Sunday, December 11, 2011

An Experiment and an Invitation

I've had a busy week. On Thursday, I finished my rewrite of Death of a Schoolgirl: The Jane Eyre Chronicles, and sent it to my editor at Berkley.

It's a big baby at 98,264 words. The release date is August, 2012. The editor's corrections should come to me on Monday (tomorrow) and I plan to have them back to her within the week. I think the cover is absolutely out of this world! I've been working on the second book in the series Death of a Dowager Lady by doing my research reading at night. That book is due in March.

On Friday, the galleys for Ready, Scrap, Shoot arrived.




They are due to Midnight Ink in January. I'm a third of the way through reading those. I'm dedicating that book to a bookclub that meets at the Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Fenton, Missouri. Those ladies are really excited about the dedication--and we plan to have a big book launch at that store when the book is out in May, 2012.

On Saturday, I got a wild and crazy idea: what if I wrote a Kiki Lowenstein short story every month for a year and made it available to my readers for 99 cents on Kindle? I noodled around a story idea with my sister, Jane. Saturday night, I created a cover for Kiki Lowenstein and the Secret Santa. I hope to have it available on Kindle later this week.



Today (Sunday) we loaded onto Kindle the new Ink, Red, Dead: A Kiki Lowenstein Mystery that features two novellas, one a Kiki Lowenstein mystery and the other the progressive story that my blog sisters and I wrote. It should be available for sale within the next 48 hours. I priced it at 99 cents. I plan to keep the 99 cent price point for everything I offer on Kindle for a while.



I'm curious to see how this works. Here's my hunch: Readers who love my characters will want to have a monthly "fix." I know that I love tuning into my favorite TV shows. And basically, we're in the entertainment business, right?

Will it work? Or will I drop dead trying? We'll see!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

On December 22 from 9 p.m EST to Midnight EST, I'm hosting an online Holiday Party on my Facebook page http://www.Facebook.com/JoannaCampbellSlan   There will be fabulous handmade prizes, signed books given away, and the chance to chat with your favorite authors including Diane Orgain (The Maternal Instincts Mysteries); Betty Hechtman (you know her! and she's giving away a crocheted scarf!); and Monica Ferris. More to come...

Will it work? I dunno. Here's hoping.

20 comments:

Barb Goffman said...

Great cover for the Jane Eyre book!

Liz said...

You certainly are busy. Best wishes for success of your multiple projects.

I recently read 44 Scotland Road, by Alexander McCall Smith, in a compilation of a newspaper series he wrote harking back to the Dickensian era serializations. What fun. Of course, I didn't have to wait for each installment, but it makes your monthly venture seem feasible to me.

Sorry to miss your party but, as a somewhat technophobe, I've not ventured into FB territory (or e-books).

KathyM said...

Can't wait for this stuff, Joanna! Yipee!

Judy said...

I've been not so patiently waiting for "Ink, Red, Dead". Thank you so much for creating this treat. I will be checking Amazon to download my copy. The idea of a monthly update is wonderful but I hope it will not be too much for you to take on.

gailwoo said...

Love the idea of monthly fixes!
Can't wait for the 99cents kindle! download! See you Dec 22nd at the holiday party!

gailwoo said...

Thumbs up for monthly fixes and 99cents kindle downloads! See you at the holiday party!

Julie said...

Happy Dance! Happy Dance! I just got Ink, Red, Dead on my Kindle. Happy Dance!

Joanna Campbell Slan said...

Okay, if you really like the monthly fixes...tell a friend, OK?

Better yet, if your friend has a Kindle, send her a holiday card with a dollar tucked inside and tell her to treat herself to Ink, Red, Dead!

We'll try to get Kiki Lowenstein and the Secret Santa up ASAP, but for now, I'm blown away by your responses!

Joanna Campbell Slan said...

Barb, glad you like the cover. I do, too.

Joanna Campbell Slan said...

Liz, I hope you'll move beyond your technophobia!

Linda O. Johnston said...

Talk about a busy week--you have a busy life, Joanna, and you keep taking on more and getting busier. Love it!

Dru said...

I love the idea of a Kiki story every month.

Joanna Campbell Slan said...

Thanks, Linda! I'm having a blast.

Joanna Campbell Slan said...

Dru, your opinion means a lot to me. Thanks so much.

Betty Hechtman said...

Great covers! Your plans sound very ambitious. Good luck.

Dead Herring said...

I would love to read a Kiki story every month - but I don't have a Kindle, I have a Nook.

Any chances you'll offer it for sale at other places, too?

Ellie

Anonymous said...

Love the monthly fix idea. Love Kiki and her friends!

Shirley

Joanna Campbell Slan said...

Dead Herring, you can load a Kindle app for your computer to read my stuff. I've agreed to let Amazon have my new stories exclusively for 90 days, after that we'll tackle Nook. I just wanted to take this one step at a time!

Oh, and here's my short story for December:
http://www.amazon.com/Kiki-Lowenstein-Secret-Santa-ebook/dp/B006LSRN5K/ref=sr_1_7?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1323896902&sr=1-7

Joanna Campbell Slan said...

Shirley, thanks for the "yeah" vote!

And Betty, I had to do the covers myself, otherwise the pricing wouldn't have worked out. So I did Tangle designs.

Anonymous said...

Got both new ones. Love the idea of another FB party!!!! I will be there.