R.J. Blain's Blog, page 26

Warning: Post Release Price increase of Doggone Mess.

Well, this was not the news I was expecting to be sharing.

In June, Doggone Mess’s price will be increased to $7.99. Right now, the book is just short of 80,000 words, and I still have two long and major arcs to work through, plus at least one transitional arc.

What does this mean: the book will exceed the general 80-120k spread I reserve for $6.99 titles.

As it was set to preorder for $6.99, I will keep that price until shortly before I leave to go to BABE in Australia in early June.

If you...

Vampire of Montana in April instead of May?

This is not normally something I consider doing, but things change, etc, etc. I won’t go into details beyond “I’m changing things up and destressing myself at the same time.”

Would you be all right if Vampire of Montana was released in April instead of May?

Why?

I want to be lazy, Vampire is with the editor now, so it will be ready easily for April, and I just don’t want to deal with two books at once. Dropping Vampire early is a destresser. I DO love doing dual releases on my birthday,...

Welcome to 2023! May it be the year you want!

(Why not wish you a happy new year? Maybe you don’t want to be happy! Which would be a little strange but we have masochists and sadists in the world for a reason. (And may they find everything they want with each other.)

Joking and silliness aside, I hope you all have precisely the kind of year you want.

I’m not really doing resolutions, but I do tend to view the start of the year as a time to reset and try again at all the things I failed at.

This year, I’m trying to do the following:...

Sick with RSV

I’m alive and kicking, I just have RSV, and I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.

In good news, I should no longer be shedding virus. (I’ve been sick for faaarrr longer than eight days at this stage.) In bad news, it looks like I’m a long hauler. Hooray!

RSV is NOT COVID, but RSV is also no joke. RSV is NOT limited to children, but in adults, it is commonly mistaken to be a common cold, which is why it tends to hit kids hard and adults remain clueless.

This year’s RSV, after being qui...

A Note Regarding Future Releases

Don’t panic. There’s nothing bad in this post at all.

Due to USA Today’s bestseller list going defunct (on hiatus, with an update coming in 2023), I’ve made the decision I will not be deliberately attempting to make this list if it DOES come back. (You all were amazing, and you crushed it in May of 2022, when Plaidypus hit the list as a full-priced new release.) Sure, I could do better and aim for #1 (AHAHAHA, I would only need like 20,000 more readers to have a chance) but I won’t be doing i...

Moon Tamed (Audrey Greene) has released!

Moon Tamed (Audrey Greene) has released! This is a paranormal romance with a science fiction twist. I had a ball writing it. This is my “I want to have a good time writing whatever I want” pen name, and it’s much fluffier than other books (although it still has subject matter meant for mature audiences.)

You can grab a copy of Moon Tamed at Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books, B&N, and Google Play.

Happy reading, everybody.

An Update on Patreon (Newly Started Read Alongs, scheduling, etc!)

Greetings, folks!

It has been a hot minute since I’ve taken the time to go over some Patreon stuff, which is where I do a lot of my general direct interactions with readers. (It’s a nice little community!)

As a reminder, there are THREE different patreons, and this can be confusing to people, so I am going to explain them (with some pictures) so you know how it works.

The primary patreon looks like this:

The Tip Jar is for those who just want to support, and they gain access to t...

Chirp (audiobook) deal on A Chip On Her Shoulder, plus other news!

Hey, folks.

Please note this blog post was also sent to my email list subscribers. (I have an ear infection, woke up super late, and went the route of laze… this is the only work I’m doing today, because I want to rip my ear off, I feel like garbage, and anything beyond this is done purely out of boredom, assuming I don’t just go right back to bed and stay there until tomorrow.)

Sorry I’ve been quiet lately. Life is hard, I am tired. There is a fancy Chirp deal going on today for A Chip on...

New P.O. Box!

Greetings, folks! As I know many of you enjoy holiday cards and writing letters to the cats (for which they’re grateful for, and they are shown anything sent to them), I have a new PO box.

If you would like to send Princess and Zazzle holiday gifts, please follow the guidelines listed below. They are both pretty picky, and we take care with what they are fed. If you absolutely feel you Princess and Zazzle deserve treats, here are their preferences:

Princess really, really likes Crustacean ...

A Few Things I Wish I’d Known (or had been told) about the Publishing Industry…

This post is for the authors out there, but readers are totally welcome to join the party.

1: The taxes are beyond complicated, you will pay a lot more in taxes than your traditionally employed partner, and if you aren’t good at reading IRS shenanigans, hire a tax accountant. Seriously. The taxes are THAT complicated.

2: It takes money to make money. (Seriously. You get what you pay for, and readers don’t care if you’re on a tight budget. They’re after their next new favorite read. Your fe...