indie publishing

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Shiny New Audiobook Store, Plus the Best SciFi Sale of the Year

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Shiny New Audiobook Store, Plus the Best SciFi Sale of the Year

A couple of years ago, I started offering audiobooks directly on my website as a way to offer a lower-cost option to Audible’s often nosebleed prices. And it’s worked, more or less. But to be frank, the whole setup has left a lot to be desired, from the delivery of the audiobook to the listening interface. But it was the best I could do given limited tools at my disposal.

But technology marches ever onward, the options available to indie authors continue to expand, and I’m thrilled to share a massive upgrade to my “direct” audiobook store: AUDIOBOOK STORE.

The store is powered by BookFunnel, just like my ebook store. If you’ve ever downloaded a free ebook when you subscribed to my newsletter, or purchased an ebook directly from me, you already know how BookFunnel works - and you’ve already got a library there!

What hasn’t changed:

  • Lower prices than the retailers

  • The ability to listen on the web

  • The ability to download the MP3 files

What’s better:

  • PRE-ORDERS! You can pre-order the upcoming THE UNIVERSE WITHIN audiobook today, and it will automatically arrive in your BookFunnel library on release (ignore the listed release date - it’s just a placeholder). Pre-order The Universe Within Audiobook

  • A web library where you can view and access all your purchases (audiobook and ebook) in one place whenever you like. No more passwords to remember or pages to bookmark. See it here.

  • A beautiful app to listen to audiobooks (mine and others) on your mobile device and in your car. Get the app here.

Not convinced? That’s cool - which is why you can try it out FOR FREE. Use the code “FREEAUDIO” to get your choice of an audiobook from the new store for free. Just enter the code at checkout.

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Not into audiobooks? I’ve got a treat for ebook lovers, too. Twice a year, I participate in what is possibly the biggest, best giveaway of FREE scifi ebooks around. Over 100 novels and short stories - and they’re ALL SCIFI. No fantasy, horror or other spec-fic-adjacent genres. Now, 100+ books sounds overwhelming, which is why they’re neatly organized by sub-genre: space opera, cyberpunk, dystopian, military, time travel, and many more. Just head for your favorite flavor of scifi and download away.

BUT, BUT, BUT: this giveaway is only available for 2 days, today and tomorrow (Nov. 14th and 15th), so don’t delay.

SCIFI BOOK BLAST

We’re heading into the holiday season, and I’m heading into the home stretch of editing The Universe Within. I’m super stoked about both. I’m so excited for the holidays in the new house, I’ve already started decorating for Christmas. How about you? Are you a “never until after Thanksgiving” person, or did you trade out your Halloween skeletons for snowmen and reindeer?

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Life News, Plus a Cool SciFi Holiday Bundle

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Life News, Plus a Cool SciFi Holiday Bundle

We interrupt this regularly scheduled newsletter with breaking news - I caught my first aurora borealis last night! I took these pics from my new front yard. They’re really terrible, aren’t they? I obviously need to learn how to take proper nighttime photos with my phone. But they’re mine. :)

So as I was about to say, new front yard. About that. If you’ve been around here for a little while, you might recall my epic move from Colorado to the wild mountain reaches of Montana three years ago. Well, the pictures above are definitely not taken in the wild mountain reaches of Montana, so what’s the deal?

Tl;dr: We've moved down the road to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho!

The rest of the story: Actually, we moved a year ago. But we were camping out in an apartment while we built a house, and that was just so very uninteresting, I didn't mention it. But now things are exciting again.

First, why the move? A couple of reasons, but to encapsulate them, a beautiful view does not a life make (who knew?).

While wandering the woods was lovely, after a while I chafed against the isolation and lack of access to the trappings of modern life. Mr. Jennsen sucks at early retirement and, after two years chopping trees while wearing flannel, decided he was bored and wanted to get back in the engineering game. A series of frustrations when too much snow and impassable roads kept me from getting to the (distant) airport to travel for some family medical emergencies brought the problems into sharp relief.

Luckily, just a few hours down the road existed the equally lovely (if less wild) city of Coeur d'Alene. It, too, has mountains, rivers and lakes (Lake CDA is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen). But guess what it also has? Coffee shops and boutiques and theaters and a Best Buy and, well, people!

So here we are. I’m stoked about all of it, so have a few pictures of my working space:

SEE ALL THE PICTURES

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But enough about me upending my life again—let’s talk sci-fi books. I've teamed up with four other awesome scifi authors to offer a paperback book bundle. Each book is the first in a multi-book sci-fi series, and the bundle comes with bookmarks, stickers and space-ready freeze-dried candy.

Grab it for yourself, or if you have another scifi fan in your life, this would make a great holiday gift.

  • Expedition by Rachel Cheríe (Dekra 9-2-6 series)—join Elise and Rick as they find themselves in a new galaxy loaded with allies, enemies, and lots of drama along the way!

  • Night Owls by Stephen Gay (Night Owls series)—all Ethan wants to do is throw an underground party. But someone wants to throw him out of an airlock.

  • Dakiti by EJ Fisch (Ziva Payvan series)—fly with Ziva and Aroska as these two enemies race to save their people and…each other??

  • Isolating Contact by Ash Remington (The Contact series)—follow five strangers as their lives intertwine in an attempt to save the world.

  • Starshine by yours truly (Amaranthe series)—while on a routine scouting job, Alex makes a discovery that will change everything for humanity. (Admittedly, you might already have this one. 😊)

At $59.99, this bundle is an absolute steal, and it would make a great Christmas gift for yourself or another scifi lover in your life. You can pre-order this collection from now through November 7th, so we’ll have time to order books and get them out to you in time for the holidays (apologies, but we can only ship within the US). Get more details about each of the books and pre-order the bundle at the link:

LEARN MORE

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Finally, just a quick reminder about The Expanding Universe Vol. 10 anthology. TEU is curated by Craig Martelle, sci-fi superstar and tireless indie author advocate. My story in the anthology, “Extinguishing the Stars,” is a prequel to my upcoming novel, The Universe Within. Read it now and get a sneak peek at the world Alex and Caleb will discover early next year.

In addition to my story, it features a tale by Martelle plus 18 more stellar stories from well-known authors to rising stars. You don’t want to miss it.

…and if you have picked it up, and have read a couple of the stories, I and the other authors would so greatly appreciate it if you shared a quick little review. No need to have read the whole (hefty) book - you can just call out any stories you hopefully enjoyed. You have my thanks!

GET TEU

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The Expanding Universe, plus a new way to read SFF books

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The Expanding Universe, plus a new way to read SFF books

THE EXPANDING UNIVERSE: VOLUME 10 is out in the world! Have you picked up yet? If not, you can grab it from Amazon (or in Kindle Unlimited) today: GET THE EXPANDING UNIVERSE

The Expanding Universe Vol. 10 is curated by Craig Martelle, sci-fi superstar and tireless indie author advocate. My story in the anthology, “Extinguishing the Stars,” is a prequel to my upcoming novel, The Universe Within. Read it now and get a sneak peek at the world Alex and Caleb will discover early next year.

In addition to my story, it features a tale by Martelle plus 18 more stellar stories from well-known authors to rising stars. You don’t want to miss it.

…and IF you have picked it up, and have read a couple of the stories, I and the other authors would so greatly appreciate it if you shared a quick little review. No need to have read the whole (hefty) book - you can just call out any stories you (hopefully) enjoyed. You have my thanks!

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Now I want to share with you an awesome selection of scifi and fantasy books that Kobo has curated to help spotlight its awesome subscription program, Kobo Plus.

What’s Kobo Plus, you ask? Well, it’s a sort of “Netflix for books.” Much like Kindle Unlimited (KU), except it’s cheaper for readers ($7.99 vs $11.99 in the US), it includes audiobooks as well as ebooks, it’s available in a bunch of countries, and it’s fairer to authors. How? Well, in order for a book to be in KU, Amazon requires it to be published exclusively on Amazon (this is why The Expanding Universe isn’t available on other retailers; I’m not the publisher, so it wasn’t my call). Kobo Plus, however, has no such requirement. This means all my books and audiobooks are available in Kobo Plus - and so are offerings from a ton of talented authors.

Best of all? The first month’s free, so you can try it out and see if you like it. Kobo has a great free reading app you can install on your phone, tablet or computer, just like Kindle. So check out these featured ebooks and audiobooks on Kobo Plus today (just a small samplling of the many titles available). Click on a book that catches your fancy, and you’ll be prompted to start your free trial. Enjoy!

SFF BOOKS ON KOBO PLUS

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Who Wants a New Short Story?

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Who Wants a New Short Story?

When I created the setting for the next book, The Universe Within, I pretty quickly realized it was so much bigger than I was going to be able to cover in the fast-paced, focused format of the Cosmic Shores novels. So I promptly scribbled out a short story that deep-dives into the Elakri’s world. “Extinguishing the Stars” is a prequel to The Universe Within, and it is the lead-off story in the new anthology THE EXPANDING UNIVERSE Vol. 10!

The anthology will be released September 9, but you can pre-order it today from Amazon. The Expanding Universe Vol. 10 is curated by Craig Martelle, sci-fi superstar and tireless indie author advocate. In addition to my story, it features a tale by Martell plus 18 more stellar stories from well-known authors to rising stars. You don’t want to miss it.

PRE-ORDER THE EXPANDING UNIVERSE 10

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Dragon Con was amazing this year! The panels were so much fun (I got to meet Hugh Howey in person on the “Books That Inspire Us” panel, which was quite the treat - he was gracious, humble and kind). I was honored to meet several of you, and to talk with so many enthusiastic sci-fi fans. Here’s a couple of pictures, but images cannot convey what an insane, overwhelming, incredible experience Dragon Con is. If you’re curious, visit the Dragon Con Facebook Page and check out some of the wild videos they posted. There are few if any SFF fan conventions like it in the world.

See the Dragon Con pics here.

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THE THIEF Audiobook Is Here, Plus a Thank You

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THE THIEF Audiobook Is Here, Plus a Thank You

I’m thrilled to announce that the THE THIEF audiobook is now available at all major online retailers! I can’t wait for you to listen to Eren being his most Eren as he wanders outside of Concord space and stumbles into far more than he bargained for (and that’s before Nyx crashes the party and complicates everything).

GET THE THIEF AUDIOBOOK

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And now, a huge “Thanks!” to all of you. Without any prompting or nudging on my part, you voted The Thief the 2nd Best Sci-Fi Book of 2024 (So Far) over at Discover Sci-Fi! It makes me so happy to know you’ve enjoyed this book so much. It is, at its heart, a love letter to one of the greatest characters in Amaranthe; I had so much fun writing it, and I hope you’ve had as much fun reading it.

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Just a quick note to say that I’m almost finished with the first draft of THE UNIVERSE WITHIN, and I am so excited about this book. It’s amazing to return to Alex and Caleb, but I’m also stoked about the fascinating world and character at the center of the story. Stay tuned for more details soon.

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How are you enjoying The Thief? (plus a surprise below)

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How are you enjoying The Thief? (plus a surprise below)

I supposed I asked the second question first, didn’t I? First, have you picked up THE THIEF yet? If not, you can get it from your favorite retailer now. GET THE THIEF

Second, if you have picked the book up, I certainly hope you are enjoying it! Let me know. What are readers saying so far?

  • “I read while eating, while parenting, while relaxing. Couldn't take my hands off of it.” 

  • “A spine-tingling adventure across space in visceral, emotional, and adrenaline-pumping style.”

  • “I zipped through this book because it was so much fun to read and then
    when I was finished, wished it would have continued on to another
    adventure. I would love to see Eren and Nyx re-appear in another story.”    

If you’re so inclined, don’t forget to leave a review at Amazon, the retailer where you purchased it, or on Goodreads. Nothing fancy is required - just a few words go a long way. I greatly appreciate it.

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Now, about that surprise. :)

The final (for now) novel in the Cosmic Shores series will be titled THE UNIVERSE WITHIN, and it will star Alex and Caleb in their own standaone adventure. I'm so excited to be returning to my first loves and most favorite of my favorites. I'm almost as excited for the plot I've noodled out for them and the fascinating new alien species they're set to get all tangled up with, the Elakri. In fact, I'm so excited about it, I've already written a short story prequel to the book - but more on in a later update.

For now, here's a brief, temporary blurb that will suffice until I've written enough of the book to craft a more detailed description:

Thousands of years ago, the Elakri were a galaxy-spanning civilization—until they were forced to hide themselves away in the folds of space to escape an unstoppable foe. But what was once their salvation soon became their prison.

Alex Solovy and Caleb Marano hunt the cosmos for signs of an ancient enemy’s return. When they detect a breach in the fabric of space, however, they discover something wholly unexpected: a people lost in time and space, who have forgotten all they once were. Returning the Elakri to their proper place among the stars seems the least they can do, but first they have to survive a strange and dangerous world where none of the usual rules apply.

THE UNIVERSE WITHIN will be out next year, but you can pre-order it today in ebook, paperback and hardback:

PREORDER THE UNIVERSE WITHIN

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Finally, a question for you. I'm having great fun taking a break from the universe-threatening peril that dominated earlier books to galavant around the cosmos with some of Amaranthe's most dynamic characters, and I hope you are, too. But who do you miss most from the main cast? Who can you not wait to get back to and find out how they've been doing in the three years since Duality? Hit 'reply' and let me know!