July 23rd: "Beautiful" Release = Worldbuilders Fundraiser

Official release day and time is Saturday, July 23rd at 4:00PM EST. Our Kindle rush efforts are aimed to get as many people as possible to purchase at that time, so read the whole post for every bit of info!

I'll be liveblogging from JoshuaGuess.com from that point until I fall asleep from sheer exhaustion, and I'll be tweeting as often as I can. You can follow me @JoshuaGuess.

This is the official post for the release of my new novel, "Beautiful". If you haven't noticed by the URL, I'm Joshua Guess. Thanks for visiting my author blog!

Purchase Links: 

Buy it on the Amazon Kindle

Or on the Barnes and Noble Nook

The Smashwords version, which gets distributed across a number of platforms, can be found right here.



Just so I don't bore you too much, I'll give the nitty gritty, and then you can read on if you like:

"Beautiful" will be released on the Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords on July 23rd. I'm organizing an event on Facebook and across Twitter for it, which can be found here.

For 24 hours, from 4 pm on Saturday July 23rd until 4 pm Sunday, July 24th, every single penny I make from the sale of this book will be donated to Patrick Rothfuss' charity drive for Heifer International, Worldbuilders. You may know who Mr. Rothfuss is: Fantasy superstar, literary genius, and beard aficionado.

So I'm going to be pushing my book as hard as I can for two reasons: to run my own little fundraiser for Worldbuilders, a cause I believe in enough to donate not just a day's worth of income, but 10% of what I make from writing year-round. The other is to hopefully build enough momentum that "Beautiful" will gain a larger presence on Amazon and the rest, enough to really get my career going.

That's the blurb. If you're interested, then I hope you clicked on the link to the Facebook event above. If you'd like some more info, please keep on reading.

What is "Beautiful"?


First and foremost, it'll be $2.99. That's important.

I've had a hard time coming up with a description that fits. If I say that it's a book about vampires, your mind will leap to other books of that type. You'll have a preconceived notion. If I say it's about love, magic, sex, violence, the sheer wonder of creation, or pissed-off unicorns, the same problem exists. So let me put it to you in the only way that makes sense to me, which is a short description.

Dan Harrod is an average guy, happily toiling to pay the bills. He's married and in love, and like most guys he'd like to sleep with his boss, Gabrielle. Life is safe and quiet for Dan until he's suddenly ripped away from the careful routine he'd wrapped around himself. 


Suddenly thrust into a hidden world of magic, Dan finds himself in the middle of a war between vampires that's been raging longer than human civilization. In a desperate bid to safeguard the lives of his friends and family, Dan will make hard choices and take desperate actions. 

This little blurb is sort of interesting, but it doesn't quite give the whole feel. "Beautiful" is written in Dan's own voice, which is snarky and sarcastic. This book is a modern fantasy, a paranormal tale told by a main character that knows the genre. Imagine if you were suddenly faced with the truth that magic was real, along with vampires, werewolves, faeries, dragons, and yes, even unicorns.

You'd be scared and filled with awe, but I bet you'd also make fun of it a little.

That's this book. That's this story. It's an action/adventure filled with constant humor, occasional sex, and dotted with happy little trees of introspection and reflection. It's a lot of things, much like life itself.

I think you'll like it.

Oh, and if it helps you can think of it sort of like the Dresden Files but with more sex and less angst.

Why the charity drive for Worldbuilders?


Well, for two reasons. One is that I genuinely love the work Mr. Rothfuss does for Heifer, which provides a variety of sustainable living options for people in need at home and abroad. So much so that I retain 10% of all my writing income to donate when the Worldbuilders drive comes up.

The other reason is that I hope that people on the fence about the book might be swayed toward purchasing it if they know that some of the money will go to charity. In the case of release day for "Beautiful", I'm choosing to give everything for the first day because I think this book is going to take off, and I think the readers who have supported me so far deserve to see a little extra. I can't give them gifts directly, so I will donate some extra in their names.

And obviously, if 10% causes some people to buy the book, 100% might make a larger number do so. I'm happy to help in any way I can, but this is also a career for me, one that I hope to work at full-time before the end of next year. A lot of folks buying this book on day one increases the chance that I'll get some long term sales going.

The end game


Ideally, I'd like to see this book as the stepping stone to writing full time. If I can do that, I will be able to dedicate so much more time to working on my books and stories. Not having to work a full-time job means that I'd be able to crank out a huge volume of material. More books from me=more works sold=more money donated. It's a win/win.

I love to tell stories. I love writing characters and doing things to them, terrible and kind in equal measure. I think "Beautiful" is a strong book and will help me realize that goal. With your help, I can be on my way.