Sunday, March 2, 2014

Have I got a deal for you!


I'm celebrating my BackTracker series this month in conjunction with the release of FIREWALLS, Book 3 in that series. Part of that promotion is a reduction in the eBook prices of some of the novels in the series.

I've received great support from several sources, some anticipated and some a pleasant surprise. So, here's what promotions are on for the next few days.

http://www.amazon.com/Fatal-Error-BackTracker-book-2-ebook/dp/B009P593YU/ref=la_B005C1ZHZU_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393826433&sr=1-2All my books are available as both eBooks and paperbacks. I don't have sale prices on my paperbacks, but they are priced very reasonably and are available on Amazon (click here to go to my author page where you can find links to the titles in which you are interested) and Barnes and Nobel and other fine online stores. My books sell for about $15.00 each, depending on currency conversions and any special promotions the booksellers may be running. Many online stores offer free delivery so check for the best deals.

For off-line buying, you can ask to have my novels brought in, if they are not on the shelves of your local library or bookstore. As well, if I'm asked, I'll mail fans autographed copies of my paperbacks once payment has been arranged.
There are several eBook sales going on.
Here's a wrap up. Remember, prices may vary because of changing currency conversion and/or bookseller's promotions.


 You can also get them through Smashwords in a variety of popular eFormats. Follow Smashwords' easy purchase instructions. Click on the titles for the purchase links. To get the sales price on THE TRAZ  use Code: UX54T at check out. For THE TRAZ School Edition  use Code: PK68Y


https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/369439
I had planned on having my new release FIREWALLS specially priced at $1.99 throughout this promo, and you can find it on Amazon for that price. However, the online eBook store, Smashwords, surprised me with their "Read an eBook Week" promotion from now until 8 March 2014, allowing me to offer this novel for free this week. Smashwords offers eBooks in a variety of eformats, for all popular eReading devices including tablets and computers. It's an easy-to-use site. To get FIREWALLS for free, just follow the instructions and use the coupon code RW100 at checkout.

Although  SCHRÖDINGER'S CAT is not part of my BackTracker Series, my publisher WolfSinger Publications has joined Smashwords' special Read an eBook Week promo and is offering  my thrilling SciFi novella for half-price this week. Use coupon code REW50 at checkout to get it for $1.50 US.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/80124It would be awesome if each of my fans bought at least one of my books this month, even if it just the free one. Because I'm sure if you read one, you'll want to read the rest!
Please, if possible, post a short review for me on Amazon and/or the site you purchased your book from, your blog, facebook, etc. A review need only to say if you liked the book, why or why not, and if you recommend it to others. Longer reviews, too, are appreciated.

I will be announcing a special contest later this week, so be sure to check back for all the latest news. 


Saturday, March 1, 2014

Paperback heaven...

Ah, yes...the sight, sound and smell of a great paperback.

I'm celebrating my BackTracker series in conjunction with the release of FIREWALLS Book 3 in that series and although the celebration includes special eBook pricing, my paperbacks are definitely worth a look, too.

I mostly promote my eBooks, because that's what I've been coached to do. However, paperbacks remain a favorite of many readers so today I'm going to cater to those of you who love the smell and touch of a book with real paper pages.

All my books are available as paperbacks
All my books are available in paperback format: THE TRAZ, THE TRAZ School Edition, FATAL ERROR, FIREWALLS, and SCHRÖDINGER'S CAT. Through the magic of computer and internet technology, if you click on any of those titles in the previous sentence, your device will take you to the page on your country's Amazon website where you can buy it.

However, Amazon is not the only place you can buy my paperbacks. I mostly promote Amazon because it is the biggest online bookseller, meaning it sells more of my books than anyone else (other than perhaps myself in person). Not all consumers, though, like shopping on Amazon and not all like shopping anywhere online. That doesn't mean they can't buy my paperbacks!

For those who do shop online, but not on Amazon, there are several places you can buy my paperbacks.  One of the larger booksellers that carries them is Barnes and Noble. Click on their name in that sentence and you will go to the page where you can buy FIREWALLS. Use their search feature to find my other books.

On the right hand side of the home page of this blog, Magic of the Muses, you will find links to various online booksellers that carry my novels. I won't re-list them all here.

Now, for those who don't shop online, that's not a problem either. My novels are on the bookshelves of many libraries and a few bookstores as well. If they are not in your local bookstore or library you can ask to have them ordered in for you. Just give them my name and the title or titles you are looking for and they can do the online purchasing or inter-library loan for you.

And then, of course, there's the option of purchasing directly from me. I always have lots of copies of all my books on hand and can autograph and personalize them for you and confirm shipping costs before sending them. If you live in my neck of the woods, I will even deliver them to you. 

Firewalls eBook is on for $1.99
The Traz eBook is  















Why are paperbacks seldom on sale? Paperbacks cost much more to produce, print, and ship than eBooks, so they are, of course, priced higher. However, I have priced my paperbacks very reasonably upfront and there are restrictions on how low I can price them. Online booksellers demand a certain amount of commission--meaning there is a minimum price they will let me charge--they need to make their money. I respect that, because if they don't make money, they go out of business and can't sell my books. Another difficulty in putting paperbacks on sale is that changing the price of paperbacks is a more difficult process than the one in place for eBooks. There are often long time-delays before the new price shows up online and different distributors have different pricing requirements, making short-lived promotions difficult to impossible to organize.

Protagonist, Cst. Katrina Randal
Compared to the cost of a night out at the theatre or opera, or an evening hockey game, the price of my paperbacks is bargain-basement and the books provide many many more hours of enjoyment than most forms of entertainment. (You don't have to worry about parking, either.) Plus, you have instant replay at your fingertips should you want to read it again, and you can share the novel with your friends at no additional cost.


In person, I sell my novels for $15.00 Cdn each. That price varies throughout cyberspace, depending on currency conversions, special promos the distributors offer, etc. The online price often includes free shipping if your order is over a certain amount. Sometimes, through Amazon, you can get the ebook at a discount if you buy the paperback, and vice versa. It's called their MATCHBOOK program. So you can check that out if you're an Amazon shopper.


If you're a paperback lover and have any questions about how to get your hands and eyes on one of my paperbacks, please leave a comment below or contact me on any of my other social networking sites. 

Author, Eileen Schuh
Enjoy!



Eileen Schuh, Author
FIREWALLS
FATAL ERROR

Schrödinger's Cat
THE TRAZ

Friday, February 28, 2014

Criminal Minds at Work: PTSD in Law Enforcement: FIREWALLS

Criminal Minds at Work: PTSD in Law Enforcement: FIREWALLS: I didn't set out to write a novel about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It's not as if I saw the recent spate of headlines an...

Monday, February 24, 2014

Get hooked on a series for $0.99!



Releasing a book is a very exciting time for a novelist, and nothing makes that experience sweeter than when the new  book is a sequel in an on-going series. So I’m finding with FIREWALLS, the third novel in my BackTracker series.

http://mybook.to/firewalls
FIREWALLS: only $1.99 during this promo
Not only is the launch of FIREWALLS a culmination of years of hard work in its own right, but it breathes vigor and life into the stories that came before it. The characters’ past traumas in THE TRAZ and FATAL ERROR  that by necessity stopped short of having a full impact on their lives, come back into play with an intensity not foreseen. Problems once resolved, resurface as the BackTracker characters  grow in understanding. The years slowly turn knowledge into wisdom for some and fearlessness into caution. And for others, pain morphs into rage.

The characters that my fans and I love, come back to us, full of promise. Like Katrina—now on the cusp of adulthood. Intelligent and powerful and with the means to right her wrongs—or avenge someone else’s evil. Which will it be? Some, like Shrug, have secret pasts driving their behaviour, secrets we hope to uncover with the new novel. Some characters are gone. Dead. Other’s perhaps soon to face their mortality.

And then...there’s love. 

Yes, the wonderful thing about a series that marches its characters through time, is that it caters to our ability to connect deeply with the story because, after all, life doesn’t just end as novels do—all wrapped up and over. It goes on. We know that.

We’ve been there. Grown through the trials of childhood, lived through traumas, wallowed in sorrows and celebrated successes. Grown older, braver, stronger and sometimes more gentle. We long for our characters to have the same opportunities we had to get over things, get past things, nurture dreams and make dreams come true. In fact, we want our characters to be even more successful at living than we have been—so that we can learn something from them. So they can guide us to overcome our pasts and seize our futures.

That’s what FIREWALLS does for us. And when we’re finished reading it, we not only want to know what happened next, but we ponder all that came before. Everything that happened in THE TRAZ and FATAL ERROR becomes important to us once more.
In celebration of the launch of FIREWALLS, we have put THE TRAZ and THE TRAZ School Edition eBooks on for a special price, for a few days only, on Amazon. 

Come on! Give it a go--get hooked on a series for only 99₵  £0.64! 

viewBook.at/B007JWGHZE
http://mybook.to/firewalls 


Although the special pricing is only available from Amazon, all my novels are available in paperback and multiple eBook formats from all fine online bookstores. If you can’t find them on the shelves of your local bookstore or library, you can ask to have them ordered in for you.

Monday, February 10, 2014

Lonely, eerie echoes...The setting for my BackTracker Series



viewBook.at/B007JW8RMA
viewBook.at/B009P593YU
THE TRAZ and FATAL ERROR  are set in my home province of Alberta, Canada. This is where the characters dictated to me that their adventures were to happen and who was I to argue?

I’m not sure why they chose the vast Alberta prairie to pit cops vs bikers and sully the sensitivities of a 13-year old girl. As the characters originally intended their stories to be therapy for me, perhaps they thought setting them in such a familiar locale would make their messages more timely and relevant.

Or perhaps, they understood that the familiar scenes would be intensified by my knowledge of the scents and sounds permeating them. When Shrug alit from his bike, torn apart inside and seeking wisdom from beyond the far horizon, I'd know the exact slant of the September sun on the harvested wheat field over which he gazed. 

I would know how to tell the readers what it was like for Katrina on the park bench that autumn when she suddenly realized that her secrets were not safe--the red berry bushes along the banks of the North Saskatchewan river, the chuckle of migrating geese. The musty smell of poplar leaves beneath her feet. 

I know the setting in my novels intimately. The slow March melt, when Katrina hit puberty. The warm, noisy fury of a December Chinook when she almost, almost got rescued from the gang. I know the edible mushrooms Katrina might gather...and the poisonous ones. I know where she might hide and where bikers might ride. 

I’m a farm girl--I know the lonely eerie echoes that haunt metal sheds on the vast Alberta prairie.
 _______________

"Lonely, eerie echoes..." is brought to you by:

 FIREWALLS
 Book III in the BackTracker series.


 "Be prepared for a rollercoaster of emotions..."  


"Packed with humanity, crafted with insight."

"Schuh has created a character worthy of being called a hero."

"A tale of comfort and hope that we, too, can slay our own dragons."

"A gritty, fast paced thriller"

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Mission: NYT BestSeller


Join the army...

Today on Magic of the Muses we learn that my good friend and fellow Alberta author, Cheryl K Tardif, is on a mission...

_______

Author Cheryl Kaye Tardif Reaches for New York Times Bestseller Gold with SUBMERGED

 

Cheryl K Tardif
Canadian suspense author Cheryl Kaye Tardif is hoping to achieve a monumental dream this March—making the New York Times bestsellers list for her ebook, SUBMERGED. Gathering an "army" of dedicated friends and fans, she will be promoting this book with a special sale and a contest filled with awesome prizes. Pre-order today!

What's SUBMERGED about?


From the international bestselling author that brought you CHILDREN OF THE FOG comes a terrifying new psychological thriller that will leave you breathless...

"Submerged reads like an approaching storm, full of darkness, dread and electricity. Prepare for your skin to crawl." --Andrew Gross, New York Times bestselling author of 15 Seconds

Two strangers submerged in guilt, brought together by fate...

After a tragic car accident claims the lives of his wife, Jane, and son, Ryan, Marcus Taylor is immersed in grief. But his family isn't the only thing he has lost. An addiction to painkillers has taken away his career as a paramedic. Working as a 911 operator is now the closest he gets to redemption--until he gets a call from a woman trapped in a car.

Rebecca Kingston yearns for a quiet weekend getaway, so she can think about her impending divorce from her abusive husband. When a mysterious truck runs her off the road, she is pinned behind the steering wheel, unable to help her two children in the back seat. Her only lifeline is a cell phone with a quickly depleting battery and a stranger's calm voice on the other end telling her everything will be all right.

Pre-order today for only $0.99 US and receive it on March 2nd via:

Barnes and Noble (Nook): http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/submerged-cheryl-kaye-tardif/1114677237

Kobo Books (Kobo): http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/submerged-6

iTunes (iBooks): https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/submerged/id701307628

‪#‎Submerged‬ ‪#‎Going4NYT‬ ‪#‎bestseller‬

https://www.facebook.com/events/462777760511016/

 

"Mission: NYT BestSeller" is brought to you by

 

http://mybook.to/firewalls
"Packed with humanity, crafted with insight."


"Schuh has created a character worthy of being called a hero." 

"A tale of comfort and hope that we, too, can slay our own dragons."  

"A gritty, fast paced thriller"

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Entranced by the FIREWALLS characters

Amy Chris' review of FIREWALLS just went up on Amazon and on the Weet Weets Bookshelf site. It was a different review than the usual, with the reader relating her feelings towards each of the main characters. This got me thinking...
 
The characters are what people--from my editor, to my proofreader, to my beta readers and reviewers--most often mention about this book. They've all said that the FIREWALL characters haunted them long after the story was over.

Readers' opinions of my characters are often right on with I how I see them but sometimes I'm taken by surprise. Perhaps I shouldn't be, though, because just like in real life, people's views of others differ greatly. My best friend could be someone else's nemesis and the burly biker is undoubtedly some mama's baby.

I'm not sure what it is about my writing that resulted in such strong characters in FIREWALLS , or what I did differently than I did in THE TRAZ and FATAL ERROR (the first two book in the BackTracker series). 

It's not that people haven't commented in the past about my characters. However, this time it seems the characters have my readers mesmerized. Never mind the crimes they solve, the illegalities they commit, the undercover operations they pull off. Never mind the danger, the threats, the deaths, the exquisite police work and exceptionally clever investigation techniques. Never mind credibility and age differences and rough language. Never mind the plot--it's the characters, apparently, who are the story.

This doesn't dismay me. I'm very happy to have successfully brought Katrina, Chad, Shrug, Kevin, Debra and Sgt. Kindle to life for others to get to know. They have been a powerful influence over me for several years now and got me through some real rough times. It's a privilege to be able to repay them by giving them a chance to share their stories, their tears and fears, strengths, failures and inner-most hopes.


http://mybook.to/firewalls
"Firewall was a very interesting story."

" This is definitely an exciting action packed book."

"...left me wanting more."

"Chad is a sweetheart but a pain in the..."

"Shrug drove me nuts...But I admit I loved how he talked..."

"Kevin, I actually kinda liked..."