Exciting news: the publisher of The Crimson Pact is now producing print copies of the book!

It’s a beautiful book and I’m excited to see my story in print. It’s great that we’re going to be tapping into the market of hardcore print-only book lovers. I am, however, only ordering a few copies to start off with–I’m having a hard enough time selling copies of Historical Lovecraft, of which I ordered numerous print copies. People just don’t seem to be excited about spending $15 on a book at a con when they can purchase it as an ebook for less–and take up less room in the luggage they have to drag home!

Luckily, however, even if I never sell a single print copy, I’ll still see some dollars because of Alliteration Ink’s incredibly generous profit-sharing, which divvies up 75% of the profits among the authors. This is far more generous than most publishers and means that I see a small dividend every quarter, regardless of whether I succeed at selling the print books!

If you know you’d like to buy the print copy, please let me know so I can make sure to order one for you! I’ll probably be getting the copies from the publisher at Gencon.

As a writer, it’s generally a good idea to avoid reading reviews of your work, just in case. I let other people point out good reviews to me, rather than go hunting, because you never know what you might find and my ego, while not fragile, is not up for a pummeling. (I’m still at the beginning of my journey and I’m a little worried that if I am knocked off my horse I won’t get back on again!)

Luckily, several good reviews have come along for anthologies that feature my stories:

• Four Five-Star Amazon Reviews for Historical Lovecraft !
• A great blog review of Historical Lovecraft!
• Fantasy Book Review gave The Crimson Pact: Volume 1 8.5/10 stars!
• Twelve reviewers gave The Crimson Pact: Volume 1 either four or five stars on Amazon!

It’s especially gratifying that several of these reviewers mention my stories–“Shadows of the Darkest Jade” and “An Ideal Vessel”, respectively–as favorite works they especially enjoyed. That’s definitely a boost my writer’s ego can use once in a while!

If you haven’t yet purchased copies of these anthologies, you can do so at the Amazon links above, or you can visit me at Origins Game Fair this weekend!

Last week my contributor copy of Historical Lovecraft arrived!

I’m especially excited about this anthology because it’s the very first one that’s actually in print (The Crimson Pact: Volume 1 bears the honor of being the very first since I started sending out stories last year). Although I’m a big fan of the digital revolution, ebooks, and killing fewer trees, there’s something about holding this book in my hands that makes it seem real…

I’m an author! Or, at least, I actually feel like one. That I could someday write and publish a novel actually seems possible, maybe even probable, for the first time. Not too long ago I didn’t really believe that anyone would want to read or publish my work, so this is a big step for me.

In other news, I’m currently in negotiations to present at Ba-Con, awaiting my Marcon schedule, and thrilled to be included among the authors presenting panels at Origins! It’s going to be a busy summer!

Lots of stuff to plug this week:

The Crimson Pact now has a facebook page. “Like” it for updates about the sequel anthologies, deadlines for aspiring authors, and even contests or opportunities to review promotional copies.

Historical Lovecraft also has a facebook page, where you can learn about various opportunities to win a free copy of the anthology. There’s only one day left to order the book at the 20% presale discount, so order today!

Watch the trailer!

Then please buy the e-book! It’s only $5 for 26 stories, less than the price of a venti latte for 14 hours of reading fun, compatible with all major e-readers. And you can rest easy knowing that the vast majority of the profits go directly to the hard-working writers. Yay royalties!