Eight indie books you should look at!

Readers! Eight award winners in the 2012 eFestival of Words "Best of the Independent eBook Awards" have grouped together to offer you an amazing opportunity. They've reduced the prices of their award-winning novels to 99 cents for August 27 and 28th!

Whether you like to read mysteries, romance, horror, young adult, women's fiction, or fantasy, this group has it. Are you a writer yourself? Do you want to learn all about digitally publishing your next masterpiece? They've got you covered there too.

Get all eight award-winning ebooks for the price of one single paperback!

Award Winners

Best Mystery/Suspense: Dead is the New Black by Christine DeMaio-Rice
Best Non-Fiction: DIY/Self-Help: Let's Get Digital by David Gaughran
Best Horror: 61 A.D. by David McAfee
Best Romance: Deadly Obsession by Kristine Cayne
Best Young Adult: The Book of Lost Souls by Michelle Muto
Best Fantasy/Urban Fantasy and Best Novel: The Black God's War by Moses Siregar III
Best Chick Lit/Women's Lit: Carpe Bead'em by Tonya Kappes
Award for Best Twist ("I've Been Shyamalaned"): The Survival of Thomas Ford by John A.A. Logan

Here's a one-stop shopping link for your convenience: http://amzn.to/MO7qBY

Happy reading!

Adventures in willpower

Part of being a successful writer requires developing the discipline of sitting down to write, or putting "butt in chair" as some like to call it. With the internet at my fingertips, it's easy to become distracted. It starts out innocently enough -- I need to look up a word, a concept, a technology, select a name for a character -- and the next thing I know, I'm back on Facebook or reading an article about someone rescuing a puppy trapped in a sewer. This happens more times than I'd like to admit. When I looked at my calendar and realized that August is mostly over, I also realized the YEAR is mostly over. I'm only half as far into my current novel as I'd planned to be. I should've had the first draft completely done by now. I condemned myself for not being motivated to finish.

It occurred to me then that my lack of discipline has nothing to do with my motivation. I'm enjoying the story and the process of writing it. I want to finish. I want to start revising -- my favorite part of the process. I want to start a new book. My lack of discipline seems to be largely focused in this one area. How am I going to rein myself in when I have only myself to answer to? Ironically, the answer came in a tweet.

Someone tweeted about a book on willpower. I went to Amazon and looked it up, read some reviews of it, and ended up buying a Kindle book called The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do To Get More of It.  Unfortunately, it's $13 and NOT available to borrow from the KOLL, but it has great reviews, along with a long political discussion in the comments on the only 2-star review, which, of course, sucked me in because I HAVE NO WILLPOWER!

*ahem*

So I've read the first chapter, which discusses the three aspects of willpower the author calls "I won't, I will, and I want." Each chapter gives a technique for strengthening willpower. In the first chapter, he recommends starting with a 5-minute daily meditation to train the brain. Let's see how it goes. Wish me luck!

Opening scene - untitled SF novel

Here's the opening of a story I work on when I get writer's block on the Kinshield series. :)

Dr. Benjamin Sykes sat beside a hospital bed in room one in the Forsyth Labs' surgical ward with a notebook computer in front of him. The man who lay still, an anonymous victim of a car-pedestrian accident over a year ago, responded to neither Ben's presence nor the soft tapping of his fingers on the keyboard. Not yet. If all went well, he would awaken soon.
The patient was a Hispanic John Doe about Ben's age -- mid-thirties. Average-looking fellow with brown hair and eyes. No one had claimed him. The police had searched the missing persons reports for a man matching his description and came up empty.
For thirteen months, the man they'd nicknamed John W. Doe, the thirty-third such anonymous victim in 2024, had lain in a persistent vegetative state; he had normal reflex movements but demonstrated no higher cognitive function. The taxpayers had financed his medical treatment at the county hospital for twelve months, the government-mandated maximum limit for state-funded care of unidentified patients. The surgeon general declared that patients in this state for a year had only a .1% chance of recovering, and so the state opted to pay for a casket and grave plot rather than another day of care for the hapless victim. Minutes before they were going to administer a lethal injection to end this John Doe's life, Ben's boss, Dr. Pamela Forsyth, convinced some pencil-pusher high enough on the food chain to give Ben's radical new treatment a chance. That was three weeks ago, and the surgery had gone off without a hitch.
Now came the moment of truth.

What do you think? Interesting enough to keep reading, or should I work on the opening a bit more?

Dear Reader

Now and then, a reader makes a comment in a review or in an email that I really want to address.

About The Kinshield Saga

Reader quote: "Lastly, the ending is a bit open ended. The universe lives on and there is more action to come, though we might not have the pleasure of reading about it."

Dear Reader,

All I can say is "Mwahahahaha!" There's a new two-book Kinshield series in the works. Those who've read both of The Kinshield Saga books know that someone survives unexpectedly. One can assume that the character faces justice for treason and dies in prison and that's the end of the story, but I can't *really* leave it at that, can I? Besides, we still don't know why Crigoth Sevae summoned Ritol to kill King Arek in the first place. That story still needs to be told!


Reader quote: "I really wanted more storyline with Brawna!"

Dear Reader,

You'll be pleased to know that Brawna The Blade returns in book one of the next Kinshield series. I didn't feel I could use her in The Wayfarer King because she had more to learn at the Viragon Sisterhood, but now that Thendylath has a king on the throne... well, things change. Brawna finds her way back to Gavin's side, and though she's young and inexperienced, her passion for protecting him and her natural skill prove valuable.


Reader quote: "Feanna is a little too perfect to be much of a three-dimensional character..."

Dear Reader,

Feanna definitely rises to the challenge of caring for more children than she can afford to because she cares so deeply for them. She has room to grow, like Gavin did in the beginning of The Kinshield Legacy, and she'll be put to the test in book one of the new series. Will love be enough to inspire her to action?

I'm about half-way through the first draft, but it's picking up steam. My goal is to have book one out by Christmas. Wish me luck!

Works in progress

Goodness! Has it really been six months since I last posted on my blog? Yikes! Sorry about that. :) I spend more time on Facebook than I should, I guess. Doesn't everyone?

In the last few months, I've been relaxing a little, working a little, and writing a little. I started working on a novel that I've been wanting to write for at least 15 years, but my muse decided to take me in a different direction. I suppose that story's time has not yet come. Instead, I'm working on two new novels.

The first is a science fiction novel featuring a cure for psychopathy. Science fiction is always fun because I get to do lots of interesting research. For a geek like me who loves science, that's one of the funnest parts about writing. Did you know that, according to Dr. Robert Hare, a world-famous psychologist renowned for his work with psychopaths both inside and outside of prisons, approximately 1% to 2% of our population are psychopaths? This personality disorder is one of the most destructive, leaving heartbreak, empty wallets, and sometimes death in its wake. Although most psychopaths are not murderers, their inability to experience guilt makes them particularly adept at getting whatever they want, no matter the cost.

The second is a fantasy novel, the first of a two-book series that delves into the secrets and scandals associated with King Arek's reign. We know that the evil wizard Crigoth Sevae had used a summoning rune to try to usurp the throne. Where did that rune come from in the first place? That is what Gavin Kinshield intends to find out...

Writing one novel in one's spare time is hard enough, but two? I definitely have my work cut out for me. If all goes well, I'll manage to get at least one of them finished this year, but who knows? Life happens.

Lending library

You've probably heard of Amazon's Kindle Owner's Lending Library for members of Amazon Prime. Well, word on the street is that Amazon will be extending the offer to us indies to include our books very soon. Now, since readers can only borrow up to one book per month, chances are they won't use their one loan for a 99c book. In fact, when I borrowed a book, I picked one that's priced for sale at $9.99, and I don't think that will be unusual. So authors are debating whether to raise their book's price in the hopes readers will choose to borrow it. To me, this strategy doesn't make sense. If a book isn't selling at 99 cents or even $2.99, what's the logic behind thinking readers will choose it for their once-a-month loan?

I'm planning to enroll The Venom of Vipers in the lending library (and keep its current price of $2.99), and my new omnibus edition of The Kinshield Saga (priced for sale at $5.99). Folks will be able to read both The Kinshield Legacy and The Wayfarer King for their one monthly loan, and those who choose to buy the omnibus edition will get a small discount. It's a win-win!

Indie fantasy authors to watch

"There’s a new breed of author on the frontlist: the indie."

You can read the rest of the article and my most recent interview with Greg Hamerton at http://greghamerton.com/2011/11/indie-fantasy-authors-to-watch-k-c-may/.

Guest author

I'm the guest author today on Nathan Lowell Presents. Recently, most of my interviews have been about how I got my books noticed so they sell well, but this one was sort of an open format where I could pretty much just blab about whatever I wanted. So I talked about one of the ideas behind an upcoming science fiction novel (as yet untitled). Feel free to add a comment at the end!

KBR Indie Awards

The first ever Kindle Book Review Indie Book Award was announced today, and to my absolute delight, The Kinshield Legacy was selected as the second place winner! I'm thrilled and honored to have my book listed among the other winners and finalists.

Be sure to bookmark The Kindle Book Review site for your next read. Site owner Jeff Bennington says, "All books will have no less than 20 reviews with a rating of 4.0 or higher!"

Believe it... or not!

What happens when a major publisher approaches the artist to buy the artwork on the cover of this book

and the artist refuses to sell? You've got to see it to believe it! http://www.lkrigel.com/2011/08/should-i-be-upset/

New release announcement

Debra Martin of Two Ends of the Pen blog has graciously featured The Wayfarer King on her blog today as a New Release announcement. Everything you ever wanted to know about the book can be found there. :)

Not only that, but author Michael Wallace has posted an interview on his blog.

And if that wasn't enough...The Kinshield Legacy has reached new heights in the Amazon store! Here's a screenshot of it on the Movers & Shakers list. I'm almost afraid I'll wake up soon! (Now, if only I could get nook readers interested. hahaha!)

Release day success!

Yesterday was the official Release Day for The Wayfarer King. So far two book bloggers have given it 5 stars:

"This is another fantastic book by K.C. May.  I have enjoyed everything of hers that I have read and was extremely excited to get a chance to read The Wayfarer King (The Kinshield Saga)."
http://indiebookblogger.blogspot.com/2011/08/wayfarer-king-by-kc-may-review.html

"I've said before that the enjoyment factor is worth a lot when it comes to the awarding of stars, and this story was immensely enjoyable."
http://www.gracekrispy.com/review-the-wayfarer-king-by-k-c-may/

It went as high as 751 in the Kindle Store rankings, and #2 in Hot New Releases in Epic Fantasy. 

I honestly didn't expect such wonderful results on Release Day, and so I blow kisses to all of you who one-clicked. Thank you! I sincerely hope you enjoy the story!

New review from Motherlode blog

GraceKrispy at Motherlode blog has posted her review of The Wayfarer King! Check it out -- and be sure to leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy.

Announcing... The Wayfarer King

Finally, after all theses months, the book is done, formatted and uploaded to the various ebook retailers. It's available at Amazon already (early!) as well as Smashwords. Other retailers will be along soon. I'll post the URLs here and on my web site at www.kcmay.com when they're ready.

Thank you to all my beloved readers for your ongoing support. I hope you enjoy the story!

A Teaser

Reviewer Grace Krispy posted a Teaser Tuesday sample of The Wayfarer King on her web site. Look for her full review on release day, August 4th!