by john | Aug 20, 2011 | Appearances, Business of publishing, Travel, Vampires, Writing
Well folks, here we are a hair more than two weeks after the release of Knight Moves, and I couldn’t be happier with the results. The new book has already broken 500 copies sold, a figure that’s unheard of for me in the first month (or several) of a book’s release, and with a promo blitz going on this weekend thanks to The Bookish Snob, I think we’ll see that carry through the rest of the month. So here I’ve got a few announcements and a couple of updates for all of you.
Firstly, for the folks who still love paper books – yes, Knight Moves will be available in print. The proof copy has shipped, and if history is any indicator, it should get here Monday or Tuesday. I’ll look over the proof and try to get some copies in hand for Dragon*Con. I won’t have many with me, unless this THING happens that I’m trying to schedule. If the THING goes off, then I’ll probably get 40 copies or so to tote with me. Watch this space for more info on the THING.
But if you’d like a signed copy, and live in the US, you can order yours here. Just click the PayPal button and let me know who to inscribe the book to, and I’ll send it right along. NOTE – books will not ship until after the Labor Day holiday. But $15 will cover shipping and a signed copy of the book. If you live in the Charlotte area, and want to pick the book up, you can click the pick up option. You can do the same thing if you want to pre-order a copy for Dragon*Con (this would really help me know how many books to carry).
As always, the book will be available for $10 from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and wherever books are sold. I’ll also be doing a signing in October at The Last Word, a cool used bookstore here in Charlotte, so hopefully some of you folks will come out and say hello to me then.
And for my friends across the pond – I know you currently can’t get my books in print outside the US. I would love for that to change at some point, but I don’t really know how. So if you’d like to see my stuff over there, tell your friendly neighborhood bookstore to pressure the publishers to buy my international rights. Or stop by North Carolina on your next intercontinental vacation. We’ve got good sweet tea!
by john | Aug 1, 2011 | Appearances, Real Life, Travel, Writing
Okay, there’s a lot going on, so I’m going to try not to ramble. I know, but I’m going to try.
First, The Irish Curse opens Thursday night, so I hope you’ll come check it out if you’re in the Charlotte area. It’s really a pretty good show, and by the time we open I should know all my lines!
Then Saturday, again for you Charlotte-area peeps, I’ll be teaching a workshop for the Charlotte Writers’ Club on Self-Publishing and Self-Promotion. If you’re interested in getting your work out there or getting more eyes on the work that you’ve already got out there, join me at the Providence UMC at 9AM. There’s more info to be found here. It will be a good time, and I think there’s plenty to share.
Knight Moves WILL be released August 14th, I’m happy to announce. This date is special to me for a bunch of reasons, most of which having to do with it being my 38th birthday. It also coincides with the first anniversary of me putting The Chosen on sale, so I’ll have managed to publish four novels in a year’s time, which is pretty good, if I do say so myself. Check out my Facebook page for more info on the online virtual release party I’m doing for the rest of August. I’m going to release the book at $2.99 through the end of the month, then it will go to its normal price of $4.99. I’ll also be taking pre-orders for the print version here as soon as I get it added to the Paypal widget over on the side of the page.
Just in time for Dragon Con I’ll have my next book out, so on Saturday night at Dragon Con I’ll be having a book release party! I’ll have some copies of Knight Moves with me, and some snacks and booze, so if you’re going to be at Dragon, let me know and I’ll get you the room number. I’ll also post it to Facebook and Twitter. Hopefully I can get one or two people to join me in this endeavor, so we can have a rockin’ part-ay!
Then in October I’ll be back in Columbia, SC for RoundCon 2011.1 – return of RoundCon! This will be the second RoundCon to feature a creative track, and I’m heading it up. That’s what happens when I open my big mouth! I’ve lined up some fantastic guests already, with more on the way, so keep your eyes peeled and if you’re anywhere near Cola-Town, come hang with us!
So that’s a lot of stuff going on, and somewhere in the middle of all that I have two books to finish and publish, and a 20th High School Reunion to go to!
by john | Jul 21, 2011 | Appearances, Real Life, Theatre, Travel
I’m driving halfway to Louisville today, stopping off in Charleston, WV for a hopeful repeat of my last few trips there – in other words a little extra green in my pockets (and I need it after dusting off three buyins in our home game last weekend). Then Friday I finish my trek to Kentucky.
I’ll be doing a short reading Saturday night at 10PM – probably a brief segment from Hard Day’s Knight and maybe a piece from The Chosen. Then Sunday morning I’m on a panel about finding alternative sources of writing income, which I’ve certainly done plenty of in my day. That panel’s at 9AM (ouch!), then I’ll hang around the con for a while before driving back to West Virginia, crashing for the night and finishing the trek on Monday. My plan is to spend every morning writing, then be at the con all afternoon and evening, so you can probably find me wherever cheap, crappy beer is served.
I also have to spend a couple of hours each day drilling on my lines for The Irish Curse. Rehearsals are going very well, and I think it’s going to be a great show, but our off-book date is Sunday, so since I’m not there I’d damn sure better have my lines down when I get back on Monday night. I also have Tuesday written off as a vacation day, so if I still have line issues I may stay home and work on them all day Tuesday. Probably not, though, because if I have a spare vacation day I should save it for opening week, when I know I’ll be absolutely exhausted.
This has been a great time, working on the show, but my word count is in the toilet. I just don’t have enough energy for three things – work, writing and theatre. So writing has been relegated to a back seat until the show opens, which I’m less than thrilled with. Lesson learned – if I’m going to do a show, pick a time when I don’t have a book in progress.
Knight Moves is at the editor’s right now, so I’m looking hopefully at an August release. If I can get the edits and rewrites done, and a cover done I’m going to push to have it out by my birthday, which is August 14th. That also marks one year since I release The Chosen, so I’d have released four books in my first year, and I think that would be pretty good output. I also have a couple of other exciting things percolating, but they’re not quite ready to talk about publicly yet, so I’m gonna go try and hammer out a couple thousand words, then pack and drive for half a day.
by john | Jul 8, 2011 | Real Life, Travel, Writing
I know, I’ve neglected this space all week. Sorry, I’ve been busy, and when that happens the first thing to go is this blog. Well, the first thing to go is exercise, but since that’s been gone for a while now I don’t think I’m allowed to even count it. Still plugging along at Return to Eden Book 1 – Genesis, with about 32K words done. I know I’m going to have to go back through and completely re-write the beginning, but that’s more an issue of voice than anything else, because the voice I’ve written most of the book in is significantly different than the voice I started it in last year.
Here’s some quick news before I bury the lede too much – TOMORROW at Barnes & Noble, 3400 Forest Drive Columbia, SC I’ll be on a pair of panels and doing a monster book signing with Kalayna Price (buy her new book, Grave Dance right now!), Faith Hunter, Rachel Aaron and Misty Massey. We’ll be doing a panel at 5, then a signing, then another panel later in the evening. Should be a lot of fun! You can sign up for the Facebook event here – we’re giving away a Nook!
Also, please don’t forget to donate to my 24 Hours of Booty fundraising page. I’d really love it if my readers came together and gave a big buttload of money to this great cause. You can really help people. Please do so.
Other news – I’m back in the theatre, but this time not on a ladder! I’ve been cast in the Queen City Theatre Company’s production of The Irish Curse. It’s a great little comedy about men, how we see ourselves, our body image, and who does or doesn’t “measure up.” And if you’ve never heard of the the Irish Curse, just ask any Irishman about it! I play a priest from Boston living in New York, and I’ve got some very nice moments in the script. I’m enjoying being an actor again, and will enjoy even more the check that comes along with it! Yep, for the first time in my 20+ years of theatre, I’ll be paid for my work as an actor! This is a real rarity in Charlotte, and I’m very happy for my buddies Glenn and Kristian that they have managed to build their company from nothing to a place where they can compensate their actors in just a few short years.
What else? I went to West Virginia last weekend, played some poker and wrote quite a bit. I won about enough to cover the trip, so the poker games made it a free writing vacation – always nice. At one point I was up over a grand on the morning of my second day, but I ran into some run-bad and some bad play and bled off until I came home with just a couple hundred extra. But that’s still enough to keep me going back there every few months to replenish the cash flow.
And I’m happy to report that June was another great month, sales-wise. I topped July by a few units shipped, thanks largely to the short story I published, but increased revenue significantly due to a price increase. I’ve seen no slowdown in sales since moving my novel price from $2.99 to $4.99, so that is likely where prices will stay for now.
In other news, I’m listening to a lot of Grace Potter & the Nocturnals. I blame Pauly.
by john | May 30, 2011 | Appearances, Real Life, Travel
As a matter of fact, they’re on 7th Street most days, but this weekend they’ll all be downtown at the Charlotte Convention Center! Yep, it’s one of my favorite times of the year, time for the Heroes Con! With this year, I’ll have hit almost hit the cycle with this con, having worked the con as an employee, attended as a fan, and now I’ll be there with my booth selling and signing books!
I’ve got what I think is a killer booth location, Booth AA-65, right along the front wall of the show, on the end really close to the Silent Auction area. I don’t know who my neighbors are yet, but there are some awesome folks coming to the show from all aspects of comic-dom.
From the webcomic world, Chris Flick of Capes N’ Babes will be at the show, as well as Kevin Freeman of Subculture. Those are a couple of webcomics that I subscribe to, as well as Charlotte’s own Rich Barrett, creator of Nathan Sorry. Those are all worth checking out whether you come to the con or not.
In the print world, the lovely Chrissie Zullo will be there (Cinderella), Neal Adams (Green Lantern) will be there, Jeremy Bastian (Cursed Pirate Girl) will be there (and seriously, if you haven’t checked out CPG, what kind of nerd are you? Every year I go to the Heroes Con and give myself permission to be a total fanboy geek over one and only one artist or writer. Last year it was Bill Willingham, and I got lucky enough to get him to sign my Fables hardcover with no one in line. This year I’m so totally stoked at the chance to meet Terry Moore that it’s not even funny.
You don’t know Terry Moore? Jebus, how are we even friends? Go buy every trade paperback edition of Strangers in Paradise that you can find, because it is teh hawesome! Seriously, shut up. I know they’re expensive, but they’re that damn good. SiP is so good I bought the omnibus edition. Which is pretty much too big and heavy to actually read, but it’s still awesome! And his new stuff, Echo, is also awesome.
I’ll have all my books there, and a drawing to win a chance to name a bad guy in Book 3 of Black Knight Chronicles (don’t sweat it if you can’t make it to Charlotte, you’ll get a chance, too!). And thanks to the fine folks at Square, as long as I can get cell service (always iffy in the bowels of the Charlotte Convention Center), I’ll be able to take cash, Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express!
I hope I see you there!
by john | May 11, 2011 | Real Life, Travel, Writing
The Virtual Road, that is. Next week kicks off my blog tour with Bookish Snob Promotions, so here’s a rundown on where I’ll be and what you can expect when I’m there.
May 16 – I’ll be doing a Guest Post over at Black Lagoon Reviews
May 17 – I’ll be doing a Guest Post at Karissa’s Book Review, along with a chance for folks to win a signed copy of Hard Day’s Knight!
May 18 – The fine folks at Urban Fantasy Investigations have done an interview with me.
May 19 – Another Guest Post, this one at My Bookish Ways
May 20 – A Guest Post at A Chick Who Reads
May 21 – Interview at Paranormal Opinion with another signed book to give away!
May 22 – I’ll be interviewed at Reality Bites
You can keep up with me on Twitter or Facebook, where I’ll update the tour daily, and you can always find info here or at Bookish Snob Promotions. Please come over and check out these guest posts and interviews, where I get a lot more into the writing process than I typically do here on my rambling blog. And please go support Belinda over at The Bookish Snob, who’s putting this whole thing together for me.
There hasn’t been much progress on Knight Moves, because I’ve been working on RENT and getting ready for the SC Book Festival, both of which are this weekend. Also, Suzy is in a different play, which also opens tomorrow night. So it’s been a little nuts around the Hartness household. But everything calms down for a couple of weeks after Monday, so that’ll help out with my productivity. And my sleep :).
So please come visit me on tour, and if you’re anywhere near Columbia, SC this weekend, come visit me in Real Life. The Book Festival is free and features a big pile of authors, including me, Sam Morton, Faith Hunter and Kalayna Price.
