R.J. Blain's Blog, page 18

Let’s Talk About Series (And Schedule for Moving Forward)

To preface this post, I’m exhausted. Bone-weary exhausted. I’m in the final stages of preparing Old Secrets for release. Whiskers on Kittens is done, and I’m waiting for editorial notes on it, but I think I still have a chunk of work to do on it. (It will release on on Dec 19 as planned.)

But, as there are questions, confusion, etc, I’m going to clean the air on some things.

First of all, I am a human, I write books for a living, and I C-A-N-N-O-T write series books back to back. I simply ...

Doggone Mess is on sale for $0.99! (Limited Time Only)

Single, female lycanthrope: check.

Bills to pay: check.

A bounty for the hottest single lycanthrope on the block: check.

As the sole holdout of the corporate buyout of her apartment building, Joyce Gray is determined to transform her stubborn pride into a masterpiece in order to stay off the streets. Dipping her hands into the dark world of bounty hunting would give her the funds needed to find a new home, somewhere safe from the wolf who’d infected her with the lycanthropy virus.

...

Partner In Crime Read Along (Magic, Mayhem, and the Law in Precinct #153) has Begun Today at Patreon!

This feature will likely run once a week on Mondays. The story is complicated af, just like Dead Weight, so it takes longer to write. This is the utter definition of raw, so if you can’t stand typoes, mistakes, inconsistencies, etc… steer clear.

The rules for the read alongs are pretty simple: no sharing the read along with anyone, no editing. (The stories in the read alongs for the cindercorns and spicy ponies with bite have not been edited, and any editorial help is ignored… everything is s...

State of the Blain: November 2023 Edition

Greetings, folks!

Enjoy this picture of Princess refusing to sleep somewhere more comfortable. She has plenty of beds, hammocks, and other nice places for cats to sleep, but she decided she wanted to sleep on the cold bathroom floor.

Do you, kitty… do you.

I’ll try to be as brief as possible, so here goes!

1: The second Magic, Mayhem, and the Law novel will be presented as a read along to Cindercorns and Spicy Ponies with bite in the Monthly Patreon.

I am working on this as a ...

Insert sad face here: Ingram Publisher Pricing Woes

Greetings, folks.

I have always strived to (eventually) get print editions made of all my titles in both trade and mass market editions.

Ingram (the distributor I use to get into indie bookstores and libraries), has hiked their minimum distribution limits up. Essentially, the price of mass markets has become prohibitive. I will still make and offer them, especially for library access, but in reality… I do not expect anyone to buy a $26 paperback.

That is the reality of the rise in print...

Is anyone going to perish if I delay Old Secrets by three weeks?

I’m exhausted, the inspection bullshit has murdered me, and I could use the three extra weeks to better proof the book and not kill myself riding a deadline.

If you are going to perish waiting three weeks, please let me know in the comments below. We’d definitely like to send your family flowers and condolences. (Okay, I’m mostly partaking of morbid humor so I don’t cry at this stage. I’m THAT tired.)

According to my spreadsheet… I have not taken a day off in a month and a half because of ...

Hearth, Home, and Havoc’s sale ends Monday!

Dakota had never intended to become the single mother of a goddess, but after her abusive ex storms back into her life, she’ll do anything necessary to protect her family. Warning: contains humor, excitement, adventure, magic, romance, and bodies. Proceed with caution.

You can purchase Hearth, Home, and Havoc at Amazon, Apple Books, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble.

This book is on the list of titles I do not discount often, and it’s unlikely it will be discounted again. (It’s just not that po...

End of the Facebook Era…

I figured this would happen eventually. When I changed my phones last, the two factor authentication didn’t carry over, and it refused to input the codes or anything. (Bleh.) It used to be that you could confirm a login with a logged in device, and that’s what kept my accounts alive until now.

They’ve taken away the ability to login with a logged in device.

So, that’s it. I have access to facebook on one device… that can’t build ads or do anything of that nature. So, the ads were shut down...

Pets in Space 8 is out!

This is going to be a super quick post… apartment inspections happened today, my keyboard broke (I’m on a spare, waiting for the new one to arrive), and my anxiety levels are through the roof.

I’m hanging in there! Barely, with silent screaming, kicking feet, and a great deal of whining.

My contribution to Pets in Space 8 is Experimental Voyage. It’s a fun romp in the same world Life-Debt took place in. Part of the earnings to go fund Hero-Dogs, a charity for vets in need of service an...

Week Two of the Whiskers on Kittens Celebration: the Hoofin’ It Sale! $0.99.

This week’s sale feature is Hoofin’ It! Hoofin’ It will be removed from the sale roster early next week, so get it while it’s hot! As a reminder, this novel will be $7.99 after the sale due to its length.

About the Book!

All Shane wanted was to get away from the wreckage of his career for a while. He picked New York City to provide him with a distraction from his early, unwanted retirement from the police force. New York City delivered, distracting him with three corpses and a miniatur...