Back From the Dead!

So, this is just a little post for some general info on Peacemaker and other sundries. A FAQ, if you like. (though, in all fairness, FAQ sounds like you’re saying something rude.  Just sayin’.)

Is this a new book?
No.  Peacemaker is the same book that was published by Intermix back in 2014.  However, it was only published in ebook format at that time, and so the print version is a new beastie.

If this isn’t really new, why should I buy it?
If you haven’t read it yet, then duh, buy it.  If you HAVE read it in ebook, technically, there’s no reason for you to buy it again.  However, if you want a print copy, this is your first shot at that.  AND… There is a small teaser at the end of it, the first chapter of the sequel.  So that at least is new material.

When will the sequel be out?
I have no idea.  I haven’t written more than the first couple of chapters of it.  My major goal at this moment is to get JJD6 written and out, and THEN start on the Peacemaker sequel.  Ideally, I could have both JJD6 and AW2 out next year, probably one toward the beginning and one toward the end.  (Don’t hold me to that.  Life happens.)

Where can I get the print version?
You will be able to order through Amazon, as always, and as part of my newest endeavor, your local bookstores can also order copies in.  (Not just a copy for you personally, but ones to have on the shelf!)  Please please PLEASE make sure that your local bookstore knows about it.  I am one person, I do not have a huge publicity department, and that’s where I rely on you!

Where can I get signed copies?
I’m working on this.  Not only for Peacemaker, but for all of my Pirate Ninja Press books.  Ideally, I’d like to partner up with one of the local indie stores here in KC to be able to provide that service, but it’s a work in progress.  HOWEVER…  Because my books are now “order-able” for bookstores, this also means that I COULD do signings again, in bookstores.   I haven’t arranged anything like that, because frankly I’m scared to death to approach these people and have them laugh at me.  But give me time.

I want you to come sign books at MY store, how do we make this happen?
If you have a connection at your local bookstore, by all means, mention it to them and have them reach out to me if they would be willing to host a signing. (kari.stewart21@gmail.com) My travel budget isn’t huge right now, but I am totally willing to see what I can do.

If you have any other questions, feel free to leave them in a comment at the bottom of this post, or even email me if you like.  Hate mail & sexual harassment will be graded and ridiculed publicly.

Ingram and You

Part of me wants to try to do this like some cheesy 50's health class movie. "Ingram and your body..." But in the interest of time (and sanity)

Most of you (I hope) saw me announce that The Music Box Girl is now available through Ingram. And you may be thinking "But MBG has been out for a while, what does this mean?"

The very short answer, for most of you, is nothing.  For the longer answer, read on.

Ingram is a part of publishing that is largely invisible to the average reader. They are a book distributor & printer. When you buy a book at a B&N or indie store, it most likely got there via Ingram.

You may say "but wasn't Createspace already printing and distributing your books?" Yes! Good question. The difference is that Ingram is the supplier that most bookstores and libraries order from. See, Amazon (Createspace) is a direct competitor of other bookstores, so they don't want to order from someone who is actively trying to put them out of business.

There are other things that also make Ingram preferable, involving wholesale ordering prices and the ability to return books that don't sell, but that's probably a bigger topic than I intend to cover in this Cliff's Notes version.

So, back to the question. What does this mean? It means that MBG can now appear on library and bookstore shelves. It means that someone could be browsing a bookstore and pick up my book and think "Hey, this looks cool." And just like that, I could have a new fan.  It also means that I can do in-store book signings much easier, since the stores can actually order books to have on hand. My hope is that we (my family and I) will be able to travel more in the next few years and get to places where folk might want to see me.

"That's fantastic! How can I help?"  I'm so glad you asked! The thing that will do the most good is to tell people. Ask your local indie store to order copies in. Request the book from your local libraries. Let them know that Second Olympus and the JJD books will be coming soon in the same format. Get the word out, folks!  Help me, Obi-Wan. You're my only hope.

Also remember that, before the year is out, Peacemaker will be re-released, in print for the very first time. This too will go through Ingram as well as my other channels. Tell the world!

Unleash the Kraken!

Yeah! You heard me!

Today is release day for A WOLF AT THE DOOR, so if you don't have it in your hot little hands...why not??

If for some reason you CAN'T get your hands on it today (the horror!), you can tricky track right over to Tynga's Reviews to read an exclusive JJD short story, and enter to win one of two copies of Wolf!  The giveaway is open internationally, so you non-U.S. fans, make sure you get your name in!

Also, want to remind everyone that this Saturday, I will be having a signing at the Books-a-Million at Legends (1843 Village West Parkway, Kansas City, KS).  I'll be there from noon to three, I'll sign pretty much anything you want (I have no shame) and after that, we may retire over to Dave & Busters for some refreshments.  I'm not buying, but I would love to hang out.  Hope to see some of you there!

Signing Announcements!

As I've been teasing on various social media outlets, I have a few signings set up for this fall and the release of A WOLF AT THE DOOR. Well, ok, I have two set up (so far). But it's more than one, so we'll call it a few.

The two signings are local (to me) but I'm still exploring the idea of...well...exploring. Sadly, the whole mom-&-real-job schtick doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room, but I'm checking into a few things.

So here we are! (And yes, I know this is WAY advance notice, and yes, I will be reminding everyone as the time draws near. Probably to an annoying degree)

August 11th, 2012
Saturday, 12 noon - 3 p.m.
Books-a-Million
The Legends at Village West
1843 Village West Parkway
Kansas City, KS 66111

This one will be doubling as my release party, so once the signing is done, we're probably going to migrate to the Dave & Buster's across the courtyard to have some drinks and munch on stuff, and play video games like kids. No, I'm not buying for everyone, but I would never object to folks hanging out and stuff.

September 8th, 2012
Saturday, 12 noon - ??
Hastings Books
605 N. Belt Highway
St. Joseph, MO 64506

Yes folks, I'm coming home! St. Joseph is my hometown, and I'm hoping to see a lot of folks here who won't make the hour drive down to KC.

I still have to check with both venues on their policy about bringing in books you didn't purchase there, and once I know, I'll update things for y'all. I've been to a few signings (not mine) where it became an issue, and I don't want anyone blindsided.

And that's my big news for the week. I also got page proofs done on Wolf, and turned in, so that pretty baby is officially out of my hands. I'm hoping to see some ARCs in my mail soon, and provided that I have enough, I'll be trying to do a giveaway like I have in the past.

I'll keep you posted!

Hello? Is this thing on?

She’s alive! Aliiiiiiiive!

Ok, I’m pretty sure I’ve used that joke before.

But no, really, I am alive. Haven’t updated this blog in forever, which is my bad. But been working through some mental stuff, and it’s kinda stifled my writing drive, even up to and including blogging. I even forgot my day over at the League a couple of times, ‘cause the mojo just wasn’t working. More on that further down. (I still refuse to learn the difference between further and farther, much to The Editor’s frustration)

I’ve been telling myself, “I’ll blog when I have news to report”. Only, there hasn’t been any news to report. And it finally occurred to me (this morning, actually) that this blog was never about only reporting news when I had some to report. From the beginning, it was supposed to be about my process, and about the trials and tribulations of just being a writer. So I guess part of being a writer is that sometimes, there’s nothing to write about.

You all know that A WOLF AT THE DOOR is coming out on August 7th. I should have copy edits to do on that one within a couple of weeks, and hopefully a cover reveal in that time frame too. I’ve seen the rough draft of the cover, and there are no words for how in love with it I am. Theoretically, after that, we’ll have the usual spiffiness of ARCs to give away, signings to schedule (Got one scheduled here locally, so anyone in my neck of the woods, I expect to see you! More details to come later), guest blogs & interviews to write. (Hopefully. Haven’t been asked yet)

Speaking of, if anyone wants me to do a spot on their blog or what-have-you around the time of my release date, go ahead and get in touch with me now. I feel better having those kinds of things done early, so I don’t risk leaving anyone hanging.

And speaking of getting in touch with me, it’s been pointed out that not everyone in the world knows how to find me on the interwebz. So here’s a few ways for you to reach out and touch me. (Note: Actually reaching out to physically touch me will probably result in serious bodily harm to your person. I hit my husband with a car twice, and I LIKE him.)

Email address: kari(dot)stewart21(at)gmail(dot)com
Facebook: JJD Series
Personal Gibberish
Twitter: tasmin21

A few notes about email: I love getting fan mail. I do not love getting crazy mail. One will get a nice reply, the other will get you blocked and/or reported to the FBI, depending on the depth of the crazy.

A few notes about Twitter: I don’t auto-follow folk, but I really like to reply to @ messages, so go ahead and chat me up! If I’m at work, it may take me a while to respond, but I’ll get to you when I get home (and back into the realm of viable cell signals)

And finally…the topic you’ve all been waiting for… No news is still no news. We haven’t had the talk yet about the future of the JJD series. The limbo I feel myself in has resulted in a rather crippling form of indecision. Part of me says “Go ahead and start on book 4, so you have it partly done already!” Part of me says “Start on something new, just in case!” And as a result, I waffle back and forth and can’t seem to write anything at all.

Luckily, my lovely agent has ridden to my rescue in recent days. She asked to read the first two chapters of several different projects I have in the wings. Two of those were Nano projects that I’ve talked about before (A Night of Fire and Ash and Peacemaker). One is a project I’ve been kicking around for years called Tactile. The Agent says she really likes all three, but asked me to go ahead and finish/polish Peacemaker so she can read it in its entirety. That’s what I’m working on right now, and honestly, it’s a relief to be writing SOMEthing, even if it’s just in an editing capacity. I truly am a happier person when I’m putting words on paper, for some bizarre reason.

And that's where things stand right now. I hope to have the new, shinier version of Peacemaker back to The Agent within a couple of weeks, allowing time in the middle for copy edits on Wolf. And after that, I may go ahead and finish/polish A Night of Fire and Ash, too. Just because I can, and there's no reason that I shouldn't be writing SOMEthing.

Book Signing!

As promised, here are photos from my very first book signing, with fellow author Kasey MacKenzie!

Warning: LOTS of pictures in this post!

First, our table:


Then we did some signing:


And more signing:


Very happy customers!


Queen of the photobomb:


Yes, she did it to Kasey, too.


I had great attendees, too! I had betas:


And Rogues:


And I had people taking pictures of people taking pictures. Very meta.


We had an amazing time, and the bookstore staff were just awesome to us. I hope every book signing I have goes like this one did. (That's assuming there will be more. There'll be more, right?)

And in case you are wondering, the button I'm wearing says "Souls Taste Like Peeps".

Oh! And one more pic, just 'cause I can.

I gots new hair.

Does she ever shut up?

No, no I don't. So there.

Currently, I have about eleventy billion people in town, all of them eager to go to my very first book signing tomorrow! Anyone in the Kansas City area, you are so welcome to come to this signing. Please. Somebody show up.

But anyway, that's why this blog post is going to be short and sweet.

I'm popping up all over the internet this week. You can read an interview with me, and enter to win a copy of A DEVIL IN THE DETAILS over at The Oddshots! You can also find out my favorite girly drink.

I've also popped up over at Dark Faerie Tales, where I confess my villain love and you can enter to win yet another copy of the book!

Ooh, and I just got word of another interview up with me here! This is the one that is posted in the World's Biggest Bookstore in Toronto! So for those who don't live in Toronto, here's what you were missing.

I have to say, it's amazing, getting feedback from people I don't know. So many people have emailed me, or messaged me on Twitter, to say how much they're enjoying it. That makes me so happy. I mean, that's all most writers want, really. Just to have someone else love their characters, live in their world for a little bit. It's awesome.

Thanks, everybody. You're awesome too.

They're everywhere, they're everywhere!

Run for the hills!

Ok, first off, tomorrow (Thursday, July 1st) is the LAST day to enter my contest! Remember, you can get a sampler of seven different upcoming Ace/Roc releases, several of them MONTHS before the books hit shelves. Enter! Trust me, you'll be glad you did.

Also! Please remember the signing that will take place on July 10th! Details are in this post, and Kasey and I would love to see folks there.

And now! More wild book sightings from all over the country!

From Columbia, Missouri!


From Amherst, NY!


From Manhattan, NY!


And from Pasadena, CA!


Thanks to everyone who has tracked down these pics for me, you guys are all amazing! I hope you're all enjoying the book, too!

ANNOUNCEMENT!

Hey you! Yeah you there in the back! Stop texting and pay attention! This is important!

JULY 10TH! CLEAR YOUR CALENDAR!

Two, count 'em TWO debut authors will be signing books at a Kansas City bookstore. Who, you might ask?

None other than K.A. STEWART, author of A DEVIL IN THE DETAILS, and KASEY MacKENZIE, author of RED HOT FURY!

And now I go to jail for caps lock abuse.

But okay, here's the important details:

The signing will be at 4 P.M., Saturday July 10th, at Borders:

Borders
8628 North Boardwalk Avenue
Kansas City, MO 64154

I would love to put one of those map-type things up, but face it, I'm not that savvy.

Would love to see folks there, and face it, I have no shame, I'll sign just about anything you want. (I said just about. It's a family event.) ((pervs))

Also: Received a nice box of these today!



These are samplers. If you're lucky enough to be attending one of a variety of cons this year where Ace/Roc are in attendance, you can pick up one of these bad boys. They contain excerpts of seven different novels, including mine, and Kasey's!

I have an entire box here of them, so I may try and figure out SOMEthing to do with them... *whistles innocently* Stay tuned.