R.J. Blain's Blog, page 26
January 29, 2023
How Star Ratings and Reviews Make or Break a Series…
Dear reader,
A really lovely person asked a question on my discord server, and it was a good enough question to warrant being brought up for discussion on the blog.
It boils down to “Do authors really check the reviews/read them on apps?”
This ended up becoming a discussion about the role of star ratings and reviews in an author’s career.
I use star reviews to determine if a series has sufficient viability to prioritize. I’m going to put Booked for Murder up as the primary discussion...
January 28, 2023
Sometimes, I weep for humanity.
As I write this, dear readers, I am on the cusp of expiration due to hysterical laughter. I am setting the mood for the rest of this post, because we are going on a RIDE. This ride is everything right now. It’s everything and so much more.
To begin this show, we must take a moment to discuss my book, Plaidypus.
You know, the one where I promised Lucifer would be heavily involved along with his mish-mash of a family…? Yes, that one.
Look at that pretty heroine. Her precious little bo...
Hoofin’ It is on Sale for $0.99
A sale, a sale! It’s a sale!
Bonus of a teeny tiny snippet from a favored section of the book!
I pulled into my parents’ driveway in Lincoln, Nebraska. With a population of over two hundred thousand, there was always a need for cops, even crazy ones like my mother and father. But even the police departments of major cities like Chicago wanted someone like Dad on the force.
Werewolves with perfect control over all three of their forms were few and far between. Add in Mom’s skills as...
January 27, 2023
My audiobooks are available on Spotify!
Dear readers,
I can has a dumb. I can has a big dumb, kind of like my kitties when they are sleepy and there is catnip involved.
I am especially dumb when it comes to Spotify. I don’t know how it works or anything. A very nice person over at my distributor gave me this very useful link, which will send you to a link of all my audiobooks available at Spotify. These are the R.J. Blain books. Using sorcery, I also have a link to the Susan Copperfield audiobooks on Spotify!
There are currently ...
January 25, 2023
Karma and License to Kill are in Audio Format!
Some of you may have noticed the quiet launch of Karma and License to Kill over at Chirp. Sorry for the delay, but I’ve also gotten the books on Author’s Direct. You can get Karma here and License to Kill here.
Isn’t that aux cover super pretty? Rebecca Frank is the artist.
In bad news… I have a migraine, so this all the effort I could muster. (Sorry…!)
January 21, 2023
Funny Error in a Book…
So, my brain CONSTANTLY messes up Thunder Ridge / Lightning Ridge. Hint: Lightning Ridge is correct. But because we say THUNDER and LIGHTNING, in that order, my brain swaps them.
In Plaidypus… I made this error.
Nobody caught it. Especially not me (because while I know better, I DO NOT correct it, it doesn’t appear wrong, my brain just HELPFULLY does this thing.)
There were 20+ people working on the book and we all failed to identify I’d fucked it up.
I thought about fixing it in the...
January 19, 2023
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...
January 4, 2023
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,...
January 1, 2023
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:...
December 23, 2022
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...
