Wednesday, December 30, 2009

January Interview

Here is the website's official interview for January.


Q: I wanted to do something a little different this month and ask some more generalized, personal questions but you're gonna throw a wrench in that cause I know you have some things to announce. But first, how was your Christmas?

RJ: That's me, always throwing a wrench into the plans. My Christmas was good. The kids got a bunch of stuff and we got a new 42" tv which I'll certainly enjoy.

Q: Last month we mentioned you starting a street team can you tell us more about it now?

RJ: It's basically just your fans going around and trying to generate publicity. It can be passing out flyers, contacting bookstores or newspapers, doing on-line publicity, getting family and friends to buy books. A lot of things like that which gets your fans involved.

Q: How do fans benefit from doing that?

RJ: They'll be a drawing each month for a $20 gift card, you can have a character named after you in a future story, they'll be contests for autographed merchandise, and they can conduct a Q&A session with me for the website.

Q: Sounds like it could be a lot of fun.

RJ: Yeah, well, I hope so. Music bands have been doing it forever and I just thought it was worth a try. It gives fans a chance to become more involved in my career instead of just buying my books whenever they come out. Now, they can get exclusive access to me they wouldn't otherwise get and try to have some fun in the process while also generating more exposure for me than I could otherwise get on my own.

Q: So the Deadlock release date has finally been announced as January 17. How excited are you about that?

RJ: I'm very excited. Whenever you put something new out there's always a combination of excitement, nervousness, anxiety, because you don't know how it'll be received yet.

Q: How do you think it'll be received?

RJ: I hope well. But it's like everything else. Some people will like everything, some will only like some things, and some won't like anything. You just hope that the ones who do like it severely outnumber those who don't.

Q: What will we have to look forward to after Deadlock?

RJ: That's still to be decided. I'm still working on Empire, which is the next closest book to being finished, but I'm pretty sure there will be a few short stories released before that comes out.

Q: Anything specific?

RJ: Well I have ideas for a few Bounty Hunter short stories, and a few Nick Mason stories. I'd also like to get started on my Robbery Homicide series which I've been wanting to do forever.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Deadlock Release Date

The e-book version of Deadlock will be released on January 17th! The price will be announced later this week. I'd be appreciative if you helped spread the word...tell your friends, neighbors, co-workers, and family members!

Hope everyone had a nice holiday!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

website

The website has been revamped. I think it's a lot better and has a few new features on it. If you care to let me know what you think...feel free to drop me a line and let me know your thoughts.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Website

Am planning on redoing the website within the next couple days. If anyone has any input they'd like to make...thoughts, suggestions, anything at all....send me an e-mail to ryejames77@aol.com

Friday, November 6, 2009

November Interview

Q: It's been a while since we've had one of these interviews. You've been pretty quiet lately without a whole lot of news from you, leaving a lot of people wondering what you've been up?

RJ: Yeah, I have been pretty quiet. I needed to take a break from a lot of things. People who know me know I'm a workaholic, but I just had to get away from stuff. As you know, my wife and I had a son who just turned a year old this past week, and we also have a 3 year old daughter...I was finding it difficult to take care of a newborn, be a good dad, a good husband, plus write, plus promote, plus do all the other things I was doing so I pretty much just scrapped everything but spend time with my family.

Q: So how is the family doing?

RJ: They're doing good. My son is starting to walk so he's blazing through the house at a pretty good pace. I'm slowly starting to get back to what I was doing before with writing, promoting, blogging, interviews and all that. I was just trying to do too much before and I thought it was taking away from family time and my family's gonna come first for me.

Q: So when should we expect more material from you?

RJ: Well, Deadlock should be released as an e-book within a couple months with the paperback to follow after that. It was supposed to be released in the summer but with my hiatus it was pushed back since I didn't feel I had enough time or energy to promote it.

Q: Why was the decision made to release Deadlock as an e-book first instead of the paperback?

RJ: Well, the biggest reason is that I sell more e-books than paperbacks. All 3 books have sold more as e-books. The second thing is cost...it costs a lot more to print paperbacks.

Q: Is there a chance there will not be a paperback released?

RJ: There's always a chance but I don't think that's a likely scenario. I like having a print version and not everyone has an e-reader or reads on their computer so I think it's still necessary to have a paperback.

Q: I've always wanted to ask this but it just never came up, but I was wondering if you enjoy promoting your work? I know some people love to promote themselves, some don't, where do you stand?

RJ: I would definitely fall among those who don't. I hate promoting myself. I'm a very private person. I like to think of myself as being pretty humble and down to earth. To promote you almost have to brag and shout at everyone to look at me and that's definitely not my personality. But unless you're Stephen King you pretty much have to promote yourself, at least on some level or you'll get lost out there since there's a lot of books and authors vying for attention. It's also very time consuming, takes a lot of energy, and is almost never ending.

Q: I guess for authors like you it'd be nice to have a staff of publicity people to do that for you?

RJ: It'd be great but I don't think that's likely to happen anytime soon. Though I have been looking into starting a Street Team. I'm still working out the details but it's worked for music bands and I've heard of some authors doing it so I figure it's worth looking into. I should be announcing some details on it within the next week or two.

Q: That sounds like a great idea. So when we sit down next month we should be able to talk about it in a little bit more detail?

RJ: Absolutely.

Q: Alright, well, that's it for this session. We'll see you again next month.

RJ: You got it. Thank you.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Twitter

Yes, I've gone ahead and done it. I'm now on Twitter.

www.twitter.com/ryejames77

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

ebooks

It's looking like my books will soon be available on other avenues...for those of you who don't purchase the paperback version, don't have Kindle, or read books on the computer. Within the next few weeks my books should be available on the Sony E-reader, which is something I've been working towards for a while. There is also a possibility that the books may be available as e-books on Barnes & Noble, which is debuting it's own e-reader soon. Will update more as it gets closer.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Deadlock

I mentioned the other day that Deadlock probably wouldn't be released till early next year. Well there are some discussions right now about possibly releasing it as just an e-book, or releasing the e-book within the next couple months, and the paperback early next year. I'd be interested in hearing everyone's thoughts on it if you'd care to e-mail me.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Back

First, I'd like to apologize for being away for so long. It wasn't a planned event. I can't believe I haven't posted anything in 7 months. I've gotten a lot of e-mail wondering what I've been up to, and what's going on with the books. Most of my time has been spent with my family. I have a 3 yr old daughter and now an 11 month old son who require a lot of attention, so I haven't done a whole lot on-line or even writing. Deadlock, which was supposed to be released during the summer, has been delayed. It's most likely going to be released during the early part of 2010. I will be on-line more often going forward so keep reading and sending me e-mail.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Contest Winners

I've already been in contact with the winners of the review contest but I wanted to put it on here too. The 2 winners were John for his review of The Assassin on Mobipocket and Wendy who replied via email with the answers to the questions. Thanks to everyone who put up a review or sent in answers.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Breenibooks Review

This was a really nice review that was recently posted of The Assassin:

http://breenibooks.blogspot.com/2009/01/guest-review-assassin-by-rye-james.html#links

"The genre of Westerns seems to be slowly riding off into the sunset. Westerns had their heyday during the mid twentieth century when Louis Lamour’s novels were bestsellers, and everyone watched soon to be classic shows like Gunsmoke and The Rifleman. John Wayne also rained supreme at the box office. Unfortunately, few Westerns appear on bookshelves today. Personally, I enjoy a good Western. That’s the main reason I wanted to read Rye James’s novel The Assassin. It is a great addition an old genre.

The title refers to protagonist Matt Beck’s profession. He is a professional gunslinger. Interestingly, he always kills his victims in self-defense. Beck has his own code for living; it’s his way of coping with his unusual career. The reader’s first glimpse of Beck’s cold nature occurs in the opening scene of the novel when he deals with one of his victims. The man begs for his life, but killing him is just part of the job for Beck. Such a cold man might seem like an unsympathetic protagonist, but Beck is utterly fascinating.

There is an element of mystery in The Assassin. When Beck rides into Galena, Arizona, his reason is unclear. It is a rainy night, so he could simply be seeking shelter. Of course, that is not the reason for Beck’s stop in Galena. He has a job in town. That means someone has to die. The question that hangs throughout most of the novel surrounds his victim. Beck doesn’t reveal the identity of his target until near the end of the novel. James does a great job of building the suspense around Beck’s target. There are several possible victims, and Beck never tips his hand. The most important part of his job is the mind game that comes before the gunfight.

The plot is actually deceptively simple. Beck has a job to complete in Galena. Someone has paid him to kill someone, but no one knows the intended victim’s identity. Beck doesn’t even know who paid him to do this job until the end of the novel. The identity of Beck’s employer provides another element of suspense. In fact, this provides one of the best plot twists in the entire novel. As Beck lingers in Galena, the residents wonder and worry about his intended target. An interesting subplot develops when the mayor hires another gunfighter to kill Beck. The resolution of the situation is reminiscent of an episode of Maverick. The final shootout is thrilling and action-packed. Even though the plot is fairly simple, James has done an excellent job of building and maintaining suspense throughout the novel.

The characters in The Assassin are intriguing. Matt Beck is much more than a gunfighter; he is a very complex character. The potential victims are equally intriguing. Everyone seems to have something to hide in Galena, particularly among the town’s elite. Galena is a town where corruption suns rampant, so it is hard to guess who is most likely to be the target. When Beck does finally reveal his target, it doesn’t come as a shock. The reason for the job is much more surprising.

The Assassin feels like an old-fashioned Western. It has a solid plot and fascinating characters. Rye James is clearly a fan of the classic Westerns. In The Assassin, he tips his hat to this great American genre."

Reviewed by Cynthia Murphy

Sunday, January 11, 2009

December Interview

Here is Decembers interview from the website.

Q: There's a rumor that Bounty Hunter is going to released around Christmas, is that true?
RJ: Partly. It will be released on the Amazon Kindle probably around the 25th-28th. Then the paperback will follow that.

Q: What's the reasoning behind that?
RJ: Well, there will be a certain amount of people who may be getting a Kindle as a gift. The thought is that when they go to look for books they'll see Bounty Hunter as a new release and hopefully give it a try.

Q: We know Deadlock will be the next book after Bounty Hunter. How's it coming?
RJ: Very well. I'll most likely be done by the time this interview hits the website. I've never been one to write a big amount at one time but there have been a few night where I was able to write 15-20 pages at a time which is very unusual for me. The story just flowed very easily for me so I'm happy about that.

Q: You've mentioned some Thriller books you were working on after the next two books are released. Can you tell us more about them yet?
RJ: I haven't started working on them yet other than a few rough ideas. I haven't sat down to write any of the stories yet till I have Deadlock finished. I am excited to start working on them though. I think they'll be really interesting stuff. One would be a supernatural thriller involving a man who goes through a tragedy and winds up being both tempted by the devil and saved by an angel. I think that could be really cool. The others are 2 bow and arrow and swords type of books, kind of Lord of the Ring-ish. And the other would be a mystery/thriller called Murder On The Hour.

Q: Wow! Sounds like you're gonna have your hands full for quite some time.
RJ: Hopefully they'll be stories that just naturally write themselves and won't take too long to write but you don't really know till you get involved in it.

Q: So the Westerns are being shelved for a little bit?
RJ: That was the plan. I don't know, though. It's tough for me to just say I'm not gonna write a Western for a few years though just because I love the genre so much. There's a few things I could do.

Q: Maybe a short story or two between books?
RJ: Well, yeah, that'd probably be the only thing I could do. I've actually already come up with outlines of another 8 or 10 Bounty Hunter short stories.

Q: Where would they be published?
RJ: Well that's a good question cause Amazon Shorts are not accepting new material and may well not accept anything new again as they don't seem to know what to do with the program. So that would leave putting them up for free on the website or packaging them together as another book.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Bounty Hunter part 2

Bounty Hunter is now listed on Amazon. For you e-book readers it is also on the Kindle for $3.19 as well as on Mobipocket.com for those who read on the pc or your mobile device. Here is the link for the Amazon paperback version.

Amazon.com: Bounty Hunter: Rye James: Books

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Bounty Hunter

I was told that Bounty Hunter has shown up on the Barnes and Noble website so I went and checked and there it is, ready to be ordered. The price is $9.95 but if you have a membership then the price drops to $8.95. Here's the link to it.

Bounty Hunter, Rye James, Book - Barnes & Noble