R.J. Blain's Blog, page 32

On Viral BookTok Theft.

Recently on BookTok (tiktok for books), someone decided to encourage people to steal books, claiming that everyone wins. Readers get to read, it doesn’t actually hurt authors… guess what? It hurts authors. It doesn’t even hurt Amazon because Amazon still gets some of the money. For basically free. Right out of the author’s pocket. So essentially, the authors are paying Amazon to let Amazon let these petty thieves ‘read for free.’

In short, if you consume a digital product for your entertainme...

Answering some questions regarding Audiobooks:

Hey, folks. I’ve had a lot of people sliding into my messages recently asking about audiobooks, so I’m going to take a few minutes to talk about them.

Q: There is no set schedule for audiobooks. Why?

A: These things are wretchedly expensive and are very slow to earn back. I can only produce them when prior audiobooks earn enough money to cover those expenses.At current, audiobooks earn me enough to contract them once every two months. I am not going to bankrupt myself or spend beyond my me...

Silent Stalker has released!

You can purchase Silent Stalker from all major retailers, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, and Google Play. Also contact your local librarians; the book is available to most public library systems.

Pepper Lowrance, formerly known as Penelope Francis, continues her search for the miscreant vampire who stole her life and her humanity, transforming her into a vampire. With the master of the Lowrance brood at her side, she takes the first steps towards toppling her father’...

Novel Release Patreon ($5.99 per book, paid per novel release.)

After so many asked how I could be better paid off Amazon, I found an elegant solution to the problem. I created a “per creation” Patreon. Every time I release a new novel, it will be released to subscribers of the patreon 3-7 days prior to general retail release.

It is a completely separate entity from the standard patreon, which is on a monthly basis. (Patrons of the monthly patreon will also be getting books; they will either get it right before release or on release day, depending on ...

Patreon Read Along of the main Witch & Wolf Series Starts Today.

Greetings, folks.

I just wanted to drop you a note that my patreon is getting a facelift. I’ve been discussing the changes with my patrons, and now that I have a better idea of what I’m going to be doing, all of the tiers will be getting some adjustments and shuffling.

I’m going to be adding a few new tiers. They is a $100 tier for those after signed paperbacks (they will NOT be receiving digital format copies of the books, and will receive their print versions after all final checks a...

Spoiler Alert: I am a human.

Hey, fellow humanoids, cats in disguise, or whatever you might be.

Some of you have expressed varying degrees of disappointment that I am a human with feelings. That I shouldn’t rant because someone (who isn’t me) might have their feelings hurt, or that I am behaved badly for having feelings and daring to express them.

Don’t feel you have to reply to this. It’s not really a rant, per se, but it is a reminder of reality.

I often get thank you letters from those who are appreciative that ...

Author Behaving Badly: Am I Allowed to Quit Now?

Nothing says “I love you” quite as much as readers bullying authors using one of Amazon’s shitty tools to do it.

I am exhausted.

A few times a week, as of late, I get this lovely notice. “One or more of your books has quality items that need to be addressed.”

Ignoring the twitch-inducing grammatical structure of the notice’s statement, let’s go into what happens when you see this warning.

Anxiety. It begins with a chill for me, one that starts in the spine and spreads elsewhere. ...

Updated Bernadette Franklin Covers!

Greetings, folks!

The Bernadette Franklin books have gotten a facelift! (And any queued typos that were addressed without being uploaded have finally been uploaded. Don’t ask us which books or how many, we don’t know. We know nothing anymore.)

The prices of the books were also standardized based on length, meaning they’re now priced at either $4.99 or $5.99. (If a novel but below 70k or so words, it is $4.99. If a novel but above 70k or so words, it is $5.99.)

We hope you enjoy these co...

Kickstarter Progress: the Extended Edition

Dear humans,

Did you hear that screamy sound? That was the female. Apparently, her sanity is gone. Just gone. This picture of the female’s BOOX is an excellent representation of the situation.

So. Kickstarter. What is it? Why is it? When is it?

The kickstarter happened last year. Why? Female wanted to do the trade version, didn’t want to foot the bill by herself.

Rather than the like 26-something books anticipated, her entire catalogue funded.

There is a great deal of work inv...

Upcoming Books

Dear humans,

We have been asked about upcoming books. While we posted about this in the State of the Blain post in February, we are posting again. We’re in a mood, so please expect plenty of snark. And frankly, we get rude at one stage. We’re really not sorry for being blunt to the point of rudeness, but we really do not want any misunderstandings on this.

So, here we go.

Silent Stalker releases March 17, 2022.

Plaidypus releases May 17, 2022. (*Correction: We put 15. We don’t kn...