Chris Almeida's Blog, page 2
March 22, 2015
#ForgottenBookChallenge
{/boxplus}Perma-free. Once a fantastic tool to introduce new authors to readers not familiar or comfortable with Indie Publishing.
Before that, old TBR piles used to consist of five, ten books piled on the side table, a visual cue calling on you to take the books in your hands, taunting you to make the pile smaller. With perma-free books everywhere—and still growing in numbers daily—readers have become adept of one-clicking books they may have little or no interest in reading. Readers just get a book when it’is free because it’s free and TBR piles in digital eReaders don’t have the same power of persuasion.
Cecilia and I are not immune to one-clicking. As much as it pains us to admit it, our TBR pile is long and has grown to a cringe-worthy size. A little while back, I came across a book’s blurb on Facebook that sounded really interesting. When I checked the book on Amazon, I realized we already had it in our library. In fact, the book had been there for over a year. It hit me then that the same thing was happening to many other readers.
Once downloaded, one-clicked books hide in endless carrousels, forgotten unless readers come across something on social media that makes them visit the book’s page on their retailer of choice only to be notified the book had been purchased in the past.
Sadly, many amazing stories and their authors remain forgotten in that digital TBR black hole. The most effective way to dig those books out of there is to make them discoverable once again. That’s where the #forgottenbookchallenge comes in. It gives a previously released title the chance to shine once again and reach readers who had forgotten about its existence in their very long digital TBR pile.
It’s with that goal in mind that each week, we will be encouraging readers to post their (old) new finds. Encouraging readers to dig a little deeper and find something they forgot they had in the dark recesses of their eReaders.
We hope you’ll join us in this goal by posting your review or find to social media and tagging it with the hash tags #forgottenbookchallenge or #forgottenbook. Most of all, have fun finding the buried gems in your library!
Sláinte!
Chris
February 1, 2015
TRR Anniversary Party!
The Romance Reviews is turning 4 and to celebrate, they have a month-long anniversary party coming up. Lots of games, prizes and fun! Don't miss out on this great opportunity to meet new authors, new stories, or to see what your favorite author has to offer.
The party happens from March 1, 1200am EST to March 31, 1159pm EST. We hope to see you there!
January 4, 2015
New Year's Tweak
Those who have known us and our stories from the dawn of the Countermeasure Series know we take twists and turns with the stories.
We wrote To Russia with Love before Countermeasure, Cuffed at Midnight before Ecstasy by the Sea, and Countermeasure before its prequel, Uncharted.
Although most stories in the tie-in series Bytes of Life are glimpses into the intimate lives of the characters—glimpses of what happens in their lives between the stories in the full-length novels—and created as voyeuristic looks into their relationship, Uncharted was born with a different purpose.
Long after the novels and short stories had been published, we were continuously asked about Conor and Maeve. Many readers showed interest, concern, curiosity about what could have happened to them but without a better grasp of their relationship and what transpired between them, they were unable to entertain a solid guess.
With that in mind, we wrote Uncharted and gave readers a glimpse into their relationship as well as a more solid grasp of their love for each other and for their son.
We made the story available through all retailers free of charge and allowed all who had read Countermeasure to peek into the past.
The short story was welcomed by all Countermaniacs who had long asked for it. Unfortunately, the idea backfired when somereaders, coming across Uncharted first and not knowing of the running mystery in the series, didn’t realize the nature or length of the story, neither of its link to the main novels.
Many were discouraged to read Countermeasure expecting the series to have the same dark undertones as Uncharted.
With that in mind, and with hopes that readers will enjoy Uncharted more after reading Countermeasure, we are changing the way we offer the story to readers. Although still free of charge, we will now make the story available in Countermeasure (Bonus Edition) and via subscription to our newsletter.
Upon subscription, you will receive a standard confirmation email with a direct download link. If you have already read Countermeasure without Uncharted and are already a subscriber of the newsletter, you can email us and we’ll send you the file directly.
Sláinte!
Chris & Cecilia
September 19, 2014
September 16, 2014
A Family Team
To me, the best thing of being an author is having the ability to share the stories populating my head and see them enjoyed by many. The second best thing is meeting those people who enjoyed the stories and hearing their perspectives on them.
September 6, 2014
Choose Your Own Adventure
{boxplus href=|http://chrisalmeida-ceciliaaubrey.com...| title=|September 6, 2014|}
{/boxplus}Every single decision you make in life takes you in a different direction in the story of your life like a Choose Your Own Adventure book. Each decision shaping your life in a new way, shedding light on something you didn't know about yourself, making or breaking you. I've always had a writer in me. Becoming a geek happened as an accident, consequence of one of those voluntary turns in the story.
July 17, 2014
Contramedida ya disponible!
After Uncharted's release in Spanish, we are happy to announce that Countermeasure is now available in Spanish as well.
It's currently available from Amazon, B&N and ARE. Soon to be available from iTunes and Kobo. Stay tuned for more links!
Here's the blurb in Spanish:
En la primera novela de la SERIE CONTRAMEDIDA, la tenaz ex agente de la CIA, Cassandra James, se encuentra metida en un gran lío. Un ladrón cibernético ha robado información confidencial del principal cliente de su padre – información que ella debía salvaguardar – y ahora podría perder su trabajo, incluso si es la hija del jefe. La única persona que puede ayudarla a recuperar los datos robados es el sexy analista de la NSA, Trevor Bauer – un genio de los ordenadores que se ha abierto paso a través de su seguridad personal y que podría también abrirse paso hasta su corazón.
Trevor está buscando respuestas al misterio que rodea la desaparición de sus padres. A raíz de una pista prometedora en los archivos sustraídos de Bristol, accidentalmente se cruza en el camino de una mujer demasiado complicada con la que tratar... y un mercenario dispuesto a hacer cualquier cosa para impedir que ambos recuperen esos archivos.
Para localizar al ladrón, Trevor y Cassandra deben embarcarse en una desgarradora aventura que les llevará al otro lado del océano a un mundo de intriga, peligro y pasión. Pero al acercarse a su objetivo, su relación comenzará a hervir, poniendo en peligro su misión, así como sus propias vidas. ¿Aprenderán a confiar en sus instintos – y entre sí – con tal de sobrevivir?
More Countermeasure books to be translated in the future. Sign up for our newsletter to be informed of new releases.
Sláinte!
July 15, 2014
Ya disponible!
A La Deriva, the Spanish version of Uncharted is now available on Amazon and AllRomance. We expect to have the title on Kobo and B&N soon. iTunes will follow at a later date as their review process is quite long.
EBOOK:
Stay tuned for more links!
July 13, 2014
Próximamente en Julio de 2014
It's been a while since we announced we were looking into translating Uncharted and Countermeasure. Since then we found a great partner in Monica Ocaña.
She was well recommended by several fellow writers and we were very happy to work with her for the translation into Spanish.
It's with great pleasure that we announce that they are almost here! The first two books in the series should be on retailers by the end of this week.
It's a brand new market for us and we are very curious to see how the book will do in that language.
This weekend we've been busy with the last details for the release which includes several reviews of the manuscript before forwarding the files to our converter. Now it's just a matter of time before we get the files back and upload to our authorized retailers (Amazon, Apple, B&N, Kobo and ARe).
Stay tuned on Facebook and Twitter (follow us there! *hint*) to remain updated of retailers links.
Sláinte!
June 9, 2014
Driving a Weapon
My heart sunk to my stomach at the impact. Blood pumped in my ears so loud I couldn’t hear the thump of the music blasting through the car’s speakers. I kept my hands tight on the wheel, but I couldn’t feel them. I couldn’t feel my whole body, for that matter. Overwhelmed by guilt, I looked in the rear view mirror and saw the body roll on the pavement, a confirmation that there was nothing else I could do. At least not to save a life.
I was consumed by grief. And shame. I had taken a life. The fist in my stomach remained as I drove away from the crime scene. I tried to convince myself that I couldn’t have changed what happened without causing a bigger tragedy, without swerving on the road and ending up in someone’s living room. Although logic spoke to me, my heart still ached. In fact, although it’s been weeks since that fatidic Saturday morning, it still does. I doubt I’ll ever forget it and hope it will never happen again. I also hope you will never have to experience the same pain. I don’t think I can bear to go through another squirrelcide.
Have you been in the same situation? Did you feel as bad as I do? Share your story with us.
