3-Day Book Giveaway

For three days only (Jan. 11 through Jan. 13), my ebook Majoring in Murder will be given away for free on Amazon for Kindle. If you've already received a copy, help a starving artist out by recommending it to your reader friends. And, if you enjoyed the book, please (I can't stress this enough), write a review or, at least, rate it. I would definitely appreciate it!

Majoring in Murder is the story of an average college student's transition from mundane academia to a life where he rubs elbows with some nefarious criminals who blackmail him to rub people out. Jason Mashburn has to deal with one of life's darkest taboos, murdering others. His biggest hurdle, however, is trying to find a way out of his predicament without putting his family in more jeopardy than they already are, all while keeping his double-life a secret. This is the first in a series of the metamorphosis of a hitman.

You can find it here: Free copy of Majoring in Murder. I hope you enjoy the story and please remember to review or rate it. Thanks for stopping in. Tell your friends.

Another title released!

I released a collection of short stories today that I've been working on polishing for quite some time. Well, I finally finished. This new book is called An Adverse Anthology: Strange & Disturbing Short Stories, which you can see in the sidebar to the right. It contains 8 short stories that I hope will stir your imagination and emotions. Here is the jacket description:

"From the mind of J.R. McLemore come eight strange and disturbing short stories:
When the Dead Whisper - If the dead had a secret, would you want to hear it?
Jason's Last Wish - Can a cancer-stricken boy get a second chance at life?
Western Justice - Do the sins of our fathers come back to haunt us?
Hush, Hush, My Love - When a relationship sours, is it wise to look for love elsewhere?
Paranoia - Is a retired cop suffering from severe paranoia, or something else?
Sweet Charlotte - Can someone save Charlotte from her abductor before it's too late?
The Show Must Go On - Can a death-row inmate's nightmares give us a glimpse into the hereafter?
Footprints in the Snow - Can a young man learn a life-altering lesson on a rural stretch of road?"

At the time of this blog post, it is available on Smashwords here. I've uploaded it to Amazon and B&N, but it is still in the approval process by those distributors. When it is available there, I will update the links in the sidebar, on my website, and everywhere else I can think of.

So, if you've come by, stopped and read this blog, I do hope you'll get a copy of my book. I doubt you'll be sorry you did. Also, for $2.99, it's less than a single copy of most popular magazines.

Oh, one more thing, if you do happen to get a copy, please rate and/or write a review for it. It doesn't matter if you hate it, leaving a review makes my day. Thanks for stopping by.

Self-publishing: status report. Part I

Okay, so my short story, Hush, Hush, My Love, has been available on Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords now for nearly two weeks. Here's the lowdown on what's happened during that time.

B&N was the last one to make the story available. Despite the note on their site that says it takes anywhere from 24 to 48 hours, it took considerably longer. Almost a week! That's crazy slow, so just be forewarned.

Smashwords is my favorite of all the platforms so far. Why, you ask? Well, for starters, they are quick about making the work available to readers. As per my previous post, I had a lot of downloads quickly. Of course, that could be due to the story being free. To date, I've received four 4-star reviews. That really made my day to get those. The majority of the downloads came during the first two days and have since tapered off, but I am still seeing downloads each day.

On Amazon, I've only sold two copies. :( Not impressive, I know. I managed to sell one on B&N so far. If truth be told, I'm actually happy that I sold anything on Amazon or B&N. I mean, I haven't gone all out and tried to do any heavy marketing. Also, Hush is a short story. A very short story, at that, so asking someone to pay to read it is a long shot. (Although, I must admit, it's a damn good story and I think anyone who parts with a buck to read it won't be disappointed.)

So, there you have it. I've probably made $1.50 total from the story. But, that's not why I self-published the short story to begin with. The reason Hush is out there is two-fold. First, I wanted to make it available as a promotional tactic, in order to put my work out there and let readers see what I create. The other reason was for me to test the waters with self-publishing and experience the steps necessary to make my work available on the various platforms. So far, the experience has been very easy and pleasant.

For those who do not know, I am working on putting together a collection of my best short stories. The tentative title is An Adverse Anthology: strange & disturbing short stories. I'm nearly finished composing it and I hope you'll check it out when I publish it. Of course, you can bet I will make it known when it hits the various distribution channels. Also, I hope you'll come back to see what I have in the pipeline for future releases.

Thanks for reading.

Experiences in self-publishing

This is probably the first post of many about my experiences with self-publishing. Recently, I've been reading a lot about authors embarking on this path and their stories. Most of these authors you may have heard of. Well, that is, if you're into that sort of thing. If you're reading this blog, I imagine you probably are.

So far, everything I've heard from these authors has been compelling enough for me to dip my proverbial toe into the self-publishing waters. If Amanda Hocking's or Barry Eisler's story doesn't excite you--well, you need to check for a pulse.

I began putting together my publication earlier this week. Actually, truth be told, it took me longer than that to construct the cover image and get it just right. I owe a shout out to James (a colleague at work) who gave me invaluable information to help me out in that department. Thanks, James! You da man. I managed to have everything prepared and uploaded my work to Amazon and Barnes & Noble Wednesday afternoon. That night, I went through the Style Guide on Smashwords, heeded its advice, and when finished, submitted my work to Smashwords.

Amazon and B&N state that it could take 24-48 hours until the work is available in the marketplace. If Smashwords gave an estimate, I don't remember what it was. When my submission was received by Smashwords, it said that I was number 808 in the queue. Needless to say, I figured it would be the last to hit the market. I was wrong. I received an email from Smashwords during the wee hours that said my book was available for download. Wow. That was fast.

My story did not hit the market on Amazon until today (Friday). Barnes & Noble still hasn't finished processing the submission. On the first day the story was available on Smashwords, I already had 89 downloads and received three four-star reviews. Although the first reviewer gave away one of the twists in the story. I can't believe he did that!

I wanted to release this story for free, as a promotional device to reach readers and spread my name. Well, the unfortunate downside to that plan is that Amazon and B&N require authors to sell their work. Smashwords, on the other hand, allows you to give work away. So, as a side note, let me apologize to anyone who is turned off that my story is only for sale on Amazon and B&N. It's not my fault. I would give it away on those platforms if I could, but alas, I can't.

So, there you have it. My experience so far with self-publishing. It has been exciting and pleasant. I hope it continues to be. Now, I must spread the word, let others know it is out there, available for download, and hope they get a copy. Even more, I hope they enjoy it and help spread the word.

So, if you've managed to read this far, I hope you've gotten something out of my experience thus far. Also, if you haven't yet read the story, here is the link so you can check it out. Free Smashwords copy. Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy(ed) the story and I hope you'll come back for more.