I went ahead and published a new cover for Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble. Thought you might want to check it out.

Gotten some positive feedback so far. Be interesting to see if sales pick up.

Wanted to drop by and let you know that a black-and-white, low-res version is now available for your Kindle or Nook. The file format is primarily text-based, so we went ahead and dropped the price to $2.99 on both formats.

We also decided to offer the full color version on Lulu.com in its original format. It’s still available through DriveThruHorror.com, but this way we have an additional place for people to check out the original file. Unfortunately, we’re still trying to find out if we can offer the ePub version on Lulu as well, but right now it doesn’t seem like we can.

If you’re curious about where the book is available, you can check out THE QUEEN OF CROWS page here at Violetwar.com.

Back to the grind…

Here’s one of the questions he asked me:

Did your experience in RPG game design help influence how the end product looked/felt?

It did. I knew that DriveThruHorror.com could handle an enhanced e-book format because of its sister site, DriveThruRpg.com. The DriveThru sites have been offering digital e-books and enhanced PDFs for years before the rest of the publishing industry even thought about embracing e-books. All of us — me, Shari and Leanne — had experience in the gaming industry. That perspective heavily influenced the design and layout. It wasn’t until after we offered the e-book for sale that we realized the limitations of some of the other e-book sites are. Images are still pretty tough for them to render.

To read more, be sure to check out the rest of the interview at PaulJessup.com.

I wanted to let you know that I started a monthly newsletter for mlvwrites.com, which is my author website. The content on my website is more pragmatic and business-focused because of my desire to keep up professional appearances. It’s also where I put most of my promotional energy because of what I’ve been focusing on.

The first monthly newsletter will be sent toward the end of October. To join my mailing list, simply subscribe to the mlvwrites.com monthly newsletter.

There is no obligation for you to subscribe. This is simply a “Hey, readers! If you’re interested…” sort of a thing.

And now! Back to revisions… slog… slog… slog…

As many of you know, it is very important for me as an author to offer a little bit more about me and my life. Mind you, I’m pretty selective about what I share online, so I decided the best way to share these details would be to import my LiveJournal.

Which I did.

And it downloaded everything.

Which was probably stupid.

So, that is the reason why your RSS feeds blew up. I’m sorry, but I do think that connecting LiveJournal with the blog here makes sense.

Only, I shouldn’t do it all at once.

Please forgive me!

- M

Just wanted to drop by and let you know that a new interview with yours truly went up on Suvudu.com. I’m pretty happy with the way the interview turned out.

One of the questions was about my process for collaboration. Here’s my answer:

You know it’s funny but five, even ten years ago, there is no way I would have been able to do something like this. There are so many online programs out there now that you can use to talk to people all over the world. James, for example, lives in England. So we worked together using a variety of file-sharing and instant message tools.

In terms of collaboration, I started with the story first. That, to me, was the most important thing to “get right.” From there, I developed a rough concept of what I wanted Mahochepi to look like and Leanne helped me fill in the blanks. Shari helped me flush out the table of contents and then I started working on the individual pieces. — Source: Interview with Monica Valentinelli at Suvudu.com

If you get the chance, drop by and check out The Queen of Crows interview at Suvudu.com.

By the way, I wanted you to be the first to know that there’s more to come for the Violet War! I’m currently revising a short story about Serafina and her grandmother that I’ll start submitting in a week or two. Can’t guarantee that it will get any bites, but we’ll see. I’m hoping for one. There’s other pitches in the works, too.

Excellent story, great art, and I absolutely loved the idea of the “DVD Extra’s” like bonus features. This just screams “fearless author” to me, someone who’s not afraid to say “here’s my story, here’s my inspiration, here’s some character notes, and here’s an early draft so you can see how far it’s come.”

Absolutely intrigues me with the author’s Violet Wars world setting and her other works of fiction. Well worth the price; would highly recommend. — S. Jarjoura on THE QUEEN OF CROWS

If I had a sword to brandish and a cape to wear, I’d be donning it right about now. For those of you who know me well, the word “fearless” has a special meaning for me and is an excellent reminder.

We are offering a special price right now through the link in this post. If you’re interested, download THE QUEEN OF CROWS for only $2.99.

Excellent story, great art, and I absolutely loved the idea of the “DVD Extra’s” like bonus features. This just screams “fearless author” to me, someone who’s not afraid to say “here’s my story, here’s my inspiration, here’s some character notes, and here’s an early draft so you can see how far it’s come.”

Absolutely intrigues me with the author’s Violet Wars world setting and her other works of fiction. Well worth the price; would highly recommend. — S. Jarjoura on THE QUEEN OF CROWS

If I had a sword to brandish and a cape to wear, I’d be donning it right about now. For those of you who know me well, the word “fearless” has a special meaning for me and is an excellent reminder.

We are offering a special price right now through the link in this post. If you’re interested, download THE QUEEN OF CROWS for only $2.99. We have also ensured that the enhanced e-book is able to be read on your iPad, too.

Oh, Wikipedia.

In addition to this fabulous news, the trailer for THE QUEEN OF CROWS got picked up by NME.com, a magazine that covers all things music.

Here’s a link: THE QUEEN OF CROWS e-book trailer at NME.com

Congratulations to James!