Just pure action and suspense
The contest to pick a cover for Born with Secrets is over, and this is the winning design. Thank you to everyone who voted!
If you want to get a free advance copy of the e-book, I still need more ambassadors for the book. Ambassadors get a free electronic copy of Born with Secrets in exchange for posting their honest review of the book on Amazon.com once it goes live. Click here to sign up to be an ambassador
I’d like to recruit some Ambassadors to help spread the word about my new novel Born with Secrets when it launches.
Locked in federal prison, convicted professional thief Alyssa Chambers longs to forget her father’s betrayal and start a new, cleaner life. She’s reading the Bible, going to chapel, and being a model prisoner. But when a mysterious woman disappears from the prison, the government offers Alyssa a deal she can’t refuse: freedom, in exchange for one last job. Now Alyssa must find the escapee before her secret can shock the world. But shadowy forces don’t want Alyssa out, and they’re willing to kill to stop her. With her new life hanging by a thread, Alyssa must learn who to believe, how to trust, and what it really means to be born with secrets.
Did you read Sons of Thunder, Death of Secrets or Life of Secrets? Did you like any of them or all of them? Are you comfortable telling other people that, including strangers and friends? Are you comfortable with a book that’s built around a message that points to the God of second chances and redemption? If so, you’re the perfect candidate.
You will get a FREE e-book version of Born with Secrets, and you’ll get it weeks before anyone else. (So, one more qualification for Ambassadors: you should enjoy reading electronically, whether on a Kindle, iPad, tablet, nook, your laptop, or whatever.) I hope to be distributing Ambassador editions on February 22, 2015.
Ambassadors commit to two things:
Ambassadors are a fundamental part of my marketing strategy. I want to be clear about this: I am asking for your help. If you’re willing, and the above description sounds good to you, then fill out the form below and I’ll get you started!
Born with Secrets is written. It’s almost ready for beta readers. Please help me choose the cover by voting in this poll.
http://99designs.com/book-cover-design/vote-be8arh
Here’s a bit about the story to help you vote:
Serving 30 years in federal prison, convicted professional thief Alyssa Chambers sets out to reform her life. She’s reading the Bible, going to chapel, and being a model prisoner. But when a mysterious woman disappears from the prison, the government offers Alyssa a deal she can’t refuse: freedom, in exchange for one last job. At once she’s sucked into a game where politicians and spies vie for control of a new technology that changes the very idea of freedom. Someone in all this is not who they seem. Finding out who is Alyssa’s only way out, and a single wrong step can kill. With her hopes of living clean dangling by a thread, Alyssa Chambers must learn whether a world of secrets and lies has any place for God. At least one of her friends has a shocking past, and every one of them are Born with Secrets.
I finished the very rough, very raw draft of Born with Secrets! I am so excited and relieved that I can’t even put it into words. It’s too raw to even be ready for beta readers yet, but I will certainly let you know when it is.
For now, here’s my first draft of the marketing blurb:
Serving 30 years in federal prison, convicted professional thief Alyssa Chambers sets out to reform her life. She’s reading the Bible, going to chapel, and being a model prisoner. But when a mysterious woman disappears from the prison, the government offers Alyssa a deal she can’t refuse: freedom, in exchange for one last job. At once she’s sucked into a game where politicians and spies vie for control of a new technology that changes the very idea of freedom. Someone in all this is not who they seem. Finding out who is Alyssa’s only way out, and a single wrong step can kill. With her hopes of living clean dangling by a thread, Alyssa Chambers must learn whether a world of secrets and lies has any place for God. At least one of her friends has a shocking past, and every one of them are Born with Secrets.
I’ve never had a harder time getting a book finished.
The third novel in the Secrets Series, tentatively titled Born with Secrets, centers on Mike Vincent’s campaign for the U.S. Senate. At the same time, Alyssa Chambers is locked in federal prison and trying to clean up her life, until the government comes and offers her a deal: freedom in exchange for one last job.
The problem is, I’m having a hard time making the bad guys seem bad enough.
I try to write my political thrillers in a way that they don’t alienate people of one party or the other. It would be easy to make a political thriller villain who’s an environmental extremist determined to end humanity’s polluting whatever the cost. It’d be just as easy to make a corporate thug who just wants to get rich by bulldozing wetlands.
But that costs half the audience. Since I aspire to write books that have a redeeming message, I don’t want to push half the people away before I even get started.
I’m edging closer every day. The book’s about 2/3rds written. Thanks, everyone, for being patient.
There’s a new promotional servicing rising up through the ranks of independent e-book authors. BuckBooks is making a lot of noise in the groups where authors gather to discuss their marketing efforts.
The theory is pretty simple: Readers benefit by getting hooked up with books that have been discounted down to $0.99. Authors benefit by getting their books introduced to readers. It’s the same guiding principle that drives all the other successful e-book marketing services.
They’ve accepted my novel Life of Secrets for a promotion, and I’m excited to see if they live up to the hype!
As I was driving to Laurel yesterday, the entire third book in the Secrets Series fell into place. I know the plot from beginning to end. I know the MacGuffin. I have the whole thing outlined, and have the bang-up climax already drafted.
The title will be Born With Secrets.
Favorite characters will be back and better than ever. Alyssa Chambers gets out of prison. Mike Vincent runs for the U.S. Senate. And we’ll take another look at the dangerous intersection between technology and politics.
I hope to have it for sale in January or early February.
While you’re waiting, have you listened to the Death of Secrets audiobook yet? Get it on Amazon, Audible, or Apple iTunes. Have you read Life of Secrets yet? It’s available on Amazon, Apple iTunes, Barnes and Noble, and many more.
If you want to be the first to know when it’s published, sign up for the e-mail list by clicking here.
UPDATE: This contest has ended! Thanks to everyone who entered!
Until tonight at nine pm (Sunday, 11/23/2014) everyone who signs up for the mailing list gets a chance to win a free audiobook version of the novel Death of Secrets.
Here’s a bit more about Death of Secrets:
The end of privacy as we know it?
Kathy Kelver nearly trips over a murder victim on her way back to her dorm room late one night. In his last words, the dying man gives her stolen data about a secret project that could blow the lid off a shocking conspiracy. From the halls of Congress to the National Security Agency and beyond, Kathy must run for her life from shadowy forces who want her dead, while trying to build a relationship and hang on to her faith. The secret she’s carrying could end the right to privacy forever, if she doesn’t survive to warn the world.
Do you love suspense? Death of Secrets will keep you on the edge of your seat with constant twists, turns and thrills.
Sign up for the e-mail list now, and you could win this novel as an audiobook!
Are you a reader who loves the Nook? What about Kobo? Are you one of the legions of iPad users? I have good news for you! My novel Life of Secrets is available in all those formats!
Buy it on Apple’s iBook’s store
Life of Secrets is a political thriller about a woman framed for an assassination. Check it out!
