Here’s me signing books at Ottawa’s Prose in the Park last week. I met some super interesting fellow authors and thoroughly enjoyed chatting to readers about the Embodied trilogy. Thanks to all those who came out!
Publishing
Bad, bad blogger; big, fat book.
It’s been a while. I’ve been a bad, bad blogger! But I’m back with some exciting news.
The entire Embodied trilogy is now available as a 3-in-1 paperback, and you can get it from Amazon here.
This is the best (and most affordable!) way to read the trilogy in print. Otherwise you’ll be faced with the following excruciating scenario: You’ll have to lever yourself out of your chair or bed once you’ve finished reading Silent Symmetry, then stagger to your bookshelf and locate your copy of Starley’s Rust. Once you’ve found it and made it back to your preferred reading spot, you’ll have to do the same thing all over again a couple hours later for Diamond Splinters. Sounds like a lot of trouble to go to in comparison with buying all three books in one and staying in bed all day while you read them.
But if for whatever reason a nice, thick paperback isn’t for you, the Embodied trilogy ebook special edition is still available to download for Kindle or to read for free on Kindle Unlimited.
The other bonus of buying the paperback version of the trilogy is that you could be the first to review it on Amazon. Score!
Thank you to Alex Nereuta and Phoenix, The Creative Studio for the cover design and to Yannick Giguère for photographing the book.
Holiday season news!
It’s been a while since I posted and now instead of using my words like a grownup I’ve decided to go all video on you like a millennial. But since WordPress won’t let me embed a YouTube link, you’ll have to click here or on the screen grab below to find out my latest news.
The video is only a minute long, so there’s no Christmas-ruining time investment!
(Hint: the video is about the first story in the Embodied prequel series…)
And on that mysterious note, season’s greetings to all of you. All the best for the holidays and 2017!
Doing things backward(s)
First off, I had no idea when I moved to North America 29 years ago this month that there would be so many finicky differences to negotiate in the English language. Sure, I understood that trousers were pants and the pavement was a sidewalk, because everyone in England knows that. I also understood that after going through labor, American moms put their babies in diapers, while British mums go through labour and put their babies in nappies. But once I became a writer, I discovered all kinds of nuances and subtleties I hadn’t anticipated. Apart from every single part of a car (auto… hood/bonnet, turn signals/indicators, trunk/boot, gun compartment/glove compartment, gas/petrol, windshield/windscreen, wreck/crash… hmmm… that’s a story in itself!), there are adverbs like toward, backward, forward and such like, which I always thought could only be towards, backwards, and forwards. That meant I had to go backward(s) through the first draft of Silent Symmetry fixing them all.
So… while I’m on the subject of backward, I should really have announced my book launch on the day it was actually published (yesterday) instead of writing about my book tour and new website. I guess that’s why I’m a writer and not a publicist (although many of them are great writers, so I’ll just hang my head in shame and feel inadequate).
Therefore… reverse drum roll, please… out yesterday!… the Embodied trilogy special edition ebook collection. Preview it by clicking right here or on the link on the right. Not only does it contain all three books in the series, but a new author foreword, deleted scenes from the end of Diamond Splinters, and a treasure hunt/quiz to see how much readers know about the Embodied and their world.
And while we’re on the theme of yesterday, here’s one of my favourite songs. And it’s a song about favourite songs!
I said it would be out next month. I lied.
It’s what fiction writers do, see? We lie. And the paperback version of Diamond Splinters is already available from Amazon right here even though I promised it would be out next month.
Next up, a single-volume collection of the entire trilogy. Promise…
The Embodied trilogy is complete!
If you’ve been waiting to find out what happens to Kari Marriner and the people she loves, wait no more! Diamond Splinters, book 3 of the Embodied trilogy, is out today. Available in paperback next month, you can buy the ebook right now for Kindle here, for Apple iOS devices here, for the Barnes & Noble Nook ereader here, and for Kobo here.
Please take a couple of minutes to leave a short review (I really want to hear readers’ thoughts!) on whichever site you purchased Diamond Splinters. Thanks!
A title. A cover. A compliment.
The publication date of the final installment in the Embodied trilogy has been set for May 5, and today I’m revealing both the cover and the title. Drum roll, please…
In Diamond Splinters, prep school senior Kari Marriner has a heart-wrenching choice to make: rescue her mother or prevent aliens destroying the Earth. The cover by designer extraordinaire Alex Nereuta shows the two men in Kari’s life who are inextricably wrapped up in her adventure: her boyfriend and fellow student Cruz, and the other-worldly Noon, leader of the Temple of Truth.
In my last post I put out a public call for input on which title to choose from the following options: The Diamond Sphere, Diamond Splinters, and Diamond Scars. In the end it was a close call between the latter two but Splinters won out. You’ll have to read the book to discover what the spheres, scars, and splinters are all about!
An early reader of Diamond Splinters has already given me a huge compliment by saying, “Kari is a total feminist badass. Diamond Splinters is YA for a fun, independent brainy chick into saving the universe.”
If you’re into smart urban fantasy/science fiction, then Diamond Splinters is for you, whether you’re a young adult, man or woman. Or alien.
Call for beta readers!
The Embodied trilogy of urban fantasy-science fiction YA novels is almost complete. As you can see in the image below, I’ll be revealing the name and cover of book 3 on April 4th. I’m now looking for beta readers for the entire trilogy, which includes new editions of books 1 and 2: Silent Symmetry and Starley’s Rust.
So… the first 50 people who sign up for my mailing list or email me (johnbduttonauthor@gmail.com) will receive a FREE ebook of the entire Embodied trilogy to read and give feedback on if they have any.
This is a very cool opportunity for fans of the genre who haven’t read the first two novels to catch up, and for followers of the series to get in on the action before the thrilling conclusion is released to the general public.
Thanks!
Homegrown sales from foreign soil
Author Elliott Katz details how he went about selling the foreign language rights to his book and then leveraged those agreements to produce promotional fuel like this back home: “Translated into 24 languages by publishers in Europe, Asia and Latin America.”
The series of dreadpunk novellas I’m currently working on is set in nineteenth century Montreal, so it would make perfect sense for me to sell the rights for a French translation (at minimum) when the time comes. I’ll definitely refer back to Elliott’s success story.
Any followers of this blog had experience with foreign-language rights sales? Let me know down below!
Rejection dejection!
Are you an aspiring author who is feeling down about the number of rejections you’ve received? Instead of engaging in some retail therapy this Black Friday, take five minutes out of your writing schedule to peruse this incredible collection of rejection snippets.
Future best-selling author.
Here are a few good ones:
Despite 14 consecutive agency rejections Stephenie Meyer‘s Twilight goes on to sell 17 million copies and spends 91 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list.
“An absurd and uninteresting fantasy which was rubbish and dull.” Rejection letter sent to William Golding for The Lord Of The Flies. 15 million sales.
“You have no business being a writer and should give up.” Zane Grey ignores the advice. There are believed to be over 250 million copies of his books in print.
Apparently, continual rejection may even be a sign of future success, so hang in there!
Photo credit: KatLevPhoto / Foter.com / CC BY-NC
Sitting at your desk isn't work 