Slightly Off the Mark

Brace yourselves, you luddites ... you could actually read the opening for free, here:

https://www.amazon.com/More-Slightly-off-Mark-Other/dp/1709741287

If you just can't wait and/or want a signed copy, contact Emily or me, or hit up the website, and we'll limber up our writing hands.

Well, this is embarrassing: I'd meant to post this before the blog I put up on the same subject back on 12/2. It's been sitting in my draft folder ever since More Slightly Off the Mark was originally released earlier this year; from a promotion standpoint, the book seems to have been cursed.

But I'm still putting this out here, for three reasons: First, it's already written. Second, hey--still Christmas shopping season, and I always hope to be shopped. Third, social media doesn't seem to want other people to see what you're doing these days, so there's every chance you might not have read the previous post, anyway.  

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You probably already guessed this from my previous post. Still, now that we finally have the print version of our newest book, More Slightly Off the Mark: Why I Hate Cats, and Other Lies, available to buy, I can finally announce:

The print version of our newest book, More Slightly Off the Mark: Why I Hate Cats, and Other Lies, is available to buy!

Guess I should have led with that. Oh, wait ... I did.

It was what we call a slow rollout, which is another way of saying I wasn't as prepared as I thought I was, and I didn't take into consideration that great leveler of plans, Winter. This winter leveled a lot of us. (So did spring and summer, as it turns out.)

But now it's out, and only $7.50 for the paperback version, despite the fact that it's actually longer than the original Slightly Off the Mark. Or maybe because--all those words can be intimidating. Now, according to my calculations, you can have it for only 33 cents a page.

I might be wrong on that: I became a writer to avoid math.

Meanwhile, we've reduced the Kindle price of More Slightly Off the Mark to just $1.99, for those of you who have an e-reader, or a computer, and/or are just plain cheap. Remember, that's less than it costs to buy one of those super sized candy bars--and books have no cholesterol, yet still provide plenty of fiber.

And to further celebrate, we dropped the price of the original Slightly Off the Mark: The Unpublished Columns to 99 cents, which is what they charge if you want a plastic straw at Starbucks. It's true, I saw it the internet.

It's available on the website: 

Plus you can read the preview and get it any time on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1709741287

Remember, every time you don't buy a book, a reality TV show is born. Save our brains.

NaNoWriMo update: 35,000 words into the new novel!

Just an update on our newest book, More Slightly Off the Mark: We had to make some changes, and that screwed up formatting, and things happened, pandemic, yadayada ... anyway, it's back up for sale in print and e-book. If you ordered a copy direct from us, there will be a slight delay in delivery, for which I'm deeply sorry. I blame 2020.

 It's that time of year again ... that time when we think about Christmas and completely forget the fact that there's still another major holiday before then.

While I'm firmly of the "too much Christmas lessons the holiday" opinion, I'm also well aware that many of you are already searching for Christmas presents. Honestly, it's a good idea, and I should do it myself someday. But until then, here's another idea for Christmas presents:

Yes, books. If you already knew, why did you let me go on for so long?

In addition to previously dropping prices on some of our other books, we recently dropped the e-book price of Coming Attractions from $2.99 to $1.99, which according to my admittedly weak math is close to a dollar off, and in the area of half the cost of a four dollar book. 

As usual, you can go direct and get it and our other books on the website:

http://www.markrhunter.com/books.html

In that case you can get it signed ... which is kind of like your own personal graffiti, already in the book when you get it. No extra price for my defacing! Heck, it should drop the price.

Needless to say, of course, you can also get it and the other books on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Coming-Attractions-Mark-R-Hunter-ebook-dp-B07KM6JWQC

I'm hearing some people aren't leaving Amazon this year. At all. I'm more of a brick and mortar guy, but I suppose reading in general is more important to me than where you get your reading. If you're contrary, you can do a search for "Coming Attractions Mark R. Hunter" and get hits from several different book sellers, because some of us just march to the beat of our own book drums.

 It's my turn to share! I'm up for Indiana on 50 Authors From 50 States:

https://annettesnyder.blogspot.com/2020/04/talented-author-mark-hunter-shares-his.html 

 Anyone who comments on Annette's blog post will be put in the hat for a drawing, in which one of our two newest books will be given away: Coming Attractions, or More Slightly Off the Mark: Why I Hate Cats, and Other Lies.

I mean, their names will be put in a hat, not the commenters themselves. That would be one big hat.

 

Okay, so I already revealed the cover to More Slightly Off the Mark once, but this time we really, really mean it. We thought the original was a little imbalanced, so Emily added a newspaper nameplate, or banner, or ... whatever it's called. That brought us to this:

(Do I yell "ta da!" now?)

Which, yes, is similar to the original Slightly Off the Mark, but it is a sequel, after all. Hopefully it's not too similar. Let's compare:

Yeah, it's different enough. And here's the new book's back cover:

So, there you go. I've shown you my front side, and I've shown you my backside. Judge me as you will, or get a closer look here:

https://www.amazon.com/More-Slightly-off-Mark-Other/dp/1709741287

Just between us (until the next post), it's up for sale on Amazon, and we'll have it on the website to order soon. If you just can't wait and/or want a signed copy, contact Emily or me and we'll get you taken care of. Come to think of it--how many copies should we order?

Here's the cover of our newest book!

And you can order the Kindle version as of today:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082SLML4T

We're working on the print version. Now, I know what you're thinking: "Doesn't that look similar to one of your older books?" Well, yeah, it's a sequel. So, in honor of the second Slightly Off the Mark book, we lowered the e-book price of the original to just 99 cents. Happy Christmas shopping!

Speaking of humor, we've lowered the e-book price of the photo-filled Hoosier Hysterical: How the West Became the Midwest Without Moving At All from $3.99 to $2.99, in addition to dropping Smoky Days and Sleepless Nights to $1.99. They're all here:

https://www.amazon.com/Mark-R-Hunter/e/B0058CL6OO

Or here (Except for the newest, but it'll come soon):

http://markrhunter.com/

Remember, whenever a humor book doesn't sell, Mark Twain rolls over in his grave ... which might explain all those recent small earthquakes in Missouri.

We've been on a staycation, during which I practiced writing full time. After all, if you have a goal, you should know what that goal entails.

Anyone who's done it will tell you the hard thing about working from home is avoiding distractions. (By the way, we really liked the new series, "Batwoman".) First rule: Turn off the TV, and turn on movie scores and classical music. Other voices, it turns out, interfere with my writing voice.

But before that, we had to get my new medical problems handled, and how often have I said that? As I mentioned before, my routine colonoscopy led to the discovery that I had another massive sinus infection, and also that the top of my head was about to blow off.

My blood pressure was so high that medical professionals who'd been on the job for twenty years would take it, then call in another medical pro: "Here, you try--that can't be right."

It was right. So they put me on two meds, one of which is a diuretic.

By the way, it's very important to understand that there's a big difference between diuretic and diarrhetic--big difference. Although they both involve the bathroom.

What the medication's designed to do is make me pee. A lot. As they ushered me out the door with this med, the nurse told me, "Now, make sure you drink plenty of fluids while you're on this."

Okay. So ... you want me to drink a lot of fluids while I'm on this drug that's designed to get rid of a lot of fluids? Got it.

But never mind. After my diastolic BP dropped thirty points and the little Terminator stopped shooting off his Gatling gun inside my skull, I discovered that I can, indeed, discipline myself enough to work on writing eight hours a day. (And also enough to give up the salt shaker.)

Even accounting for non-writing writing work, such as ... well, this blog ... I managed to add over 10,000 words to my novel-in-progress in a week. And that's good, because it's a mystery story, and keeping at it helps me remember what the heck is going on.

(Respect to writers who joined NaNoWriMo, an effort to write 50,000 words during November. I did it twice, and it was rough.)

At the same time Emily finished her editing work on our newest book, More Slightly Off the Mark, and we just got the first proof copy back. Now we check it for still more problems that need corrected, but it'll be available for Christmas order. It kind of makes me wish more of my weeks went like this.

Except for the Gatling gun part.

I posted this on Instagram the other day, showing that it made for TWO distractions.

Don't forget our upcoming author appearance:

https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2019/11/author-appearance-december-6th-during.html