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A new week, a new sale!
Good Morning and Happy Labor Day (in the US). I hope your week is starting out great!
Gracie (aka Abby) has been renamed. I don’t know we’re firm on that as her name yet. She’s still growing into her name. We shall see.
Yesterday we took her to the park to meet Mya and Koda. Mya, being a Blue Heeler and Australian Sheppard mix, saw a new dog from across the park and shot like a silent rocket across the park and scared the pee out of Gracie, literally. When not in an open area, the two got along great because Mya couldn’t rush into Gracie’s face and say hello aggressively.
With Koda being a teacup Yorkie, Gracie spent time getting to know her quietly while watching Mya and avoiding her as much as possible.
Then, because that wasn’t enough trauma on the day, we went to Abuelito’s house. My Favorite Daughter and Hijo were already there with Mya and Koda at the pool. Being on the other side of the fence, Gracie was more brave and sniffed noses with Mya and TJ (Koda can walk through the fence). TJ is much more calm with new dogs. He’s a Boxer and knows Mya well so those two play rough. Alone, TJ did great with Gracie. Mya still needs to learn about personal space and approaching in a less aggressive manner. Gracie did snap at her a few times.
We spent a good deal of time walking all the dogs around the backyard to get them better acquainted. It’ll take time.
Oh, and even Zion showed up. That’s Hijo’s mom’s dog who doesn’t like anyone except for Hijo. Not even other dogs.
Mya and Koda spent time in the pool. Gracie and TJ got along great. Zion spent as much time hiding as possible. It was a good day.
That brings us to the title of this post!
Today, Paradise Palms is only 99 cents. It will be until next Monday. This is my SciFi murder mystery. It’s my only foray into this genre. I never intended to write a sequel, and I’ve seen more than one comment asking if the story continues and wishing the story would continue. Perhaps one day, there will be a Paradise Palms Two.
One a side note, for some reason, the paperback prices for Golden West fluctuate wildly. Book 1 is currently $5.60 and book 2 is $2.80. I have no idea why, but if you want to take advantage and pick up a hard copy of either of those books, have at it! Nothing better than inexpensive print books! From what I can tell, these are new versions, not used. I haven’t seen book 3 drop below the $7.99 price point. Here’s a link if you need it.
https://smile.amazon.com/s?k=murdock+golden+west&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
I’m off to spend some time with Gracie, who just learned she can go down the stairs on her own. She learned up the stairs yesterday. I don’t think she’s ever been around stairs.
Until Next Time!
Stay Awesome!
Golden West 2 now available!
First off, Golden West 2 is now available. This is the sequel to Golden West which first appeared as a podcast with the Action Pack Podcast. Yes, it’s been a while, but I love where the story went after book one and I already know how the trilogy will conclude. To celebrate the release of book 2, book one is currently free for the entire week! So you can get started with the series at no risk.
Get Golden West 2 for only $2.99!
I’m so excited for this series. How excited am I? So excited that I already have the cover for book 3 and I hope to release it before the end of the year if the stars align and nothing prevents me from doing so.
So if you grab a copy, thank you for helping me out. If you don’t own a kindle, you can still get the ebook. If you buy a copy (or pick up the free ebook) let me know and I will email you an epub version that’ll be usable on any other ereading device. Every sale helps push the book up the Amazon ratings. If you loved the podcast, please consider leaving a review. Those also help more than I can explain.
Thank you so much for your support.
Until Next Time!
Stay Awesome!
FREE BILLY!
BILLY IS TRAPPED AND NEEDS YOUR HELP!
Wait, no, that’s not right at all. Instead, Billy Barbarian: Welcome to Sethopolis is FREE! Yes, that’s right. I’m giving away Billy Barbarian all week long! Got a kindle? Awesome! hop on over to http://www.amazon.com/Billy-Barbarian-Sethopolis-J-R-Murdock-ebook/dp/B00FM9VPWG to pick up your copy. Don’t have a kindle, you can get it for the kindle app on any device as well. Don’t do kindle at all because you hate the Amazon? I will email you an epub absolutely free! Just drop me a line.
Already have a copy of Billy? Hey, drop me a line and let me know what you’d rather have and in what format. I’ll get it in email to you straightaway. Share the link, I’ll send you any two of my books! FREE! All you need to do is tell me where you shared it and what two books you’d like to add to your collection of Murdockian goodness.
As always, thank you for your support. It means the world to me.
Until Next Time!
Stay awesome!
P.S. Favorite Daughter Update:
My Favorite Daughter has been making her own YouTube videos. Check out her latest here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtsSrDQTTes). She’s a nut. Not sure where she gets that from.
FREE SHORT STORY!
So Jay has gone into hiding once again. Sorry about that. To say I’m sorry, here is a free short story! Free until Saturday that is.
http://www.amazon.com/Contrat-dOlivier-Short-J-R-Murdock-ebook/dp/B014CN4KX8
The story, Contrat d’Olivier, is one that I’m very happy with. I wrote it a couple of years ago and it’s gone through a couple of iterations. Everyone that I’ve sent it to in an attempt to get it published, has held on to it for a long time. By a long time, I mean one had it for over a year before finally rejecting it. Another had it once for nine months before rejecting it and recommending a revision, which I did. Then they held on to it for another nine months before I just never heard from them again. So I’m not sure what happened.
Finally I submitted the story to Writers of the Future and was quickly rejected. Hey, can’t win ’em all.
Regardless, I think this is a strong story and threw a cover on it and dropped it on Amazon. Want a copy? It’s free this week. Once the free period is over, it’ll only be 99 cents.
Check it out, let me know what you think. I’ll go work on more stories.
Until Next Time, Stay Awesome!
FREE ZOMBIES!
I must be losing my mind! Again!
My Teacher is a Zombie is free all week! Yes. From RIGHT NOW until Friday, you can pick up the first in the Supernatural Learning series totally free!
Hop over here to grab your copy! http://www.amazon.com/Teacher-Zombie-Supernatural-Learning-Book-ebook/dp/B007MHI75O
You don’t need to have a kindle to get a copy. If you need help learning how to read ebooks, contact me and I’ll help you as much as I can.
If you don’t do kindle (or Amazon) let me know and I can hook you up with an epub version that should work on nearly any other reading device.
What are you waiting for? Go get yourself some Zombie Teachers! And thank you for your support!
Stay Awesome!
WOO WOO!
P.S. Last week I gave away 56 copies of V&A Shipping. If you didn’t get a copy, let me know and I’ll email you one!
Climbing the Charts!
V&A SHIPPING! STILL FREE! http://www.amazon.com/V-Shipping-J-R-Murdock-ebook/dp/B00B1MVTYM
I woke up this morning to see that V&A Shipping had reached #42 in free Space Opera! That’s quite exciting! My Goal and hope is to get it into the top 10 of Space Opera! Now that would be something.
But I cannot do this alone. I do need your help. If you have an Amazon account and you haven’t picked up a copy yet, please consider doing so. It will help move the book up the charts and help it gain some much needed visibility. And hey, you get a free ebook out of it. 🙂
I’ve sold a few copies of V&A Shipping II as well as a couple copies of Giant Robot Planetary Competition. This was the goal all along to help get some other titles a little bump while getting this one moving along.
If you’ve gotten a copy, THANK YOU! You’re awesome! If you’ve shared my post in your social media feeds, THANK YOU! You’re even awesomer! If you’d like to help a little more, please consider leaving a review on Amazon.com or goodreads.com. Both help tremendously.
Again, thank you for all your help and support.
Stay Awesome!
WOO WOO!
V&A Shipping I is free all week!
Wait, has Jay lost his mind? Again? V&A Shipping is free?
That’s right. You’ve waited this long to jump onto the series, Now you can jump in for free! Just follow this link (http://www.amazon.com/V-A-Shipping-ebook/dp/B00B1MVTYM/) and BAM! Free ebook just for you!
If you’re subscribed to Kindle Unlimited you can also read it there. Actually, you can read all my books on Kindle Unlimited now. Well, all my self-published works that is.
So don’t delay! You’ve only got until the end of the week to pick up V&A Shipping for free, then it goes back to its regular price.
For those that are wondering, yes, the events in Giant Robot Planetary Competition take place in the V&A Shipping universe and they take place after book 2. No, you do NOT need to read V&A Shipping to understand what’s happening in GRPC. The gang does make a cameo and that’s all I have to say about that.
If you’ve read (or listened to V&A Shipping) please consider leaving a review on Amazon. You don’t know how helpful these are to selling books. If you don’t have a device to read a kindle ebook, you can still get a free copy as this also helps move the book up the charts. If you have any ‘smart’ device you can download a kindle app to read the book. Need help? Contact me and I’ll walk you through the steps.
Thank you all for your support and your help with making V&A Shipping the success that it is!
Stay Awesome!
WOO WOO!
Paradise Palms: Free through Sunday!
Do you like a good murder mystery? Do you like Time Travel? Do you like Trailer parks? Well, get ’em all here!
Paradise Palms: A Murder Mystery in a Time-Traveling Trailer Park is free NOW through Sunday!
If you have a kindle, get a copy!
If you have an ipad, get a copy (and use the kindle app to read it)!
If you have a smart phone, get a copy (and use the kindle app to read it)!
If you have a tablet, get a copy (and use the kindle app to read it)!
If you have a computer, get a copy (and use the kindle app to read it)!
You don’t have to have a kindle device to get this free ebook! Run out and grab a copy NOW NOW NOW!
Whew. Ok, I’ll turn off the yell and sell. I hope you pick up a copy, enjoy it, and let me know what you thought! Thank you for all your support!
Until Next Time!
WOO WOO!
Weekly Update: Giving Books away and what I learned.
Last week I did a giveaway on Murdockian Tales (you can still buy a copy for $2.99 or a print copy for $7.99). It’s a short story collection and I’m happy with the stories I chose to put in there. They give a good representation of my work to-date even if I’ve done a lot of writing since these stories were written. Most of those are on submission and therefore not included in the collection.
So the big question I’m sure will be on everyone’s mind will be “So what did you learn through the process?” Well, let me tell you first off that I’ll be learning from this for some time. That’s just the way it goes. But I did learn a lot during the process. Here’s what I learned.
I learned that people like getting things for free. Well, okay, I already knew that, but I didn’t realize just how much. Over the course of the freebie deal I gave away 339 copies of Murdockian Tales making it my most widely distributed book so far.
I learned that free doesn’t always equate to sales. I did, however, sell two copies of V&A Shipping (both people told me they picked it up because they found me from the Free deal. I also sold a print copy of Murdockian Tales. So out of the 339 copies I gave away, I sold 3. I was hoping for a slightly better return, but at least I know people are out there with copies of my short story anthology. If they like what they read, hopefully they’ll be back. At the front and the back of the collection I have my URLs. Hopefully that will drive some traffic to the blog and generate more sales.
I learned that during the giveaway I did not encounter more traffic than normal. I did get one person that found me by doing a google search on Murdockian. I can only assume that person came from the freebie deal.
Now that the free is over, hopefully people will read it. I’m confident that most won’t. Most probably picked it up just because it was free. I did this 100% for exposure. To get my name out there. Nothing more. If I pick up a couple new readers, then it was worth it. If I don’t, it was a learning experience. I’ll learn from it and try again with another title at another time. I’ve got a lot of books to get out into the world and this helped move a lot of books only people’s kindle devices.
I have noticed that Kobo, Smashwords, and Nook result in nearly no sales for me. I find this sad. I like these devices and their reading apps. Well, Kobo and Nook. I cannot get into iBookstore because I don’t have a mac (and won’t be buying one any time soon). I wish Apple would fix that and allow anyone one to upload their books. I won’t see any sales increase in those sites as I released Murdockian Tales through KDP Select (amazon only). But I’m hopeful that my name will start to spread from this.
All in all it was a good experience. I had a lot of people retweet me on twitter, like me on facebook, join me on google plus, and social media really helped propel this book up the charts. Yes, it was a free book, but I was still excited to see it peak out at #5 on SciFi short stories and #55 on Free SciFi. As I said, during the week I gave away 339 copies. I’m astonished. I honestly didn’t expect to give away quite so many copies. I would have been happy with 100. I actually think I would have been happy giving away 50. But 339? I’m overjoyed. I think this is outstanding. I couldn’t ask for more.
I kept a level head through all of this. I understand the ‘Amazon Rush’ concept of having as many people buy your book on release day to try and give it an extra push. I understand getting your name out there and trying to get as many people as possible to buy your book. I also understand the need for social media to accomplish these. I did all of that and wow did it work.
I’ve got a podcast to edit and get produced. I’ve got recording to do. I’ve got words to write (I finished My Teacher is a Vampire and started a giant-robot story that will be set in the V&A Shipping universe). I’ve got editing to do (I’ve got 4 completed books to go through and do rewrites and 2 to apply edits to). I’ve got so many words I want to get done this year and a lot of books I’d like to release this year. It’s an exciting time! Watch for more!
Until Next Time!
WOO WOO!
J.R. Murdock 