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I’m the Tuesday special! Well … yesterday I was the Tuesday special.
http://thewritewaycafe.blogspot.com/
Rumor has it I have a book out ….
The e-book version of my new novel, Radio Red, is now up and available for pre-order! I know, I was surprised too: Nobody told me it was happening, I just stumbled across it. I thought pre-order was what the big-time authors did. (The actual release date is March 7.)
I was also surprised to find my name listed as R. Mark Hunter. That's now been corrected, and we're up and running in such places as:
http://www.simonandschuster.com/search/
(That's Simon and Schuster, one of the big name publishers, listing four of my titles!)
https://www.amazon.com/Radio-Red-R-Mark-
(You've heard of Amazon? Probably.)
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/radio-
(Kobo. You know, Kobo.)
https://play.google.com/store/books/
(Google Play. Yeah, you've heard of Google.)
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/radio-
(Barnes and Noble. It's nice to see my books up there, even if they can't be found (yet) in their brick and mortar stores.)
Those are the places I'm aware of so far. It's being priced at $3.99, which is pretty good for a full-length novel. Getting enough pre-orders might result in a bit more promotion, and those things tend to feed on themselves; so please consider checking it out! Also, look for the print version coming soon.
The Welcome Center for the Noble County ALL-IN Block Part opens at 9 a.m. tomorrow (Saturday), and the opening ceremony is from 9:30-10 a.m. After that all the Community Partner Booths open, including the 15 (or maybe 16!) authors at the Noble County libraries location, on the southwest corner of the courthouse square in Albion. The entertainment goes on until 3 p.m.
Emily and I tend to be night owls, so be there early to help us stay awake! In addition to our newest book, Hoosier Hysterical, we’ll have copies of all seven of our print books available. Only my e-book story collection, Storm Chaser Shorts, is not available in print.
Hoosier Hysterical is priced at only $10, even with all the photos … and don’t be surprised if we have some deals going for those who want multiple books.
That’s right, you can now get the print version of the funniest book I’ve written this year, Hoosier Hysterical: How the West Became the Midwest Without Moving At All. It’s all about poking fun at Indiana history, facts, and trivia, just in time for the state’s bicentennial.
If it was fiction, I’d have to say it’s got some great settings and fascinating characters, although the plotline seems a bit linear.
It’s not available as an e-book just yet, but Emily’s working on it—expect that soon. But why bother, when this fully illustrated print version is just ten dollars? That’s right—less than the cost of two packs of cigarettes, and way healthier … unless you’re into smoking books.
My own shipment of copies should arrive soon, and I’ll be sending out some promised print and e-books. I hope you laugh, or at least smile. Or at least, don’t frown.
You can find it on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Hoosier-
and on Createspace at https://www.createspace.com/6257306.
It didn’t work out, thanks partially to the chiropractor … but wasn’t it a great idea?
It’s a big day today, a day worthy of celebration. I decided that on this particular Monday, I’ll do whatever the heck I want.
I want sleep.
This says less about me than about the fact that I worked overtime this weekend, and events left me with about half my normal snooze time. I wish I could say I was one of those people who could go on for days without sleep. In truth, I’m jealous of those people—I could sure get a lot more done, getting by on three hours a night. But I can barely go hours without sleep.
Today (early Monday, as I write this) is book launch day. It’s my seventh book, or ninth if you count the anthologies I’ve been in, but it’s as exciting as the first one. Maybe more: This is the first time I’ve had a solid, definite book release date. Whiskey Creek Press only gave me an approximate date for my three works with them, and in those cases the books went up for sale before I expected them to. With our self-published works I could just announce the launch whenever the order was ready, which cut down on the anticipation. Just the same, having a new book come out never gets old.
You know what gets old? Sleep apnea. Insomnia. Twelve hour shifts.
(Not insomnia during twelve hour shifts, mind you.)
Anyway, Arcadia gave me a concrete launch date: It says in my contract that any book in a customer’s hands before then will spontaneously combust. Customers hate that.
But thanks to preorders, early Monday Amazon rankings had me at #215 in state and local history books, which is really good, right? Right? So I think I deserve a solid nine hour sleep, followed by maybe a five hour nap.
What?
Let’s face it, I was never a party animal. The music that gets my heart beating was composed by John Williams. My best-ever all-nighter was when I read Arthur C. Clark’s Rendezvous with Rama in one sitting. I get a hangover after drinking cough syrup.
Don’t get me wrong: I might still run uptown for a celebratory pizza. Sure, it could put me into a food coma—but that’s exactly what I’m going for.Images of America: Albion and Noble County is officially for sale—and on sale. The release date remains August 24th, but it can be ordered on your usual online suspects—and it appears those usual suspects are giving a pre-release price guarantee of close to 50%.
(I’d have announced this earlier, but I didn’t know!)
Here are ways you can order Albion and Noble County at a discount—if you act fast:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/albion-
http://www.amazon.com/Albion-Noble-
I’ve ordered 50 copies from Arcadia Publishing (ahem—I get an author’s discount), which should arrive Monday … which happens to be the release date. (I also ordered 20 more copies of The No-Campfire Girls, so we should have enough of all our books on hand.)
Emily is setting up a special website for the book, where we’ll have extra photos and related historical information—more about that toward the end of the weekend. We’ll also be talking more about upcoming book signings soon … but meanwhile, take advantage of this deal!
I normally send out a press announcement ahead of each book release. This one might not show up in newspapers, because Arcadia Publishing has a publicist, and I haven’t heard back yet on whether it fits with what they’re doing.
(I know, right? We have a publicist!)
A husband and wife writing team have produced a book that will give Noble County area residents a photo-filled walk through local history.
Images of America: Albion and Noble County will be released on August 24th by Arcadia Publishing, a South Carolina based publishing house with a catalog of more than 9,000 local history titles. The books are heavily illustrated with historical photos, which challenged authors Mark R. Hunter and Emily Hunter.
The Hunters spent months gathering old photos from numerous sources, including historical organizations, collectors, and residents with scrapbooks or boxes of black and white pictures. But that was only the beginning of the job: They picked out and organized the photos to best represent various Noble County communities and the county seat, Albion; researched local history; then wrote chapter openings and captions for all the photos.
The result is well over 200 images of towns, locations, and people in Albion and Noble County, the latest in Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America line. The book retails for $21.99, and is available for preorder on Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com. More information can be found on the publisher’s website at http://www.arcadiapublishing.com/
As part of the book launch, Mark and Emily will give a presentation at 6:30 p.m. September 9th at the Kendallville Public Library, and will also have a book signing from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. September 12th at the Stone’s Trace Pioneer Festival, near Ligonier.
The Hunters previously collaborated on another history book, Smoky Days and Sleepless Nights: A Century or so With the Albion Fire Department, along with a humor book, Slightly off the Mark, and a young adult novel, The No-Campfire Girls. Mark R. Hunter’s other books include the romantic comedies Storm Chaser and The Notorious Ian Grant, and the story collection Storm Chaser Shorts.
Mark and Emily live a few blocks from the historical Noble County Courthouse in Albion along with their loving but scary dog, Beowulf, and a cowardly ball python named Lucius.
I’ve just realized it’s only 19 days before the release date! Images of America: Albion and Noble County comes out August 24th, months ahead of when I originally thought it would. Emily and I worked hard on this book, a photo heavy look at local history that’s part of Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America line … I guess the title hinted at that, didn’t it?
You can see the book description at the publisher’s website:
http://www.arcadiapublishing.com/
and don’t forget to check out all their other great history books. It’s already listed for preorder on the Amazon and Barnes & Noble websites.
Save the date for some upcoming appearances: Look for us in the fireplace room of the Kendallville Public Library main branch, on September 9th at 6:30 p.m. I’ll give a brief presentation on the book, and also have copies available for sale.
We’ll also be at the Stone’s Trace Pioneer Festival near Ligonier, where we’ve been invited to do a book signing between 1-5 p.m. Saturday, September 12th. It’s a great historical site that gets mentioned more than once in the book.
Look for more events coming up—and thanks to everyone for your support!
I’ve been away from the computer lately, for vacationy stuff. It was refreshing and usually fun, and we even managed to get out of the area for a week—not exactly a relaxing kind of a trip, as I’ll detail later.
Sometimes fun is sitting on a beach with a good book; sometimes fun is clamboring into caves and hiking to waterfalls while researching a good book. Don’t worry, there’ll be photos.
I’ve been neglecting my blog terribly, which isn’t a good thing for a working writer. Recently I read writers should put a “selling” post on their blog and social media only once every six posts or so. That makes sense: Why read someone when all they ever talk about is how often you should read them? By the way, you should read me often.
Sometimes it’s hard to control that: Such as earlier this month, when I had a book signing, and later next month, when I have a new book release as well as some appearances. But ordinarily I think it’s a good idea, if you want people to think your writing is entertaining, to write entertaining stuff.
I’d look just like Captain Obvious if I was just a bit slimmer.
Some blogging experts (can you get a degree in that?) believe your blog should be narrowly focused. If you’re a tree frog expert and keep your posts all about tree frogs, you’ll soon be followed by hundreds, if not thousands, of tree-frog entheusiasts, right? And whether you submit your book about tree frogs to a publisher or go independent, having a following of tree-frog lovers ready to buy your book is a huge advantage.
Makes sense.
But I’m a person of eclectic, if low-brow, tastes. I don’t have one obsession alone unless it’s writing, and if I write only about writing doesn’t that bring me back to the original problem? The only thing my interests really have in common is humor, and sometimes not that.
So here’s an idea: rotating through various subjects, in addition to talking about the writer’s life. Not necessarily on a specific day, but mixing it up so there’s something for everyone, and when appropriate loading some humor into it. Some possible topics include entertainment (Hey, I still watch some TV) and the possibly related book/movie reviews; emergency services (‘cause I’ve got that firefighter/911 dispatcher thing going on); photography (pictures make everything better); history (we’re releasing a humorous history book next year, which will make my third history related project); local/Indiana stuff; politics (if I can stomach it); and … I don’t know. What else?
So what do you think? As always I have to think about what will sell the most books, but above all I have to be funny, or entertaining … or maybe the word is interesting. It turns out a proper blog is a lot of work.
Well, I didn’t sell enough books to make my grappling hook throwing skills necessary, but it was for the best: Turns out my Batman suit doesn’t fit anymore. I promised that if I sold enough at the Saturday book signing I’d scale the Black Building, but over the years I’ve grown from Christian Bale Batman to Adam West Batman. It’s too bad, after all the work I did to find a Robin costume for Emily.
Still, we made some sales and had fun hanging with Dan Gagen at the Noble Art Gallery. And it goes on, in a way: Dan kindly allowed signed copies to be displayed in his gallery, there at the corner of Orange and Main in Albion. I don’t know if I’d call it art … but if you want to pick up a copy of Slightly Off the Mark, Storm Chaser, Smoky Days and Sleepless Nights, The Notorious Ian Grant, or The No-Campfire Girls, you can get them there while perusing the real art. (Friday and Saturday, 10-5.) You might also be able to pick them up in other local places soon, if I get off my butt and get it done.
Now I can just kick back and relax and … *insert hysterical laughter here* Nah, I’ve got another book coming out in a month and a half, and I’m already hip deep in the next project.
Book signing’s tomorrow, folks! Three hours in an art gallery, overlooking the historic courthouse square in Albion, so at least come for the eye candy. Here are all the details:
https://www.facebook.com/events/
I ordered one of those cardboard stands to display copies of the six books that will be available (others are for sale only as e-books). As of this writing it hasn’t arrived yet, but I’m a little awed that I have enough published books to crowd a table … and one more coming out at the end of August.
I’m looking for new publicity methods, so this is what I came up with for my book signing a week from tomorrow:
If I sell 250 books at the signing, from 2-5 July 11th at the Noble Art Gallery, I will scale the three story Black Building in a Batman outfit and moonwalk across the roof.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “But Mark, you don’t know how to moonwalk”. Good point, and way to miss the big picture. But this is how I look at it: If I ever sell 250 copies at one three hour book signing, I’ll die of a happy heart attack before my acrobatic abilities are ever questioned.
(For those of you who aren’t medically educated, a happy heart attack has the exact same results as an unhappy heart attack.)
I don’t even know if I have 250 copies of all my books. I was at the same location (100 N. Orange St) for four hours in December, and sold 8 copies. Still, it might be a wise precaution to do up several dozen IOU’s, and update my will. Best case scenario: In the future Dan Gagen can tell art lovers his studio is haunted by a dead author.
The print run of Slightly Off the Mark: The Unpublished Columns is here, but we could run out quickly! (Not really, we’ll just order more.)
You can get a signed copy on my website at http://www.markrhunter.com/ using PayPal, or do that whole credit card thing. Or, you can get a print copy on Amazon and pair it with the Kindle version at half price. Or, just shoot me a line and we’ll make arrangements.
On that same website page, sign up for our mailing list and get notifications, information, humor, and stuff. (Stuff to be announced.) I’ll endeavor to be entertaining.
Needless to say, order any of my other books there, too! I’m not all about the funny. Some people feel very strongly about that.
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| It still looks like this. |
This is what I was going to post to get the ball rolling on the release of Slightly Off the Mark: The Unpublished Columns (which are now the published columns). But now it’s up on Amazon, and on the website, and … we just got our delivery of print copies!
“I turned around a few minutes later, walked into the Albion New Era office with the aura of confidence and skill, and said ‘I changed my mind. Pleasssseeeee!!!!!!’”
--Slightly Off the Mark, from “Why I write, or: I hate needles”.
Thus began my career as a humor columnist, which resulted in some 1,150,000 words over the next quarter of a century. Now, although my column has moved to the monthly Kendallville Mall, I’ve collected all my unpublished earlier columns into one volume.
Because “volume” sounds somehow more official than “book”.
It’s a short book, but my fourteen regular readers have short attention spans, so it’s all good. Now I’m asking you, my other hundred or so readers, to purchase Slightly off the Mark and then actually read it, and then tell all their friends. It’s a lot to ask, but I have no shame.
You can find links to all the ways you can get the Slightly Off the Mark on my website, www.markrhunter.com, or at regular internet places, and soon I hope to have news on such things as book signings and other places where you can get a copy. Or, knock on my door, or stop me in the street. Not in the middle of the street … maybe wait for me on the sidewalk.
To show you what you’ll be treated to—I hope that’s the right word—the book is divided into sections including:
Part One: because someone has to go first
Part Deux: the final second
Part Three: medical stuff, and things
Part Four: the writer’s life for me, or: Brother, can you spare a dime?
Part Five: how do you spell miscellaneous?
Part Six: part two of the writer’s life, or: Six into two makes … something
Part Seven: politics, or: Maybe you shouldn’t read this section—(my editor didn’t)
Part Eight: What’s the sundry word for miscellaneous?
If that’s not enough for you to part with your Starbucks money, at the end of the book you’ll find the first chapter of my upcoming space opera novel, Beowulf: In Harm’s Way. There’s humor there, too. Really, there is. I would recommend you pay particular attention to that part if you’re, say, a publisher, or an agent.
Hope you like it!
