Many of you know that my friend Anne R. Allen and I co-authored a nonfiction book for writers that came out this year. It's called How to be a Writer in the E-Age...And Keep Your E-Sanity. It's getting lovely reviews on the bookseller sites, and the writers I know who have picked up a copy have good things to say.
For those of who who don't know Anne (and I'm guessing most of you do, at least by way of her accomplishments), she is a highly successful publishing industry blogger. Her blog, Anne R. Allen's Blog...with Ruth Harris, has garnered numerous awards and is quickly becoming a leading go-to source for up-to-the-minute industry news. So the match was a good one in terms of what we had to offer to our fellow writers, especially those on the newer end of the process.
A few weeks ago I quietly made book pages for three new books that will be released in 2013. The first two are The Long, Steep Path and Always Chloe and Other Stories. They are both departures for me. The Long, Steep Path is my first foray into creative nonfiction, and Always Chloe is the first time I have ever brought the characters of an older novel back for a sequel-like work of fiction.
And today I have the final cover for both projects, so I'm sharing them with you, and reminding you to keep an eye out for them in 2013. The Long, Steep Path will be released very early in the new year, probably right around New Years, in fact. Look for Chloe later in the year. Because...
I have another big announcement. In March of next year, Amazon Encore will release a new edition of When I Found You, which enjoyed so much Kindle success in 
2012. And then in May, Amazon Publishing will release a brand new US title of mine, Walk Me Home. So we're waiting to release Always Chloe and Other stories at a time that won't confuse or interfere with the launches of those Amazon titles.
And, by the way, Walk Me Home is available for pre-order right now.
I don't know if you've noticed this, but I tend to give a lot of stuff away for free. I think it's because I have so many lovely, faithful readers who I feel deserve the gifts.
This hit me rather suddenly this morning:
If you've followed my blog for a long time, you'll know that a little over two years ago, I closed out a storage space and brought the many, many cartons of books home to my garage. At first, they barely fit. So I started giving some away. I wrote a blog post asking readers to send me a self-addressed, stamped mail bag. And I sent them books.
Now it's about to be the holidays. The books fit in my garage (barely). But there are still plenty. Stacks upon stacks of boxes. I don't travel and speak the way I used to, and I don't intend to die of old age with books in my garage. So...
In my most recent blog, I said my newest novel When You Were Older would be free yesterday (Nov 26) and today (Nov 27). But it's still right in the middle of doing what it does during a free promotion. It just this morning broke into the top 100 in Kindle Free.
I don't want to rush it.
So we're giving it one extra day. If you don't have your copy yet, you have through tomorrow, Wednesday November 28, to CLICK THIS LINK.
This is two celebrations at once. I'm celebrating the release of my newest US novel, When You Were Older. And, as always, I'm celebrating reviewers. Because, really...where would an author be without reviewers? I'm talking about reviewers with book review blogs, but I'm also taking about readers who go out to Amazon or other bookselling sites and leave their honest thoughts about a book.
Between now and the 22nd of December, I'm going to hold a drawing for anyone who reads and reviews When You Were Older. I'll draw a winner at random on 12/22, and that reviewer will receive a $75 Amazon gift card (just in time for Christmas).
The rise of Audible.com has made a lot of my older audio editions available again. In fact, Simon & Schuster even re-released the unabridged audio of Pay It Forward.
I only just recently found out how many of my titles really are available, so I'm passing the info along for any of my readers who enjoy Audible audiobooks.
Click any of the images below to go to its Audible.com or Audible.co.uk page.
UK readers have the following titles to choose from:
Most of you know by now that "the backlist is back." My earlier out-of-print novels (and one story collection)--Funerals for Horses, Earthquake Weather and Other Stories, Electric God and Walter's Purple Heart--are now available as Kindle ebooks. And through Saturday, they are free. A sort of introductory promotion, a way to let people know they're out there. And a way to say thank you to my faithful readers. So that's a reminder of a previous announcement. Many more details and all the links you'll need in my last blog post, The Backlist is Back! And Briefly Free!
There's more.
I have another frontlist title coming out in the US this month, When You Were Older. It will be a Kindle ebook and a paperback as well. Look for it around Thanksgiving. And, of course, watch this blog for updates.
There's still more.
So, the Don't Let Me Go blog tour is officially over. I had fun, and I hope readers did, too. But I know a lot of you may not have followed all the individual stops. And it's not too late. See, this is what I love about blog tours. If you miss a stop on a live tour, you're out of luck. The event is over, the author is on a plane for home. But the reviews, fun posts, excerpts, interviews...they're still there. You can follow the tour after the fact.
You can use my list below for links to all the stops, and a little of what you'll find at each. Or you can go straight to the CLP Blog Tour page for a full list of links.
In honor of the Don't Let Me Go blog tour, which is officially winding down to a close, the Kindle ebook of Don't Let Me Go is free on Amazon today. And tomorrow. But that's it. Just two days (because we had another free two days when we first launched the US edition). So definitely go get it now.
If you don't have a Kindle, no worries. Just go out to the Don't Let Me Go Amazon page and download the free Kindle app for your computer, tablet or phone. And if you have a Nook, or other non-Kindle ereader, you can find conversion instructions here.
An unusual topic, I guess, but I feel compelled to write about the spine. In a literal sense.
When I was a teenager, I had deplorable posture. It’s still nothing to write home about. But, you know, when you’re young you’re under the thumb of your parents. And my posture wasn’t good enough for mine. So they sent me to this special doctor, this bone specialist. To see if there was something seriously wrong with me.
I took offense to that. I took it to mean that whatever I was doing was somehow not acceptable. That they suspected me of being defective. I could have told them exactly why I had bad posture, but I didn’t choose to. It’s because I had no self-confidence. I rounded my shoulders and carried my head down in a human version of a submissive gorilla, not wanting to meet anybody’s eyes.
I have some news to share, and I hope I can open a conversation with it. And I hope other authors—and readers—will comment. Please do tell me what you think.
I’m completely stepping out of the blurb game. That is, I’m no longer going to write endorsements of other authors’ books. This is not because I don’t want to help other authors succeed, and find a wider audience. I very much do. As a result, this has been a difficult decision. But two incidents brought it to a head.
A couple of months ago, I picked up some tweets to and from a blogger I very much like, respect and trust. (He is one of the bloggers I interviewed for my Blogger Wednesday series.) In other words, someone tweeted to him, and he tweeted back, and I saw the conversation because I follow both of the people involved. It was a little bit like being a fly on the wall. The gist of the conversation was that he was being asked to make time in a very busy schedule to read and review a book…because I had endorsed it.
It starts Monday. It lasts until the 24th of September. It includes three guest posts, two interviews, four excerpts from the book, a $25 Amazon gift card giveaway, and more reviews than you can shake a stick at.
It's all going on here at CLP Blog Tours. And I, for one, plan to have fun.
To make it more fun for others, we're going to kick it off with a little bonus for those who want to give the book a try. Monday, Labor Day, September 3rd, the price of the Kindle ebook of Don't Let Me Go will drop to $0.99. But this is a one-day-only event. For that day only, $0.99, 
then back up to $3.99 on Tuesday. But...you know what? $3.99? Still not bad. You can drop more than that on a single drink at Starbucks.
Here's the tour schedule,
Seems it’s been a while since I’ve given books away on this blog. And it’s been even longer since I gave away paper books. Ebooks are a fun and easy giveaway for me, because they’re inexpensive, and I don’t have to mail them. But…
Yesterday I got a shipment from my UK publisher. A carton of paperback copies of When You Were Older. It’s my newest UK title. It came out in the spring in hardcover, and it’s coming out at the end of August in paperback. And…now for the really exciting news: the US edition will be arriving soon. It’s about three months down the road. I just saw a mock-up of the cover this morning. I wish I could show it to you, but it’s definitely not final. As soon as it is, I’ll do a reveal on this blog. Nothing against the UK cover, but…wow. Our US edition is going to have one terrific looking cover!
Ella at Tomales BayMe, too, though it was a distant memory for a while there. I used to post blogs about my hiking/camping/outdoor trips three or four times a year. Sometimes more. But it's been a tough year. Most of you know my mom passed away in March, and I've managed not to get out the door since. That means last time I went somewhere fun in the motor home was my failed Grand Canyon hike last November.
This is not said to elicit sympathy, nor am I feeling sorry for myself. It was just time to get back out there.
