What is that Infernal Crunching?

In celebration of some upcoming reviews, interviews and giveaways, we have deep discounts on ebooks at Amazon, Lulu, and the Apple. For a limited time – at least until the end of October, and possibly longer, depending on reader response – we’ve priced the ebook version of Danann Frost Falls from Grace through those three stores at US$2.99*

If you have a Kindle or the Kindle App, you can get the Kindle-native version from Amazon. If you have one of these bits of hardware or software, you can get the Adobe Digital Editions ePub version from Lulu. If you have an iPad, get it here or through the iBookstore (iPad only at this stage, but if you have a ‘Phone or ‘Pod you can use either the the Kindle App with the kindle version or any of the apps mentioned here with the one from Lulu).

*Amazon have the “not from here tax” of $2 on non-US and non-UK purchases to cover “wireless delivery costs”, which is a bit rich if the only wireless involvement in the transaction is between your home router and your Kindle. But then, if you have a wifi-only Kindle and aren’t from the US or UK, you already knew that anyway… and have probably been as annoyed by it as we have.

Well, we’ve been busy. Joanne does the writing, I do the technical and business and marketing stuff… and the business side has been busy lately, particularly with learning more about how to be an ebook publisher. And, like traditional publishers, we need distributors – there are lots of them out there, and some of them are easier to deal with than others. For now, we’ve settled on Amazon, Kobo and Lulu as these three together give us access to the most significant digital marketplaces.

Danann Frost Falls from Grace is now available for the Kindle, as well as Adobe Digital Editions ePub from Lulu, Kobo Books, Borders Australia, Angus & Robertson and undoubtedly many other places that have branded ebookshops provided by Kobo. Oh, and of course there’s iTunes/iBooks for the iPhone and iPad and iPod Touch.

So… if you’ve got a Kindle, something shiny from apple or one of these devices or applications, there’s somewhere you can get a digital copy of Danann Frost Falls from Grace – and it’s probably a store you’re already comfortable with.

I know that it has been a few days but I was exhausted after the events last week.  I think that being emotionally spent takes its toll but wow…what a roller coaster of a ride.  I had the best time at both events and the support from friends and fans was totally overwhelming.  The audiences at both events were quite different.  At the launch, the crowd was quite loud and animated and very responsive.  At the other event, the author talk, the crowd was very serious and that was a unique experience for me, responding to two separate groups that were having different reactions to me.  The one thing that they both had in common however, was that they both responded to my presentation in a very positive way.  In both events, I could see people nodding and smiling and agreeing with the things that I had to say, of which some were serious, some sad, some happy and lots…humorous.  I was happy to realise that I wasn’t awful and that maybe I could actually do this.  The second night even proved to me that I could get better at this.  I had previously thought that I mightn’t like being in front of a crowd but in fact I enjoyed it rather immensely, as I always do whenever I am talking about my books.  I initially had been wary of being the face of both Joanne Valiukas and advocate of Danann Frost but if I want to share her story with the world, I need to speak on her behalf and I have now had the very rewarding experience of doing just that…twice now and hopefully lots more to come.  I personalised each and every book and some of my friends, Michelle, Kylie-Faye, Jayde and Bindi have all made extra book sales for me by spreading the word.  I’ve had lots of people tell me since the launch that they have read the book and could not put it down…that is so gratifying because that is my goal.  I don’t write books that you want to put down, I write books that you become protective and possessive of and if this is your reaction, then I am doing something very right.

Anyway, have a look at my facebook author page for photos from both events and the book excerpts that I promised you…one from Danann Frost Embraces the Darkness and the other from Ancient Blood One will be on my website within the hour.

Meanwhile…Enjoy the Magic.

Joanne

Well… what a day.

First up, we went in to see someone at Readings in Carlton. Long story short, a small quantity of books were left with them to see how they go, but the important thing is they’ve *got* them and Danann Frost Falls from Grace is about to grace the shelves of a Melbourne icon. If you’re in Australia and couldn’t make it to the launch and can’t get one at the author talk tomorrow, the next best thing is to get it from Readings. We’ll post a link to where it is on their site as soon as it’s listed there.

Second… Telstra. Grrr! Don’t know what the problem was – maybe they broke the string, or lost one of the tin cans, but we were without internet for most of the day. So, Jo wasn’t able to post anything earlier in the day, anywhere. I know she wanted to thank her well-wishers, but wasn’t able to.

Third… Book Launch! What a night! I have photos, and Joanne wants to post some details about the night and the excerpts she read from the sequel and book from the other series, but frankly we’re all exhausted. And we’ve got to do it all over tomorrow night at the Author Talk in Melton (YAY!). So, we’ll catch up with those details as soon as we possibly can. For now, let’s just say that Jo was very touched by the excesses of some of her existing hard-core fans (you know who you are!), and loved speaking with new people who are about to read her work for the very first time. Jo promises to be back on in the next day or so.

Today’s the big day. Joanne’s first author event, the launch of the Australian printing of Danann Frost Falls from Grace, will be at the Caroline Springs Library at 7 this evening. She’s more than a little excited, and spent much of the evening deciding what pens to take with her for the signing. It’s a very important choice, the wrong implement can do bad things to both the hand that holds it and the page it’s dragged across.

I, her humble webmonkey, spent the evening and a fair way into the wee hours a little differently. I’ve just done a re-organisation of the where-to-buy pages on the site, and created a new version of the preview edition based on the Australian edition.

I’m sure all her readers will join me in wishing her all the best for the launch.

The first run of the Australian printing should be arriving shortly.

The bad news is that you can’t have one just yet. The publication date has been set at July 14, and we haven’t even managed to get the details properly registered with Bowker for books in print yet. If you’re somewhere near Melbourne, you can get one at the launch for $20.