How I produce a book, and a little promotion

I'm No Angel , Kindle edition, is done and available for pre-order before its release date of January 16. Order now, if you haven’t already, get your friends to do it too, and help me raise the book’s visibility.

The audiobook will come out on either the 16th or the 17th, with the paperback following shortly thereafter.

The process for getting a book out the door is long and detailed. Writing is the most straightforward of the steps along the way, though of course it’s also the most work. Then comes rewrites, which I’m pretty obsessive about. I probably do my best work in the first revision, but I am constantly polishing. Don’t be fooled by the casual, conversational tone of these books. I work hard to give them that breezy quality.

Then there’s copy editing and proofreading. Tedious but necessary.

At the same time I’m in editing mode, I begin to plan the cover. I present my designer, Dan Wolfe, with either a scene or two from the book or a general concept. Example: the cover for THE RELUCTANT DEMON came from my idea to have Steve look like Rodin’s The Thinker. A few elements I insist upon. The covers must have a cartoonish quality. I like bright and cheery for these tales. When you’re dealing with Hell as your setting, you want the covers to communicate to a new reader that these are silly comedies, not dark ones.

With I’M NO ANGEL, I wanted the audiobook released simultaneously with the ebook. That’s a bit of a trick, but Michael Gilboe, narrator for the entire series, and I are coordinating closely to make it happen. Oh, Michael and I collaborate on the musical intros for the audiobooks. I pick a theme, record a few bars on my tuba (yes, I play tuba - you can laugh now), and send the WAV file to Michael for him to work with.

And so, barring an eleventh hour catastrophe, I’m essentially done at last.

To celebrate the January 16 release of I’M NO ANGEL, book five of the CIRCLES IN HELL series, I am giving away Kindle copies of previous books in the series. For five days recently, I gave away HELL’S SUPER, volume one. Here is the rest of the giveaway schedule, for those of you who are still missing titles from the series.

January 13 - A COLD DAY IN HELL (book two)
January 14 - DEAL WITH THE DEVIL (book three)
January 15 - THE RELUCTANT DEMON (book four)

And don’t forget to order I’M NO ANGEL before January 16!