R.J. Blain's Blog, page 4

Signed Collection of Books for Charity Auction!

This is one of the few times you can get a SIGNED collection of my books! At the time this was shipped to the charity organizer, it was every single mass market version of my books I had available. So, it’s like 5 dozen books or something like that. … at least, I think it’s mass market sized. Honestly, I have no freaking clue in hell at this point. It happened right at the start of the moving process, and that part of my brain is fried.

This was organized before the mass markets were to be di...

I will be discontinuing 4.25×7 Print Size (with a caveat)

Greetings, folks.

The day I really didn’t want to come has. Ingram has essentially priced everybody out of certain formats of books, and in my case, the 4.25×7 ones are the victims.

Here’s the reality of the situation: the 4.25×7 costs $10-20 more per title to purchase than the 6×9 edition.

People, and rightfully so, just do not want to buy books that expensive without them being a hardback.

So, I will gradually be phasing out the 4.25×7 editions. Series that are already printed in 4...

A Light in the Dark (Audrey Greene) is out in Audiobook Format on Patreon!

A Light in the Dark is narrated by Keira Grace.

Please click here to purchase in the Patreon Store. Cindercorns and Spicy Ponies with Bite receive a copy of the book. (Joining these tiers will allow you access to the mp3s, as they are not delivered by BookFunnel.)

The yearly floods in Stonecreek inevitably claim lives, but when Valerie pulls a refugee from the turbulent waters, she uncovers a dark secret about her home.

For most, there is sanctuary to be had in their high-walled hom...

Happy Book Birthday, the Prince of New York! (Plus answering Faith Hunter’s short story challenge and other news!)

The Prince of New York has hit ereaders for those who have preordered, and it is rolling out to everybody as this is posting! (It is 10:30 on May 15, and yes, I’m posting my new release post early. I am getting up early in the morning to go on my ADVENTURE. HOORAY!!!!)

His Royal Highness Prince Ian Ambrose of New York longed to fade into the background and vanish following the supposed deaths of his parents and the rise of his sister to Queen of New York. While serving as his sister’s adv...

Opening Scene of The Prince of New York (also now available for Kobo Preorder!)

You can preorder Prince of New York at Kobo here. Reminder: preorders at Kobo are delayed until final file due to technical issues with Kobo’s preorder system. (I apologize for the inconvenience!)

The Prince of New York releases on Friday May 16, 2025! (YAY!)

His Royal Highness Prince Ian Ambrose of New York longed to fade into the background and vanish following the supposed deaths of his parents and the rise of his sister to Queen of New York. While serving as his sister’s advisor create...

A Small Change to Bonus Material Moving Forward…

Greetings,

It is 5:30 PM on Friday, May 9, 2025. I’m facing the wire for Prince of New York, and due to its length (just under 150,000 words), I’m going to be working until midnight getting this book loaded and prepped for release.

Simply put, with the move, I’m behind schedule, and I haven’t had time to do the bonus material I typically include with non-Amazon books. So, I’ll be doing some changes to how I handle bonus material moving forward.

1: not all books will have bonus material;...

State of the Blain: April 29, 2025

Tomorrow, we turn in the keys for the old place. The nightmare is almost over, hooray! I really feel badly for the poor folks who end up renting that apartment. They cranked the price to over $3,600 a month base… and the utilities range, but can get up to $200. That apartment is not worth $3,800 a month to say the least.

… and they have zero intention of replacing the carpets that just turned five years old… (Yes, we were there for four complete years.)

But onto happier things. I have a fu...

Campfire Book Sale~

Greetings, folks! I just wanted to drop a quick note to mention that some of my catalogue is on sale over at campfire until April 13, 2025. If you’re new to the campfire platform, it’s a writing and sales platform for indies, and it might offer a solution for those of you who are looking to diversify where you purchase your books.

Happy reading!

I’m returning to the moving and writing gauntlet now. Please don’t worry if you don’t hear from me for a little while.

With a little luck, we’l...

BYOK (Bring Your Own Keyboard), Part I

I recently posted that I had acquired a pomera for myself, which I hugely love. It’s slick, it’s sexy, and it’s fun. But there is another device that I’m hella looking forward to receiving, the BYOK. (Yes, it stands for Bring Your Own Keyboard.)

Note: image blatantly lifted from BYOK’s website.

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I mean, look at this cute little thing. It fits in a pocket! I can literally just take this teeny tiny wretchedly adorable processor and shove it into my pocket while flinging a portable keyboar...

The Economics of Books (Part II)

As I have gotten more than a few comments expressing gratitude for the education portion of my posts, I’m going to do a somewhat deep dive on the Lowrance Vampires series. (You know, to celebrate the upcoming release of Death Dance.)

So, let’s do some math!

As I mentioned before, approximately $33,000 is my “I need the book to make this much to earn back the time, investment, and so on” value for a novel. That essentially covers my living expenses, taxes, and fees to produce the book.

I...