A Duller Discount

Anyone who wants to purchase my novels, feel free to contact me HERE or to purchase them full price . . . you can go to Amazon, HERE.

For those of you new to this experience, I have four novels, all thrillers for sure . . . well, maybe not thrillers, but definitely not dullers!

More Self Promotion

The other day I was discussing self promotion with someone at work. If we don't promote our wins, no one else might. It's up to us, I told her, to let people know when we've done a bad job, but also when we do good jobs. 

So, although I might have said I wouldn't post many more reviews of my work, this one hit me and I thought I would share (see here). 

Covers, Covers and More Covers

So there was one thing that came out of that last review that I felt compelled to address. Romantic wrote:

To the author, please consider getting a professional cover done. The current one really doesn't do justice to the level of writing in this book.

Although this is a wonderful compliment about my writing, it's not the best compliment about my skills in terms of cover design. When I first started this journey, I tried making my own covers. That came to a screeching end very quickly (see here, here and here). 

In my defense, as a huge fan of Dick Francis, I was trying to mimick his style. They do look rudimentary and cheap though, so I'm glad I decided against using them long term.

It took me a while, but I found an online but when I found the ones I thought were professional, sophisticated and worthwhile, I invested in them, bought them, worked with the designer and rolled them out (see here).

These were far better, but they still lacked something. They looked too blank I realize now. Truthfully, even though Vapor Trail looks homemade, it was actually the most expensive one I bought. I never liked it though. It never truly represented the story. Romantic was correct.

Thanks to this comment by "Romantic" I went back and found a better cover for Vapor Trail (it's not easy by the way) and updated both the other two. I uploaded tag lines, provided some more flare. Now I'm far happier with them. I can live with these. Let's hope "Romantic," thinks the update is worthwhile.

Great Reviews

I hope you won't mind a bit of egotism. I've been getting some wonderful reviews (here) and would love to share them with someone. These are all for Vapor Trail (here).

5.0 out of 5 stars Conspiracy theories and murder
Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2020
A former soldier finds himself dealing with conspiracies while investigating his boss's death. This is another Jack Reacher style thriller and it's done very well! I like a good thriller and this one is very well-written. The pacing is consistent and the characters are great. Hannah has a great writing style that's easy to follow and he wastes no time in throwing readers into the action. It's definitely a book that I'd recommend checking out if you're into this type of story. I'd also recommend it to those who are curious or looking for something different.

I don't mind hearing "Jack Reacher style thriller." I'll take that all day.

5.0 out of 5 stars Military thriller
Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2020
A well written military thriller with interesting characters (the protagonist took a little while for me to wrap my mind around, truth be told), and a good dose of real-world conspiracy for good measure.  Death, murder, and conspiracy are intertwined and complicated by family ties and friends past and present that keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat.

I enjoyed the intensity of this story and would recommend this book to anyone who tends to read in this genre!  

"Interesting characters" and "good dose of real world conspiracy" . . . those are things I can accept.

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice page turner
Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2020
This military thriller was quite a page turner. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The book was laced with conspiracy theories yet the plot was well done and easy for me to follow.

"Page turner". . . . thanks! Glad to hear it.

5.0 out of 5 stars Different in a really great way
Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2020
I have a love/hate relationship with this book. The writing's impeccable while the story just kept on growing and growing on me until I couldn't put it down. It just took me some time to get into the character's head but that's probably me. All in all, I love this story and highly recommend it.

WOW! Impeccable writing! I'll take that all day every day!

5.0 out of 5 stars You'll love this mystery that must be solved.
Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2020
Vapor Trail by Dick Hannah has well-developed characters and is full of unexpected twists. It provides a unique look into security and military and fitness buffs will enjoy the exercise and running. If you're into Dick Francis or Lawrence Sanders then this is the book for you.

And I'll take "unexpected twists" . . . this is a review I love.

5.0 out of 5 stars A mystery to follow
Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2020
Very intense with interesting plots. it took a while for me to guess around but very engaging. Great dose for my sunday coffee!

How did they know that I like coffee, and especially sunday coffee so much!

Does an ego good to hear so many good reviews in the past month or so.

"Think Dashiell Hammett meets Lee Child meets John Locke" for FREE

I have just made my latest book, Vapor Trail, free for the next week on Kindle (see here). I've gotten some great reviews. One of the best reads:

This is hard-boiled crime with a military twist. Think Dashiell Hammett meets Lee Child meets John Locke. The protagonist's almost clinical lack of empathy is shocking at first, then the speed at which characters are dispatched becomes a rhythm that draws the reader in, carries you through the plot twists, and dumps you out at the end of the book, determined never to join a military style workout group, ever. A great, quick read, especially if you are a fan of grindhouse movies.

If you have been looking for a free book with some decent reviews, may I suggest Vapor Trail (here). And may I also suggest you let me know what you think? I promise to return the favor.

Always a Good Way to Start the Day

For no reason whatsoever I was tooling around on Goodreads (here).

Actually, there was a reason. Someone friended me on Goodreads. I don't "get" Goodreads. Maybe I'm too much of a loner reader. Maybe I need to make more friends, but I don't get the idea or the communications stream of Goodreads. That being said, I use it to promote my books, and that's where this blog comes in.

I logged in today because someone wanted to be my friend . . . you can never have too many and they can always surprise you (see here) . . . and what did I find? I glowing review of Vapor Trail.

When I looked for reviews I went through a review company. The reader who left this review found my book through that company. It's a pretty good review (see here).

This engrossing read is Dick Hannah's third novel about Jeremy Stubbins, a former military special operator and now a security contractor of a company. The story opens innocuously---Jeremy has agreed to meeting up with a military comrade from the past, and then immediately, his life begins to spiral out of control. When Jeremy meets Wick, he regrettably brings his brother-in-law, an action he sorely regrets, and which starts all the suspenseful action. The atmosphere becomes charged with dynamic forces, and Stubbins is forced to deal with all: the dubious suicide of his boss and friend Andrea, the tragic and suspicious traffic death of his war comrade Wick, the descent of Jensen into near madness by creating a conspiracy blog attracting not only attention but perilously putting his family in harm's way. Jeremy feels responsible to solve Andrea's death, protect his sister and nephew, stop Jensen's insanity and guard a secret from his past. Mr. Hannah is skilled in creating characterizations and detailing plot and setting so they become essential elements in this thriller. Thunbs UP!

Skye Skye

Well I say thanks very much Skye, I'm so glad you enjoyed it. And to those who have yet to read it, take Skye's advice and go pick one up and let every know what you think.

Surprising Friends

Last night I had the opportunity for one of my irregular guy's night out poker nights. Last time I won almost five hundred dollars. This time I lost three hundred. Win some, lose some right? But I found something out that was surprising and my mind was worth the three hundred dollars I lost.

I am in the midst of writing my fourth novel. No name yet, but I have several themes that I'm exploring. I think what I liked most about my third novel, Vapor Trail (see here) was that I had far more and more complex themes than I did in my first and second novels. Among the themes I wrote about in Vapor Trail was the idea of the ends justifying the means. That's an obvious one. Another was the nature of conspiracies to overwhelm a person's life for the negative. There was a return to civilian life theme as well as a nine circles of Hell. Lots more depth than either Toe the Line (here) or On the Edge (here).

Some of the themes I hope to write about in this fourth book include writing about Anthony (see here) and writing about a guy at the end of his life who realizes he's not leaving much behind. There will be more, but that leaving something behind will probably be a major theme.

At poker last night one of the guys wished me a happy father's day. Keep in mind these are guys I see maybe once every three months. They play at least once a month, I just don't get there as much as I'd like. So, although I know them well by now, we aren't "friends" in the classic sense of the word. Secondly, even tough I like to think I break even, I probably lose more than most of the core group of players, so I suspect they only invite me cause I'm an easy mark. Still, the point is I know them, but only in a poker sense.

What stunned me was that this "poker friend" stopped himself when he said he hoped I had a nice Father's Day and said, "Oh, sorry man. Forgot about your Dad."

You see he remembered that I had to miss a poker night because of my father's funeral this past year. This is a guy who I had thought was just a passing acquaintance, in the life then out again, someone who might be tone deaf about that aspect of my life, and instead he was more in tune than most others in my life. I look forward to using this as a theme in my next novel. Perhaps the main character will be surprised by the end of the book that he has more friends than he previously realized.

When my father passed away I wrote a little blog post and in it I talked about this same surprisingly aspect of friendship and how friends will pop up in places that you didn't expect. I planned on making it a theme back then as well. I suppose I should be happy that I'm thematically consistent.

Released!

I always said I wouldn't seriously promote my writing and my novels until I had three under my belt. I don't know why I came up with the magic number of three, I suppose I just felt that was a decent sounding number. I've finally finished my third novel and I've gotten some good reviews, so now would be the time (buy it here!)

Leah, who has reviewed two of my books, wrote:

"Vapor Trail is a fast-paced and interesting mystery with a great lead character," and "I read Dick Hannah’s first book Toe The Line a few years ago and though I generally enjoyed it, I had trouble liking any of the characters. I didn't have that problem with Vapor Trail though since I found it much better and I’m glad I had the chance to read it."

Not too bad if you ask me. I'll take that criticism. Then I read this and was quite happy:

"I happen to love shows/series like NCIS and Strike Back, so it was easy for me to get behind a character like Jeremy Stubbins who is portrayed as analytical and military-minded – very much like the characters in these shows. The novel is written from his perspective so you’re clued in on what he’s thinking in every scene."

I liked hearing that. 

I got a second review from  Jeanne Richardson. Also a 4 out of 5 stars. Jeanne wasn't as verbose but she wrote:

"The storyline was interesting, just not what I was expecting. I had a hard time completing the book, don’t get me wrong it is a good book, it’s just not the type I normally read. If you like stories with conspiracy theories then you’ll truly enjoy the book."

I would love if you read it too and left a review. I've dropped the price for the next week or so. If you'd like to get a complimentary copy for a review let me know and we can see what we can do.

It feels good to have three books in the personal library. What's best is what Leah said in her review. She liked Vapor Trail more. I think each successive book has shown improvement as a writer. Toe the Line read like a first time novel. On the Edge was more polished. Vapor Trail is my best work yet. Still there is room to grow and I'm already writing number 4, (to order any of these novels, see here).

I would love to know what you think of my novels if you get a chance. Feel free to drop me a line when you buy it and then again once you are done.

Happy Reading!

First Novel but NOT the Last (I hope)

I’m going to adding Matthew FitzSimmons to my list. What list? The list that includes Dick Francis, Lawrence Sanders, Frederick Forsythe and just a few others. My list of favorite authors for thrillers. This book I just finished by FitzSimmons was well worth the read and well worth looking for and waiting for a next one.

The characters in The Short Drop (here), were fun to read about. The story was twisty and turney and fun and thrilling . . . just what you want from a thriller. Had me guessing quite a bit (and actually, due to one or two holes still in the story, I’m still guessing), and it was fun to read from the beginning.

I even liked the last line! And that's a rarity (see here)

Out in the dark, he heard the creak and slam of a screen door.

FitzSimmons, Matthew -  The Short Drop

Just like with my books I like the idea of educating readers into facets of life that they may not know much about. In my case I chose adventure racing (On the Edge - here) and triathlons (Toe the Line - here). Dick Francis of course uses horse racing. I liked finding out about computer hacking. It wasn’t too heavy on the technical language, and FitzSimmons didn’t get too wrapped up into the nuance. Instead he used it to move the story along.

If I have one critique of this story it would be the end. It came quite abruptly. But what can I say . . . a reviewer has said the same thing about my own book (see here). I have decided to take that critique as a compliment. It wasn’t that the reader was upset by the abrupt ending, they were upset by the end itself. They wanted my story to keep going on and on and on. That’s how I felt about this book. 

First Lines? Just How Important are They?

I love my first line series (see here). I started it years ago because I read a book about the importance of first lines (see here) and since then there have been some doozies in the list. In preparing for this post I went back and read a bunch and there are some good ones out there in the past of this blog, and there are some real disappointments too.

Plus as a new writer, you hear so much about the need to hook the reader, to get them involved immediately in the story. But you know what I've found. It's not so much the first line, it's that first scene. It's like I said in my last post on the subject (see here), it's not so much that first line, it's the first scene, the writer's library and stock pile of good will with the reader, and the overall writing in general. A well written book will overcome a shotty first line. A back ground of great books will provide a lot of credibility to overcome a boring first line.

In terms of my own first lines, I have mixed reviews (see here). I'm happier with On the Edge in general than I am with Toe the Line, but I think the first line for On the Edge, and the opening scene is weaker than Toe the Line.

There is a specific fear, a state of panic really, that takes root within most people, parents particularly when they first discover that they've lost track of their child. It's the moment when a father loses sight of his son in a crowded food court, the second or two when a mother realizes that the little hand that belongs to her daughter that was holding her hand is no longer there. A flush of extreme anxiety with undertones of foreboding follow that first moment and are quickly replaced by hope. Hope that as the crowd parts he will see his son, or she will feel the little fingers reach up and wrap around her hand again. When that doesn't happen the panic becomes terror. My terror began half way into my Monday, six mile run. It was Georgia I missed first. 

The rest of the chapter is dedicated to the protagonist finding what happened to Georgia.

In Toe the Line, the first line is reminiscent of Max Shulman and his "Bang bang bang bang" opening (see here). 

"Go to hell, Wheeler." As last words go they were hardly what one would call poignant.

Sadly, I don't think that either first line would land on any lists of "Great First Lines" nor even on "Good First Lines." More sadly is the fact that I don't have a library of goodwill built up with my "fan club." All I have, I hope, is decent writing in one of the books and passable writing in the other. To say it precisely I have the following reviews. For On the Edge I received a review that stated:

Dick Hannah has created one fantastic novel. Simply put- I love it. There were a lot of plates spinning & he didn't drop any. What I'd thought would be a simple mystery novel became multiple novels in one: family drama, thriller, a little romance, inspirational- you name it! Fingers are crossed for a sequel. Five stars straight through- brilliant!

For Toe the Line the most scathing review stated:

When I read the synopsis this sounded like my kind of book, intriguing plot with a mystery to be solved. While the book did have these characteristics, at times I felt like I was reading an assignment in a high school English class. The scenery that Mr. Hannah created with his use of imagery was amazing. I felt as though I was in the Pacific Northwest as I read the book. His character development was scattered, at best. I agree with the other reviewer, in that Wynn drove me crazy! His character had much potential but his obsession with triathlons became quite old quickly. He lacked depth and was flat, whereas his ex-fiancee's character was fiery. The extreme personalities frustrated me several times throughout the story. Also, a few of the secondary characters could have been developed more. It would have provided the insight needed for the conclusion. I felt the premise of the story was good; I wish Mr. Hannah had expanded his storyline. He only touched the surface of what could have been a 5 star novel.

Yikes, right? So again, no credibility provided through Toe the Line. But regarding that first line stuff, see this review:

When I read the first page I was hooked. Usually, if I can't get into a book by the third page then I know I'm not going to get into it at all. 'Toe The Line' was an exceptional read right through to the end. At one point I THOUGHT I had well and truly nabbed the murderer, but then it twisted so I was caught off guard - which stunned me because I can usually catch the killer before the story ends (hence I was a bit cross with myself but pleased for Mr Hannah for making me as the reader think differently).

So, like I said, a great first line isn't the end all beat all by any means. It can help, but mostly it's great writing that's going to get the writer over the hump of readers acceptance and love for the work. What have I learned? First, although the first line and first scene are important for my next work, Vapor Trail, it's not what's going to win the battle. Taking that "writing is a road march" idea from several weeks ago (see here) it reminds me of a thirty-miler that we took in Fort Ord, California. We had a briefing the night before and one of of the more senior squad leaders talked about the importance of keeping your feet dry and clean,  . . . fresh socks, good boots, . . . that sort of thing. Then the next morning, bright and early we start off. We are winding our way through some foot hill trails and there's a ford through a stream that stops us cold just a mile or two into the five hour ordeal. Imagine that. A platoon of Spec Ops, Ranger, Paratrooper Bad-Asses stopped in the midst of our thirty-mile mission by a team leader who took the foot hygiene class so seriously that he stopped at a three inch deep puddle from a small stream. 

Eventually the platoon sergeant came along, yelled at us all for being ridiculous and strode through that puddle making as many big splashes as he could just to show how much he cared about his own foot care and we were back off. Still, bad start but great content. I'd much rather have that the alternative of a great start with a poor finish. So, for Vapor Trail I'm going to focus on that first line, but more of my focus will be on the work as a whole than just on that first few lines. I have a bit of credibility built up with the readers, no need to undercut that now.

As long as we are talking about my reviews, my favorite has to be this one about On the Edge. 

At first I hated Joe and didn't know if I was going to make it through the book. He seemed to be such a douche. But as the story began to unfold, I found that some of the douchery was really his own anxieties taking hold. From that point forward I wanted to learn more about this guy and what makes him tick. The novel is full of twists and turns that keep the reader engaged. The story line is realistic and detailed. I am sure the author's military background made all the difference for me in the flashback scenes. Many times I will gloss over these types of things (military stories just aren't my cup o' tea) but Hannah truly painted a picture with his words that keep me intrigued.

There is a little bit of everything in this book. Suspense. Mystery. A little taste of romance. And pretty deep character development packed into a fairly short novel. It was a really good read and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys "who done it?" mystery/thriller books.

As I said before (here) . . . who can't help but love a positive review that includes the term "douchery."

I'm the Maggot in the Metaphor

Last week, for the first in this series, I wrote about how writing a novel is alot like a long hard road march (see here). Then I followed that up by discussing how it's not glamorous or fun (see here). And although both of these things are true, today I'm going to write about how all of that leads to the finished product.

I bought a composter a year or so ago to replace my homemade composter that I built years ago. The model shown in the pciture above is the very type that I have. I bought it (and borrowed the above picture) from The Gardener's Supply Company. (Best place on the web to go get gardening gear). Nevertheless, although I use the hell outta that sucker I never use a shiny new pail, nor wear my gardening clogs, nor smile quite so heartily as the fellow in the image above.

Instead, I fill that sucker up regularly. Banana peels galore, coffee grounds almost everyday, used G&T lemon wedges, cilantro stems from the night before's dinner, pumpkins that turned into jack-o-lantern's then turned into moldy, stumpy, rotted messes that sit on the porch too long after Halloween (these are actually the coolest things to throw into that sucker).

Over and over, for weeks and weeks, months and months I keep cramming stuff into that left side of the composter and I tumble it around. Then after about six months I switch to the right side and leave the left alone except for the occasional tumble. All the while the bugs are inside and making babies and turning that kitchen waste into fertile soil. After 6 months or more of sitting alone and steaming, that compost is ready to be put into my garden, now rich and ready to grow things.

Here's the simile so pay attention.

First, writing is a lot like using that composter. I write a ton of stuff and most of it is trash. It's not till I've tumbled it around in my brain and written a bit more and revised and edited and rewritten that it becomes at all worthwhile. When I'm putting it in it's like that rotting pumpkin. Usually, hopefully, when I put it into book form it comes out as something worthwhile.

Simile number two . . . I leave lots of my stuff on the shelve to age. Just like my composter allows me to leave my garbage alone just to tumble and age, I leave my writing to the same. I leave it alone and write on something else then I come back to it and fine tune it.

I'm working on my third novel now. Tentatively titled Vapor Trail, it is a follow up to On the Edge (see here and below cover image) and I'm hoping to release it this fall. I'm rewriting it for the final time right now and I'm stunned by how different it is from that first trash I put in. Characters names and types are changes. The plot is different. The setting has changed twice. It's a completely different story than the one I started. This is what got me thinking about that composter. I used that composted soil in my herb garden the other day and it was completely broken down. That's the way this story is now that I've tumbled it around and lead it age.

It used to bother me how much writing and rewriting was necessary to produce a finished work, but now I see that it's just a necessary part of the process. If I just threw the trash I wrote out on the web it would be exactly that (and truthfully, there's already a bit too much trash out on the Internets right now). It takes time to get it just right. Vapor Trail is in the tumble phase and the maggots are squirming around in it now turning it into something epic. The only problem as I see it is that I'm the maggot in that metaphor.

The End of the Experiment (aka AAR 2)

Just like my original AAR, I'm a-doing one for On the Edge now.

I know that there was a variable "control group" since I had two different novels that I was promoting, but despite Sage's best efforts, I just don't see any great increase in sales due to the blog tour. Once again my family has come in strong ordering the bulk of the copies that have been digested by the market, and I'm wondering how many of my On the Edge novels will become "home-fill" for my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Richard's ski chalet, but I'll take home-fill over land-fill or no-fill.

That being said I'm going to try a couple more things.

First, I'm going to try a mass market promoter. This, I'm sure will provide a sterile experience that has been promised to be tailored to my specific genre. We shall see.

Secondly, I'm going to hit up the folks who reviewed my last novel, Toe the Line. Let's see if they like the second novel as much as the first.

Finally, one thing I've found, which is somewhat inspirational, for Toe the Line I got about five rave reviews and two "so-so's" and one straight up "this sucka is bad." Not so with On the Edge. By my tally, I've got about four "this is good's" and maybe two or three "I liked it alot and intend to buy more." That means growth in my book.

Vapor Trail

I am currently working on my next novel, Vapor Trail, that delves into the harmful and debilitating results of believing too much in a conspiracy theories.

One of my favorite things to do every month is to listen to a talk radio show that sponsors a conspiracy call in day, appropriately on the night of each month's full moon. I love listening to folks call in and explain their particular conspiracy. In most cases the conspiracies don't hold water, most deal with cabal's of bankers running the world in some sort of shadow government. Most people who call in believe in what Popular Mechanics calls "The Myth of Government Hyper Competency." I've worked for the government. We barely made it up to competency, much less "hyper."

The conspiracy I delve into in Vapor Trail is the mystery behind the downing of TWA Flight 800 back in 1996. I know that Nelson Demille has a great book, Sky Fall, that hits on this same subject, but mine doesn't focus on the flight as much as it does on the deterioration of a character's life due to his believe in a conspiracy, a subject I started researching by reading Among the Truther's by Jonathon Kay.

Today I ran across this snippet in the WSJ in an article by Amanda Foreman called Conspiracy Theories: Everybody's Doing It:

It doesn't help that some of the most absurd-sounding conspiracies have turned out to be true: The Central Intelligence Agency really did feed LSD to unsuspecting civilians in the 1950s as part of a mind-control experiment. Or that some of the technically plausible ones have been patently false: The moon landings were not filmed on a sound stage.

It is human nature to look for a linear cause to explain complex events. The worse the tragedy, the greater the need for a narrative that does not involve dumb luck. Eight hundred years after the destruction of Constantinople by the knights of the Fourth Crusade, the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches are still unable to agree on who or what tipped the two Christian empires into a ruinous fight against one another.

One aspect of conspiracy theories that I hope to dig down into is the theory of Occam's Razor, that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. I love the way conspiracy theorist will create an incredibly complex series of event and solutions to a problem that has many more simpler solutions. 9-11 provides 75% of the material during the call in show, and what I like about that is that my character in Vapor Trail visits other "experts" (conspiracy theorists) along his journey to the truth and most of them are focused on 9-11. None are looking at his conspiracy, the one that he finds has the simplest, most plausible explanation that everyone could see if they were just looking at it correctly.

Just as On the Edge was a step up in complexity compared to Toe the Line, Vapor Trail will be a step in the same direction. It's a tough theme to take on, but so far it's exciting to be in the midst of it.

Test Case for Others

Over at BookBlogs there are several forum posts regarding the use of blog tours and PR folks to handle the release of a novel. It was a couple of months ago that I went ahead and signed up for one. I chose a package that provided 15-20 "blog stops" and reviews.

For the most part I feel that I was given what I paid for, but in some ways I'm unimpressed. Although the tour is not yet complete, so far the evidence is that there is no difference in sales to justify the expense. The last time I released a novel I did more work, but was able to tailor the blogs and reviews to blogs that more closely matched my genre, but more importantly there was a bit more rigidity to the schedule.

To the first part, last year I had to investigate and identify different bloggers who might be interested in reading and reviewing my book for their blogs. Many, in fact I would say 50% of them, told me that my novel might not fit their genre and passed on the opportunity. For the most part however, I found about 15 total bloggers over the course of three months and received decent reviews. How much of that translated into new sales, probably not that many. When I look at the types of blogs that have been used for this blog tour, I feel like I've really missed the mark.

Last year there seemed to be more rhyme and reason to the ersatz tour I planned. It was based on reviews. If an interview popped up, which it did at times, then that was found money. This tour has not had that foundation, one of being based on reviews. I have gotten good reviews (here, and here) but I got good reviews last time as well. This has been based on cover, banner and summary. I'd rather have reviews. Secondly, and this might have been the impetus of this post, the most recent stop on the blog tour was just an interview. A short summary to be sure, but mostly interview. Personally, I'd rather have a review that leads to an interview not the other way around.

All in all I think that the old adage, "if you want something done right . . . do it yourself" has been proven out here. One of the aspects of this experiment I didn't like was that I was using two different experimental media . . . ie. two different books. Last years novel was Toe the Line, this years is On the Edge. How would I know if a decrease or increase in sales was or was not directly related to the blog tour. Now that I've come to the end of the blog tour experiment, I think I am going to try last year's approach and measure my success rate there too. Because at the moment my answer to the Bookblogs question of "are blog tours worthwhile" . . . it would be a resounding . . . nope.

UPDATE: 6-29-13 - the original post included a diatribe regarding missed dates on behalf of bloggers on the blog tour. This was not accurate. Sage and her bloggers on this tour have hit each of their dates as scheduled and as promised.

Are Books Like Sausages?

According to Wikipedia,  Nicolas de Chamfort is attributed with originally saying: “One would risk being disgusted if one saw politics, justice, and one’s dinner in the making.”

The following few weeks I will provide a series of posts  that will put paid to the question of whether novels should be added to this list. With the upcoming release of my second novel, On the Edge, I hope to first use all of the lessons learned that I cataloged in the AAR series following my release of Toe the Line. The hope is that by following the AAR advice On the Edge can morph my hobby into a business enterprise by actually turning a profit.

That being said, an update on On the Edge is probably a good place to start. I wrote On the Edge as a part of National Novel WritingMonth (NaNoWriMo) probably in 2007. Despite the years in-between, this novel came together far more quickly than Toe the Line and is much more complex. At the moment I have completed a final rewrite of the novel and have asked my personal editor (my cousin) to read it through for obvious mistakes in the story and any spelling, grammar or other easy to recognize problems.

So for the moment I have a paper draft with a plethora of red marks and suggestions in it. The last time I dealt with this I uploaded it to my Kindle, re-read it, and made edits in that format. As I outlined in my previous post, this was a huge mistake. I shant do it again. What will I do? I will keep it in MS Word and make the edits. I plan to upload it to the iPad and reread it one final time before Step 2, which includes advance review copies.

I plan to have a post a week on this topic. To find the most recent be sure to check Self-Publishing Label in the Labels list on the right of the screen. And for goodness sake if you have some advice let me know now before I go too far down the wrong path!