How long is too long between books?

I’m wrapping up the last bits of the first draft of the follow-up to Chasing Filthy Lucre. It’s been a long process, with stops and starts. I think I’ve written close to 40,000 words on one version that will never see the light of day. It’s good stuff, but not right for this book.

I never intended to go this long between books. I have all three of the remaining books loosely plotted. It’s just finding time to write them all that’s hard.

Anyway, I got to thinking about this the other day and wondered if I’d missed my window. Have I waited too long between books? Is any momentum I had built gone at this point? We are looking at a little more than a year between releases.

So I turned the question over to the people who follow my author page on Facebook. They gave me some great answers, but I’d love to hear from all of you here, too. Here’s the question. Answer in the comments. I’ll respond.

When reading a series, how quickly do you want the next book to come out? Assuming that immediately is not an answer, what's the right amount of time between installments?

What if that series is not a serial, meaning that the next book doesn't continue the story started in the book before it, but features a recurring main character?

It's Reunion Sunday

Happy Reunion Sunday, everyone. What? This holiday's not on your calendar? Ridiculous. Unacceptable.

Well, it is Reunion Sunday. And you celebrate by asking me for a free copy of my ebook Reunion. I celebrate by giving you one. All you have to do is promise me a fair review of the book at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Goodreads. Or any combination of the three.

We are celebrating this year because the second Jackson Cane story is getting ready for release. The plan, right now, is that Scouts will be available by the middle of March. Ahead of that release I'd like to see Reunion with a few more reviews. Sort of prime the pump, if you will. You can help me do that by celebrating Reunion Sunday. Ask me for whatever version you need and I'll email you one. I've got the mobi files for your Kindle and the epub files for your Nook or other ereader.

I will say that I'm not asking you for a big investment in time. This is an 8,000-word story. You can read it in an afternoon. You can read it in an hour.

What am I asking you to read? Here's the description.

Jackson Cane is a cop. Well, sort of. Cane and his coworkers call themselves the Freak Police. They chase certain undesirables back to where they belong. Cane's the best of the bunch, but his latest case is going to bring him face to face with someone that he's not sure he wants to see again. 

So help me celebrate. Ask for a copy of Reunion. Leave a comment on this post with your email address and the version you'd like. I'll get it to you.

Or if that makes you uncomfortable, email me at jarrettrush@yahoo.com. Let me know which version you need, and I'll get it to you.

Thanks in advance. And Happy Reunion Sunday, everyone.

The second Jackson Cane story is coming soon

Last week I put the finishing touches on the second Jackson Cane story. It's been sent off to my writers group for them to look at it. I've got a copy I'm hacking up right now. Then Gina gets her turn with it. Hopefully, though, I can get the editing done on this one pretty quick and make it available.

It came in at 13,000 words, or pretty close to it. So it's 5,000 words longer than the original. At least for now it's longer. Who knows what it will be after editing. Longer for sure, but maybe not 5,000 words longer. And I know longer doesn't mean better, but it does mean more involved in this case.

If you think of the Jackson cane series like a TV series, and I am, then this is Episode 2. It's the episode that follows the pilot and the one that gets the story going. In the first episode you establish characters and relationships. In episode 2 is where you start telling your story. That's what happens here. I'm happy with Reunion, the first episode in Jackson Cane's story, but this is where the story that will carry us through the whole first season of the Jackson Cane saga gets started. Right now there are four more stories planned in this first series of tales. At the end of it things will look much different than they did at the beginning. It'll be a bigger world that we are dealing with, and some of the restrictions established early on should be gone. Should open up the stories creatively, which will be good for me and for the reader.

The story is called Scouts. Here's the cover. Look for it soon.

A look ahead to 2012

I know I was supposed to write this post some time last week and post it yesterday. But I've been enjoying spending time with Gina while she's been on Christmas break from school. Besides, it doesn't seem like a new year until Monday when everyone goes back to work.

I haven't had a lot of motivation to write much here, especially nothing that looked back at 2011. It was a weird year for me. There were a lot of downs. I lost my aunt in January and my grandmother in October. I lost my job in September. But there was one really huge up in 2011. In October, Gina found out she was pregnant. That sort of helped gloss over all of the bad stuff. It sets up 2012 to be my best year so far.

On the writing side of things, 2011 wasn't too bad. I published two stories, and hit almost 200 sales. I started to build a readership. I've got a few plans for 2012. I'm not calling them resolutions. The only resolutions I've made are with Gina and probably of little interest to those of you who are here. The plans I've made are goals.

1. Publish the second book in the New Eden series.
2. Write and publish the rest of the Jackson Cane series. It's five stories right now, and I've got the second almost finished.  The remaining three are loosely plotted. They should be easy to write.
3. To keep building my readership. Or following. Or presence. Or platform. Or whatever they call it. That's going to include blogging more regularly. Tweeting more and with the right people. When I started using Twitter I was getting so much more out of it. I'm not getting that now and I really think it's because I'm not using it like I should. I'm planning on making some changes there, but that's another blog post for another time.

Pretty simple goals, honestly. And all stuff I can control. Notice, there are no sales goals on there. That's because I can't control those. I can make sure people know about my books, and I try to do that, but I can't make them buy. But, hopefully, if I can be successful at goal No. 3 then sales will follow.

So, auf wiedersehen to 2011 and guten tag to 2012. It's going to be a good year. I'm going to be a dad.

The post where I grovel

UPDATE: Sold two copies last night. Only six more needed to make the monthly goal. 

It's time for the end of the month begging post.

In the past I was shy about sharing numbers. Part of me was embarrassed. The other part was proud. My sales numbers have never been great. I'm OK with that now. They are what they are. I'm a virtually unknown writer. I didn't have an online following because of short stories. I didn't have a previous three-book deal with a publisher. I'm just a guy trying to make a go of the writing thing in a changing writing world. It was foolish to think they'd be anything other than what they are.

I added all my sales up earlier this month before I released REUNION. It's been nine months since I released CHASING FILTHY LUCRE, and it has sold 130 copies. Those aren't stellar numbers. I was hoping for more. I was hoping that it would take off. Go great guns. Out of control. But it didn't. Still, it's averaging more than 10 copies a month and that's not bad. I know there are authors out there who'd love to be able to say that. And I've met some great people and gathered some great reviews. Nothing less than four stars. That makes me happy. There are people who truly enjoyed the book. That feels good. Perspective. Perspective. I'm not doing that bad.

All that said, I did call this the begging post. So far this month we've sold 12 books total between REUNION and CHASING FILTHY LUCRE. I'd love to sell eight more before the end of the month. That would bring us up to 20 for November. For anyone who also earned a liberal arts degree, that means, basically, selling eight books on November 30. Is it possible? Absolutely. Eight isn't a big number. It's more than I've ever sold in a day, but not impossible.

If you are among those who haven't read either of my books, then help me out and buy one. If you've already read one, then buy the other. They are definitely different books, but I guarantee that if you liked one you'll like the other.

I've got all of your e-reader needs covered. You can find both books at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and at Smashwords. And there's even a print copy of CHASING FILTHY LUCRE at Amazon if that's more your speed.

Go get my newest, Reunion

I teased everyone with a new cover a few weeks ago. It was for my short story Reunion. It's the first in a series of stories featuring Jackson Cane. I've struggled with a way to describe what it is he does and finally settled on using the term I've been using informally since I've had him in my head. Cane's a member of the Freak Police. And to find out what that means you're just going to have to buy a copy of the story. It's available now at Smashwords and Amazon. It should be showing up on Barnes and Noble soon, so if you're a Nook user then check there later today or tomorrow.

And please let me know what you think. This is a bit of a departure for me, but a total blast to write. I'm already halfway through story two and am hoping to have it available very soon.

Coming soon

A little sneak preview of something I've got planned for release soon. Hopefully before Thanksgiving. Should be 99 cents. It's a little different for me. No sci fi in this one but there is a bit of paranormal.This is the cover. Let me know what you think.