Kyle Pratt's Blog: Musings & Rantings, page 30

Another Blast

If you haven't read Through Many Fires now is the time to get it.

As an indie writer I have to do test marketing. Recently I’ve been testing BookBlast, an email newsletter of free and bargain Kindle books, as part of my advertising. Today they sent out the pictured promotion. As stated, Through Many Fires will be available for 99 cents from today, February 17th through the 21st.

In Through Many Fires, terrorists smuggle a nuclear bomb into Washington D.C. and detonate it during the State of the Union Address. Army veteran and congressional staffer Caden Westmore is in nearby Bethesda and watches as a mushroom cloud grows over the capital. The next day, as he drives away from the still burning city, he learns that another city has been destroyed and then another.

After February 17th Through Many Fires will returned to the regular $2.99 price and I don’t anticipate it being discounted again until the next book in the series, A Time to Endure, comes out later this year.

Afternoon at the Writers Group

I’ve mentioned before that for many years I’ve attended a writer’s critique group when I’m in Washington State.

Most of our six members are published writers. All have differing methods, styles and genres, but we have come to appreciate each other’s writing. I look forward to their opinion even if they tell me I’m going in a wrong direction.

That’s what happened at this last meeting. I released book one of the Strengthen What Remains series, Through Many Fires, in August. Since then I’ve been working on book two, A Time to Endure. They regularly mark up my stories, and yes, even draw little pictures on them.

Yesterday, when I presented chapter 3 of A Time to Endure, several said that I’d waited too long before I brought Caden, the protagonist of the first book, back into the story.

I’ve come to respect their opinion so, today I’ve been writing two new chapters for the novel bringing Caden into the story right from the start. 

The picture on the left shows the group pouring over my draft. Bob Hansen, the group leader, on the far side of the table. Then counterclockwise is Barbara Blakey, Joyce Scott, Carolyn Bickel and Rudine Mayfield.

The Strand

“Really good,” that’s the way Gabriel, a reader described Through Many Fires in an email a few days ago. I enjoy hearing from readers and it always brings a smile to my face when they tell me they enjoy one of my books, but Gabriel said something else that really piqued my interest.

He said he bought my book at a popular independent bookstore in New York City. Through Many Fires has been selling well on Kindle, iTunes, Nook and Kobo. The paperback version has been selling well online, but Book 'N' Brush was the only bookstore I knew that was carrying it. I had to know more, so I wrote back asking for the name of the store.

Later that day I got another email from Gabriel saying it was the Strand, a well-known independent bookstore at the corner of Broadway and East 12th Street in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City.

I always knew that the hardest marketing job would be getting my books into the physical bookstores. It’s nice to know that a big independent bookstore, like Strand, is stocking my book.