New interview!

Forgot to post about it here, but I had another interview go up a week and a half ago. You can check it out here!

Apex Predator is on sale now!

Why are you reading this? didn't you see the title? Go get it! Or get it here if you have a non-Kindle e-reader!
There is a bit more news, actually. If you've been waiting for the print version, it's just become available here!

Additionally, remember the "pre-order the book and get a copy of Nightmare Escapade for free" promo that ran for the past week? I'm extending it through the weekend! So if you messed around and didn't pre-order, you have until 12:01 a.m. Monday morning to take advantage of that offer! Same rules apply, just tweet or DM me a screenshot of your order confirmation for Apex Predator, and I'll email it to you!
After you read it, the biggest favor you can do me is taking a few minutes to leave an honest review. Reviews sell books, plain and simple.

Apex Predator launch week begins today!

Apex Predator: A Grant Mercer Novel will be released a week from today, and you can pre-order your copy right now! (And yeah, I'm still waiting for my proof copy of the print version to arrive. It should be here in a couple of days. Barring any problems-- I've already proofed it digitally and the printed proof is a formality, so there really shouldn't be any-- it should be available the middle of next week. I'll keep you all posted.)

As an extra incentive to pre-order, send me a tweet or direct message on Twitter (@WorldofWaylon) with a screenshot of your pre-order to get a free copy of Nightmare Escapade! Getting lots of pre-orders will help a book gain a lot of visibility on its launch day, so every one helps! With this offer, you'll be getting two books for a lousy $1.99, so click on over and take advantage of it! Tell your friends! Tell your enemies! Let's make the launch of Apex Predator bigger and better in every way!

Apex Predator is available for pre-order!

Apex Predator: A Grant Mercer Novel doesn't release until the 24th, but you can pre-order your copy right now! You can get the Kindle version right here. If you need it for your Ipad, Nook, Kobo, or what have you, it will soon be distributed to those stores via Smashwords; in the meantime, you can grab a copy directly from them here. 

As for the print copy, I'm still waiting for my proof copy to arrive! Once I've inspected that and confirmed that everything is all right, it will be available as well. Rest assured that I'll keep you posted! (Keep in mind that my books are part of Kindle matchbook, so if you plan to get the print version, the Kindle version will be included for free!)

I'll have some special stuff going on in the next couple of weeks to celebrate the book's launch, so check back tomorrow for more on that! 

Apex Predator: A Grant Mercer Novel is coming in October!

Anyone experiencing deja vu? Seriously, don't worry, I've taken extreme measures to ensure that such a catastrophe doesn't occur again. Having to re-write a nearly-complete novel is not a joyful experience. I figured I'd spare myself having to re-write the original blurb as well, and present it to you again here, with a few slight alterations where appropriate:

One of the most popular stories in Nightmare Escapade: A Horror Anthology was the tale that 
introduced Grant Mercer, a former detective whose search for a missing child takes a horrific turn when he stumbles upon the underworld of supernatural beings who are pulling everyone's strings from behind the scenes. Without spoiling things for those of you who have not yet read
the story, things take some unexpected twists and turns, and by the end, the breakout character
of the book was born. Almost every reader who gave me feedback on the book began with how much they enjoyed that particular story, and wanted to see what happened next.

It was my plan all along to launch Grant into his own series of novels, so naturally, I'm very happy that readers responded so well to his introductory story. In October, Apex Predator: A Grant Mercer Novel will pick up right where that story ended, delving into the supernatural empire that we've only glimpsed. Grant has only dipped his toe into the water; in Apex Predator, he gets tossed right into the deep end!

As a bonus, the story from Nightmare Escapade that introduced Grant will be included, so new readers won't have to buy another book to "catch up." With that inclusion, it seemed appropriate for that story to lend its name to the novel, since it picks up immediately following those events. Apex Predator is only a few short weeks away! For now, enjoy the debut of the (slightly tweaked) cover art, and give Nightmare Escapade another read to help you prepare!

I also have something very cool in the works to coincide with the release of Apex Predator, so stay tuned! 

My New Year's Reso-- er, writing goals for 2014

For various reasons, I just didn't get as much done last year as I wanted. There were many factors that lead to that, and not all of them were my fault, but the fact remains that I didn't publish anything new, and this blog was largely neglected during the second half of the year. Unless I spontaneously combust or the world blows up or something, we're not gonna see a repeat of that this year. These are my goals for this year.

Finish APEX PREDATOR

This is the big one, and the one currently getting most of my attention. I was nearly done with it a few months ago when disaster struck, as you may recall. I was so sick about the whole situation that I wound up taking a break from it for a month or so, though I did work on some other things during that time. I recently dove back into it, and it will be released this year. I'm not sure about a release date yet, and that will obviously depend on when I finish it, but my goal is to have it done by the end of March at the latest. The issue with backing up the file more often is now moot, as I setup Skydrive to automatically sync the file whenever I use it, so it's automatically backed up. Reeeeeaaally wish I'd known about that last year, but there's no use in fretting over it now. What's done is done, and all I can do is charge forward.

Publish print versions of my books

This one has actually happened! I spent the first bit of the year working on getting Nightmare Escapade ready for printing, and it went on sale Monday. Now that I've familiarized myself with the process, it should go much more smoothly when it comes time to publish future books. In the meantime, just having an actual physical copy of my first book sitting on the shelf feels pretty amazing.

Get the local bookstores to carry the print versions of my books

Pretty self-explanatory. We have two bookstores in town that have sections for authors from our region, so hopefully it won't be too tough to make this happen.

Get better at self-promotion

This one is really crucial. My sales are not where I'd like them to be, and the brutal truth is that I'm just lousy at promoting myself and networking with people. I need to really double down and make some serious effort to change that. 

Post on this blog more often

This is a problem I tackled last year as well, and I made a big effort to post at least once a week. I stuck with it for a few months, but eventually, things just got in the way, and I began posting less and less. So, I'm going for it again this year. Hopefully I'll do better this time. 

These are not all the goals I have set for myself for this year, but they are the major ones. If I can accomplish all of them, I'll consider 2014 a rousing success! If not, well, I figure any year in which I don't die is still a pretty good one. ;)

Bad news, everyone!

Today is the day that Apex Predator was supposed to go on sale. So, where the hell is it? My PC has been having stability issues lately, crashing on me abruptly and freezing up with some regularity. A few days ago, it happened to slap me with the blue screen while I was putting some finishing touches on Apex Predator. Computer restart, and WHAM! File corrupted.

Yeah.

Thankfully, I'm not totally up shit creek here, since I had backed up the file on a flash drive. Unfortunately, I had not been as vigilant about that as I should have been, so that backup is a couple of months old, and needs a lot of work done to get it to the point the now-corrupted file was at. So, I guess you could say that I am up shit creek, but at least I've got a paddle.

So, the book is still coming. I'm not sure exactly how long it will take me to re-complete it, though I'd be shocked if it were to take me more than a month or so. Not sure if releasing it smack in the middle of the holiday season is the best timing, so I'll likely hold onto it for another month or two after I finish it before it actually goes on sale. I'll have to play that bit by ear, but have no fear; I'll keep you all posted. Hopefully, this won't affect the release of the book I have planned to release after Apex Predator. I've already done some preliminary work on it... but it's altogether too soon to start talking about it. all I'll say for now is that it is not another Grant Mercer novel. (More of those will be coming eventually, though.)

Anyway, apologies for the entire debacle. I gotta get back to work. That book's not gonna re-write itself!

Rant Ramblings: Week of 7-12-13

Big news this week! In case you missed it, I announced Tuesday that my next book will be Apex Predator: A Grant Mercer novel! Check out that post for the details.

I finally picked up WWE '13 during Xbox Live's summer sale last week for $15, so I've been busy re-making characters in it when I haven't been working on Apex Predator. I only "upgrade" with this series every 2 or 3 years, so the changes are plentiful from the 2010 version I was accustomed to. The changes are mostly positive, although a few quirks in the character creator are annoying. If I come up with a way to capture decent gameplay videos without buying any new equipment, I'll post some videos in the coming weeks.

Here is a chronicle of the art created by a restaurant server who decided to do something special with order sheets. Pretty cool stuff.

Hold the mushrooms and onions, please.

We have AMAs by David X. Cohen (the head writer of Futurama) and John Malkovich, so get reading!

That's it for this week; I've gotta get back to writing!

My next book will be APEX PREDATOR: A Grant Mercer Novel

One of the most popular stories in Nightmare Escapade: A Horror Anthology was the tale that introduced Grant Mercer, a former detective whose search for a missing child takes a horrific turn when he stumbles upon the underworld of supernatural beings who are pulling everyone's strings from behind the scenes. Without spoiling things for those of you who have not yet read the story, things take some unexpected twists and turns, and by the end, the breakout character of the book was born. Almost every reader who gave me feedback on the book began with how much they enjoyed that particular story, and wanted to see what happened next.

It was my plan all along to launch Grant into his own series of novels, so naturally, I'm very happy that readers responded so well to his introductory story. In September, Apex Predator: A Grant Mercer Novel will pick up right where that story ended, delving into the supernatural empire that we've only glimpsed. Grant has only dipped his toe into the water; in Apex Predator, he gets tossed right into the deep end!

As a bonus, the story from Nightmare Escapade that introduced Grant will be included, so new readers won't have to buy another book to "catch up." With that inclusion, it seemed appropriate for that story to lend its name to the novel, since it picks up immediately following those events. Apex Predator is only two short months away. For now, enjoy the debut of the cover art, and give Nightmare Escapade another read to help you prepare!