Cameron Jace's Blog, page 4

I Am Alive Re Release, I Am Alive book 2, and Blood Apples

OK, First, all apologies for my long absence. It's been a crazy months, but it wasn't in vein.

 
                                                                   


As many of you know, I am rereleasing the I Am Alive series as a serial. I am not going to go into the reason now, but what you should know is that the series has been almost rewritten, its plot is tighter, and its character's way better, and of course it's all been edited professionally a zillion times. To those who have not read the series yet, I believe you will really enjoy it. For those who have and are looking for I AM ALIVE book 2, you'd be looking for Increscent: I Am Alive book 2 Episode 1.Here is is how the series is broken down with release dates:1) I Am Alive book 1 Episode 1    Tuesday 11/13/20122) I Am Alive book 1 Episode 2    Tuesday 11/13/20123) I Am Alive book 1 Episode 3    Tuesday 11/13/20124) Increscent: I Am Alive book 2 Episode 1    Tuesday 11/13/20125) Increscent: I Am Alive book 2 Episode 2    11/27/20126) Increscent: I Am Alive book 2 Episode 3    11/24/2012
To check out the series in detail, you can check it here on goodreads so you don't get confused:http://www.goodreads.com/series/89669-i-am-alive-serial
As for the Blood Apples ( Grimm Prequel 6 ) will be available 11/13/2012 as well, along with the first 5 prequels for free too.
I chose November 13th because it's my birthday so it would be a nice celebration with all of these releases. Also the main reason for the serial is to give me enough time to finish r-writing Snow White Sorrow, which should comes after those release dates. I will blog about it soon enough:)
Thanks for the patience and all the support, I will post a goodreads event for the Birthday release with more details in a couple of days
Cam:)

Good News, Bad News, and my first Soundtrack!

Ok. Before reading anything, check out my awesome song!


Did you hear that??!! Please spread! So I was in the middle of my vacation and I remembered when the Monsters were singing Leo's song in the Playa, so i decided to change the song in the book from 'I Am Alive' to 'Sometimez' ( yes it's with a Z -- sue me )  This is one of the songs my band and I had recorded a couple of years ago, when I was still playing music. So right now, I am pushing this e-reading experience up a notch. Let's have Book Soundtracks composed by authors.
Readers and Fans will receive this song high quality soon when i re-release I Am Alive in it's new episodic form ( including book 2 )
Right now - enjoy the song and spread it around. I hope you like it.
So this was the GOOD NEWS. Another part of the good news is that such a short vacation helped me write more. I got rainbows and kiwi jumping out of my brain -- whatever that last sentence means. I discovered that i have wasted so much time with Internet issues without practicing what i love the most at the moment -- writing, that is.
And now for the bad news, which are not bad to me, but some of you will hate me for that.
I AM POSTPONING THE RELEASE OF SNOW WHITE SORROW!
I feel I am hit with tomato  in my face already. But hear me out. At this very moment, i have Snow White Sorrow and the second book Cinderella Dressed in Ashes FINISHED. I could just easily publish two books, each one 100,000 words, back to back. 
But I will not.
Here is why: 1) I learned a lot in the last months, and would like that to show in the books so I have to rewrite parts to make them better. 2) I discovered that the series might have more potential than I have ever thought, so I will really revise it to death, so I am sure this is my best effort.3)  Having helping online friends, supporting readers, and sincere editors is something I don't want to waste. I could USE all of you to make this much better * evil grin *, starting from helping beta readers to helping promoters.4) I want to focus on I Am Alive for the next month. I know some of you are fans of one series and not of the other, but I don't want to start Snow White Sorrow having to switch to other episodes in I Am Alive at the same time. I Am Alive trilogy is going to end before the end of this year.5) This is the most important. The Grimm Prequels taught me alot about how things are done and what readers like and which audience I am targeting with Snow White Sorrow. Since I made up my mind that the Grimm Diaries will hundred percent a young adult book ( I wasn't sure before ) I need to rework it.6) So when, what, and how? I will post about it soon.

Apologies, Time-off, and Sunshine on the Beach

Huh. Where do I begin.
Ok, As you know Ashes to Ashes & Cinder to Cinder is unavailable on amazon.com for the second day now. The reason is, according to amazon, that a reader/readers complained about having no table of contents ( in a short story? * scratching my head * ) and that readers with color devices can't read on black backgrounds. ( I remember when we used to read real books, I think we didn't have that option even when you tucked yourself under the blanket with a flash light in your hands, you couldn't turn that page black, damn! )

So I fixed that and send the file back to amazon, totally neglecting the divine coincidence that this happened the day the book was free in what looked liked a successful 5 free day promo, and totally neglecting Amazon's refusal to refund that free  day ( we get 5 free days from amazon every 90 days in exchange of making our books exclusive to them ) . They sent me an email saying that my book is back to life. I go check it. It's still unavailable. So I send them back, blah blah blah. And they say it still needs fixing, which at this moment is beyond my expertise. I checked the book on several devices, it works like a charm. I guess my charm didn't have the power to enchant that specific complaining reader yet.

PS. i want to note that I totally owe amazon, because without them I wouldn't have met all the lovely readers I have now. They have a keen customer service that really cares about both readers and writers, and I thank them for that, but when they do something that I can't understand, I point it out.

So basically, this is almost a dead end for the book. I sent the poor 30 pages to a professional book formatter and I am awaiting a reply, wondering if this is the Queen of Sorrow's curse or something.

OF  COURSE THE BIGGEST VICTIM IN ALL THAT ARE THE READERS WHO WERE PROMISED A 5 DAY FREE OFFER. Well, the offer is still on, following the dates we agreed upon. It is possible to read to books 1,3,4,5 and then later read 2. You will not miss alot. They are supposed to be separated diaries of different characters. All I can do is apologize and apologize, and then maybe apologize some more, even though I almost have nothing to do with this, and I will surely lose alot by hosting an unsuccessful event where I wanted to put my books out for free.
Now here is why I am writing this post: I am not going to mention all the stupid bad things from hate emails to plagiarism accusations to bad mouthing me on twitter. Although I didn't expect all that, I always convinced myself that I had nothing to do with that. I am peaceful dude who just loves to write. I actually love to write more than I love to get published. The idea of writing itself and messing around with my characters is all the fun I had in this journey. That someone else liked what I spilled out of my brain makes the fun double.
But now all this nonsense is wearing me out. I haven't slept well the last months, sitting in front of a lab top, waiting for amazon to approve my book, or answering every email.
Then I suddenly remembered. "Hey Cameron, Wuzzup. You used to have a life, right? What happened to that?"
So I really rather go to the beach, shake my ass to some music, drink up, and have fun with friends. I feel like Al Pacino in the movies HEAT ( yeah, I know old movie ) when he finally was fed up with chasing Robert De Niro and remembered he had a life that is ten times better than chasing criminals.

So expect me to disappear for a while. i need to clear my head, have fun, and best off all have time to write. And to all those net haters, I have these words for you, like Decca Tenderstone said to the Faya audience in the Zeppelins in the I Am Alive series: Go have a life! Go love somebody, grow up, have fun, and if you can't a smile on your grumpy face, trying to putting on someone else's. And I will add: the hell with grammar, the hell with spelling mistakes, and formatting, and haters, and competitors. Go to the beach and shake you ass to some Rihanna or Gaga music. Live instead of watching life happen on the your computer screen.
God bless all the Monsters and thank HIM for giving us fairy tales.
Over and out:)
Cameron

The Grimm Prequels 5 days FREE Palooza!

I am not sure if this event should be called palooza, but what the heck, it feels like a party:)


The Grimm Prequels from 1 to 5 will be FREE for 5 days from the 20th of September until the 24th. Each day, a new prequel will available for free on amazon.com's kindle, including the latest Mary Mary Quite Contrary.

For those who have been reading the series, I suggest you download the newer versions of the previous prequels too ( you will have to delete your older version on your kindle in order to do that ) because the newer versions are professionally edited, with added/removed parts that tighten the novellas, and have my author's notes at the end of every prequel explaining some references and where the ideas came from.

Please make sure you remember the dates because each book will only be free for 24 hours:
1) Thursday 09/20/2012 : Snow White Blood Red.
    Get it FREE HERE:

2) Friday 09/21/2012 : Ashes to Ashes and Cinder to Cinder
    Get it FREE HERE:

3) Sunday 09/22/2012: Beauty Never Dies
    Get it FREE HERE

4) Saturday 09/23/2012: Ladle Rat Rotten Hut
     Get it FREE HERE

5) Monday 09/24/2012 : Mary Mary Quite Contrary
    Get it FREE HERE

for a reminder a day before the event you can attend the event on goodreads http://bit.ly/UXN0Ye

MEANWHILE, the 3rd free GIVEAWAY of any kindle book of your choice is still on.
you can enter below to win it.



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Mary Mary Quite Contrary - Grimm Prequels 5

    Ok. Finally Mary Mary Quite Contrary is finished. Surprisingly, it's  as short as Snow White Blood Red. That's because it's straight to the point. You get to meet Mr Devil, and learn new things about Peter Pan, Brothers Grimm, Ladle Rat Rotten Hut, and of course you get to meet Mary ( whoever trat is )    This prequel, although short, took the longest to write. It's because it has a certain message that I want to get across without spoiling too much about the Fairy Tale World. And seriously, at least to me, it has one of the most original twist I have ever read. It's one one of those twist that totally make sense as if it's not a twist at all. Also this prequel is different and darker in a good, silly, childish kinda way.
    One of the best things I like in this prequel that it will explain a controversial scene at the end of Snow White Blood Red. I hope this we let get used on things that sounds vague in one prequel but will always be explained later. I always plan before hand.    I have sent to beta readers to get their opinion on it first, so I haven't decided when I will make it available for free on amazon.com. Like always, the days it will be free, it will have the four previous prequels free as well. This time, they finally professionally edited.
So until then, and don't forget to take a chance of the Free Book second giveaway here

Free Kindle Book of your Choice #GIVEAWAY #2

 As you know previous winners of the giveaway were

FIRST WINNER ( random.org. ) is Amanda Theurich, and her book is Starling Lesley Livingston!

SECOND WINNER ( only this time rafflecopter.com ) is Merisha Abbott! One of the The Grimm Prequels!

Congrats to both.

The new giveaway starts back to back today with the same rules. Enjoy, and I wish you luck:)


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Giveaway: Free Kindle Book of your Choice

I've wanted to do this for a long time. The Grimm Prequels have been in the bestseller Amazon.com list for 3 months now, under the category of Spine Chilling Horror. That's 4 books in this category, each one is a novella, no more than 35 pages. To me, this has been most amazing -- I just started self-publishing 3 months ago. With all the typos and errors the short books were filled with before being edited, I can't be thankful enough.

So I am hosting a WEEKLY FREE GIVEAWAY on my blog until the end of the September. Each week, the winner will get a kindle gift book from me. And this time IT'S ANY BOOK OF YOUR CHOICE as long as it is under $10. I will be paying this from the revenue of the Grimm Diaries Prequels -- which isn't really much -- but i believe in good Karma.

I will not ask you to follow my blog or follow me on Twitter and all that stuff. This pure giveback to the world -- especially to the readers who have the knack to believe in indie authors and a good stories. Something I do believe in -- however cliched you think it sounds. And besides, when I was a kid reading books, I'd have loved this offer for myself :)

You will find out how to enter the gieveaway below. You could log in with your email or Facebook. All you're asked is to tweet about this giveaway so others get the chance to win, and write down the book you wish to win. Both actions are mandatory. There is a third action that is left for you choice.

I know some of my readers don't use twitter. If you happen to be one of them, just write a comment, explaining that on the blog, and i will see to add you in the giveaway. I think if you don't use twitter, it will be a good thing if you try to spread the word through word of mouth or facebook or goodreads.

the winner will choosing through random.org


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Mary Mary Quite Contrary ( The Grimm Prequels #5 )

Like usual, I have shifted Blood Apples ( Grimm Prequels #5 ) to become the sixth installment in the series. Blood Apples is dense and reveals too much in the Dreamworld, so I preferred to delay it a little for better rewriting.

Another reason is that I will replace it with Mary Mary Quite Contrary ( which is now number #5 ) you can check it out HERE

I did not want to put Mary Mary Quite Contrary in the Prequels. I wanted it to be a chapter in Snow White Sorrow. That's because it has one of the dearest revelations to me, and it's a lot darker than the rest. But since I am finally working with 2 editors which hopefully will enhance my work so we get rid of all those errors in the books, I thought I owe readers of the Prequels to know about the big stuff, because the editing will mostly postpone the release of Snow White Sorrow -- I don't want this special book to suffer from bad editing, because it seriously has potential -- at least I think so.

I haven't set a release date, but will soon and will create a goodreads event for it.

Mary Mary Quite Contrary is darker, and will sound different. What's most important about it is that it has a revelation that is explains an item that repeatedly appears in fairy tales but is never explained, and that it links Nursery Rhymes to the Real World to Fairy Tales -- which is basically what this series is all about. If you like Mary Mary Quite Contrary, you will like the rest that's coming even better.

Have to go now and keep writing Increscent. Doing my best to get it done ASAP.

So the the order of the series is as follows
1 Snow White Blood Red
2 Ashes to Ashes & Cinder to Cinder
3 Beauty Never Dies
4 Ladle Rat Rotten Hut
5 Mary Mary Quite Contrary
6 Blood Apples
7 Not yet named ( the final episode )

PS. the whole series will available in one book after the 7th installment. By this time, it will be edited by professionals and rewritten. And always remember that reading Snow White Sorrow does not require you to have read the Prequels. It's just gives heads up.

I Am Alive New Edition Soon

UPDATE: I have unpublished the book I Am Alive today while it was had numerous rave reviews ( as much as bad ) and was in the paid bestsellers list of amazon.com in action and adventures, and girl and women section. Many of you have downloaded it for free, and I don't feel that others should pay for it until it's edited within the month.

It's my responsibility to admit that my book I AM ALIVE wasn't properly edited. Its grammar mistakes, spellings, and other things. If you have read my books before, you'd know that I never marketed the this book. Most of my readers know me for the Grimm Diaries.

I just had an opportunity to so provide the book for free on amazon kindle, and had the help of a couple of 2 major blogs to list them the days the book was free. And of course, word of mouth of the most kind and enthusiastic friends on the internet. ( whom I can never thank enough ) .I had no expectation that the book will be downloaded that much.

To make the story short, I hired a new editor, and a second edition will be free again by the end of the month. The editor said it will take that long.

For those who were irked by this, I hope you'll find the second edition easier to read.

If you're only interested in the new edition, this blog post ends here. If you want to know more about me and the situation and why this happened, read on:

Let me explain a couple of things. First of all I am an indie writer. I have a day job. I live good. Happy with what I've got. But I can't afford extra expenses like editors or marketers or all the other things a popular, traditionally published book gets. I am not trying to get anyone's sympathy, and I don't need it. I think I represent the majority of thousands of Indie writers who do their best to be read.

You have no idea of the millions of dollars spent on any of your favorite published books out there. Each book gets edited dozens of times by the best editors in the market, if not by more than three or four editors. Each book has a marketing campaign behind it that spreads the book all over the internet ( and the world ), making sure you won't miss how awesome this upcoming book is before it even comes out. Each book gets quotes from Stephen Kind, and the like, to shoot its sales to the roof. % star reviews from elite reviewers no can dream of even talking to ( I tried actually )
Readers might not know that there is a big team, powerful a the Avengers, standing behind the book you get and love.

Does that mean I blame them or anything? Of course not. It's the right way to do it. Most of the bestseller books on shelves right not are awesome book, and I am an avid reader to many. All I am saying is, I am just a 29 year old writer who found an opportunity through self-publishing. The only help I get is from sites like amazon and goodreads, and the awesome people who pick up a book to read, one that they don't know anything about, and one that wasn't marketed intensively toward them, and read it, like it, and even spread the word and advise you to become better. This an indie writer's only weapon. The writers' job is to find those and reach for them.

Most Indie writers work with their passion to make a book come out and read. Remember, we have day jobs, and a life, and writing ususally doens't pay well. None of us has a sponsor who pays millions of dollars.

Does that mean that we don't want the reader to criticize, to point at flaws, and express their freedom to say how much this book sucked and that book was a bore? Not at all. You, as the reader, can do what you want and see right. All Indie writers would want from you is understand. Just understand. Just know that this is a self-published, self marketing, passionate writer, not the one whose job is only to write while there is a group of people that does all the other things for him. With all this technology around us, this is a new word of freedom of expression, and there is no better environment for the many starving and struggling artists outside that today.

Besides, as much as there are readers who get mad and complain, there is a huge number of readers who support us in the most amazing ways.

When I Am Alive hit number 30 in all amazon.com free kindle bestseller list this weekend, someone in a forum told me, "I hope this translates into real sales when the books isn't free anymore."
I replied, saying that was not the point because the real point was to be read. I get about one email almost everyday from someone who read one of my books and liked it. I reply to each of those emails, and we even become friends, because you know what, this means to me so much I couldn't explain in words. ( I do also receive bad emails which I rather not talk about )

 Since I started self-publishing three month ago, I hadn't been sleeping well. Here is what I do everyday: I go to my job. Instead of relaxing in the lunch break, I think about the outlines of the next book. I think about it when I am on my way home. I spend the afternoon writing, marketing, emailing, spreading the word, learning, re-editing, and above all reading. ( you can't write if you don't read enough ) So basically I have had almost not seen my friends and loved ones for the last three month. It's a lot to do on your own.

So why am I doing it? Because I love it. I have always been writing since I was sixteen. It's one of my passions. I have 12 books under my belt. 12. Of course none off them was cared for and enhanced by a troop of book marketing and editing Avengers, but they will, and they will come out. It just takes time.

Still, all of this is not an excuse for having a badly edited book. It's an explanation. I edited Snow White Blood Red three times, and it cost me, and still no one was satisfied with the editing. So I stopped.

Anyway, I can't express how happy I am. Because if I Am Alive, with all the hype about how badly it was written, and how much the grammar sucked, reached the bestseller list of amazon in the action and adventure genre ( that's not the free one, but the paid one ), about 40 steps behind legends like Hunger Games and Divergent, you have no idea what this means to me, and you have no idea what this means at all. It means that this book has potential. All it needs is to get edited properly. That's why this time I am hiring and editor and paying from my own little savings, because it seems that there is something to bet on here. I have had 4 short stories on the bestseller lists for three month. Each book is about 20 pages. That's something publishing houses look for.

The power of a book or the writer is not work ( edited or not ) it's the readers. And i thank again all those enthusiastic readers who spread the word, accepted me as an Indie reader, and even told where there was a spelling or a grammar mistake in my books. If someone deserves applause, it would be them. I am just the storyteller.

Anyways, I am not fond of writing blogs like this where I explain myself. The only thing in the world I am fond of is having fun. That's what I try to do in my books.

So to let you know, I might pull I Am Alive from the amazon kindle shelves soon, and re-release it when it's edited again. If this happens as planned, it will remind me of super writers like Sarah J. Mass who I read about 4 years ago in Fiction Press, and everyone was crazy about her books. She was picked up by a major company and now her same book that she wrote in fiction press, edited and marketed, will eventually be hot the bestseller soon. ( the book is called Throne of Glass, and it's awesome, like really awesome ).

Finally, I read a writing coach's blog a couple of days ago, and she said something that hit me. She said that there is difference between writing and storytelling. She said that she can teach you the best techniques of writing you'd master the language like no one did. But no matter what she teaches you, she can't teach you storytelling, because that is an art, if not a sole gift that no amount of courses can teach.

If a number of people like my books, then I am a storyteller. All I need is to learn some rules, and that is so easy and doable. You know why? Because I Am Alive :)

Increscent ( I AM ALIVE #2 ) cover reveal

First of all, it took me sometime until I settled on that beautiful word: Increscent. It's such beautiful, meaningful, and rare ( if you right on in your messages, your phone will insist that it's crescent )
the word is usually associated with the moon before it turns full, and it perfectly describes Decca in book 2.

I was going to call the book The World is Not Enough, but then this word found me.

And the cover took sometime to develop. I might add some sparkling stars or a a fading crescent moon to it.

and as for the date, I am doing my best to bring it out on the 30th of august.

thanks for all those who supported the book and liked it with heart. I consider myself ten folds lucky with readers that do help me more than I try to entertain them.

Anyhow, it's Saturday, go out, have fun, fall in love maybe ... if not ... eat ice cream.

Ah, forgot, if you haven't read book one of I AM ALIVE it's HERE and Free at the moment http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0085W8KIO/


and of course Increscent link is HERE on Goodreads, but it's not out yet