The Keeley Pals Summer Series! (No, it won't be called that)

[ArgyrosfeniX]

[PS Power]

Argy!



So, the point was, other than that I need to pay closer attention to peoples names, that there should be a mailing list/announcement thing coming soon! It will be big. Huge. Like tens of people, or possibly more!

[Mark]

Hey! Since Keeley and friends are all 16-17 shouldn't they be going into junior or senior year after the summer? Or have we skipped a year and they're graduating High school?

Don't end Keeley Dale! The YA length means she hasn't gotten as much screen time as anyone else but she's one of your most popular characters.

[PS Power]

Becky and Eve are graduating. Darla too, though that technically doesn't count.

The rest are Juniors.

Keeley is about at the end of her current arc, but that doesn't mean she won't be around or have another set of books later. If people want them, then I'll put them out, but this is a bit of a waiting period for me. Right now people aren't finding the books fast enough to make it worthwhile to keep writing them really.

Hence the mailing list, as mentioned above!

*My theory on book sales: Most of the time a "new" author, will develop a fan base for their books over several years time. So they have a full year between books to work up a new crowd that wants to read the next one, and sales are good when it comes out. The rate of books is slower than people like, but they still have more time to find things, as a group.

The new world of publishing means that things can come out faster, but we don't have mechanisms in place for everyone to keep up with all of it. I have an odd sense that a lot of people have read "to date" in a series or two and then pulled back, thinking it will be a year for the next one to come out, so haven't even bothered looking again. Really, I think that it's about 70% or more of all readers that do that, too.

So me continuing to put out new works all the time just means some of them are sitting there, even if they're well received, have good editing and nice covers on them.

I stronger person would probably wait before bringing anything out for a while. Since that isn't my way, I need some other way to impact the process.

If anyone has ideas, let me know!

[Ronald Dukarski]

Dale, I think there maybe another reason. The fan base you have are avid readers, people who read many more books than average. People who take advantage of your prodigious capacity to create. I'm sure the people on this forum, at least, read way more and faster than any group I know or can think of. My bet would be the average person reads only four or five novels a YEAR, much less than the average forum visitor does in a month. That means most people only get to experience four or five new author's per year , but subtract any author's they are already tracking. So, it's up to us to get your books out to more of the public. The mystery you just wrote should help do just that. (By the way I just finished it. Great book! I hope by using "chronicles" you mean there will be more. Many more.) Hopefully, someone finding it will look for more books by you and find all the other series. Just don't spread yourself to thin. We need you.

[Hokonoso]

I agree with Ronald. I read about a 1-3 books a day some days let alone a week/year... I def would enjoy more keeley and zack books and I'm sure everyone who reads those books would agree with me, ending their arcs is a bad idea!!!

[iamentropy]

I agree with the last two comments. I've read...shoot, 9 new books this past week plus Off Center (again). When I started reading your books I would search for new ones every time I came on Amazon just on the chance one would be there. I was pleasantly surprised to have them come up so quickly. I hate to say it but it took me longer than it should have before I realized that schedule was the norm.

I don't recall, but is there something in the comments at the end about the schedule being faster than "normal"? Maybe that would get more folks to pay attention. That, and having copies off of Amazon maybe. I've had several friends ask about authors and you're the first one I mention, but I'm forever finding people that don't have a Kindle or hate Amazon or some other reason that they can't find the books.

[Ronald Dukarski]

The last comment brings up an interesting question, Dale. Does Amazon/Kindle require exclusivity? Do you offer your work through other E-publishers? Not everyone goes to Amazon for books. How about Smashwords, or Barnes&Noble/Nook? Must be other E-publishers as well. Or distributors anyway.

[PS Power]

Amazon Select does require exclusivity. All of my books except Ijime are currently enrolled. (Three month cycles on that.)

This allows for Amazon to lend the books with their special program, which works decently enough.

I tried using Smashwords for Ijime, but found that nothing happened at all on it. I mean no real action. I was giving the book away free there too, and Amazon still beat it by a hundred and six copies. Those, on Amazon were .99 cents. So, while I was thinking about doing it that way, it doesn't seem to work well for me a this time.

I can format things into different versions, but it takes a lot of work, for little actual use, again, so far.

I'll probably try it again in the future, but for now I'm planning to stick with Kindle. Now, the trick there is that, if I don't go with select, I can sell the books directly in other formats, say from the web-site? If there is ever enough interest for that. The market keeps altering, so who knows what may come?

I'd rather people be able to read the books than not, but like I said, it's a lot of work and I'd want at least a bit of repayment for my time, even if only in readership.

[bitflipper]

Just chiming in with my $0.02: I'd love to see the Keeley-verse through Calley's eyes!! I also think it would be nice to explore Shifters' culture of mercenaries and honor to counterpoint Demons' amoral society and Vampires' Machiavellian cloak-and-dagger lives.

I'll also add a vote of confidence for Amazon Select; I first read the Keeley Thomson, not-Zack Hartley*, really-Zack Hartley**, and Eve Benson books through Kindle Unlimited, which draws from Amazon Select.

*Alternate Places, which, at the time, confused the bejeebers out of me as I tried to get it to fit in with Keeley and Eve!
**Other Places, obviously