R.J. Blain's Blog, page 24

I have a favor to ask of you.

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This is the Egret of Regret.

Now, onto the favor. Please rate the books you love. (Mine, any author’s… just… rate the books you love.) I was minding my own business (read: doing admin work on Amazon) when something came to my attention.

Wait… 2,319 ratings/reviews? Not 4.2*?

I live in a dark hole in the ground, where I eat food and pretend life doesn’t exist outside of my little hole. The inside is well lit, it’s comfortable. I’m more than a little pudgy, and often don’t wear sh...

Let’s talk about typos, please.

Hey, folks.

You’re probably tired of this subject. I know I am. It’s a daily (and hugely frustrating) part of my life. Every day, I have to log into my Amazon account to see if someone, who is likely trying to be helpful and is completely unaware of how harmful they’re being, has made use of their typo report tool.

Amazon is the only vendor that does this, and it’s hugely detrimental to authors.

Let me explain why.

First, Amazon tries to remove creative control of an author’s book fr...

Moon Tamed is now available in Audiobook format!

Coraline Patten enjoys nothing more than facing new challenges, but when she’s asked to evaluate Moonriver’s ruling faction, she worries she’s bitten off more than she can chew.

Allasandro Stephans has reigned since she’d been a child, unwavering in his dedication to Moonriver. His heir, Calden, has supported him every step of the way. Together, the shapeshifting widower and his son appear to be the perfect men for the job of preserving and protecting their home.

When Moonriver’s heir ...

The Complete Process of Writing a Book, From Concept to Publication! Case Study: Grave Affairs (Lilith Daniels)

Dear readers,

This is mostly for my fellow authors, but you are very welcome to join the party and read about how a book comes to life. I am going to showcase Grave Affairs (yes, that is a link to Amazon, for I have finally decided on a release date. It is April 5, 2024. Please note Apple will be slow to the game because they are poorly coded and does not realize that April 5 is a year away.)

Grave Affairs began with a premade book cover. This premade book cover.

I saw it, I loved i...

Kobo Plus is now in the US and the UK!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Kobo Plus, it is essentially a service similar to Kindle Unlimited with a few important differences:

1: Authors are not required to be exclusive to participate.

2: Authors are paid by time spent reading the book versus pages read. (So, if you want to take your time and savor a book, that’s wonderful! Authors are actually rewarded for this behavior.) The math is complicated, but I make good money off the Kobo Plus service, and it’s one of my more rel...

I will be at DragonCon this year!

And for some good news, it is official! I will be attending DragonCon this year as a professional. Hooray!! If you’re in the area, I do hope you’ll be able to drop in and say hello! I don’t yet know what my schedule will be, but I will be in attendance during all of the days of the con.

I very much look forward to being able to meet you all!

Please note that I will not be selling books at the convention, so if you want books signed, please bring them with you. I’m happy to stop and sign yo...

Authors Direct is being discontinued.

Bah, bah, bah. The title says it all. The company that ran authors direct has been purchased by spotify, and as of April 14 or so, the authors direct app and store and everything will be defunk.

If you have switched to authors direct, you will be emailed links to claim your title on spotify, where the books will live in the future.

My internet connection is actually down, but I’m going to be (temporarily) taking down all of the audiobook links on the website while I get everything set up w...

The Vampire of Montana’s New Release Date is April 28, 2023.

Hip-hip-hooray!

Doggone Mess worked out to be just shy of 146,000 words before editorial. To give you an idea, the original version was closer to 35,000 words.

It is entirely up to readers if they choose to only read the Dirty Deeds 1 edition of the book, but let’s just say a lot can–and does–happen in the additional 111,000 words of story. I’m really pleased with the book. As a reminder, Doggone Mess will be increasing in price to $7.99 early in its release week, so if you’re on a budget,...

Leashed I Could Do and Serial Killer Princess 2…

These two stories will be in one of the two planned anthologies for the Magical Romantic Comedy (with a body count) series. Why are they not being placed in the main series?

All the stories in the main series have something to do with the end game for the series. These two stories are fun continuations, but the plot important series stuff is concluded for these characters.

As such, they will be in extra material collections, AKA anthologies.

I do not know when the anthologies will be do...

Let’s Play a Game!!

Rules: Anything you suggest in the comments may become cannon fodder for a novel project. (Granted, the allowable entries are so vague that you may or may not be able to identify if I selected your comment to become cannon fodder.)

By commenting, you agree that I may use some, none, or all of your comment’s content as cannon fodder for a novel project. Credits will not be issued, because I’m way too lazy to keep track of who contributed what one or two word phrase.

Here’s how the game goes...