New author website!

Thanks to the wonderful tools provided by Squarespace and a wee bit of time on my part, I now have a new author website! (And, judging by this photo, a bunch of old-school tech devices lying around in my office…)

As you’ll see, this site is all about my JB Dutton nom de plume, since I’ll be putting more focus over the next 12 months on other stories that feature the Embodied, as well as my dreadpunk series that will also be published under JB Dutton. I’m sending John B. Dutton out on a sabbatical and I hope he thoroughly enjoys it!

 

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!

Countdown to launch!

Only 10 days left until all is revealed! Diamond Splinters, book 3 of the Embodied trilogy, is out May 5. Pre-order the ebook today on Amazon.

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!

 

Name my book!

Hey everyone – here’s an opportunity you don’t get every day. I’m going to spend a week or two asking people what I should call the final volume of the Embodied trilogy. Books 1 and 2 are titled Silent Symmetry and Starley’s Rust, and I’m polling friends and fans to choose one of three options for book 3:

Diamond Spheres

Diamond Splinters

Diamond Scars

If you haven’t read any of the other books in the trilogy, no problem! I need a title that will appeal to casual browsers in the Amazon store. Yes, I have a personal fave, but I thought it would be fun to collect some other opinions. And as we all know in this social media age, everyone has an opinion.

So either write your choice of title in the comments below or click on this link to use the online poll I just set up (it’s one click, takes about 5 seconds).

I really appreciate your help with this. By all means share this post or the link to the poll.

John

PS – The book is in the editing process right now and should be out by spring, followed by a compendium version of all three books!

Books 1 and 2 in the Embodied trilogy.

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

Some authors are stuck in the past, others have forgotten the past

Blogger Kristen Lamb entertainingly tells it like it is.

A great way to start a trilogy

From now until the end of November, book 1 of the Embodied trilogy of Young Adult fantasy-sci-fi novels, Silent Symmetry, is priced at only 99 cents or 99 pence for the Kindle ebook. (Due to international currency shenanigans, the book is $1.32 in Canada.)

But there’s more! This weekend, subscribers to my eNewsletter will be receiving a special coupon code for 33% off the second ebook in the series, Starley’s Rust. So sign up by clicking here – it takes about 15 seconds – and you’ll receive hot-off-the-press news about my upcoming work in your inbox every couple of months, plus exclusive offers like this.

Silent Symmetry has received some great independent reviews, with people saying things like, “I’ve never read about such mysterious creatures before and this book had that and more,” “I loved the natural way the author wove the tale, interlaced with questions resolving and mysteries uncovered. Even the ending left questions begging for a sequel,” and “I would recommend it, not only to my young adult friends, but my adult friends as well.”

The paperback version of Silent Symmetry. Click on the image to go to the ebook’s Amazon.com page.

Starley’s Rust has received acclaim from Broken Pencil Magazine:  “Dutton is in his element crafting together a sci-fi adventure with a good blend of sincerity and humour that, without such a fine balance, can be the downfall of any YA fiction,” and CM Magazine: “Imaginative concepts, and well-written … this trilogy should appeal to readers looking for an unusual thriller. Four stars out of four.”

The mysteriously untitled final novel in the trilogy is with my editor right now and will be out in early 2016.

One huge advantage of epublishing

Two days ago I released my sci-fi story The Information Monster as a Kindle ebook and wrote about it in this post. I was very happy with the cover, created by myself and my regular cover designer Alex Nereuta, but then I decided to run an Amazon ad campaign for the first time and noticed that the cool font we chose didn’t show up at all when reduced to a thumbnail. Not only that, but the “monster” made of stars also disappeared at a smaller scale. The upshot was that I was asking Amazon visitors to basically click on a black rectangle! I’m guessing that rule 101 of ebook marketing is that you should actually be able to see the cover, so changing it was an easy decision to make.

Although the original would have made a lovely print cover, Alex and I are very happy with the new one and it certainly a) stands out more, and b) is creepier. What do you think?

So here’s the beauty of epublishing: if this was a traditionally published print book and I needed to change the cover, I’d be screwed. With Amazon, all it took was a couple of hours and the new version was proudly online.

Oh, and before I forget, please leave a rating and/or review on Amazon if you read The Information Monster. Stars for stars!