Tag: fiction

REPUTATION: Almost There

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Setting Up the Pre-order

Putting Reputation on pre-order on Amazon is more about giving myself a deadline I have to meet than it is about selling books. If I were not such a procrastinator, I could probably have written another dozen books by now.

The Final Cover

Notepad Contents

Deciding what items to list on the notepad and in what order of each Hannah True book is always a challenge. Now, as I look at what I have designated as “the final cover,” I’m wondering if it is. The current order is

  • poisoned pastry
  • hotel thefts
  • a dead owner
  • cave explosion
  • a missing detective

As I examine the list, I realize hotel thefts should come before poisoned pastry. The thefts come first in the novel and should on the notepad. Just when I think something is done, I find something else to fix. Make the above the next to final cover. Or maybe the next, next to final cover. The good news: I have until August 1 to upload the final book documents.

The Book Description

Reputation is everything to a woman and her team of detectives
in 1861 St. Louis.

From the top floor of the Gates Hotel to the caves beneath it, the search to find a murderer takes Hannah True and her team into situations that compromise their reputations as women and as novice detectives. Meeting a man alone might be enough to ruin a reputation and meeting him in a saloon would definitely destroy it. Besides, Hannah has the reputation of her employer, the Hollandar Detective Agency, to think about.

When the owner of the Gates Hotel hires the Agency to find the person who has been stealing from guests, it appears to be a low danger job suitable for training three new female investigators. But upon discovering the man who hired them has been murdered, the stakes rise.

When the widow of the hotel owner hires a Pinkerton to crack the case, Hannah and her team have to rise to the challenge and show they can outshine the Pinkerton. They must reveal the murderer first, as well avoid becoming targets themselves.

The Formatted Novel

Here is the biggest challenge, and I am still tearing my hair out over getting both the eBook and paperback pages to conform with publishing requirements. However, I am determined to meet the deadline for the eBook pre-order. The paperback will be available on August 16.

The eBook preorder page is live now, and the publication date is August 5. Check it out here.

Titles, Covers, and Book Descriptions

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A Yearlong Journey

I started Book 4 of the Hannah True Series in January 2024. As a pantser (seat of the pants writer), I have done a lot of revising and checking to make sure I haven’t changed a crucial detail, or even a minor one, about Hannah and her band of detectives. That is an ongoing process.

Titles

I have changed is the title. I went from False Fronts to Buried Truths to Reputation. I settled on Reputation because previous books in the series have one-word titles and my main character, Hannah True, is concerned about hers

The Cover: A Work in Progress

Now I need a cover. When I was playing with Buried Truths as a title, I had a cover image in a cave. I’m not sure about that image for Reputation, but I’m hoping the book description will make it work.

Reputation Book Description

Reputation is everything to a woman and her team of detectives in 1861 St. Louis.

From the top floor of the Gates Hotel to the caves beneath it, the search to find a murderer takes Hannah True and her team into situations that compromise their reputations as women and as novice detectives. Meeting a man alone might be enough to ruin a reputation and meeting him in a saloon would definitely destroy it. Besides, they have the reputation of their employer, the Hollandar Detective Agency, to think about.

When Frank Gates, the owner of the Gates Hotel, hires the Agency to find the person who has been stealing from guests, it appears to be a low danger job suitable for training three new female investigators. But upon discovering the man who hired them has been murdered, the stakes rise.

When the widow of the hotel owner reveals her lack of faith in the Hollandar Agency and hires a Pinkerton to crack the case, Hannah and her team rise to the challenge, vowing to outshine the Pinkerton and solve the murder. Can Hannah and her team prove their skills, outwit the Pinkerton investigator and reveal the truth behind the murder of Frank Gates?

Publication Date

Publication of the eBook version of Reputation is scheduled for August 1, 2025. The paperback version will follow shortly after. At least, that’s the plan.

In the Meantime:

Overcoming: The Adventures of Hannah True, Book 3 is on a free promo from June 26-30, 2025.

Check out Hannah’s stay in a lunatic asylum.

2011: My First Published eBooks

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Smashwords: My first attempt at eBook publishing

Back in 2011, my best friend and writing buddy, Bonnie Eaton aka BJ Myrick, and I were trying to figure out the world of eBook publishing, and we found Smashwords. We published four books which are now a part of the Smashwords End of Year sale. Two are free and the other two are $1.49 from today through January 1, 2025.

Free eBooks

The Nancy Nolan Show

When I wrote this book of short stories, talk shows were all over daytime television. Hosts included Maury Povich, Jerry Springer, and Sally Jessy Raphael among others. If you watched them, the opinions of the hosts and guests may have influenced the way you thought about the topics they covered. The Nancy Nolan Show, a collection of short stories about a fictional talk show and its host, Nancy Nolan, will get you thinking about the influence talk shows had on the lives of guests, would-be guests, and viewers.

Kiss Mummy Goodnight

In this long short story, a woman inherits an Egyptian mummy with instructions for activating its powers and making her every wish come true. Then she learns the mummy has wishes of its own, wishes that put the future of her beloved niece in danger.

eBooks for $1.49

The Night before Christmas

A father wants to save his children from a corrupt world.

In The Night before Christmas, a suspense novel, Wes Myers seeks to save his three small daughters from the pagan beliefs of a sinful world. After promising Jesus he will do anything to save their souls, he hears, “If I should die before I wake….” Can anyone save Wes’s daughters from a father who loves them more than life? This was my first novel which took thirty years from idea to published novel. Caution: This is not a warm and fuzzy Christmas story.

Edge of Nowhere: A short story anthology of dark fiction

My collection of dark fiction with B.J. Myrick

Lock the door and journey into fear:
Two women move into their dream home to find it inhabited by a demonic angel in “Edge of Nowhere.”
An obsessed young man commits “Deadly Sins” when he plots to kill a beautiful woman.
A professor of mythology fears her twin is dating a werewolf. Can she convince her sister this is more than a case of “Cry Wolf”?
A man’s desire to escape poverty prompts him to marry the homely daughter of a rich rancher in exchange for a career in “A Laugh like Rolling Stones.”
A twelve-step group, “L.O.V.E. Anonymous,” encourages a single woman to answer a personal ad.
Plus other unforgettable tales from…the dark side.

More free and discounted books

As mentioned above, Smashwords is having an End of Year sale with over 60,000 indie authors participating. The sale starts December 12, 2024 and ends January 1, 2025.