Month: November 2021

A mystery trilogy is born

Many readers enjoy the challenge of a good whodunnit or the tension of a spooky, hair-raising narrative roller coaster. The mystery genre is bursting with titles. Best-selling author Randy Overbeck is a genre veteran. His thrillers have earned him national awards and five-star reviews.

Here, Randy shares the story behind his trilogy.

Take it away, Randy:

In 2019, the Wild Rose Press launched its Haunted Shores Mysteries with my story about Darrell, a teacher and coach who sees ghosts, and the ghost of a student haunting a high school. BLOOD ON THE CHESAPEAKE was so well received by readers and reviewers that it became a #1 Amazon best seller!

Then, last year, my publisher released CRIMSON AT CAPE MAY in the middle of the pandemic. It’s a story featuring the specter of a bride murdered on her wedding night, who stalks Darrell, still bleeding in her white wedding dress. This second entry has won three national awards and, by now, the series has amassed more than a dozen 5-Star reviews from national and international reviewers. This fall CRIMSON joined BLOOD in the best seller category, hitting #2 on Amazon.

As I pondered the third installment, I realized I wanted to keep all the critical elements of the series—cold case murder, ghost, romance and resort—but I also wanted to give my readers something different. On a break from my brainstorming, I was thumbing through family pictures and came upon a photo of my grandkids playing on a playground. Staring at the images of the smiling faces, it hit me. What if the mystery was about the death of two kids? Two kids whose ghosts haunt Darrell on their quest for justice?

The rest, as they say, is history. Our last vacation—pre-pandemic—was to the Florida Gulf coast to find a suitable location for my narrative, and I found a great one. Thus, SCARLET AT CRYSTAL RIVER was born. Well, that and hundreds of hours of writing, revising, re-writing, editing, re-writing…well, you get the picture. I’m pretty happy with the end product, and I hope readers are, too.

“A ghost story with a twist, Scarlet at Crystal River is a bestseller in the making. Brilliant descriptive narration sucks the reader in and doesn’t let go until the end of the story. Paranormal and mystery readers will love Scarlet at Crystal River. If you’re looking for a spine-tingling mystery, pick up Scarlet at Crystal River. Highly recommend!” 5+ Stars—N N Light Bookheaven

SCARLET AT CRYSTAL RIVER… Darrell and Erin thought they were heading to Florida for a carefree honeymoon, but the ghosts of two immigrant children haunt them, pleading for help.

Buy Links

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/scarlet-at-crystal-river-randy-overbeck/1139873947?ean=9781509237876

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57841458-scarlet-at-crystal-river?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=RTpsYLU6mO&rank=3

https://www.bookbub.com/books/scarlet-at-crystal-river-by-randy-overbeck

Connect with Randy on social media

https://twitter.com/OverbeckRandy/media

https://www.facebook.com/authorrandyoverbeck

https://www.instagram.com/authorrandyoverbeck/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-KOC0LH2GQRSAjwxOFr5rg

Tik Tok @authorrandyo

Publish or perish? Re-releasing a title, minus your publisher

Author Amber Daulton decided to re-release her novel, A Hero’s Heart, herself, and so she waded into the waters of self-publishing. It’s something a lot of writers consider these days. Self-publishing has its pros and cons. Let’s hear from someone who took the plunge.

Take it away, Amber:

The rights to A Hero’s Heart reverted to me a few months back, and though I could’ve kept it with the publisher, I chose to self-publish it for a couple of reasons. The book was first released in 2013 and has been languishing with minimal sales for some time, so I wanted to refresh the metadata and give it a cover makeover, a new edit, and a new blurb. I also wanted to set my own prices, earn a higher royalty share, start and end sales at my leisure, and have the ability to update the file whenever I needed to. The freedom to control the life of my book is definitely important to me and something I’ve wanted for a while.

However, there are downsides to self-publishing. Some readers flock to publishers’ websites and buy whatever catches their eye. Those readers will no longer have access to A Hero’s Heart, so I’ll lose potential fans. The responsibility of creating the book files, cover, and metadata and uploading the files to the sometimes difficult-to-navigate retail sites have fallen solely on me. I’ve been so busy getting the book ready for publication, including taking care of the more “author/marketer stuff” like writing blog posts, articles, interviews, and creating teasers, that I haven’t written an actual book in months. I’m now wearing multiple hats—author, publisher, and marketer—so my time is precious.

Am I happy I decided to re-release A Hero’s Heart as a self-published book? Yes, and I would do it again. With luck, once the release hoopla dies down, I can better rearrange my time to work on another manuscript.

Readers, do you prefer traditionally published or self-published books? Or do you not have a preference as long as the writing quality is good? Please leave a comment below. I’d love to know.

A Hero’s Heart: Lies. Betrayal. A million-dollar bounty.
Check out A Hero’s Heart on Bookbub and it to your Goodreads page.
Find the book though this universal sales link – https://books2read.com/aherosheart

About the Author
Amber Daulton is the author of the romantic-suspense series Arresting Onyx and several standalone novellas. Her books are published through Daulton Publishing, The Wild Rose Press, and Books to Go Now, and are available in ebook, print on demand, audio, and foreign language formats. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and demanding cats. 

Connect with Amber via social media: https://linktr.ee/AmberDaulton

Creeping Outside Your Comfort Zone

From Cathy:

I used to read a lot of Stephen King when I was a kid, so I understand the appeal of a good scary story. For me, it’s all about the buildup of suspense—the increasingly menacing ghost encounters in the Overlook Hotel, the bullying by peers and the crazed mother that sends Carrie over the edge, the tragic burden of foresight that plagues Johnny in The Dead Zone.

But I’ve never even thought about writing a scary story until I was prompted to during a flash fiction workshop. I’m happy to say that story, “You’re a Crayon this Year,” was just published as part of Necessary Fiction’s Spooky October series!

I think sometimes it’s important, and really super fun, to write outside of your comfort zone. What is your normal type of writing, and do you ever try something outside of it? I hope you’re creating great stuff, and taking risks that appeal to you, and crafting amazing pieces. And I hope I get to read some. Please hit us up here if you’ve published anything recently. We’d love to promote your work!

Oh, and NaNoWriMo began on Monday! Anyone participating this year?

Write well everyone!