Blarney Rubble: Cover reveal!
Cover reveal! I had hoped to release it today, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, but the cover will have to do (courtesy of Mike Sottong). With a little “luck,” the book will be available very soon. If you’d like an Advance Reader Copy to review, let me know and I’ll add you to the list!
Blarney Rubble: Humorous Suspense from Bill Cokas
Can he keep quiet enough to hear destiny calling?
For a local politician in the North Carolina mountains, Frank McCarthy has been remarkably good at keeping his mouth shut. His soft-spoken ways got him elected to the school board and helped him overturn a longstanding zoning policy. At home, though, his wife yearns for more conversation, compliments and compassion. Read More…
Mixed–but better–results with second KDP giveaway.
My second Amazon KDP Select giveaway of Battle Axe is winding down after three consecutive days, and I must say, it’s changing my mind about the program. I still don’t know if it will boost my reviews or sales, but the activity has blown away that of my previous giveaway over Easter weekend.Here’s what I did differently:1. Three consecutive days vs. two non-consecutive days (last time I skipped Easter proper).2. Used only these paid sources: Freebooksy.com Thedesertgirl on Fiverr.com bookblast.co Here’s what I did the same: 1. Picked a holiday weekend 2. All the same Facebook and Twitter sources But this time, as of 4:30 on the third day of the promotion, I’m looking at 5700 downloads vs. the meager 710 Read More…
So many books, so little time.
I know it sounds like a pity bumper sticker or t-shirt slogan, but that really sums up the loss of Randy Rohn, an outstanding writer and even better husband, father and friend. A prolific advertising writer for more than three decades, he had only recently moved into publishing short fiction and even a novel. I know for a fact he was working on another one, and who knows how many more he would have produced had he not been cruelly removed from this life. When I first turned to long-form fiction myself, he was one of the few I trusted to give me feedback, even if his feedback amounted to “It’s the best book about jazz and lesbians I’ve ever Read More…
Top 3 Reasons You Need to Do Character Sheets
I initially resisted. In fact, I’m resisting right now, and am only writing this blog post to avoid writing another character sheet. But I’m here to tell you they are as invaluable as they are tedious.I’ve been using Scrivener, which is an amazingly robust writing program that allows you to consolidate nearly ALL of your miscellaneous data (research, photos, maps and yes, character sheets) into one document. In fact, it comes with a template built in (see inset below).While this is a great start, I’m recommending something far more involved. If printed out, the character sheet I use would take up five pages. I can’t remember where I got the version I’m using, but here’s a current link to it.Detailed, Read More…
Podcast with Wattpad!
I’ve done announcer-type work and voiceovers for years as kind of a side job, but I still don’t love listening to myself. You, however, are welcome to. This is an interview I did last week with the exceedingly nice Pam from Wattpad, a very popular site for writers to post their work and gain free exposure. I’m bound to Amazon to keep “Ring of Fire” there exclusively for another few weeks, but I posted “Battle Axe” on Wattpad back in March and it’s already received over 100,000 “reads.” Pam asks me about my background in fiction, cartooning, advertising and whatever else we can think of. Listen to it here.
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