Rye James' blog

2012 Goals

2012-01-28T10:44:00.000-05:00

I probably should've posted this 4 weeks ago, but better late than never, right? For those wondering about those Kindle sales from my last post, don't worry, it'll be posted this week. But until then, my goal for this year is to get 3 books released. The Protector is a definite, the cover's being worked on now, and is being edited. It will definitely be out by March. The Crew will most likely be the 2nd one. At the rate I'm writing, The Crew should be done writing by mid-March, at which point it can be edited and the cover done. I'm shooting for July-August release. The 3rd book will most likely by The Woods. It was actually supposed to be next after The Protector, but writing The Crew has been going so smoothly that it's gone past it. Even so, I'd like to release one book of The Evil Series each year, so if The Woods got released later in the year, that would be accomplished. I'm shooting for a October-November release for that. I'm typically not the fastest writer, as I tend to edit as I go, if there's no hiccups it's possible I could get a 4th book out...maybe. No guarantees on that though.

My other goal, as it is for every writer, is to get more sales. My sales for Barnes and Noble, after a good start, have been horrible. Somehow, I need to find a way to reach those readers. Similarly, I need to increase sales at Amazon. At times they're OK, at times they're slow. I haven't got that one breakout book yet that catapults me, maybe this year it'll happen. You can never predict how a book will connect with people though so we'll see.

2011 numbers part 1

2012-01-13T19:09:00.000-05:00

At the end of the year I look back and tally up all the numbers from each platform and see how each book did. So far, everything's totaled, except for the Kindle sales....which make up a large majority of my sales. Nevertheless, I figured I'd share the rankings of the books across the other platforms (Nook, Smashwords, Mobipocket) I get the reports each month but looking at them all together, it's not what I thought it would've been. Here are the rankings excluding Amazon:

1) Escape
2) Bounty Hunter
3) The Assassin
4) Deadlock
5) A Soul Worth Taking
6) Day of the Assassin

I found several interesting tidbits from this. First, Escape has always sold the best on Mobipocket, but I didn't realize it was selling the best on Nook as well. Second, sales on Nook started off well from Jan. through Mar. but fell off a cliff after that. I'm not sure what happened but they've never picked up after that either. Part of it may be that I've found it very challenging marketing to Nook owners. Somehow, I've got to get those numbers to pick up. My next post will be with the Kindle sales in which I fully expect The Assassin to take over the top spot. Stay tuned.

Website

2012-01-08T21:15:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that I am working on changing the website a little bit. The current website is a little bland and boring so I wanted to spruce it up a little. So far, I've added a direct Twitter feed to the main page as well as uncluttering the front page. I've changed a couple sections already. I'll be taking down the short story on there and listing all my books along with links to where to buy them (Amazon, BN, etc.). I'm also adding a Future Works section to keep everyone informed on what's in the pipeline. This page will have the titles, along with what the story's about, word count, percentage to completion, and what status the book's currently in (editing, writing, etc.). I think that'll be a cool feature to follow. I've also added a review/interview section for people to see what interviews I've given and some of the reviews I've received. I've also put in a Connect With Me area where people can find me on Twitter, Facebook, Blog, and Email. Hopefully these changes will make the site better. Any ideas or suggestions feel free to drop me a line.

Deadlock FREE

2011-12-11T22:30:00.000-05:00

One of my books, Deadlock, will be free on Amazon from Dec. 14 to Dec. 18. This is part of a new program Amazon is offering in which Deadlock will be exclusive to them for the next 90 days. So if you're interested in the book and have a Nook, or something else, you'll have to wait. Judging from the sales of Deadlock on non Kindles...there aren't many of you out there! I'm hoping this will help sales for the other books and give me a little jump. Please tell all your Kindle owning friends!

The Protector release

2011-12-05T09:50:00.000-05:00

Well, it's looking like The Protector will finally be released in February. It's been pushed back several times now, and though I never said why, it was because of a lack of financial resources. The money just wasn't there to publish it and promote it the right way. But it's looking like that will change in January, so February is looking good to go.

Help

2011-11-28T14:11:00.000-05:00

This post is all about asking for the help of you readers who enjoy my work. Any help you can give in getting the word out about my books is extremely appreciated. Whether you "like" my new facebook page, put out twitter messages, write reviews, send e-mails to friends...I'm grateful for it all. So if you like my books and feel like helping an author out...please tell your friends and family if you think they might enjoy my stuff. I struggle with getting the word out because I'm not great at self promotion...I just don't enjoy tootin' my own horn.

Here's what you could do if you're interested:
1) Write reviews on Amazon & Barnes and Noble (most helpful)
2) "like" my new facebook page
3) follow me on twitter
4) tweet or share on facebook about my books
5) tell your friends and family
6) mention my books in online forums

Thanks if you help!

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving!

Facebook

2011-10-18T20:55:00.001-04:00

I started my own Facebook page. Not sure exactly what I'm doing with it yet, but I'm sure I'll get it figured out fairly quickly. I'd appreciate anyone clicking on the like button on the page. Thanks!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rye-James/175127015906405#!/pages/Rye-James/175127015906405?sk=wall

Still here and kickin'!

2011-10-15T20:09:00.000-04:00

I've been largely silent the last couple of months, but I'm starting to get back in the swing of things. I needed a break from writing and promotion so I just stepped away from everything. The Protector is waiting for the finishing touches so I wanna get that out there for the 2 of you who decide to buy it! :-) Then I wanna get the next book of The Evil Series finished. After that I don't know where I'll go, maybe finish The Evil Series, or maybe go in a different direction. Hope all is well with you guys.

A Soul Worth Taking

2011-08-19T15:51:00.000-04:00

The price of A Soul Worth Taking is now 99 cents on Kindle! Not sure how long this sale will go on for but obviously I'm trying to get as many readers for the book as possible. Please give it a shot if you're interested. Thanks!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004V02A3K

A Soul Worth Taking review copies

2011-08-06T22:13:00.000-04:00

In an effort to try and get some positive reviews on A Soul Worth Taking...I'm offering free copies to anyone who's interested in reading it. The book currently only has one review and it's a 1 star (which I obviously don't agree with). The book is hardly selling and my opinion is that this one lone, bad review is hurting sales. So if you want to read it, you can download a free copy with a coupon code via smashwords in whatever format you prefer. All I ask is that if you enjoy the book you post a review on Amazon and/or Barnes and Noble.

Here's the smashwords page:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/51084

coupon code: AM68Q

Thank you to all who are interested!!

updates

2011-06-17T12:48:00.000-04:00

It's been a few weeks since my last post here. Just wanted to update everyone with what's been going on. All the books have been delayed, timeframes are tough to say right now, as there's a lot going on at home. The Protector still has to be edited and the cover done. Until that's done the 2nd book of The Evil Series won't even be touched so that's gonna be delayed as well. The reason for the delay is that for the time being we took in some family members who had no place to go for a little while. So that's 2 more adults, a baby, and a dog, living in our house. So it's extremely crowded in here and busy and really tough to get any writing related stuff done. In order for me to do things I need a quiet room for a few hours and that's not possible at the moment.

If I had to guess I'd say The Protector should be released in July or August at the latest. That would push back The Woods to probably October or November.

interview

2011-05-28T17:20:00.000-04:00

Here's an interview I just had on author Travis Haselton's blog:

http://haseltonsword.blogspot.com/2011/05/interview-with-author-rye-james.html

Donna's Blog Home review of A Soul Worth Taking

2011-05-24T23:17:00.000-04:00

After being frustrated about the first review for A Soul Worth Taking being a bad one I thought I'd share a good one. It is posted at Donna's Blog Home in which she calls the book "a captivating story....the characters are well developed and interesting."

You can read the full review here:

http://donnasbloghome.blogspot.com/2011/05/review-soul-worth-taking.html

vacation

2011-05-16T23:16:00.000-04:00

Well, not a real one, but I am taking a break from writing for a couple of weeks. The last couple of weeks I've been really stressed out with family issues and with promotion/reviews,etc. So I didn't do any writing last week, I'm not doing any this week, and there's a good chance I won't do any next week either. After that, I'll get to finishing up The Woods and trying to get The Protector ready to be released. So, I'll likely be quiet for the next week or two unless something comes up I feel the need to announce.

Frustration

2011-05-09T13:40:00.001-04:00

Days like these really make me want to throw in the towel. Got my first review in for A Soul Worth Taking and it's a doozy...one star. The reviewer basically said that I couldn't write, the story stunk, it wasn't edited...blah blah blah. I won't debate the review(er) because I don't do that...everyone's entitled to their opinions. Even though I disagree. Sometimes I'd like to though. (It was edited though..). I've been excited about this book and series and to have the first review trash it makes me think maybe I really do suck.

I'm even more on edge since my last review was a 2 star on The Assassin (though that guy gives 2 stars to every book he reads and says none of them are well written) so I wasn't so upset as much with that one.

I've had my share of good reviews and people that like what I write though it seems the bad reviews stay with me longer than the good one. I wonder how it is for other writers? I really shouldn't even bother looking at reviews.

Here's my basic thoughts: I don't think I'm a great writer, maybe not even a good one. I think I'm an average writer...some better than me, some worse. I think I'm a good storyteller. Those that want to read books with great writing that will leave you speechless probably should skip mine. If you just want a good story and don't want to go running for the dictionary to understand what I just wrote...maybe you'll like it.

The Protector

2011-04-30T17:09:00.000-04:00

95% sure that's gonna be the title of the next book...instead of Empire. It's a more fitting title as the main character is the leader of The Protectors. It's the title I wanted all along but I changed it at the beginning since there have been other books called that. But it's the right fit so I'm going back to it.

I'm shooting for a release date of June. I should be wrapping up edits in the next 2 weeks and I'll start hunting around for a cover artist and get it formatted.

I'll keep everyone updated on the progress and also will be updating info in the next couple weeks about book 2 in The Evil Series.

Right now, watching the Flyers getting killed in game 1 of the playoffs against the Bruins!

Juniper Grove

2011-04-27T12:09:00.000-04:00

I was recently featured on the Juniper Grove blog as they were giving away copies of A Soul Worth Taking for their Dark Nights week. Take a look:

http://junipergrove.wordpress.com/2011/04/22/guest-post-by-author-rye-james/

baseball

2011-04-17T18:32:00.000-04:00

My 5yr old daughter had her first every baseball game today. It went a lot better than her first practice went. She wasn't as shy and didn't need us out there with her. She hit the ball on the first pitch a couple of times, though the first time she was on base she didn't know where to go. But it went very well and she had a lot of fun. It was a good time had by everyone.

Spellbound By Books

2011-04-14T20:06:00.000-04:00

I am on Spellbound By Books today talking about A Soul Worth Taking. You can also enter a drawing where 2 free copies of the book are being given away. Check it out

http://www.spellboundbybooks.com/2011/04/guest-post-by-rye-james-and-giveaway.html

design changes

2011-04-12T12:03:00.001-04:00

I'm probably going to be doing some experimenting with the blog in the next few weeks. As stated in the last post I'm going to post about some personal stuff more. But I'm also trying to change the look of the blog. To be honest, it looks kind of boring. I added the slideshow of my books to the right so people can find them easier if they so desire. That's a good start. I'm also going to be adding other features...what, I'm not exactly sure yet. I just want more content and less 'blah'. So I'm on the lookout. Anybody has suggestions or ideas feel free to email me.

little league

2011-04-11T14:03:00.000-04:00

I'm going to venture off the regular path of blog topics today. Usually I only discuss my writing stuff. I think I'm now going to occasionally talk about personal things as it appears some readers like to know things like that...trying to get to know a writer they like.

My 5yr old daughter had her first baseball practice on Sunday. Didn't start off too well. She's incredibly shy at first and isn't outgoing at all when meeting new people. She didn't want me to leave her side as she's playing catch with another kid and everytime I started to leave the field to go watch from the bleachers she started to cry. At one point she said she wanted to stop and go. My wife then stayed with her and after another twenty minutes or so began to warm up to everything. The practice was about 2 hours and she eventually stayed out there on her own, hitting, running the bases, and standing out in the field. So when the practice was over she said she had fun and wanted to come back. They handed out hats and shirts and we went to the store to get her spikes. I asked her what was the matter at the beginning and she said she wasn't sure what to expect.

All in all it was a great day. I played baseball for quite a few years and I have to say that I think I was more nervous watching her than I ever was when I played. Her first actual game is next week, will have to get out the camcorder for that one. The joys of having children.

Special Thanks

2011-04-08T23:10:00.000-04:00

Now that A Soul Worth Taking has been released, I wanted to give a shout out to Jeffry Hepple. Jeff formatted the book for Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords. Jeff is also an author of some historical fiction that you should definitely check out.

Here's his Amazon author page to check out his books:

http://www.amazon.com/Jeffry-S.-Hepple/e/B002BM69BO/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Amazon release!

2011-04-05T12:27:00.000-04:00

A Soul Worth Taking is now available on Amazon for the Kindle!

Click here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004V02A3K

Happy downloading!

Release of A Soul Worth Taking

2011-04-03T19:49:00.000-04:00

For you Nook users, A Soul Worth Taking is available now!! It's being offered at an introductory price of only .99!! The cover is not yet up there, but it is embedded in the story once you download it. It will only be at that price for a few weeks so hurry and get your copy.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/A-Soul-Worth-Taking/Rye-James/e/2940012295224

For those of you who use mobipocket (still 99 cents), the link is here:

http://www.mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/eBookDetails.asp?BookID=429756

And for those who like the variety of options at smashwords:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/51084

For the Kindle users, it should be available within the next 24 hours...I will have another post when it's ready. Download away, all!

A Soul Worth Taking

2011-04-02T14:03:00.000-04:00

Right now the book is in the hands of a professional formatter, so I'm hopeful that it'll be ready by the end of the weekend. Once it's done I'll submit it to Amazon, B&N, hopefully Apple and Kobo. My books have not been on Apple or Kobo before because they've never been professionally formatted and I could never figure out how they wanted it. The timeframe that the book is available on the Kindle and Nook obviously depend on Amazon and B&N. I'll keep you updated though.

A Soul Worth Taking release

2011-03-24T21:57:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to make a quick update on A Soul Worth Taking's release date. The cover is just about finished. I've been working with the cover designer, going back and forth, checking out different fonts/sizes/styles...and I think we're just about there. Once it's finished I'll release the final cover on here. I was thinking it might be kind of cool to see the progression of the first cover and all the different variations until we get to the final one.

Editing should be finished within a week. It's been a little slower than expected as I was dealing with some personal stuff that sidetracked me. I still want to get the book in the hands of some bloggers/reviewers to get some reviews up on release day, but I'm not sure if there will be enough time. There seems to be some interest in the book so I'm not going to push the release back again. I did it once and won't do it again. The idea was to have some reviews up on release day to help with additional sales and help push it up the charts. Even if they're not up by release date, whenever they get up they'll help with sales, so I'm not really worried about it.

Be back in the next few days with another update.

Beta Readers

2011-03-10T11:34:00.000-05:00

I'm once again putting out the call for beta readers. This time it's for my fantasy book...right now being called Empire (thinking of other options). Will probably start sending out copies sometime next week for those interested. Here's a little info on the story:

(not an official blurb or anything as I haven't worked on it much)

Drobania is on the verge of a rebellion. The leader of the rebel forces is a great warrior named Todel and was once the comander of the empire's elite guard unit, The Protectors. It's decided the best way to end the rebellion is to eliminate it before it starts by killing their leader. A small band of soldiers is sent to the mountains to find Todel and kill him. The man in charge of this band, Taidyn, is the only man capable of killing Todel in battle. He is also the current commander of The Protectors. Taidyn is unsure whether he is capable of killing Todel. The reason....Todel is his father.

If interested let me know.

A Soul Worth Taking blurbs

2011-02-27T20:36:00.000-05:00

I've had an interesting mix of responses to which blurb people like best so far. As of a couple days ago it was dead evenly split among all three, which I thought was unbelievable. The last couple of days the support seems to be going towards #1 and #3. I haven't made a decision yet on which one I'll be using so if you haven't voiced your opinion feel free to do so.

news

2011-02-25T11:42:00.000-05:00

First off is I need to delay the release date of A Soul Worth Taking. I'm sorry to those of you who've been looking forward to it but you won't have to wait much longer. We're delaying the release till mid-April. So only another month or so. We want to try and create a bigger buzz and get review copies out to reviewers so hopefully a couple will be out when it's released...thereby helping sales. Also still doing some minor edits, and waiting for the cover, which I'm supposed to see later today. I just don't want everything to be rushed and the book suffers for it. Plus it will allow a shorter time between book one and book two.

Will be back with an update tomorrow on the blurb feedback....it's been pretty interesting.

A Soul Worth Taking blurbs

2011-02-14T13:48:00.000-05:00

Been working on the official synopsis of the book and seem to have three choices (unless more spring up from this). Right now I'm leaning towards #3. If you have any thoughts on these...likes/dislikes...feel free to comment or e-mail your opinion.

#1

Hell wants him.

Heaven wants to save him.

After tragedy strikes Mike Moore, the Devil sees an opportunity to acquire another soul while he's in his darkest moments. An Angel is sent to guide him back from the lowest depths of his soul. Will he rise above the darkness or will he give in to hate and anger, seeking revenge for what he's been put through? What transpires is a man's personal struggles to do what's right or succumb to evil.

#2
What do you do when those that are closest to you are ripped away? For Mike Moore, he is caught in a personal struggle between what is right and wrong. Evil torments him, chipping away at his soul, trying to entice him to seek revenge on the tragedy he has had to endure. Will he give in to temptation or can he rise above the darkness with the help of a heavenly friend?

#3
Hell wants him.

Heaven wants to save him.

What would you do when those you love most are ripped away?

After tragedy strikes Mike Moore, he is visited by two mysterious strangers. One sees an opportunity to take advantage of him while he's in his darkest moments and takes him to the lowest depths of his soul, tempting his desires to take revenge for what he has lost. The other tries to help him rise above the darkness, giving him the support he needs to fight against the evil that has come for him. What transpires is a personal struggle between good and evil.

release date

2011-02-07T10:02:00.000-05:00

MARCH 8!!

Yep. That's right. A Soul Worth Taking will be released on Tuesday, March 8th.

Make sure you virtually start lining up for your copy now, but no line jumping. They'll be enough for everybody. :-)

William Meikle--guest post

2011-01-28T11:06:00.000-05:00

The Valley

WHY I WROTE THE VALLEY

The origins of the novella "The Valley" are pretty simple to trace. In Fortean circles there have been attempts to find a picture that many claim to have seen, yet no-one has been able to find. This fabled photograph is said to show a group of Civil-War era men standing in a row wearing big grins. Spreadeagled on the ground in front of them is the body of a huge bird, a being that could only come from pre-history. In some accounts this bird is a giant eagle, in others it is even stranger, a leathery, paper thin Pterosaur. Whatever the case, that image was the thing in my mind, and I had a "What if..." moment, wondering what would happen if cowboys came across a Lost World. From that single thought, the initial concept of The Valley was born.

There's a long tradition of Lost World tales, both in movies and fiction. Over the years I've devoured as many as I can find, from Conan Doyle through Haggard, from Tarzan in Pellucidar to Doug McLure in the Land that Time Forgot. Many of these tales involve dinosaurs, but I wanted something different. For a while I didn't know exactly what "creatures" I needed, but that all changed as soon as the setting clicked. Back in 2005 I had the good fortune to holiday in the Rockies. It was while scanning through photographs of that trip that the thought of the high mountain valley came to me, and when Neil Jackson told me about Montana and the Big Hole Valley, I knew I'd found my spot. And the pictures of the ice and snow from my trip also gave me the era from which I would draw my creatures -- the last Ice Age. I now knew that my protagonists would be heading into a Lost Valley where relic animals lived, and that these creatures would be hairy and large. I had an image of a herd of mammoths by a partially-frozen lake, and that was the image that drove me on in the early concepts.

Now I needed some protagonists. I knew in advance I wanted to write a "western" and some research led me to set the story in the 1860s, when something of a mini-goldrush was happening in Montana. The characters grew on me quickly. I wasn't too surprised at that -- my early childhood was steeped in Westerns. I have my Granddad to thank for days watching Wagon Train, Rawhide, Bonanza and Gunsmoke, then later on, The Virginian and The High Chapparal. He also introduced me to Louis L'Amour and others as I devoured his collection of Western paperbacks. As I started the Valley I already knew that I was going to have six men thrown into peril, and that they'd be almost evenly split between white and black hats. Several of them surprised me as the story went on, but from the start they had a "depth" that reassured me that the story would go to all the right places.

I got them to the mining camp, and the start of the aforesaid perils. Then my muse threw a spanner in the works. I've been a Ray Harryhausen fan most of my life, and the creature that now came to mind was a Harryhausen special, one that I could "see" in my mind's eye, scuttling and "snipping". Unfortunately it didn't exist in the Ice Age, but at a time much longer ago. But I wanted it, so in it went. I won't give the plot away here, but suffice to say I managed to fit it in -- I managed to fit a lot of them in. And as a result the rest of the story immediately fell into place, almost as if I was channeling a new Harryhausen movie.

I wrote the while thing in less than ten days, my brain thinking about little else the whole time. It's one of the most fun experiences I've ever had writing, and I hope it shows in the final product. Even now, more than a year after finishing it, I still find myself thinking about the Valley, and the creatures that inhabit it. Somewhere, the story continues, and one day I might go back to find out what happened next.

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William Meikle is a Scottish writer with ten novels published in the genre press and over 200 short story credits in thirteen countries. He is the author of the ongoing Midnight Eye series among others, and his work appears in a number of professional anthologies. His ebook THE INVASION has been as high as #2 in the Kindle SF charts and THE VALLEY has reached #1 in the Kindle Historical Fantasy chart. He lives in a remote corner of Newfoundland with icebergs, whales and bald eagles for company. In the winters he gets warm vicariously through the lives of others in cyberspace, so please check him out at http://www.williammeikle.com

William Meikle--guest post on Jan. 28

2011-01-12T12:44:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to announce I will be hosting William Meikle on Jan. 28th as he is on a blog tour. I always like to help out other writers when possible. For those who aren't familiar with him here's a bio:

William Meikle is a Scottish writer with ten novels published in the genre press and over 200 short story credits in thirteen countries. He is the author of the ongoing Midnight Eye series among others, and his work appears in a number of professional anthologies. His ebook THE INVASION has been as high as #2 in the Kindle SF charts and THE VALLEY has reached #1 in the Kindle Historical Fantasy chart. He lives in a remote corner of Newfoundland with icebergs, whales and bald eagles for company. In the winters he gets warm vicariously through the lives of others in cyberspace, so please check him out at http://www.williammeikle.com

Escape

2011-01-11T12:31:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to let everyone know who hasn't purchased Escape yet that the price is now just .99 cents on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble. There's no timeframe for it so I expect it will remain that price for a while. Sales at $1.99 just aren't strong enough so in an attempt to get more sales I decided to lower it. I have noticed a slight uptick in the few days since the price change so hopefully it'll work.

A Soul Worth Taking---beta feedback

2011-01-10T10:39:00.000-05:00

Well I started getting feedback this past weekend for A Soul Worth Taking. So far it's looking really good. Got the reactions that I was hoping I would get. The 1st reader stated that she cried after the first couple of chapters. That's good because it means that I did a good job of making her care about what was going on. She also said some parts "freaked her out a few times". Which is also good cause I was hoping to give the heebie jeebies...LOL. We'll see how the rest of the beta readers feel...should be getting more feedback this week. I will keep you all posted on the results.

2011 goals

2011-01-02T22:46:00.000-05:00

As I promised yesterday, I'm back to talk of my plans for this year. First off, Shattered is officially being renamed A Soul Worth Taking. From the feedback I was getting, that was the title people seemed to prefer. And I like it. So that's what we're going with. This post will only talk generally about my goals for this year so I'll put up a post in the next couple days talking specifically about the book and when it will be released. My goal for this year is to put out 5 new releases. I think I can do it, but at the same time I'm not just gonna write up any old slop and throw it out there. A Soul Worth Taking is a definite and will be out within a couple months. Empire should be finished by the end of January and in the hands of beta readers shortly after that. That should be out no later than May. The 2nd book in The Evil Series, tentatively titled The Woods, is also being worked on now and should be finished by the end of February or March. So it's pretty easy to suggest that it'll be out by the end of the summer. I would also like to get the 3rd & 4th books of The Evil Series out by the end of the year as well. They have not been started yet, except for some outlining, but if I have the other books done by the end of February that would leave a lot of time to get those 2 done. That would give me 5 new releases for this year.

I really want the entire Evil series to be out this year as I think it has a chance to be a real success. I think it's a really interesting premise...but I am biased! The genre of the Evil series is Thriller/Suspense. Empire is Fantasy. As of right now I do not derive most of my income from writing and I really would like that to change come the end of this year. I think this series, along with Empire, has the potential to change that. Of course, you never really know how your books will be perceived so it's possible everyone will think they stink!

Assuming I get those 5 books released this year I also plan to start writing a couple of other Thrillers, along with another Fantasy, that I have in mind. So it's shaping up to be a busy year for me. Hopefully, it'll be a successful one, and I'll be able to take another step forward.

Thanks for your continued support.

2010 Sales

2011-01-01T23:12:00.000-05:00

Now that 2010 is over I figured I'd look back at my sales figures and see how I did and the results are a little mixed. I'm still not where I'd like to be (selling thousands a month)...but sales did improve dramatically this past year. They were over 6 times better than 2009 so I am happy about that. I don't have the final Barnes and Noble figures yet as their system is down but most of my sales are from Amazon anyway so it doesn't really skewer anything. Here's how my books rank by sales. These include both paperback and e-books.

1) The Assassin
2) Escape
3) Bounty Hunter
4) Deadlock
5) Day of the Assassin

Here's how I look at it: The Assassin is by far my best seller at more than 2 to 1 over Escape and almost 3 to 1 over the #4 Deadlock. I always assumed Escape, which is a thriller, would eventually take over the sales lead since Westerns aren't as popular but it's never happened and I don't think it's ever going to. I tend to think it's because Assassin isn't a straight Western and has some Mystery elements to it so it may get some people who wouldn't have read it otherwise. Bounty Hunter and Deadlock are more straight Westerns and are pretty much where I expected them to be, though I actually thought Deadlock would be 3rd, but they're still pretty close. Day of the Assassin has sold about what I expected for a short story collection so I'm ok with its sales. E-books continue to be the bulk of my sales. In 2009, 92% of sales were from e-books. In 2010, 96% of sales were from e-books. Of course, I'm totally fine with that. The prices are much more attractive to readers, and I get just as much royalties from it as paperbacks. I'd love for the paperbacks to be less expensive but there's not much I can do to lower them. I've tried.

So all things considered 2010 was a really good year for me. Thank you to everyone who has given even one of my books a chance. It means a lot to me to know there are people out there reading my work (and hopefully enjoying them). I really can't say thank you enough. I am very appreciative of your support. I will be back with another post tomorrow outlining my goals for 2011. I am planning on this being my best year yet. I will definitely have out 3 new releases. Empire and books one and two from The Evil Series. Depending on how fast I write I might have as many as 5 or 6 though. We'll see but I'm hopeful. Hope everyone's doing well, had a good 2010, and an even better 2011. Thanks so much!

beta readers

2010-12-17T21:56:00.000-05:00

In my last post I put out the call for anyone interested in being a beta reader for my next book, a paranormal thriller. It's not too late to get involved if you're interested. Send me an e-mail at ryejames77@aol.com if you're interested.

call for Beta Readers!

2010-12-05T00:26:00.004-05:00

I'm now sending out the call for Beta Readers for my newest book, Shattered (unless I change it--which I might!). This will be Book 1 of The Evil Series. I'm interested in both other writers and just plain readers. If you're interested...or not sure...send me an email so we can talk abou it. You can have the chance to be among the first to read this story and possibly even influence it!!

Here's a blurb (not official-and probably will be changed!) :-)
Hell wants him. Heaven wants to save him. After tragedy strikes Mike Moore, the Devil sees an opportunity to acquire another soul while he's in his darkest moments. An Angel is sent to guide him back from the lowest depths of his soul. Will he rise above the darkness or will he give in to hate and anger, seeking revenge for what he's been put through? What transpires is a man's personal struggles to do what's right or succumb to evil.

Here are some general questions if you're interested in being a beta reader:

Does any part of the story Drag?
Are their parts that you skipped to get to ‘the good part’?
Do I over-inform anywhere?
Did you Get it?
Did you understand every phrase / term I used?

Do the scenes flow?
Does one scene lead logically into the next?
Is there enough downtime between intense scenes to allow it to build to the next?
Did the actions & positions flow smoothly from one to the next, or did they jump as though something was skipped?

Is anything visually confusing?

Can you see every action clearly?
Did you have to reread any part of the action sequences to understand who was doing what?
Could you see what the characters looked like clearly?
Did I forget to describe their clothes, their hair, their eyes, any other distinctive feature that pertains to a specific character?

During DIALOGUE scenes…
Could you see what the characters were doing while talking?
Could you see where the characters were while talking?

Did the characters work?
Do the characters act realistic?
Does the dialogue sound realistic?
Do their reactions seem logical & realistic?
Could you feel the emotions between the characters?
Did the characters seem in character?

Are there any parts of the story you hated?

Would you buy this book if you saw it in a bookstore (online)?

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T15:57:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a nice Thanksgiving. I hope you enjoy the day with your family and loved ones.

Bounty Hunter FREE for a limited time!

2010-11-11T20:27:00.000-05:00

Yes, Bounty Hunter is going to be free for the remainder of November on Smashwords. Here is the link for it: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/9553 Now, I don't know if Amazon or B & N will follow suit on their sites and mark it down to free as well or leave it at regular price. I've heard they will match pricing, but I don't know first hand, I guess we will see on that. Hope you check it out, and if you like it, decide to buy the others.

Assassin's up on Nook

2010-10-22T19:01:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to let you Nook users know that The Assassin is up on The Nook now at $2.99. Have already started having sales so let's keep the ball rolling!

Also, looks like the cover for Day of the Assassin is FINALLY done. Just a few details left but the design is done and I think it looks great. Should be ready in the next week or so.

Nook

2010-10-11T22:22:00.001-04:00

My books are finally appearing on Barnes and Noble! If you're a Nook user you can now get the books via B&N. The only one not yet available is The Assassin. Right now it's still being formatted properly so it should be up in the next week. Click on the following link to get to the pages for Bounty Hunter, Escape, Deadlock, and Day of the Assassin

http://productsearch.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?SRT=R&WRD=rye+james&STORE=EBOOK&SZE=10&AREF=1540

Update

2010-10-10T22:19:00.000-04:00

Wow. I can't believe it's been almost 2 months since I posted last. I definitely did not intend to go so long between postings. Just to update what's going: Have not worked on Empire much lately. I've pretty much been working on Shattered non-stop for the last month. It's coming along pretty good. I'd say it's roughly 30-40% done. I'm hoping I can get the 1st draft finished by the end of October and get it into the hands of beta readers. Then maybe take a month for edits. Since it's so close to the end of the year and Christmas I am planning to release it in late December/early January...hopefully to take advantage of those with new Kindles and more sales. By the end of 2011 I'm planning on releasing 6 books. The titles are tentative and likely to change. But here they are:

Shattered (The Evil Series)    (Horror/Thriller)
Empire                                  (Fantasy)
The Woods (The Evil Series) (Horror/Thriller)
Something Wicked (The Evil Series) (Horror/Thriller)
Something Evil (The Evil Series) (Horror/Thriller)
Untitled                                     (Thriller)

Guest Post: Stacey Cochran

2010-08-12T06:29:00.000-04:00

I'd like to thank bestselling author Stacey Cochran for stopping by the blog today to talk about his latest book CLAWS 2!

CLAWS 2

Thanks so much, Rye, for hosting me today on your blog. As you know I am in the midst of a 3-month Blog Tour to help spread the word about my latest novel CLAWS 2. The book is an animal thriller set in southwest Colorado featuring a wildlife biologist Dr. Angie Rippard. The story centers around the issue of a re-emerging grizzly bear population in the area. The true life story of grizzlies in Colorado ostensibly came to an end in 1979, when bow-hunter Ed Wiseman killed the last one with a handheld arrow (he was defending himself during an attack). That said, recent sightings in the past five years suggest a population may be migrating south from Wyoming where conservation efforts have had a positive impact.

Of course, CLAWS 2 is the second book in the series. (The first book CLAWS features Angie and mountain lions and is set in Arizona.)

So I thought I would start by discussing why I wrote the books, and then how I wrote them.

The motivation to write the first novel came about because I was living in a remote mountain town in Arizona called Oracle. While there, a number of human/mountain lion encounters began popping up in the Tucson papers. At one point, authorities even had to close an elementary school near Ventana Canyon because a cougar was repeatedly stalking children.

The issue regarding how to handle a predatory animal stalking schoolchildren was contentious, and so I wanted to explore the problem in a novel.

The first draft of the book took about nine months to write. I typically wrote about 800 to 1500 words a day, but there were periodic spells when I didn’t write for several days (or a week or two). Once completed, the first draft went in front a writing group I was in at the time, and I took the group’s feedback and applied it to a major revision.

The following year I was able to get a literary agent who worked further with me to revise the manuscript, and then shopped it around to everyone in the business. Nearly everyone she pitched it to gave us feedback, but they all ultimately passed and the novel went into the trunk.

Because I had read that it was wise to have a second book ready to go once you sold your first, I was about halfway through the sequel when we shopped it around to editors. When everybody passed on the book and the agent dropped me, it was difficult to finish CLAWS 2. But I did it anyways because I never stop a novel mid-project no matter how difficult or pointless it seems at the time.

Both books went into the trunk for a few years while I continued to self-publish other novels, and eventually CLAWS found its way into the rotation in 2009 to be self-published.

To my astonishment, the eBook version of CLAWS became a bestseller within weeks of its release. Reviews started trickling in, and everything just continued to build momentum throughout last year.

In December I started getting contacted by a handful of independent film production companies about the book and its sequel. It was a wild ride (though no one has optioned the books yet).

So, this summer (2010) I launched CLAWS 2. It immediately became a bestseller, shooting up to #213 in the Kindle store and #1 in all of the genre categories. Interestingly, the first book saw a dramatic surge in sales, too, spiking in the low 100s overall in the Kindle store in July.

For now, there are only the two CLAWS books. That said, I have notes for a CLAWS 3 which would feature spotted leopards in Arizona and New Mexico… the so-called Sonoran jaguar. I could possibly see doing a 4th and 5th novel maybe set in the Appalachians and Alaska respectively and featuring eastern cougars and wolves, but I doubt I will write these unless I am able to sell the series to a major publisher and/or earn a film option.

Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/CLAWS-2-ebook/dp/B003TU20HE

I hope you've enjoyed today's post from Stacey. I may start having regular posts/interviews with other authors once or twice a week so stay tuned for further info on that.

Updates

2010-08-08T19:49:00.000-04:00

It's been a few weeks and I just wanted to update everyone on what I've been working on. I've been working on Empire a little, but I hit the wall with it a little bit, so I've taken a break from it for the last week. So for the last week I've been working on Shattered, coming up with more storyline ideas, trying to blend it together. The first chapter is done, but I'm editing it, and adding to it. I also started some short stories that I've talked about previously. I'm really excited about Shattered and think that it could be one of those breakout books that gets some attention. I'm hopeful anyway. Also, seeing as how's it's book one of at least 4....should be interesting.

Interesting experiment

2010-07-25T18:14:00.000-04:00

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/jul/19/books.booksnews?CMP=twt_gu

There was an interesting experiment done with the works of Jane Austen that highlights exactly how difficult it is to get an agent or publisher to even look at an author's book. It's almost darn near impossible! Read the article for yourself and come to your own conclusion.

Stacey Cochrane

2010-07-17T22:04:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to announce that popular author Stacey Cochrane will be stopping by the blog on August 12 to promote his new book, Claws 2! Obviously, it's the sequel to Claws! I think I read somewhere recently that Stacey has sold 40,000 books on Kindle since 2009 so it seems like he's doing something right. It's available now, so swing by Amazon and check it out!

Lit and Laundry Blog

2010-07-15T00:09:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to let everyone know I will be featured on the Lit and Laundry blog this coming friday, July 16. It will be an interview, and I'll also be stopping by the blog if anyone has questions or wants to chime in with comments...I'll be responding. So I hope to see you there!

Here's the site:

http://litandlaundry.blogspot.com/

Adding to the WIP

2010-07-11T17:47:00.000-04:00

Just announcing a few more stories to be added to the WIP (Works In Progress) pile. Right now I'm envisioning it as a 4 book series (could be more) which could be called The Evil Series. The theme of the books I guess would be considered in the horror/thriller genre which would be my first foray into the horror field. Nothing has been written yet, except some ideas. But I think I have some really cool ideas to make it stand out.

The preliminary titles are being called:
Something Evil
Something Wicked
The Hat Man
The Woods

These are just ideas for titles I have. Some have been done before so that's always a consideration. Will talk about it more once I get more into it.

Day of the Assassin

2010-07-01T23:30:00.001-04:00

Is now available and only 99 cents! Here are the stories and link:

Day of the Assassin

Matt Beck is back as The Assassin in this short story collection. Day of the Assassin includes 3 short stories featuring:

Noose for an Assassin-A crooked card game leads to Beck being thrown in jail. While in jail a lynch mob forms with the intention of stringing Beck up by his neck until dead. Will they succeed or will they string up the wrong man?

Revenge of the Assassin-Someone takes a shot at Beck as he's riding to the town of Everwood. Beck goes to town and hunts down the person responsible. Beck finds the culprit, but shows compassion and spares their life, before he is forced into a deadly showdown.

Assassin's Day-Beck is summoned to a town to avenge a prostitute who was raped. Beck stops at nothing to force the guilty party into a duel.

June Interview

2010-06-06T19:17:00.000-04:00

Q: Well, we're back with another round of questions. It's been a few months since we had a Q&A session.

RJ: Yeah, I apologize to all my readers for not having the site updated in a while. I've been using AOL dial up forever and it just took a long time to do everything, or wouldn't do it at all, and it'd frustrate me to no end. I just switched to Verizon high speed and now everything comes up within seconds, so the site will definitely be updated a lot more frequently. It's pretty exciting that I don't have to wait 10 or 20 minutes for a website to come up!

Q: What else do you have planned for the site?

RJ: I'm overhauling the books page. My short stories-Day of the Assassin, Misconduct, and The Mason Files are no longer being sold on Amazon so I have to redo the page.

Q: Any particular reason for not selling them anymore?

RJ: It was Amazon's decision to drop all stories from their old Shorts program. I could republish them again today if I wanted but the mininum I could charge is .99 cents and I don't think it's reasonable to expect anyone to buy a single short story for that price. Day of the Assassin will be put into a short story compilation that I'm releasing called, Assassin's Day. The Mason Files will probably work it's way into a Mason Files story compilation at some point as well. Misconduct...I don't really have any plans for at the moment.

Q: What's there to look forward to for the rest of this year?

RJ: I expect to release Assassin's Day and Empire before the year is over.

Q: I know I read some things about you not sure whether you were going to release Assassins Day as a novel or short stories? Sounds like you've made up your mind.

RJ: Yeah, I'm going to release it as a group of short stories. I really contemplated reworking the stories into a book but I would just rather work on some other stuff since most of the stories are done.

Q: Any other plans?

RJ: At some point after Assassins Day is released I'm going to release an e-book box set of the Westerns. So instead of buying them all individually you could get The Assassin, Asassins Day, Bounty Hunter, and Deadlock at once.

Q: What's the reasoning behind that?

RJ: Well it'd be a win-win for everybody. If a reader were to buy each story individually it'd cost them about $6.97. If I were to bundle them as a collection and it cost say $4.99, the readers would save money and I'd wind up making more money than if it was bought separate so everyone would benefit.

Q: Is that all the changes you have planned?

RJ: Nope! Readers will soon be able to order autographed copies on the website. I'll also be offering my e-books directly off the website if someone wants to purchase them through me instead of Amazon or whoever.

Works In Progress

2010-05-18T22:56:00.000-04:00

Just figured I'd keep everybody up to date with where I'm at with what I'm working on.

Empire (Fantasy)- First off, don't get used to the name because I'm pretty sure it won't remain that once it's released. The more I keep thinking about it, the more convinced I am that I'm gonna change it. I'm not sure the name is the best fit for the book. We'll see though. Right now I'm at about 30,000 words into it so it's probably around half way done more or less.

Shattered (Paranormal Suspense/Thriller)- Once again, don't get too used to the name. Not sure about this one though. I like the title and feel it fits the book. On the other hand, I believe a few other books have been released with the same name in recent times so I may have to deviate a little. Not too far into this one yet, only about 3,500 words so far which is basically the first chapter.

Untitled (Thriller)-Had a title for this but it does not fit what the book's about at all...I mean, not at all! So it's going untitled for now. I haven't started writing this as of yet but today I started jotting down a little bit of an outline and some storyline ideas. I would imagine I'll start writing this shortly.

Assassins Day (Western)- I'm a little torn on this one. I was originally slating this to be a few short stories based on The Assassin, and releasing it sometime during the summer. But I could also re-work the short stories so the flow seamlessly into a book. Right now it's around 12,000 words. So if I decide to do it as a full book instead I have some work to do with it. If I keep it as short stories then it'll probably get released over the summer. If I decide to re-do it as a book then I'm not sure when it'd get released. Probably late this year or early next year.

I also have other stories in various stages of completion. Some I've started writing, some I've just kicked around some ideas. In the cases of all these stories they're taking a back seat to the 4 mentioned above. In any case though, I'll share to let you know what's in the works...probably 2-3 years down the line.

Legion (Fantasy)-I'm only about 1,000 words into this one. I basically know what I want to do with it. Picture Russell Crowe from Gladiator as the lead character.

Mason Files (Mystery/Detective)- About 1,000 words into this one as well. It will most likely be a short story. I've always had the goal for this character to be a series of stories. Will probably wind up packaging a few short stories together. Don't really imagine doing a full length book with this.

Down On The Farm (Baseball)-Started this a long time ago and probably have 500-1,000 words started. I'm not sure if or when I'll even look at this again as I've lost interest in it at this time. It was only meant to be a short story anyway so I didn't have big plans for it. Who knows though, maybe at some point in the future I'll regain interest in it.

Murder On The Hour (Thriller)-Another one that I'm about 1,000 words into. Have the basic outline for it. Once I'm done one or two of the main 4 I'm working on this may be one that gets put on the frontburner. I really like the ideas I have for it.

Robbery Homicide (Police)-Just have some story ideas on this. Basically envision this as a series of short stories.

Bounty Hunter (Western)-Have some ideas on some short stories. At this point I'm not planning on doing another full length book with the Bounty Hunter character but that could always change.

Wanted (Western)- Have a couple chapters of this written. This was actually going to be among the first Westerns that I released. Then I got more involved with The Assassin. Then Bounty Hunter came up and Deadlock just seemed to write itself and Wanted just got pushed back. Not sure exactly how much is written since I haven't looked at it in a while but it's probably around 10,000 words or so.

Vengeance Is Mine (Western)-Haven't put much thought into this yet. I have a basic storyline but haven't really done any plot points.

Judas (Western)-Just a vague storyline. Haven't put any time into it yet.

Man Alone (Western)-Have a basic premise...but that's it.

Untitled (Action/Thriller)-Have a basic premise but nothing else. Think Heat.

Well there you have it. That's what I got on my plate right now. Hope you stick around with me as I finish them!

Reviews

2010-05-17T23:03:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to talk about reviews for a little bit. Reviews are really important, especially for authors like myself who aren't published with major publishing houses. Reviews can really help sell more books and let others who aren't sure whether they'd want to purchase one of my books that they're not too bad. So I am asking those who have read my books and enjoyed them, if you could take just 5 minutes out of your time to write a review(s) on Amazon, I would really appreciate it.

Now that that's over with...

I'll have another post up tomorrow letting everyone know what's going on with what I'm working on right now. Lots going on.

e-books

2010-05-02T22:43:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that all my e-books are on sale for the month of May for only .99! This is the first time they've all ever been offered at that price so I'd encourage everyone who's interested to pick them up now while you can. The sales are going on at both www.amazon.com and www.mobipocket.com.

If you pick up a copy of any of the books, I'd appreciate any reviews. Reviews help sell more books so I'd be very thankful to any of you who decide to do so.

Assassin's Day

2010-04-07T19:54:00.005-04:00

Just wanted to update everyone on the progress of this. I was originally stating it would probably come out towards the end of this month but it will be pushed back. Most likely it will now be released in late July. The reason for this is it felt somewhat rushed and I wanted to take a little more time on it instead of just quickly throwing something out there. So the new release date will be late July and if anything else comes up I will let you all know. I will also keep you all updated with progress and any other news.

Beta Readers

2010-03-21T20:59:00.002-04:00

Interested in reading a book before it's released? I'm looking for 5 readers to read The Assassin short stories book that's next to be released. What I'm looking for are the readers to evaluate the story for content/storyline/editing to make sure it flows smoothly and nothing's been missed. If you're interested just send me an e-mail at ryejames77@aol.com The first 5 to respond will be chosen as long as you're able to read it within the next couple of weeks.

The Assassin short stories

2010-03-14T19:23:00.003-04:00

The Assassin short stories will be released at 99 cents and will be exclusively sold as an e-book. It will not be released in paperback as I don't believe there's much of a market for Western short stories in paperback form. It will be released on all e-reader devices though. It will be comprised of 5 stories, which are:

Day Of The Assassin
Revenge Of The Assassin
Noose For An Assassin
Prayer For An Assassin
Bounty For An Assassin

The Assassin

2010-03-07T22:40:00.003-05:00

Well, most of you have been able to tell by the hints I've been dropping that there will be more of The Assassin. I have said that I will not be releasing any more Westerns for a little bit while I work on some other things. But I've also said I will be releasing some short stories between books to keep new material coming out. The first stories will be a collection of short stories featuring The Assassin, Matt Beck. This collection should be released sometime in April, probably towards the middle of the month. I will have further posts with what stories will be included and what they're about in the coming weeks.

The Assassin

2010-03-01T14:23:00.001-05:00

.....is coming.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWS1BtVE5B0

Rough Week 2

2010-02-27T22:47:00.002-05:00

Remember last week when I said it looked like my truck was gonna be covered by the warranty? Well, I think I spoke too soon. Now it looks like it probably won't. If not, I'm trying to see if I'll be able to trade it in. Hopefully that will work if needed. Very stressful 2 weeks.

Spring Training

2010-02-21T17:26:00.003-05:00

Well, it's that time of year! Baseball season! Pitchers and catchers have reported and the position players will be there soon. I can't wait for the start of the season. I'd say the Phillies have to be the favorite to repeat as NL Champs once again, for the 3rd straight season. Right now I'd say their competition will be the Rockies and Cardinals, though once the season starts there's always a surprise team that comes along. With this offense, Halladay should be a 20 game winner easily. I may have said this already but I can't wait for the season to get going!

Rough Week

2010-02-20T18:11:00.003-05:00

Haven't posted anything in almost 2 weeks. Still here and kickin', just hit a bit of a rough spell. My truck broke down and the family dog(living with my parents) had a stroke. Looks like she's starting to get a little better but she's 14 so I don't know how much time she has left. She was my first dog and it's rough to see her in bad shape. The truck needs a new engine...it's only at 36,000 miles and I got the warranty on it so it looks like everything is covered...thankfully! I won't get it back till next week though but at least I'm not paying for it.

In the next week or two I'll be making some announcements on some things I'm working on. I'll be releasing a few short story compilations before the next book is released so at least they'll be some new material coming out. I'll be giving out more info in the next week but I'll give a hint on one of them....some of you who've e-mailed me will be very happy as to what it is! :-)

Escape

2010-02-09T14:29:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to let all you Kindlers know that the price of Escape has been dropped to $1.99.

Amazon.com: Escape eBook: Rye James: Kindle Store

Amazon/Macmillan thoughts

2010-01-31T17:07:00.003-05:00

Have had a few e-mails asking my thoughts on what's going on at Amazon so I figured I'd share them here. For those that don't know Amazon has pulled all Macmillan books (ebook/paper/hardback) from their site. It will only be temporary as the publisher ultimately will charge what it wants. Macmillan doesn't like them charging only $9.99 for their e-books and from what I understand wants the price closer to $15. With Apples Ipad entering the market they are wanting to price the books from their ibookstore at closer to that price mark. Amazon is balking at that. From my vantage point I think Macmillan is making a big mistake. Amazon is trying to keep e-book prices low to encourage people to buy the Kindle and e-books in general, which I think is smart. Some people may be willing to pay $15 for an e-book but I don't understand why you would when you could get the paperback for less. If the situation continues it only will hurt Macmillan and its authors, but at the same time will help other lesser known authors get some additional sales. I do not believe people will ultimately support higher e-book prices and they will come back down anyway. I could never have an e-book listed that high as I'm completely against e-book prices being that high and firmly believe they should be a lot cheaper. We will see how it plays out.

Alternate Deadlock Cover

2010-01-29T12:48:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to share with everyone what the alternate cover was. It came very close to being the actual cover but in the end I liked having the sheriff figure on the front so we went with the other one. But I thought this one was really good as well.

Deadlock Cover

2010-01-23T21:16:00.005-05:00

As I mentioned before, the Deadlock cover came together at the last minute thanks to the work of my good friend, Dan over at OIDStudio. I had a cover already in place but I never really liked it, and thought it would grow on me. In the end, it never did and I just couldn't keep it. So a week or so before the release date I talked to Dan about it and he came up huge and created a great looking cover in about 2 days. Any authors out there looking for cover design or if you're looking for any type of design work, I encourage you to contact Dan and let him know what you're looking for. He's a great guy, awesome to work with, and very reasonable prices. Let him know I sent you. His website is www.oidstudio.com

Deadlock thoughts

2010-01-22T11:31:00.003-05:00

Just wanted to throw some thoughts out there on the book. I really like the cover, I liked the alternate cover as well and will post it later just so everyone can see what it looked it. I said it in the newsletter, but I'll say it here for those who don't subscribe, that I think this is my best work yet. From start to finish, I think this is my best writing, and most complete book yet. Hopefully even those of you who aren't fans of Westerns will give the book a shot, never know, you may like it! This will probably be my last Western book for at least a year or two. I'll probably release a few short stories in that time but the next few releases will be other genres.

Deadlock Release

2010-01-17T23:20:00.002-05:00

Here are a few links if you are so inclined to try the book out. In the next few days I will talk more about the book, the cover, and some future things.

Amazon.com: Deadlock eBook: Rye James: Kindle Store

Smashwords - Deadlock - A book by Rye James

Mobipocket eBook: "Deadlock" by Rye James

Deadlock Cover

2010-01-14T19:22:00.002-05:00

Thanks

2010-01-07T16:12:00.003-05:00

Before it gets too late into the new year I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has supported me and a big thank you to everyone who has bought one of my books. The main goal I have as an author is to just entertain the reader for the couple hours they have my book open and forget any problems they may have. Hopefully I have accomplished that. The sales of my books almost doubled from 2008 to 2009 and I can only hope I'll have similar success this year. I am very grateful and thankful to all of you.

Deadlock Charity

2010-01-04T12:53:00.003-05:00

The official announcement is in...the charity that will be supported by Deadlock will be The World Wildlife Fund. It was a tough decision and there were many worthy organizations that I was considering, but I just thought that the WWF was the best fit at this time. If you have any ideas for a charitable organization for one of my future books, feel free to post, or e-mail me.

Deadlock

2010-01-03T21:36:00.001-05:00

The Deadlock e-book will be released at $1.99! That is the lowest one of my books has ever been released at! Remember the date...January 17!

January Interview

2009-12-30T20:59:00.002-05:00

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.

Deadlock Release Date

2009-12-29T21:40:00.002-05:00

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!

website

2009-11-21T18:31:00.000-05:00

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.

Website

2009-11-10T21:25:00.000-05:00

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

November Interview

2009-11-06T14:51:00.001-05:00

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.

Twitter

2009-10-22T21:31:00.002-04:00

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

www.twitter.com/ryejames77

ebooks

2009-10-21T11:02:00.002-04:00

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.

Deadlock

2009-10-02T00:53:00.002-04:00

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.

Back

2009-09-27T22:59:00.003-04:00

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.

Contest Winners

2009-02-10T14:25:00.003-05:00

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.

Breenibooks Review

2009-01-25T19:44:00.003-05:00

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

December Interview

2009-01-11T18:50:00.000-05:00

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.

Bounty Hunter part 2

2009-01-09T23:24:00.002-05:00

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

Bounty Hunter

2009-01-07T00:38:00.003-05:00

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

Happy New Years

2008-12-31T23:47:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy and safe New Years. Don't drink too much!

Mobipocket.com

2008-12-30T14:30:00.003-05:00

Maverick Spur Publishing is now on Mobipocket with both The Assassin and Escape available to purchase. For those who don't know, Mobipocket is an e-book site that allows you to download books to your pc, phone, or pda. Right now they are both on sale with The Assassin priced at $2.99 and Escape at $3.99. Here are the links for both:

http://www.mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/BookDetails.asp?BookID=135578&Origine=5036

http://www.mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/BookDetails.asp?BookID=135580&Origine=5036

Happy Holidays

2008-12-27T00:19:00.002-05:00

Just hoping that everyone had a nice Christmas and got lots of presents! I got club box seats to a Flyers game against the Penguins in January, pretty excited about that. Also hope that everyone has a good New Years.

Contest

2008-12-22T19:14:00.003-05:00

Some of you may or may not know, reviews can really help an author out. They can help people to buy or not buy. The contest is for one of two $20 Amazon gift cards. To enter simply write a review of one of the books (on whatever site you'd like). After you've written the review send an e-mail to ryejames77@aol.com. In the subject line write Contest. In the body just write where the review was posted and I'll send a confirmation e-mail letting you know you've been entered. The contest will go on until the end of January and the winners will be drawn on Feb.1. The winners will be randomly selected. You do not need to write a book report. Winners will not be chosen by type or quality of review or what kind of review is written. Any review will be entered. If you've bought one of the books and would like to enter the contest but really do not want to write a review you can still do so. Just send an e-mail like stated above and answer one of the following 2 questions:

1) Who hired Matt Beck in The Assassin?
2) In what location did Samantha lose the FBI in Escape?

New Books

2008-12-16T23:55:00.004-05:00

I have started working on one of the new books, a Fantasy novel, as of right now called Empire. I'm only about 10 pages into it as I've been trying to construct a lot of the background for it. I am also planning on beginning to write the yet to be titled supernatural thriller within the next week or so. Will have an update on that when I actually do break ground on it, or should I say keystrokes! I will also be announcing a new contest within the next few days in which I would be giving away some Amazon gift certificates. Keep checking back for that!

Bounty Hunter

2008-12-15T21:18:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to let those of you who weren't aware of it that you can read the 1st chapter of Bounty Hunter at my Authorsden site which is linked to the left of the page. I will have another post tomorrow to talk about how things are coming along with the trio of new books that I've been talking about.

Barnes and Noble coupon

2008-12-11T01:00:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to let any of you know that weren't aware of it that Barnes and Noble has a 10% off one item on their website. It lists the coupon code on the main page. So if you're a member you could wind up getting Escape for $8.08 or The Assassin for $8.95. Just thought I'd pass it along.

Deadlock

2008-12-09T12:42:00.003-05:00

Well, I've finished Deadlock and it's now in the hands of an editor. It will most likely come out towards the middle of next year....I'm thinking probably June/July in that area. I've started on the other projects I've been talking about and hope to start the writing in the next week or so. So far I've been working on different ideas and getting backgrounds on the stories.

November interview

2008-12-08T12:14:00.002-05:00

Here is Novembers interview from the website:

Q: So how is life now with the new baby?
RJ: Pretty good so far. He's pretty quiet so far and he's not up too much during the night so we can't complain. Probably a lot better than what we were imagining.

Q: Baby and mom healthy?
RJ: Yep. They're both very healthy. The baby was 9lbs and it took 34 hours which was a really long process but we really can't complain as long as everyone was healthy.

Q: What's the latest on Bounty Hunter?
RJ: It's just about ready for distribution. Everything's ready to go. There were a few delays with us having the baby, and the cover took a little longer than expected, and editing took longer than expected also.

Q: So when should we expect it to be released?
RJ: Probably late January or February. That really depends on how fast it gets into distribution.

Q: You've said that Deadlock would be the next book that comes out, how is that coming along?
RJ: Pretty good. I've made a lot of progress in a short amount of time so it's really coming together. I'm pretty happy so far with how that's going.

Q: With a new baby what's the writing process like for you right now?
RJ: It's a little difficult to be honest. The only time I really have to concentrate on writing is late at night. By the time midnight rolls around I'm usually so tired that I can't concentrate on writing. But I'm not worried about it. It'll get better and easier and I'll find what works best.

Q: Are you working on anything else besides Deadlock right now?
RJ: Not right now. I'd like to finish that before I start on anything else. I'm kind of accumulating ideas and planning on a couple other things before actually starting to write them.

horible week

2008-12-07T19:49:00.002-05:00

Sorry for not having posted anything in the last 10 days but it's been one of those weeks. My daughter was sick and needed to go to the hospital, then my wife got sick, then I got sick with 3 different things and wasnt able to get out of bed for a few days. It was just one ailment after another. I'm finally starting to feel better now and will resume my regular postings. Decembers website interview should be going on the site tomorrow and I'll post Novembers here.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T21:34:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. Hopefully everyone had a nice day with friends or family.

The Assassin half price

2008-11-25T23:09:00.003-05:00

Just got an e-mail from IUniverse stating that books are 50% off till Nov. 30. I don't really have a lot of good things to say about them but it's a pretty good discount if you're interested in picking up a copy. The coupon code is NOVBOOKHALF. I assume there is a shipping charge though I don't know for a fact. Here's the link if you want to check it out.

http://www.iuniverse.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-000086558

The Assassin

2008-11-19T21:55:00.003-05:00

I was informed, and have verified, that The Assassin has dropped in price on Amazon from $10.95 to $9.85. Just in time for Christmas! It's actually about time. I wanted it dropped in price over a year ago but my plea fell on deaf ears. Both Assassin and Escape are available for free shipping if you spend over $25 so order away!