One More Week!

***A reminder that 10% of ALL royalties I make from ALL sales of my work on both the Kindle and NOOK will go to Patrick Rothfuss's fundraiser for Heifer International at the end of 2011. Heifer is an excellent organization that helps people at home and abroad build sustainable food supplies and manage resources, and are totally open financially with the public. Buying my books will help fund that charity drive, but even if you don't want to purchase my work, I can't suggest strongly enough that you check out Heifer for yourself and chip in if you can. They do good things.***

I'm a bad Josh for not updating as often as I promised to on this blog. But now is the time, because in about a week, I will be putting out new stuff on the Kindle and Nook.

So, for those of you who want the long version: On March 1, I will be pushing the "Publish" button on the Kindle and Nook versions of "Living With the Dead: The Bitter Seasons", which is the next installment of the bi-yearly LWtD collections. This collection will pull together September of 2010 through February of 2011, the second half of "year one" of the zombie apocalypse. It will be priced at $2.99, the same as the first six months, Living With the Dead: With Spring Comes The Fall. I will note that both of these collections are full book-length, the first one clocks in at just over 100,000 words, which is about the average size of your standard thriller. Together they will come close or exceed the 200,000 word mark, which is about the size of a small Stephen King novel.

I sure hope you're still reading, because as I mentioned in a previous post, I'm also collecting both of those book-sized volumes into one massive fire-breathing monster of an eBook. This collection will have the whole first year in it, creatively titled "Living With the Dead: Year One". Both of the six month volumes will be included, as well as a bit of behind the scenes stuff about the process of writing a serialized story, and how LWtD is supported by readers and inspired by them. The best part about this collection is yet to come....

See, I've made some friends in the last few months, as well as having reconnected with some old ones. Several people, along with myself, have written short stories to be included in "Year One". Annetta Ribken, Lori Whitwam (while this link is to her author page, I strongly suggest checking out the "blogs" link and at least reading her blog "Fermented Fur", it's amazing, funny, sad, hopeful...and moving. I cried with her when she lost her dog, Ozark.) and Rachel Ayers (whose other website, Near and Far, is a great webcomic and should be heaped with praise) have all contributed to the short stories that will be included in "Year One". There is a possibility that a few other people may as well, possibly folks who have written blog posts on LWtD before, but time is growing short...

So--"Year One" will be the whole first two volumes--$2.99 each--plus some behind the scenes words from me, plus at least six short stories set in the LWtD universe. That's a lot of words. A lot of story. You're likely saying to yourself right now, "This must cost at LEAST one trillion dollars."

But you'd be wrong. Oh, so wrong. This collection will be offered for $4.99. That's a dollar off what you would pay if you bought each six month collection by themselves. AND you get all the extra stuff, the bonus material. I'd say that's a pretty good deal.

Now, I realize that some of you have already purchased "With Spring Comes The Fall" and might be a little miffed at the choices here. Some of you will want to read the extra stuff that comes in Year One, but not want to pay for something that, in part, you already own. So here's what I suggest.

If you just want to get the blog collections and don't care about the bonus materials, then just buy "The Bitter Seasons".

If you REALLY want the bonus material and don't mind shelling out a few bucks, then buy "Year One"

If you DO mind shelling out those few bucks, already have "With Spring Comes The Fall" and can't decide between the options for whatever reason, then I suggest that you just buy "The Bitter Seasons". While the bonus content is only available in "Year One" for now, there is always a possibility that it will become available by itself at a later time. That's something I would have to talk to the other authors about, but if there were demand for it, I would make the effort.

Oh, and here's what the cover for "Year One" is going to look like...

 Nifty, eh? This is courtesy of my friend and sometime collaborator, Courtney Hahn, who commissioned it as a Christmas gift for me. Which introduced me to my new cover artist, Rosie Coleman, who is a young lady with an amazing talent and a bright future. Rosie did the above image as well as the cover for my debut novel, Bound to Silence.

On a related note, my vampire novel isn't going to be released with the new LWtD stuff. I've suffered a lot of setbacks, the least of which was being incredibly sick for most of January. Progress has been good lately, and I'm really hoping to release it in the next few months.

And lastly...

I'm thrilled beyond words that LWtD has had the level of success it has seen on the Kindle and Nook. I'm not making huge money, but it's enough that it gives me hope that one day in the foreseeable future, I could be doing this full time. That being said, each and every one of you are always free to read the blog in its original format--online and free, updated almost every single day. Many of you already do, and still purchase the eBook versions to have a convenient copy of the blog to tote around and read at your leisure, or just to show support for a writer you like. I just want you all to know that your support means the world to me, however you choose to show it.

As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy next week's new stuff!