Yay, Camp Hell is done! And wow, a lot of people seem to be reading it all in one sitting. That’s CRAZY, you guys! (I have an attention span of about 100 pages, max, so I’m blown away when I someone buys Camp Hell in the morning and then emails me in the afternoon to tell me what they thought of it!)
 
Regardless of the fact that most of you (except Chris Owen, hee hee) have read it, let’s not post any spoilers until at least after Christmas.
 
One non-spoiler thing I can say is that I based Stefan on a good friend of mine…and it’s just one of those weirdnesses in my life that none of my friends have any desire to read my writing, so “Stefan” will never know. But we used to do the nasty kinds of things Stefan and Vic did, and probably worse. We were especially cruel to total strangers. Who knows why…just being young and assholish, I guess.
 
I’ve gotten feedback about the scary parts being good & scary. Thank you, thank you! I aim to scare.
 
And now Channeling Morpheus five will be out in a couple of days, and I’ll be on the road driving through snowstorms to do Christmas things. Unless the snowstorms are bad enough that we have to reschedule Christmas, which looks like a possibility.
 
The next story I’m writing is set in summer, damn it. I’m so sick of snow, and it’s been winter in PsyCop-verse for like the last three years.
 
Quick link to JCP Books

My goal for the electronic release of Camp Hell is 12/15, so it can coincide with my December newsletter. Which means Emilie and I will be working our industrious fingers to the bone until then.
 
I inadvertantly provided a sneak peek at the very beginning in the show notes of my most recent Packing Heat podcast episode; I used screenshots of the first page of the book to illustrate  a point I was making about formatting manuscripts. And then I thought, “Hm, I wonder if anyone will discover this?” But I think my podcast listeners and my PsyCop readers don’t generally overlap, except for maybe one or two people.
 
January will bring new responsibilities at the day job. I will be required to work two 4-hour Saturday shifts instead of one 6-hour Saturday shift (mainly because I said I wouldn’t be able to stand for 8 hours straight. Seriously, I challenge anyone to stand up for eight hours and tell me they’re not in serious pain afterward.)
 
But Saturday’s an important writing day, so this new development is leading me to evaluate yet again whether I can go it without a day job. If Camp Hell does really well, it’s a possibility.

I’m getting closer on Camp Hell, I swear. It’s in the printout stage, which is roughtly fourth edit. I figure since I made the vague promise of “late 2008″ I have enough time to poke at it more if need be. I see a change I can make that’ll strengthen the story, so I’ll do that. But I also see long stretches where I wouldn’t change a thing, and those long stretches make me very, very happy.
 
Mondays are my longest day-job days, and I usually come home pretty used up, but tonight I did tedious publishing things, assigning ISBNs and setting up the works for the paperbacks of Camp Hell and Zero Hour. Mostly I’m doing it ahead because if I act now I can save a $39 setup fee per book, and I’m cheap thrifty that way.
 
I see new readers buying Among the Living, and it makes me so happy to think that there are brand new readers out there willing to try out a book that isn’t brand new, only new to them. And of course I want them to fall in love with Vic or Jacob (or even Crash) and dive into the whole series.

I’ve just come across yet another filesharing site. So these people who somehow acquire a bunch of e-books put them online for other people to download without the author getting paid, and they’re “great” and they’re “sharing” and they’re just such all-around super-duper folks, according to all the “yayz” comments they get.
 
Fuckin-A. If they came into my living room and ripped some checks straight out of my checkbooks, would they be heroes, too?
 
I know I’m preaching to the choir by putting this in my PsyCop blog rather than my LJ, but it just feels too personal to splash up in a spot where the audience is bigger and comprised of people I don’t particularly know. My reaction to the filesharing is hurt. I know it should probably be anger, outrage, a sense of unfairness. But for whatever reason, I feel hurt.
 
Ebooks are nowhere near as expensive to produce as a traditional paper book, and yet consider the cost:
-someone writes it
-someone edits it
-someone proofs it
-someone creates a cover
-someone creates a website for it to live on
-someone pays a fee to be able to accept electronic payments
-someone pays for the publisher’s office space
 
And probably more than I’ve even thought of here. I haven’t spotted any JCPBooks files being “shared” yet, and I’m sure I’ll totally spaz when I do.
 
The next time you see someone bragging about what a hero they are, please let them know that each and every ebook they pirate directly affects the author. Then invite them to come down to my place and rip some checks out of my checkbook. And maybe grab a few beers from my fridge while they’re at it.

I’m in the weird limbo of having three large stories out to three different editors. I think this is a first for me. It’s strange that they’ve all lined up like this–and they’ll probably all come out at the same time, but I’m not going to worry about that. People can read a heck of a lot faster than I can write, and some will read one series and not another.
 
In a way I’m missing the newness of starting a new project, which isn’t quite as satisfying as being in the home stretch of an existing project, but has more of an optimism and sense of wonder to it. I suppose I could use this time to finish up Zero Hour, which I know where it’s going, though I will undoubtedly surprise myself on how I get there. Or I could start on the followup series to Channeling Morpheus, though my linear nature rebells against me doing that when I haven’t gotten the edits back on Morpheus 5.
 
Here’s a snip from Camp Hell with no plot spoilers in it:
“Back there in Warwick’s office–why’d you keep trying to shut me up, anyway? What do you care if I ask him about all the extra security? Or did you sign something else that said you’d pretend nothing weird was happening?”
 
Zigler cut his eyes to me. “Don’t be a prick. Something weird’s always happening.” He stroked his cop-mustache for strength. “You looked too mad to get what you wanted out of it, that’s all. Do I want you to know what’s going on, who’s authorizing which men, who’s cranking out the next stack of papers to sign? Sure, if it’ll give you some peace of mind. But I don’t think you’ll find anything out by going off half-cocked in Warwick’s office.”
 
I could’ve lightened the mood by asking him if he realized how many penis references were contained in his little tirade, but I decided against it. Mostly because he’d stopped me from acting pissy at Warwick because I was mad–and he’d probably been right in doing it. Also, Zigler and I don’t joke about penises. Not with each other, anyway.
 
-look for Camp Hell in December!-

If you haven’t checked out JCPbooks.com yet, I encourage you to stop by! The cover for the upcoming Camp Hell is up, and you can see a large version by clicking on the thumbnail.
 
All my continuing writing projects came to a screeching halt in October so I could crank out a novella–and whatever becomes of that novella remains to be seen. But it’s done, and out of my hands now. I’ve now got Channeling Morpheus 5 to work on, and man, it’s cruising along. I think it helps that I’ve been getting such delectible reviews for the series. I know it does.
 
Once I get Morpheus 5 on its way, I’ll then need to re-edit Criss Cross for a re-release, and give Camp Hell a good rewrite. When I look at my calendar, I panic. So I’m not looking at my calendar. I still say I’ll be done with Camp Hell by the end of the year. Probably not the paperback, though.
 
I hired a guy to rake my leaves. I couldn’t afford the time it would take to do it myself. (I have to haul by the carload to a compost site, usually 12 carloads. So, yeah. The guy with the trailer can do it. Bless him.)

I swear, I don’t obsessively check my stats. Maybe once a week, if that. Out of curiosity, I peeked at my books on Amazon, to find that PsyCop: Partners is—-

• #16 in Gay Literature
• #6 in Erotic Horror
• #1 in Gay Erotica

That’s right! Whip out that foam finger and perhaps a tailgate grill, I’m #1! Probably means I sold like 3 books or something, but I’m competitive and I don’t care! Whooooo! (And as for that horror slot? Look out Anne Rice, I’m comin’ to getcha!) haha

I don’t think I should wake up my bf to tell him. He’s snoring.

And in a quick drive-by mention, I’ve put out a second edition ebook of Among the Living that you can buy direct at JCP Books.

And now for photos. I’m sure the big one will screw up the wordpress but I gotta do it.

Hello! I know I’ve been lax about the PsyCop blog lately. I feel like I can’t give teasers and spoilers without, well, spoiling the story! First draft is with my lovely editor and proofer, Emilie. We’re talking about things to emphasize or deemphasize to strengthen the plot. I owe her my timeline, which is handwritten, and I have to dig it up and see if it’s better to scan it or type it to send to her.
 
PsyCop: Partners hit the top 10 in the Amazon categories Horror: Erotic and Erotic: Gay last week.
 
PsyCop: Property sold its 100th copy sometime after I went to bed last night.
 
Fewer and fewer people are opening my newsletters. Even the promise of a free set of paperbacks is not enough. It doesn’t look like the October winner is claiming his set. Oh well, I want someone who *opens* and *glances at* the newsletter to get it. (Mind you, my psycop email occasionally bounces very important emails as spam, so it’s possible it did this to him, particularly if he has embedded links in his signature line.)
 
The serialized story in the newsletter will be wrapping up over the next few months. I’m thinking it’s got three more chapters in it, but I’m not entirely sure. I’m daydreaming about elaborate plans of a gorgeous print release for it.
 
By the time Camp Hell is finished, I’ll have JCPbooks.com all ready to sell it to you directly from me in multiple formats.

Since I’m guessing many of you read e-books from time to time, I’d be grateful if you could answer my poll on LiveJournal on preferred e-book formats.
 
I’m looking into selling my stuff at JCPbooks.com rather than LuLu, and I’ll be able to offer more formats than just PDF. It looks like it will be easier to offer three choices of file formats rather than four, so if I find out that I have only a handful of readers who use lit files and they can also use html, then I wouldn’t bother offering lit.
 
If I had my druthers, I’d offer PDF, mobi, lit and html. I’ve heard that mobi files are compatible with the Kindle. You wouldn’t get that point-and-click satisfaction like you do by ordering from Amazon though, I’ll bet. You’d have to load the mobi onto your Kindle like your Kindle was a flash drive.

And another amusing screenshot of PsyCop: Partners climbing up the Erotic Horror category. I wish you could see #25, since it’s one of the Anita Blake novels. (I feel like it’s my big brush with fame, though I’m on the next page.)

I haven’t figured out how to get PsyCop: Property into a category other than “books.” Where, strangely enough, it’s not doing quite as well as Twilight or Brisingr.

 
I’ll need to work on that.