The Week Before Book Launch

How did it become mid-January? Getting here seemed to take forever, and suddenly, we’re less than one week from my publishing debut. I’ve been spending a fair amount of time on promo for the last couple of months, but now everything’s full steam ahead. Here are some of the things that are happening.

The Blog Tour Barrage

Most of my free time this week is devoted to writing guest posts and answering interview questions I’ve already committed to. If all goes according to plan, I’ll make a number of appearances over the coming weeks:

Guest posts for Chuck Wendig, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Michelle Hauck. These fantastic authors are sharing their platforms with me, so please support them however you can.
Interviews at the Qwillery, Afe Smith’s blog, and Left to Write. I answered a lot of interesting questions with my customary wit and charm.
Appearances on Pub Hub, Harper Voyager Books, and the Comcastro Show.

In summary, you soon will be sick of hearing about me and The Rogue Retrieval. Sorry about that!*

Blurbs & Advance Reviews

Digital ARCs of my book are available for free on Edelweiss. They’ve gone out to a number of authors, reviewers, and book bloggers. Three established authors have already been kind enough to offer blurbs:

“This is an adventure novel, and you’re going to get adventure, whether you like it or not.”
–J.C. Nelson, author of the Grimm Agency series.

“A cool premise, a likeable hero, and suspenseful action make The Rogue Retrieval a fun read.”
–Eric James Stone, author of Unforgettable

“A great concept and lots of fun. One of those books you wish you thought of yourself and wonder why you haven’t read it before.”
–Auston Habershaw, author of The Iron Ring

One of my favorite modern fantasy authors, Scott Lynch, told me that he’s added my book to his Amazon wish list. I call that a win!

The ratings and reviews are also starting to trickle in. According to Goodreads, over 100 people have added The Rogue Retrieval to their shelves. We’re hoping to get in-depth review coverage from Anna Tan, The Bibliosanctum, Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist, and other well-known review venues.

The First Chapter

I finally saw my own ARC of The Rogue Retrieval, and it was quite a thrill seeing the finished product. A side benefit is that I’ll be able to make the first chapter available to let people try me out. It’ll go up on my web site eventually, but anyone following me by e-mail on January 18th will get to read it first.

Graphics and Media Promos

You probably noticed the killer graphic teaser at the top of this post. It’s one of three created for me by graphic artist Jessica Ward of Bewitched Design. She also designed my Twitter and Facebook backgrounds, which look like this:

I can use Photoshop but I’m not nearly that talented. It’s a new business venture, and here’s some of the services she’ll be offering to authors:

Design for business cards, bookmarks, and other promotional items
Social media backgrounds and book teaser graphics
Author website design
Cover design for digital and print

The prices are super reasonable, and you can see that she does great work.

Friends and Community Help

The best part by far of this entire process has been the help I’m getting from family, friends, and members of the writing community. They’ve been voting for my book on Goodreads lists, sharing things on social media, and reminding me how excited I should be. I can’t begin to say how much I appreciate this!

The Rogue Division, my group of super-motivated literary allies, has already engaged in some cool, top secret activities to help ensure a great launch next week. There are also some things that my publisher and I have cooking, but I can’t mention them yet. Stay tuned.