R.J. Blain's Blog, page 21
July 8, 2023
Pssspspsppsspsps! Pets in Space 8!
Thar be a new anthology coming out on October 3, 2023! A reminder to my patreon users: anthologies are NOT included in your subscription, as I do not have rights to copy anything from the anthology. If you want the story at release, you’ll need to order it at your preferred retailer!
Yes, my contribution (entitled Experimental Voyage) will eventually be released as a standalone, but that will not happen until July 2024 at the earliest.
Bonus: the anthology earns money for charity!
My st...
Please don’t mind the dust!
The website (menus, etc) are going to be wonky over the next few weeks. I’m putting together a master list of all of my books by author name and series by general popularity. This will give you one page you can go to… where you can click on whatever version of the book you will like. I will be removing many of the old series/book pages (you may still find them via google, but they won’t be accessible through the menus) and so on.
The format for each book entry is going look a little like this...
July 7, 2023
Pen Names and Why I Use Them~ (Plus News/Updates)
Picture: Some sort of Miner, taken at Uluru.
To open this show, I am still jet lagged, and I have had a week from absolute living hell. Look for sentences in bold text for important news. In good news, my test with the Royal States audiobooks has been going well. As a result, there are a bunch of audiobooks queued up for release on Audible.
Give it 1-3 months, because audible moves… much like turtle with one working leg. Sorry about that.
In bad news on the audiobook front, it is en...
June 28, 2023
Publication, Thy Name is Pivot…
Three weeks off did me a world of good, but now it is time to buckle up and get back to work.
Quick note: all book links within the post go to B&N. Amazon (and other) links will be at the very bottom of the post.
Also… please do not panic, and please do read carefully. No books are being cancelled. I’m just changing how I operate my business so I can keep writing for longer.
I spent very little of the three weeks writing, but I did spend a rather notable amount of time thinking. The Ama...
June 5, 2023
A little More on the Error-Reporting Tool, why Amazon will not be getting the bonus stories, and so on.
There are some people who have not appreciated my “aggressiveness” regarding the error-reporting tool and readers attempting to control an author’s creative domain.
Yes, I’m “aggressive” about it. I have boundaries, and I am establishing those boundaries.
Pilots, bonus short stories, and future slices of life stories are supposed to have errors and mistakes. While I (and my team) do our best to remove the blatant errors, these things are extras. They’re supposed to be fun. They’re supposed...
June 4, 2023
State of the Blain Address: Release scheduling, play project status, backburner books, etc!
Artwork: The Rose Valley Murders (R.J. Blain); design, painting, etc by Rebecca Frank.
I leave for Australia Very Soon (hooray!!) so before I dive back into the preparation fray, I wanted to take some time to go over as much as I can regarding the upcoming schedule, what is being worked on, and so on. (This is very long post, SO very long. Has ALL the updates/information for you. MUCH long, read carefully.)
TL;DR version: Nobody panic: nothing is being cancelled. Nothing is being cance...
June 2, 2023
It’s a record! Less than 24 Hours After Release…
14 of the 19 ‘errors’ weren’t even errors.
And this, right here… is why Amazon won’t be getting the bonus story/pilot in all future novels.
I’m frustrated, I want to just give up and stop publishing, and I really wonder if the people behind these reports actually even like books.
From where I sit, they really don’t.
This specific reader needs to learn to not report… because what they think are errors simply are not.
I corrected the 5 actual mistakes.
I wonder if they bother...
101 Ways to Die has released!!
Happy book birthday, 101 Ways to Die!
IMPORTANT REMINDER: The price for 101 Ways to Die will be increasing to $5.99 tomorrow morning. If you preordered, the preorder price is honored, as the book released today. This applies to ALL vendors. (The per novel patreons paid the standard $5.99 rate, which applies to ALL books ranging in price to $4.99 to $7.99.)
The original short novel, save for some typo corrections, is the same as it was in theDirty Deeds 2 anthology. However, it has four...
May 28, 2023
An In-Depth Guide to My Patreons!
Please read carefully, as there has been some confusion lately. Read VERY carefully, please please!
I have three different patreons that are meant to cater to different types of shoppers.
If you want no extras and just stories, there are two patreons you are interested in. The Per Novel Patreon, and the Per Short Story Patreon. (Note: The monthly subscribers at the $10 tier (Otters, Cindercorns, Spicy Ponies with Bite) receive ALL benefits of BOTH of these patreons.)
These two are for t...
May 23, 2023
A Little about the Monthly Patreon…
When everything isn’t on fire, I do a lot of fun things with my monthly patreon, which you can find here. I do a read along, which tends to average once a week, but sometimes has x3 a week when I’m behind and everything is on fire… like right now. (I have to finish cleaning my apartment, get a big batch of books out from the kickstarter, AND decide how we’re handling the refrigerator drama.)
The refrigerator… is working properly again. The fan has kicked back on, it’s maintaining temperat...
