book of the Month. To my great surprise, it won and was featured as the April Book of the Month.

This earned Watcher a promo spot in the newsletter, a permanent spot on their website, and more importantly, a review by the ReadFree.ly staff.

And the review was killer – one of the best Watcher has received. The book and the review were featured again in their newsletter.

But better yet, the win qualified Watcher for an entry into ReadFree.ly’s Best Book We’ve Read All Year, a new contest for the promo company. The winner is selected based on a combo of the ReadFree.ly reviewer opinion, Amazon reviews, and reader votes (and yes, voting is still open here).

In an effort to raise my reader votes, I participated in several giveaways and other newsletter promo spots. And continued to promote through ReadFree.ly.

Between the promo newsletters and sending out my own newsletter, I sold more books this past month than I have in the last several years combined.

Yes, having professionally designed covers are a big part of that, and I’m so grateful to Deranged Doctor Design for their wonderful covers.

But the rest is the exposure gained by appearing in newsletters in conjunction with running discounts on the books.

One strategy resulted in over 100 downloads (in 2 days) of The Games Monsters Play, which I had discounted to free for a 5-day run.

Games hit #2 in the Kindle store category of vampire thriller, and #6 and #8 in the Kindle short story categories of sci-fi/fantasy and mystery/thriller/suspense.

Granted, it was free, so I don’t receive any royalties. But my work was noticed, and so was Watcher (Games includes a short excerpt), which may have added to its sales.

What I’ve learned is that it takes multiple marketing strategies to become a successful author, and that means taking the time to research and test to determine what works and what doesn’t.

So I’ll keep doing that a little at a time. Because the rest of my “book time” is allocated to working on Seeker: Book III of The Chosen. 

Speaking of Seeker, it’s coming along well. As those who’ve read Runner know (spoiler alert!), Sunny is embarking on a journey into dangerous territory, where she will face her deadliest enemies. As she ventures deeper into the unknown, I’ll start sharing tidbits from a research journey I recently took into the real world locations that provide many of the settings in this newest book of The Chosen.

A fun, new project I’m starting is the promotion of supernatural pop culture. I have a rather extensive collection of vampire collectibles and vampire books (surprise!), and I’m using them to re-vamp my Pinterest page and dive into Instagram.

Because he loves me , my hubby built me a DIY lightbox to help with my photography, and I’m excited to test it out.  I’m extra jazzed, too – I discovered how to post from my desktop on Instagram, which will allow me to edit my photos before uploading them.

So keep an eye out on my social media pages – my vampire obsession is about to get a bit more public.  

And if you want the details on the newsletter services that I used this past month, feel free to contact me.

~RM~

 

 

 

~ World Dracula Day – Part II

As you may or may not know, May 26 was World Dracula Day, the anniversary of the iconic novel’s first publication in 1897.

Since then, Dracula has been translated into 44 languages and sold millions of copies worldwide. Innumerable adaptations, movies, and television shows have kept Dracula relevant, as well as the ever-evolving vampire spinoffs spawned by our bloodthirsty and immortal Count.

Here’s a few books from my shelf with Dracula in the title, including a Marvel comic book series, digital-age version of the original story, and a 2007 reprint of the original novel:

If you’ve never read the original novel, I urge you to do so. I read it just a few years ago, and even though I believed I knew the story from the various Dracula movies I’d seen, the book is much more thrilling and, in parts, even a little scary.

Speaking of Dracula spinoffs, my own is on sale in recognition of Bram Stoker’s contribution to literature.

Watcher: Book I of The Chosen, is currently reduced in price thru May 31 onAmazon, and if you haven’t read it yet, this would be a great opportunity to pick it up for just a buck or two.

Watcher is also nominated for ReadFree.ly’s 2018 Best Book We’ve Read All Year!If you’ve read it, and believe it deserves consideration for this recognition, please visit the ReadFree.ly website and VOTE!

And if you don’t want to miss special announcements or other news about The Chosen series, be sure to sign up for The Chosen Updates monthly newsletter in which I talk about supernatural pop-culture and recommended sci-fi/fantasy/horror reads. Oh, and the latest in The Chosen world (think excerpts and sneak peaks into Seeker: Book III of The Chosen)!

~RM~