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moving into the future with Kindle Unlimited
Next year I’m going to start experimenting with Kindle Unlimited. I’ve been reluctant to do this, because some of my readers don’t use Kindle, but they’re about…15% of my monthly self-publishing sales. In theory, KU would make up for that loss of revenue by a *considerable* margin. Because, see, to be enrolled in KU, you can’t have your books available on any other platform. Amazon will crawl the web to make sure you don’t. It’s a bitch. But Amazon is already 85% of my sales. KU could potentially boost that by…IDEK.
I’m not delighted by that. I would really, *really* prefer to be able sell at the most profitable margin across all platforms. Obviously.
But real talk here. Every time we’ve gotten financially stable, we’ve had to move–7 times in 14 years–and it’s wiped us out. Rent keeps getting more and more expensive and getting our feet back under us has been harder each time. And there’s a real chance I’m cutting my own throat trying to make sure my readers can get books on the platform of their choice.
Believe me, I *get* the moral stance against using Amazon. I do not condemn anybody for it. I hate that cutting some readers out is a potential way to make more money.
But, and I think this is understandable, I also hate wondering whether we’re going to run out of fuel oil or be unable to pay the electricity bill.
So for the moment I’ve already pulled RAVEN HEART from non-Amazon platforms, and I have plans to release it through KU. I’m writing other paranormal romance to be released through KU. At the moment I don’t know how much farther I’ll go.
My understanding is that there’s a lot of value in regular releases of a long-running series there, but god, who has time to write another one? :} But I may try re-releasing the Worldwalker books thru it, just to see what happens. I can always pull them out, if it’s not worth it.
It’s clear to me that in an ideal world I’d develop a pseudonym *for* KU. It’d be Murphy Lawless or Cate Dermody, probably, depending on whether I went all-in for PNR or if I started writing a bunch of fast-paced spy stories like THE CARDINAL RULE (which, honestly, is probably my stronger suit, although PNR is huge fun to write).
This does play into the “who has time” problem, tho. If JUST releasing CE Murphy books with no particular rhyme or reason to them–not a long-running series, just a short story here, a two-book series there, etc–did the trick, honestly, I’d yank everything off other platforms.
Of course there’s kind of only one way to find out if it does the trick…
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Thinks To Done: 2019
It’s coming up hard on the end of the year & naturally I’m freaking out about everything I haven’t gotten done, WHICH IS WHY I’VE BEEN KEEPING A LIST OF WHAT I *HAVE* GOTTEN DONE
I wrote most of DEATH ON THE GREEN and all of DEATH OF AN IRISH MUMMY, the second two books of the Dublin Driver series (launching in January)!
DEAD IN DUBLIN
Book One of The Dublin Driver Mysteries
American-in-Ireland Megan Malone has always enjoyed her job driving limousines…until one of her clients ends up DEAD IN DUBLIN.A friend who fears she’s culpable for the death begs Megan to look into it, and between her irate boss and a handsome Garda who’s both amused and annoyed by her persistence, Megan has her hands full. But if cockles and mussels aren’t to blame, can Megan find the real culprit . . .before another fishy death occurs?
Preorder Now!
Amazon || Barnes & Noble || GooglePlay || KoboI also wrote a chunk of SUNMASTER, the fourth (and hopefully final) book of my YA epic fantasy Guildmaster Saga (here is a link to book two, released this year!):
STONEMASTER
Book Two of the Guildmaster Saga
It’s good luck to earn the king’s regard…isn’t it?Seamaster journeyman Rasim’s quick wits have helped to save his beloved home city and earned him the dubious honor of studying with the diplomatic Sunmasters. But not everyone is happy that magical knowledge is being shared, and when the king orders the guilds back to the Northlands on a sensitive political mission, it may well cost Rasim his life.Seamaster-born, Sunmaster-trained, Rasim now faces a fight that can only be won by a Stonemaster…
Available now!
Amazon || Barnes & Noble || Apple || Kobo…and wrote a NEW UPCOMING PARANORMAL ROMANCE which will be out early next year!
So that’s about the equivalent of 3 books written in 2019.
But wait! There’s more! I wrote a novella set in the Heartstrike world. That, too, will be out relatively early next year, and wrote 10+ words of fic for my Patreon.
I wrote two short stories, one in the afore-mentioned Guildmaster Saga world & the other, a post-apocalyptic fairy tale, set in, um, the future.
“Siryn”
a fairy tale of The Rising
Cities have drowned and the future has changed beyond recognition. But something new has been born–or perhaps something impossibly old has been released.She does not know how she came to be, only that the oceans are her favored home…until a man from the world above nearly dies in her domain, and she is drawn toward the soft and easy life he seems to possess. But there is a price to pay for love, and in the end…
…you will never be part of her world…
Available Now!
Amazon || Apple || Barnes & Noble (Nook) || KoboI ALSO *majorly* revised the first book of the Strongbox Chronicles and minorly revised the second one.
THE CARDINAL RULE
Book One of The Strongbox Chronicles
When CIA Agent Alisha MacAleer’s cover is blown by ex-lover Frank Reichart, she’s forced into a spy game that draws a curtain back on a world she never even suspected existed. No matter which way Alisha turns, she faces new dangers and heartbreaking betrayals. In the end, she has no choice but to adhere to the cardinal rule…Trust no one but yourself.
Now Available
Amazon || Barnes & Noble || Apple || Kobo
THE FIREBIRD DECEPTION
Book Two of The Strongbox Chronicles
Agent Alisha MacAleer has put the past behind her as best she can, but when a mission goes sideways, she is left with an impossible choice. She can follow orders, or she can strike out on her own to discover the hidden mastermind behind the game she’s been drawn into—a mastermind whose identity she suspects, but could never guess.With no support, no resources, and no safety net, Alisha must believe that honor can survive a trial by fire….
Available now!
Amazon || Barnes & Noble || Apple || Koboand revised the paranormal romance due out next year. I revised about a third of a science fiction novel. I ran a crowdfunding campaign & wrote 4 more pages of comic script for it due to its success!
I *released* 5 books and 2 short stories; here are the ones I didn’t link to above. :)
“From Coffin to Grave”
a Heartstrike Short
Saoirse O’Cathain should have died on the coffin ship that took her from famine-torn Ireland to the dubious safety of the Canadian coast, but an ancient immortal–a man who claims he doesn’t care–saved her by Awakening the Timeless immortality she harbored within. Perhaps it was a gift: Saoirse might have all of eternity to watch the world change, now……unless she has been Awakened only to travel from coffin to grave…
Available Now!
Amazon || Apple || Barnes & Noble (Nook) || Kobo
THE QUEEN’S BASTARD
Book One of The Inheritors’ Cycle
Belinda Primrose is the unacknowledged daughter the unwed queen of Aulun. She is a spy, an assassin…and a danger to her mother, should she ever be discovered. As she infiltrates the glamorous royal palaces where her mother’s rivals scheme, a new power awakens in Belinda. The witchlight she commands could bring down everything she’s worked for when she finds a teacher in Javier, whose claim to the Aulunian throne ranks him highly among Belinda’s enemies.Belinda has never wavered in her mission, but love and loyalty will collide as her secrets are revealed…
Available Now!
Amazon || Apple || Barnes & Noble (Nook) || Kobo
THE PRETENDER’S CROWN
Book Two of The Inheritors’ Cycle
Belinda Primrose has lied, murdered, and seduced her way through the deadly courts of Echon, and now she has come into the strength of her witchpower, a magic she shares with Prince Javier, pretender to her mother’s throne. Their craft has been used to manipulate, shape, and evolve the future of Echon…but even a power from beyond the stars cannot break the will of a daughter betrayed by everything she has ever known.After a lifetime of service, Belinda will finally shape a future of her own…and change the destiny of a world with her choices.
Available Now!
Amazon || Apple || Barnes & Noble (Nook) || Koboand also wrote an actually ridiculous number of book proposals, like, five or six of them. One is the paranormal romance coming out next year, the rest didn’t stick. But I did write ’em, and that’s a lot of proposals to do. And I did about 20 pages of a screenplay, too.
I also read 35 books, went to Disneyland, to Dublin Worldcon, was sick for 3 months, and have made a truly prodigious amount of fudge. :)
It’s been a really busy year. I WANTED to get at least one other book finished, and two more revisions finished. But I’m trying to look at everything I HAVE done, and be impressed with that, instead of dismayed that I didn’t get Literally All The Things done.
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collecting bookstore addresses
My wonderful readers! Could you Do A Thing for me?
Could you look up your local bookstore(s) address(es) and email them to mizkitink AT gmail.com?
I’m trying to collect a database so I can send out postcards for new books, and it struck me that the best way to find bookstores (Barnes & Noble and other chain stores count!) is to ask people if they could take a minute to do that.
A bunch of people on my mailing list have, and I’ve gotten over a hundred addresses already, but I bet there are more than a hundred bookstores in the world! :)
Thank you so much!
(You can post ’em here too if you’d rather, we’ll collect ’em. :))
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Roses in Amber is ALMOST HERE!!!
guys
GUYS
GUYS!!!!!
LOOK WHAT ARRIVED
I STARTED WRITING THIS BOOK ON JANUARY 1, GUYS
LOOK AT IT
LOOK AT IT
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Tomorrow is Official Launch Day. I don’t know if print editions will automagically show up on B&N/Amazon IMMEDIATELY or not or it’ll take some time to work through the system, but e-book editions for Kindle, iTunes, Kobo and Nook either are or will be available as of Valentine’s Day, 6 weeks after I started writing it!
I have to say this is one *seriously* cool aspect of the whole self-publishing thing. O.O
11.5 years of brag shelf:
- Alaskan Totems Billionaire Shapeshifters, Austen Chronicles, CEMurphy, Murphy Lawless, Take A Chance
2016 Round-Up
2016 in review is a work related round-up, because it’s been an absolutely awful year personally. The other day somebody sent around a “some good things must have happened at least on a personal level in 2016, please post them!” and I honestly couldn’t think of anything actively good enough to stand out.
So, this year in publication review: startingly good, actually. I had 5 books come out, including the graphic novel of TAKE A CHANCE, which we’ve all been waiting for forever. :)
To wit:
MAGIC & MANNERS
An Austen Chronicle
A retelling of Pride & Prejudice, where the sisters have too much magic instead of too little money!
Kobo || Kindle || Nook || Amazon (print) || Audible & at bookstores near you! (ask them to order you a copy!)
ATLANTIS FALLEN
The Heartstrike Chronicles: Book One
Immortality, ancient grudges, powers beyond the ordinary…familiar grounds, but I hope you’ll like what I’ve done with them. :)
iBooks || Kindle || Kobo || Nook || Audible
RAVEN HEART
Alaskan Totems Billionaire Shifters
A sudden fun delve into writing billionaire shapeshifter romance, which turns out to be a thing!
iBooks || Kindle || Kobo || Nook
TAKE A CHANCE
A vigilante without superpowers in a world that now has supers! My 2009 comic book in long-awaited graphic novel form!
Amazon || Nook || Comixology
(& at nearly any comic shop or bookstore, just ask them to order it in! ISBN 978-1909276628!)
YEAR OF MIRACLES
Collected Tales of the Old Races
A return to the Old Races universe with the titular novella plus a dozen new and republished short stories!
iBooks ||Kobo || Kindle || NookTo my intense dismay, due to year-end postal slowness, neither YEAR OF MIRACLES nor ATLANTIS FALLEN has a print edition yet, but they should both be available early next year.
I have two books lined up for next year: the 1945 urban fantasy REDEEMER, and a Regency romance called BEWITCHING BENEDICT, which, despite the title, has no magic in it. :) It’s charming, though, and I’m looking forward to finally getting it out to readers.
Tentative plans for other books include PROMETHEUS BOUND (the next Heartstrike Chronicle), at least one Murphy Lawless novella, and, with any luck, a second Regency to follow BENEDICT. The second Austen Chronicle, SORCERY & SOCIETY, is slated for 2018, and we’ll see what else I manage over the next year. ♥
