indie publishing – Page 2 – K. M. Alexander

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The Stars Were Right is a BookNest SPFBO Semi-Finalist

November 8, 2018November 8, 2018

‘The Stars Were Right’ is a SPFBO Semi-Finalist

Woke up this morning to discover that Rob J. Hayes selected The Stars Were Right, my Lovecraftian urban fantasy, as one of BookNest’s semi-finalists for SPFBO 4! Hooray! This means it’s survived the first culling and is still in the running to be one of the final ten. I couldn’t be more honored or excited. Big thanks to Rob and the rest of the crew at BookNest for trucking through so many books. Be sure to check out Rob’s review over on the site.

The next round will be tough, I’m up against some fierce competition. But that said, I didn’t expect my strange little book to even be a contender in a contest usually dominated by more traditional fantasy offerings. It’s been fun to be a part of this so far, and the community has been fantastic.

Mark Lawrence has updated the Phase 1 list, and you can check it out over on his blog and see who I’m up against for the next round. Also, be sure to check out my SPFBO interview with fellow contestant and author, Michael R. Baker.

Want to read the book? You can buy digital/ebook copies of The Stars Were Right at any of the links below—it’s only $2.99 which is cheaper than a latte these days.

Kindle • Kobo • Nook • iBooks • GooglePlay • DRM-Free ePub

Not an ebook reader? If you prefer the smell and feel of paper, you can buy the trade paperback from any of these fine establishments. I also sell signed copies through my own store, and I ship anywhere.

Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Powell’s • BAM! • Signed Copies

Good luck to my fellow semi-finalists and to all the participants. I’m sure there will be much more to come and win or lose I’ll be sure to let you know The Stars Were Right’s fate right here.

💀📖💀

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August 1, 2018July 31, 2018

The SPFBO 99¢ Fantasy Book Sale

Today, August 1st which marks the beginning of the 2018 Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off and to celebrate the kickoff many entrants are offering our books on sale for only 99¢!

The Stars Were Right is a part of this year’s entrants, and I was happy to participate in the sale. So if you’re looking for a genre-bending Lovecraftian urban fantasy thriller to sink your… uh, tentacles into for the summer, now is an excellent time to pick it up.

The sale runs August 1st through August 5th, and along with my own book, you’ll find over one hundred twenty others on sale spanning a multitude of fantasy subgenres. It’s a great way to support the participating authors and save yourself some money. You can see the full list by following the link below.

Shop the 2018 SPFBO 99¢ Fantasy Book Sale →

Big thank you to Andrea Domanski for heading this sale up. It’s a lot of work to get this sort of thing off the ground. Make sure to check out her Omega Group book series—the first novel, Crossfire is on sale, and is an entrant in SPFBO 4. It’s currently slated to be reviewed by Lynn’s Book Blog. (You can see the full list over at Mark Lawrence’s blog.)

Welcome to SPFBO 4 everyone, and good luck to the participants.

The Stars Were Right is an entrant in #SPFBO 4!

June 20, 2018

I’m in SPFBO 4

I’m excited to announce that my first novel, The Stars Were Right, has been accepted into this year’s Self-Publishing Fantasy Blog-Off. This will be my first book award contest since I started writing and I’m excited to be a part.

Here’s how it works: each year 300 fantasy authors submit their books. Those books are then divided among ten bloggers—Stars will be reviewed this year by the good folks over at Booknest. In Phase One, the books are read, and each blogger chooses one book to advance to the next round. Then in Phase Two all the bloggers read the submitted ten, and score each of them. Out of those ten books only one will be selected as the winner! It’s fun and great for the indie fantasy community. Check out the past winners here.

300 Books. 10 Judges. 1 Winner.

Big thanks to author Mark Lawrence for championing all of this, organizing events like this can be a lot of work, and Mark has been a tireless supporter of indie authors. Be sure to check out Mark’s books, follow him on Twitter, and read his blog.)

Also, I want to thank my pal Mihir from Fantasy Book Critic for letting me know submissions were open. I’ve watched the SPFBO from the sidelines for a few years now, and for whatever reason, I never thought my books qualified. I’m happy I listened to him and took the opportunity to submit.

Win or lose, I’m excited to see how The Stars Were Right does. The contest skews heavily towards fantasy fiction, and while The Stars Were Right is very much urban fantasy, the weird world of the Territories has a lot in common with many other subgenres. As my readers know, I tend to eschew the standard fantasy trappings in exchange for something more… um, strange. So, we’ll see! Fingers crossed!

Phase One runs from August 1st – December 31st, 2018. If you want to read along, you can see the full list and bloggers participating over here. Follow along on Twitter by using the hashtag #SPFBO. Regardless of the outcome, I’m excited to join in, and I want to wish good luck to everyone who is competing. It should be a good year!

November 20, 2015

Friday Link Pack 11/20/2015

It’s Friday! That means it’s time for the Friday Link Pack, my weekly post covering topics such as writing, art, current events, and random weirdness. Some of these links I mentioned on Twitter, if you’re not already following me there, please do! Do you have a link I should feature in the upcoming link pack? Click here to email me and let me know! (Include a website so I can link to you as well.) Let’s get to it…

WRITING:

Five Years
Author M.S. Force reflects on the last five years of her career when she decided to take her rejected novel True North and step into indie publishing.

Alan Moore’s Advice To Unpublished Authors
“If you write every day, you’re a writer.” In this quick video recorded at St James Library, Northampton, UK, Alan Moore gives some advice to new and unpublished writers.

20 Misused English Words That Make Smart People Look Silly
Is it affect or effect, ironic or coincidental, do you get nauseous or nauseated? They are fair questions. Quartz sets the record straight on a few words people get wrong all the time.

Anne Frank’s Diary Gains ‘Co-Author’ In Copyright Move
Copyright laws are weird.

ART:

13 Miles Of Typography On Broadway, From A To Z
If you’re a writer, you should appreciate type. After all, typography is the communication channel to share your worlds with readers. In this piece for Hopes & Fears, Ksenya Samarskaya examines the type one finds along New York’s famous Broadway.

Meet The Designer Whose Collection Will Make You Scream
Costume or fashion? That is the question asked by designer Eda Yorulmazoglu in her latest, and wonderfully strange, collection.

Meet the Vendor: Saltstone Ceramics
My friend Sarah recently opened Saltstone Ceramics, a pottery studio here in Seattle. The work she has been creating is fantastic. (Kari-Lise and I own quite a few pieces now.) In this interview, Sarah discusses her journey, her work, and lots more. Find out more about her work at her website.

RANDOM:

The Return of #FeedCthulhu
Ross Lockheart, of the weird fiction press Word Horde, is giving away ebooks of their latest anthology, Cthulhu Fhtagn! All you have to do is donate to your local food bank and tweet about it. Three lucky winners will win personalized autographed copies as well. Details in the post!

Our Generation Ships Will Sink
Sci-fi great, Kim Stanley Robinson, dives into the complexity inherent in the ideas surrounding generation ships and why he thinks they are not only impractical but impossible outside the realm of fiction. Great article.

Is Tom Brady A Fancy Dog?
Deadspin asks the tough questions.

Your Jetpack Is Here
No, really. I’m serious. Check out this incredible video of the JB-9, the world’s only true jetpack. Find out more at Jetpack Aviation’s website. The future is now people. The future… is now.

WEIRD WIKIPEDIA:

Prostitution Among Animals
“A few studies have been used to promote the idea that prostitution exists among different species of animals such as Adélie penguins and chimpanzees. Penguins use stones for building their nests. Based on a 1998 study, media reports stated that a shortage of stones led female Adélie penguins to trade sex for stones. Some pair-bonded female penguins copulate with males who are not their mates and then take pebbles for their own nests.”

H.P. LOVECRAFT STORY OF THE WEEK:

Under The Pyramids/Imprisoned with the Pharaohs
Written with Harry Houdini in 1924, the story is a fictionalized account of an allegedly true experience of the escape artist. What mysteries does Houdini find? Well, you’ll just have to read to find out.

GIF OF THE WEEK:

October 6, 2015October 8, 2015

It’s Red Litten World Day—Welcome Back To Lovat

Red Litten World is out now! The misadventures of Waldo Bell continue. (Links to purchase below.) I’m so excited to be taking everyone from the high deserts of the Territories and back into the claustrophobic corridors and grungy warrens of Lovat. I think longtime readers will find a lot to enjoy Red Litten World, and new readers will have a blast learning about the megalopolis and its strange inhabitants and cultures. Setting out, the goal was to write something that felt both familiar but kept things fascinating. Thankfully, Lovat is a rich enough setting that I could write a book every year for a lifetime and still not explore every corner of the city.

For those who prefer paperbacks, you can pick up Red Litten World from any of the links below. If you’re looking for signed copies, I sell them through my online store for $15 (plus shipping). They look awesome.

Amazon • My Store • Barnes & Noble • CreateSpace

For those eBook readers, you can pick up an eBook of Red Litten World from any of the following platforms. ~~(Nook always trails a bit, but the book should be up there in the next few days.)~~ [Update: Nook is live!] Is there a platform you prefer that I don’t currently support? Feel free to email me and let me know, I’d love to get my books onto your favorite.

Kindle • Kobo • iBooks • GooglePlay • My Store • Nook

Make sure you add Red Litten World to your currently-reading list on Goodreads, and please when you’re finished, leave a review. I can blog and tweet and shout from my roof, but it’s my readers that make all the difference when it comes to spreading the word.

I hope you enjoy Red Litten World, everyone. Welcome back to Lovat.

Red Litten World arrives October 6th, 2015

September 24, 2015

First Look: Red Litten World Trade Paperback

Well, well, well, look what arrived in the mail last Friday… behold, the first look at the Red Litten World trade paperback! (Okay, technically, it’s the second look, since subscribers to my newsletter got the first look on Tuesday. You can join their illustrious ranks and get access to content early, just sign up here.)

Watch the Periscope capture above (apologies for the quiet-ish sound) or just check out the images with my commentary below. I’m so excited for everyone to see this. I couldn’t be more pleased with how well the trade paperback turned out. It feels so good in hand.

I’m super proud how well this turned out. Every time I start the arduous process of laying out a novel, I feel like I get better and better. Red Litten World is my biggest book yet, each tome is 400 pages on the dot. (For a comparison, Old Broken Road (the smallest) is 356 pages long and The Stars Were Right comes in at 364 pages.)

The Bell Forging Cycle series — The three books in the Bell Forging Cycle

The series is looking incredible, and I really have Jon Contino to thank for that. The consistency between covers is stunning, and as you can tell the three look absolutely wonderful sitting next to one another on the shelf. Jon’s lettering has a lot to do with that. As always the work is fabulous.

Just like in the interior of Old Broken Road there are stars illustrations breaking up paragraph breaks. These are the same hand-drawn stars done by Illustrator Sean Cumiskey for the Bell Caravans patch. They look great in the book, I love seeing them in print. Returning to form, the glyph atop the chapter titles was drawn by Lovecraft himself, just like the elder sign we saw on The Stars Were Right. Like the titles themselves, this will be a motif that will continue through the rest of the series.

Red Litten World interior — Left – title page, Right Top – chapter titles, Right Bottom – paragraph breaks

There’s a special surprise inside for paperback owners only, but I’m not going to go into details about it here. I’m going to keep that under wrap for now, that said, I’m sure it’ll leak eventually. As with everything in the Bell Forging Cycle it’s always layers upon layers, often the biggest secrets are hidden in the background.

I can’t wait for this to get into everyone’s hands! Red Litten World arrives Tuesday, October 6th, 2015. EBook readers, you can pre-order it today for Kindle, Kobo, or Apple iBooks and have it delivered on launch day!

Hold onto your butts. We’re getting close!