Patreon Reminder

Hi everybody! Checking in with a reminder of my lovely Patreon page, and a shoutout to all of my current Patrons. (The few. The proud.) If you don’t know what Patreon is, it’s a website for content creators to put stuff up for their fans, who in turn support them by chipping in a tip or so a month. I’ve kept my page very simple and inexpensive. There are three tiers of support you can give me. At each level, you set it up once and Patreon charges you once a month from then on out. Set it and forget it.

The first support level is $1/month. You have my heartfelt thanks and (I assume) the thanks of all my other readers, seeing as how your support makes the blog possible. You’ll also get a free copy of Cavern of Babel (in pdf format). In addition, you get the right to sponsor one blog post a month. That means you get to give me a blog prompt (topic or something to review) and I’ll respond on the blog. There’s a forum on the message boards to do this.Join $1 Tier

The second support level is $2/month. You’ll get to read two chapters a month of an unpublished book by yours truly. The entirety of ICHABOD is already posted and waiting for you as soon as you sign up at this level. You could even sign up, read the book, and then cancel if you wanted, since all level two content is available to you as soon as you subscribe. I’m currently posting the entirety of another book of mine (PAWN OF THE DEAD) next. These chapters will be posted the first and third Friday every month.

In addition, all current First Class Woodchucks will get their names in the acknowledgements page of each book I publish. Your name, in print. (And to think your mother-in-law said you’d never amount to much!)Join $2 Tier

Finally, the third support level is $3/month. In addition to getting all the perks of the other levels, folks at this level will get to read one chapter of one of my current works in progress each month. (Talk about exclusive!) This chapter will be posted the second Friday every month. Join $3 Tier

As always, my original core group of Patreons can get any of these perks by just dropping me a line. Because they’re awesome like that.

In any case, if you’d like to support me, my writing, and this blog, this is the easiest way to do it, aside from buying my books. And if you can’t afford to do it, you could share this post with others, write reviews of my books, and tell other people they’re great. Thanks for all the help and support you’ve given me over the years. I appreciate it!

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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

An Update on the Future of the Blog

I just have a minute or two today to write, but I wanted to let you all know how the blog is looking these days. As you’ll recall, I began to question whether what I was writing each day was a good use of my time. To put that to the test, I created a Patreon page, trying to see if I could get 10 people to commit to donating $1/month. If I could get to that level, I’d take it as sign enough that I should keep at it.

So far, I’ve had 6 people pledge a total of $8/month, so I’m 4/5 of the way to my goal. Honestly, the most surprising thing to me has been the people who have donated. I thought it would be mostly personal friends or family members, but instead it’s been people at my work or in the community. I’m humbled to accept their support, and so grateful for their generosity.

I look at some of my author friends’ Patreons. Some are bringing in thousands of dollars each month. I know $10 isn’t a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, but it’s a sign to me, and it means a whole lot.

I’m planning on making my Patreon page into something more. I hope to use it to post special, exclusive content, as well as peeks into works in progress and books that ended up being set aside. I’ve written 17 novels, after all, and only 8 of those are still at some point in the submission process. I’ve got plenty of material to share, some good, some just a good example of what not to do. I’m planning on making tiers to my Patreon, giving different content to different levels of supporters.

But I’ll say this. Anyone who’s an official supporter as of the end of March is going into a special “Founders” section. They’ll always have access to all the tiers at whatever rate they choose to pay. As long as they remain Patrons, they’re there. And I will thank them personally in each and every novel I publish, as long as they remain supporters. I’m not kidding when I say how impressed I am by their generosity, and I hope that will pay it back at least a little. If you’re still interested in supporting me, the page is ready and willing to take donations.

In the meantime, I’m also adding back a small bit of advertising to the site. Just a simple link to THE MEMORY THIEF on Amazon. You’ll see it over there on the right of the page now. That takes you to Amazon’s site, and while you’re there on that visit, anything you buy will send a portion (about 2-4% of the price) to me. It’s kind of a “Finder’s Fee” incentive program Amazon uses. So if you’re going to buy something on Amazon anyway, and you’d like to support the page and me as an author, you can click that link first and do it without paying a dime.

The one trick is that I need to have three people use that in the next three months. After that, I’ll have to reapply for it. If three people use it before then, then I’m good to go, I think. So if you’re buying something from Amazon, please consider using that link to get there.

In any case, thanks to all for reading and for your comments and support. They’re all much appreciated!

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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. I’m looking to get to $10/month to justify the amount of time I spend on this blog. I’m at $8/month so far. Read this post for more information. Or click here to go to Patreon and sign up. It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

DC Reviews Jamberries

My sister just started a Jamberry nails business, and she wanted some input from the seven-year-old crowd, so she sent some nails to DC and asked her to review them. So without further ado, I present you with DC’s review of Jamberries. Enjoy!

Jamberry nails are stickers. They’re like these stickers that you put on you, but you’re putting them on your nails. You have to put them by somewhere warm, and you have to cut them in half so they fit you. You put them on instead of nail polish.

To put them on, you first match up your nails to the stickers, and then you cut them in half. The stickers. Not your nails. And you warm it up by something warm, like a heater or a hair dryer or something that is a thing that keeps you warm in your house. About maybe three or two minutes. [NOTE: My sister let me know it’s just 4 or 5 seconds.] And then they’re ready. Then you put them on. You have to cut the remaining sticker, and then put your nail by the warming thing that you’re using. Do all of the nails, and then there’s a pink or other colors thing that is rectangle shaped, and with that thing, you scrape off the little pieces that you might have not cut on your nail. [ANOTHER NOTE: She means a nail file.]

When it’s done, it looks pretty. I got cherries and stripes. After a while when they’re kind of banged up, they might come off. But they might not. And don’t try to peel the stickers off, because they will come off. My friends use them too, and if you need any more help, you can look on Youtube for how to put on Jamberries, and then they’ll tell you to.

I think they’re good to wear anytime. There are lots of different patterns, and just choose them and hopefully you’ll be happy with them. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give them a 10. I really liked them. And that’s all you need to know for Jamberries!

There you go, folks. I think that’s the longest thing she’s dictated to me. It was a fun thing for her and Denisa to do, and DC really enjoyed it. If you want to find out more, go check out my sister’s storefront online.

Vodnik Megasale and *Contest*! Please RT or Share

Happy Halloween, peoples!

I’m pleased to announce that my publisher is doing yet another awesome sale on VODNIK. As before, there’s a Friends & Family deal that’ll get you a good discount on the print version of the book (bringing it down to just $12.32), but this time, there’s also a huge sale on the ebooks, too.

We’re talking $1.99, folks, on the platform of your choice. Kindle, iBook, Nook, Google Play–you name it, now’s your chance. Cheaper than a Wendy’s Frosty. And while a Frosty would give you a few minutes of chocolatey goodness, Vodnik promises hours of Slovak folklore fun–and no brainfreeze!

Like last time, if you wouldn’t mind retweeting this or shilling it on Facebook, that would be awesome. The book’s won a couple of awards, and it’s held steady at 4+ stars on Goodreads. I’m not making it up when I say people like it. 🙂

INFO ON THE SALE:

Here’s the info on how to get 35% off the book (and free shipping):

And here are the relevant links to the ebooks.

• Kindle
• Nook
• iTunes
• Google

Oh–but wait. I’d mentioned something about a contest, didn’t I . . . ?

THE CONTEST RULES:

Here’s the dealio: I’m in the middle of the third draft of THE MEMORY THIEF (a new Middle Grade fantasy of mine). I’m willing to put naming rights of not one but TWO characters on the block for this promotion. That’s right, folks. You win this contest, you get to name the main character’s parents. And they’re in several scenes and play an important part in the novel.

See how much I love ya’ll? (Though I reserve the right to veto or tweak the names. I’m not letting my main character’s dad be named Muffin McSquiggles, after all.)

How do you enter ze contest?

Easy schmeasy. You get an entry for doing any of the following:

• Retweeting, blogging, Tumblr-ing, Facebook sharing, LinkedInning, Pinteresting–any social media networking–this post or just info on the sale itself (you could link to the $1.99 Kindle page, for example). If you’re a member of 15 different social media networks, and you post it to all 15, that gives you FIFTEEN DIFFERENT ENTRIES, yo. Post about it more than once? I’ll give you one entry per post. So if you nag all your friends on Facebook eighty-nine times to buy this book . . . you probably won’t have any friends left. But you WILL have 89 entries in ze contest. Because I’m feeling mag-freaking-nanimous.
• Review the book (good or bad–just be honest) on any site (Amazon, iTunes, GoodReads, Nook, Google, etc.) AND share that review on the social media network of your choice. If you’ve already reviewed it, no problemo–just share the review again. Again, multiple entries per share are allowed. (And if you share the review and mention that the book’s ON SALE NOW, then congrats–you’ve just earned 2 entries. I must be crazy.)
• Buy the book/ebook–That gets you an entry, too. One per copy. Sorry–new purchases only. (Though if you’ve already bought the book for yourself, thank you, thank you–a million times thank you. Wouldn’t your twenty favorite nieces and nephews also all like copies? Share the joy of Vodnik, and net yourself 20 entries in the process. Talk about the joy of giving!)

How will I know you’ve done any of these things? Make sure you email me to let me know what you did, OR just post a response to this post detailing your many fine efforts. This is all about trust, peoples. 🙂 You’re on your honor to tell the truth. If your immortal soul is worth getting traded for some falsified contest entries . . . just tell me what you did, and how many total entries you earned. Make sense?

NOTE: The sale ends October 22nd. So not quite for Halloween, but I couldn’t resist using the pic of the pumpkin I carved. 🙂 The contest ends October 23rd. I’ll pick a winner when I’m back from vacation–sometime at the beginning of November.

Bryceazon is Dead. Long Live Bryceazon

It’s true. It’s with a heavy heart that I must report on the demise of Bryceazon–that wonderful service where you would buy stuff on Amazon for yourself, and I would get a cut of the money. It was superbly self-serving, and it’s now been discontinued in Maine. Why? Because Maine is going to make Amazon start paying tax on any advertising efforts they make in Maine. Or something like that. But what that means is that I’ll have to stop shilling for The Man. Such is my lot in life.

On the plus side, now I can sound a little less like an infomercial, which is probably a nice thing for all you faithful readers out there. This year, shop wherever the heck you want. I don’t get a cut of anything. 🙂