Posts Tagged ‘Amazon’

 

Hot on the heels of last week’s release of our historical adventure World Odyssey comes the release this week of The World Duology (World Odyssey / Fiji: A Novel).

The popularity of both novels bodes well for the duology. World Odyssey (The World Duology, #1) has already entered Amazon’s bestseller lists in its relevant category, and Fiji: A Novel (The World Duology, #2) has been a permanent fixture in Amazon’s bestseller lists in recent months.

World Odyssey (The World Duology, #1)  

        Now available as two books in one. 

Here’s the storyline:

The World Duology books are set in the nineteenth century. They follow the fortunes of three young travelers. Their dramatic adventures span sixteen years and see them engage with American Indians, Barbary Coast pirates, Aborigines, Maoris and Pacific Islanders as they travel around the world – from America to Africa, from England to the Canary Islands, to Australia, New Zealand, Samoa and Fiji.

In book one, World Odyssey, ambitious American adventurer Nathan Johnson, sheltered English missionary Susannah Drake and irrepressible Cockney Jack Halliday each follow very different paths.

World Odyssey

Nathan’s journey begins when runs away to sea and finds himself the slave of a Northwest American Indian tribe after his ship founders on the rocky coast; Susannah’s journey begins after she agrees to accompany her clergyman father to Fiji to help him run a mission station there, and they must endure a nightmare voyage they’re lucky to survive; Jack’s journey begins when he’s sentenced to seven years’ hard labor in the British penal colony of New South Wales after stealing hemp from an unscrupulous employer.

After traveling thousands of miles and experiencing the best and worst that life can offer, these three disparate individuals eventually end up in the remote archipelago of Fiji, in the South Pacific, where their lives intersect.

Fiji: A Novel

In book two, Fiji: A Novel, Jack sets himself up to trade Fijian kauri to European traders while Nathan trades muskets to the same natives Susannah and her father are trying to convert to Christianity. Conflict’s inevitable.

Susannah despises Nathan, but is also attracted to him. She soon finds she’s torn between her spiritual and sexual selves.

When their lives are suddenly endangered by marauding cannibals, all three are forced to rely on each other for their very survival.

 

The new release title is available at a discounted price to Kindle ebook readers via Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/World-Duology-Odyssey-Fiji-Novel-ebook/dp/B00HMQRMFG/

Happy reading! –Lance & James

 

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In March 2013, under the heading ‘Marketing vs. Writing: the author’s dilemma’, we posted a blog that turned out to be our most popular blog post of the year.

Judging by the response of our followers, it struck a chord. Now, almost a year later, it seems we authors face the same dilemma:  how much time to spend marketing our work and how much time to spend actually doing what we do best – write? Right?

Well, here at Morcan Books & Films, we reckon we have the answer…

But first, here’s the blog we posted back in March –

 

Marketing vs. Writing: the author’s dilemma

Posted: March 10, 2013

Up to your ears in marketing, social media, tweeting, blogging, networking etc. etc. when what you really want to be doing is write? Tell me about it!

I’ve found an excellent article online – at http://bookpromotion.weebly.com – that may help you and me both. Its author rightly points out that “Authors who don’t plan their pre & post-launch marketing can end up spending a lot of time and money trying to play catch up after publishing their books”.

The author also estimates authors spend 70 per cent of their time marketing, leaving only 30% for writing.

Here’s the (abridged) article:

The 10 Tools Every Self-Published Author Needs To Save Time

Authors who don’t plan their pre- and post-launch marketing can end up spending a lot of time and money trying to play catch up after publishing their books.  If you don’t plan properly, marketing can take twice as long as the writing and publishing process.  Feeling late to the game?  Don’t fret. The following list of resources will help save yourself from considerable frustration that most authors encounter along their literary journeys.  Both new and veteran authors alike can benefit from these online marketing platform building techniques.
The article lays out a list of marketing strategies for authors to follow. It offers “a set of goals to achieve when building out your online marketing platform.  This is not meant to be an exhaustive list.  However, we have focused on the channels that most authors pursue in their journey.”

The 10 tools offered cover the gamut of marketing options at you disposal, ranging from social media, website and email to traffic, press releases and book clubs. They allow for the pre-launch of your book, pre/post launch and post launch.

An excellent article! Again, here’s the link:  http://bookpromotion.weebly.com

 

>>>>> Fast forward to New Year’s Day (Down Under) 2014 and we believe we have the problem sussed. We’ve reversed the 70/30 ratio (of marketing to writing) and now spend at least 70% of our time doing what we love – writing!

Our rationale is writers are writers, not marketers. At some point, writers must let the market speak and not try to manipulate the hell out of it by using social media ad nauseam. The best thing writers can do is write and introduce new works to the marketplace. Build up your readers – your fan base. Let the market speak!

Sure, we tweet and blog and still use social media, but we strictly limit this to maximum 30% of our time – usually less.

In the past year we’ve released two new titles under Sterling Gate Books’ banner with another three scheduled to hit Amazon’s ‘shelves’ in the very near future. All our current novels have been regular visitors to Amazon’s bestseller lists in their appropriate categories.

Here’s our current portfolio of published titles:

 

And our new release just out:

World Odyssey (The World Duology, #1)

Scheduled for release this week is: The World Duology (World Odyssey & Fiji: A Novel).

The World Duology ebook cover 4

Coming soon are: The Orphan Conspiracies (our first non-fiction work) and Into the Americas (another historical adventure).

Hope this inspires our fellow writers to write. Keep marketing your work, but don’t let it rule your life. Do what you love doing…do what you were meant to do.

 

Here’s to a great 2014! –Lance & James

 

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Although launched less than a week ago, our new release title, World Odyssey (the World Duology, #1), is receiving feedback from readers impressed by its cover. Little wonder: the cover image is a copy of The Ninth Wave, the most celebrated work of 19th Century Russian artist Ivan Aivazovsky.

The Ninth Wave / oil on canvass / 1850

Aivazovsky was born in the Crimea to a poor Armenian family. His talent as an artist earned him sponsorship and entry to the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts from which he graduated with a gold medal. Earning awards for his early landscapes and seascapes, he went on to paint a series of portraits of Crimean coastal towns before travelling throughout Europe. In later life, his paintings of naval scenes earned him a long-standing commission from the Russian Navy stationed in the Black Sea…

Aivazovsky by Bolotov, 1876.jpg

Ivan Aivazovsky

…Aivazovsky is best known for his seascapes and coastal scenes. His technique and imagination in depicting the shimmering play of light on the waves and sea foam is especially admired, and gives his seascapes a romantic yet realistic quality that echoes the work of English watercolorist JMW Turner. Especially effective is his ability to depict diffuse sunlight and moonlight, sometimes coming from behind clouds, sometimes coming through a fog, with almost transparent layers of paint. A series of paintings of naval battles painted in the 1840s brought his dramatic skills to the fore, with the flames of burning ships reflected in water and clouds. He also painted landscapes, including scenes of peasant life in Ukraine and city life in İstanbul. -Wikipedia

We were so taken with Aivazovsky’s The Ninth Wave we chose it as the backdrop for the cover of our new release title World Odyssey (The World Duology, #1). Hope you agree it’s a great choice! We think it’s appropriate as our characters travel the world primarily by sea in this 19th Century historical adventure.

World Odyssey (The World Duology, #1) is available via Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/World-Odyssey-Duology-1-ebook/dp/B00HHVOMO0/

 

Happy reading! –Lance & James

 

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AN INVITATION TO GOODREADS MEMBERS

We invite you to follow us on Goodreads!

We are listed on this world leading books/authors/readers/literary site under our publishing company name Sterling Gate Books. Here’s the link: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7195856-sterling-gate-books

The above link takes you to our goodreads.com home page and lists our titles published to date, favorite author lists, latest updates etc.

As you’ll see, Morcan titles published to date are:

The Ninth Orphan by James MorcanFiji by Lance MorcanThe Orphan Uprising by James MorcanThe Orphan Trilogy by James MorcanThe Orphan Factory by James Morcan

The link (above) provides links to these titles – and to millions of others.

Not a member of Goodreads? If you write, read or generally love books, you should be!  Goodreads was already the world’s biggest site for readers and book recommendations before Amazon bought it out earlier this year. Then Goodreads had 16m members and rising. How many members it has now depends on who you listen to…but it appears the numbers continue to rise.

NEWS FLASH: We are soon to publish four new titles…

Before Christmas 2013 we are launching the Kindle ebook version of the prequel to our historical adventure Fiji: A Novel. Titled World Odyssey, it’s book one in The World Duology. Books one and two will also be published as a Kindle box set this year; the box set will also be published in trade paperback form next year.

In the first Quarter of 2014, we will be launching another historical adventure titled Into the Americas and also our first non-fiction title – The Orphan Conspiracies: 29 Conspiracy Theories from The Orphan Trilogy. Here’s the cover for the latter Kindle ebook…

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See you on Goodreads! –Lance & James

 

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In her revised and significantly expanded second edition of Writing a Killer Thriller, award-winning author Jodie Renner names our thriller series The Orphan Trilogy (The Ninth Orphan / The Orphan Factory / The Orphan Uprising) as a good example of a series thriller writers should read.

Recommended series

Ms Renner lists The Orphan Trilogy alongside selected works of James Patterson, Michael Crichton, Steve Berry, David Ignatius and others, describing them as “Thrillers that take you all over the world…Great for the armchair traveler!”

As the author says in her description of Writing a Killer Thriller: An Editor’s Guide to Writing Compelling Fiction:

Whether you’re planning your first novel or revising your fourth, you’ll discover lots of concrete ideas here for taking your fiction up a level or two, captivating readers, and gaining fans. Both published and aspiring authors of fast-paced, popular fiction will find these tips indispensable for plotting a riveting story and creating compelling characters, then writing a gripping opening and designing suspenseful scenes.

We haven’t read Writing a Killer Thriller yet. (Have been too busy writing to read unfortunately!). However, it’s on our ever-growing list of books to read. When we do, watch this space for our review.

Meanwhile, here’s a selection of reviews plucked from Amazon:

“Finally, someone who understands the thriller! More than ever an author must also be his own best editor and Jodie Renner is there to help. Writing a Killer Thriller should be on every thriller writer’s desk. It breaks down the thriller into its must-have component parts to write a scintillating, edge of the seat novel that will get readers buzzing and sales flowing.” ~ Robert Dugoni, New York Times bestselling author of The Jury Master and Murder One

“Writing a Killer Thriller by Jodie Renner is an in-depth journey through each component of the thriller. Renner breaks down the process into key elements, each essential to keeping the reader turning those pages. From character development to building suspense, Writing a Killer Thriller should be on the desk of every thriller author out there. A staple for the beginner, a refresher for the pro.” ~ Joe Moore, #1 Amazon and international bestselling co-author of The Blade and The Phoenix Apostles

“A killer of a thriller guide! Jodie Renner lays out, in clear, easy steps and lists, how the best writers craft their works of art – and shows how you can do it, too. A terrific how-to in avoiding the pitfalls and burnishing the gotta-haves of writing a bestselling thriller novel, by an editor who knows her way around action, drama and creating characters so fresh and real you’ll swear they were your friends.” ~ Shane Gericke, national bestselling and No. 1 Kindle bestselling author of Torn Apart

 

Warning: blatant advertising ahead!

The Orphan Trilogy is available as a Kindle ebook at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BGGM05U/

 

Happy reading! –Lance & James

 

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                                                                          To be released soon!

The Orphan Conspiracies: 29 Conspiracy Theories from The Orphan Trilogy will be a departure from the usual for us: it’s non-fiction whereas all our other published titles to date – including The Orphan Trilogy (The Ninth Orphan / The Orphan Factory / The Orphan Uprising) and Fiji: A Novel – are works of fiction.

Most of our research into conspiracy theories comes from scoping and writing The Orphan Trilogy between 2004 and 2013. The Orphan Conspiracies will highlight the 29 conspiracies that feature in the trilogy, and will provide in depth studies of each with additional comment.

Dedicated to truth-seekers and whistleblowers everywhere, just some of the conspiracies featured will include False Flag operations, MK-Ultra and the secret history of mind control, human cloning, the US Federal Reserve, suppressed technologies, Bilderberg, the pharmaceutical conspiracy, the myth of a free media, Project Paperclip, secret CIA prisons, Area 52 and, most appropriately, experimentation on orphans…and many more.

Meanwhile, The Orphan Trilogy continues to be a regular visitor to Amazon’s bestseller lists. While the series has fictional characters, it shines the spotlight on real organizations and also on shadow groups rumored to exist in the real world. In many ways it merges fiction with reality.

           

The Orphan Trilogy thriller series is available via Amazon at:         http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BGGM05U/

As one Amazon reviewer said of The Ninth Orphan (book one in the trilogy):

The authors manage to weave political intrigue, espionage, and eugenics into an exciting fabric of mystery and entertainment. The reader can’t but believe that the novel may not be only a work of fiction.

The Orphan Conspiracies will help readers bridge the gap between fact and fiction…

Watch this space! –Lance & James

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Our international conspiracy thriller series The Orphan Trilogy is currently on special thru Amazon’s Kindle Countdown Deals.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BGGM05U/

Twenty-three orphans with numbers for names from 1 to 23. Number Nine wants to escape from ‘the orphanage’.
Read the highly-rated international conspiracy thriller series in full and at a discounted price. Three novels spanning over 1,000 explosive pages…
Book One: THE NINTH ORPHAN
Book Two: THE ORPHAN FACTORY
Book Three: THE ORPHAN UPRISING
Meet Number Nine – an orphan, a spy, a lover…a master of disguise, an assassin, a shapeshifter…a freedom fighter, a human chameleon, a reformed contract killer. He’s all of the above. He’s none of the above.
Nine is enslaved by the Omega Agency, a shadowy organization seeking to create a New World Order. When he tries to break free and live a normal life, Nine is hunted by his mentor and father figure, and by a female orphan he spent his childhood with. On the run, his life becomes entwined with his beautiful French-African hostage and a shocking past is revealed…A past that involves the mysterious Pedemont Orphanage in Chicago, Illinois.
Standing in the way of Nine’s freedom are his fellow orphans – all elite operatives like himself – who are under orders to terminate him. Nine finds himself in a seemingly infinite maze of cloak and dagger deception. Time and again, he must call on all his advanced training to survive.
But can the ninth-born orphan ever get off the grid? To find out you’ll need to go on a tumultuous journey around the world to such far-flung locations as the Arctic, Asia, Europe, the Amazon, Africa and South Pacific islands. The frenetic cat-and-mouse chase moves from airports to train stations and hidden torture prisons, taking the reader on a page turning, frightening non-stop action ride into the world of corrupted power that goes beyond conspiracy theories to painful reality.
Fast-paced, totally fresh and original, filled with deep and complex characters, The Orphan Trilogy is a controversial, high-octane thriller series with an edge. Merging fact with fiction, it illuminates shadow organizations rumored to actually exist in our world. The three novels explore a plethora of conspiracies involving real organizations like the CIA, MI6, and the UN, and public figures such as President Obama, Queen Elizabeth II as well as the Clinton, Marcos and Bush families.
 
The Orphan Trilogy exposes a global agenda designed to keep the power in the hands of a select few. Nine’s oppressors are a shadow government acting above and beyond the likes of the White House, the FBI, the Pentagon and the NSA.
One of the Omega Agency’s black ops employs MK-Ultra mind control technology on genetically engineered agents to facilitate the agendas of those in power. When Nine successfully deprograms himself from MK-Ultra, all hell breaks loose. But to gain his freedom he must bust out of the Pedemont Orphanage and break into Omega’s other orphanages and underground medical laboratories around the world. In the process he uncovers chilling scientific experiments taking place on children. Could something like this ever take place? Or, is it already taking place somewhere in the world right now?
The trilogy also has a poignant, romantic sub-plot. It contains the kind of intimate character portraits usually associated with psychological thrillers.
Book/Film/TV references: The Manchurian Candidate, The Saint, The Da Vinci Code, Bond, Dark Angel, The Jackal, Mission Impossible, Salt, The Pretender, Bourne, The Island, Taken.
This unique, unpredictable and epic spy thriller series covers everything from political assassinations and suppressed science to young adult romance and accelerated learning techniques.
Buckle up for a nail-biter to the very end.
Written by father-and-son writing team Lance & James Morcan (authors of Fiji: A Novel), The Orphan Trilogy was first published in 2013 by Sterling Gate Books. A feature film adaptation of The Ninth Orphan is currently being developed.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BGGM05U/

The Scars of Ambition – by Jason Letts

Book splurge:

The ancient family sword’s immaculate steel blade reminded him that there were still parts of the world where this was the only weapon people had, the old ways were still alive and well, and there were creatures out there and powerful things beyond what he could ever imagine.”

Lowell Bracken had complete control. His empire, his ruthless executives, his family’s legacy, his wife, his children, they all had a part to play in the near omnipotent control he exerted in Cumeria. But a freak attack exposed how tenuous that control really is, and Lowell scrambles to preserve it, discovering he is only playing a small part in larger, darker schemes for control.

From the shadows, mysterious and disturbing threats disrupt the already-turbulent business landscape in Cumeria. When blood is spilled, the fight for survival becomes more than just a euphemism for going out of business, and the Brackens’ struggles to retain order might be the only thing keeping all of Cumeria from plunging into chaos.

 

Book review: 5 Stars

Plaudits for this superior read

Sci-fi/fantasy novels are not my preferred genre. So it says a lot for this first book of ‘The Cumerian Unraveling’ that I literally couldn’t put it down and I finished reading it in one sitting!

It’s a quick read. This may have something to do with the fact it’s only 95,000 words give or take, but I
suspect it’s more to do with the superior storyline crafted by author Jason Letts: it’s fast-paced and action-filled with very little downtime.

The book’s catchy tagline – “The battlefield meets the boardroom” – nicely sums up this highly original story of corporate espionage, wealthy families and political intrigue. It beautifully sets up the sequel, ‘The Vendetta Clause’. Can’t wait! -Lance

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The Kindle edition of this novel is available via Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/Scars-Ambition-Cumerian-Unraveling-ebook/dp/B00DO9HMXC/

Other books by Jason Letts:

Product Details  Product Details  Product Details

Happy reading! –Lance & James

 

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The Pinata-Maker’s Daughter (The Marisol Trilogy) – by Eileen Clemens Granfors

Book splurge:
In this worthy coming-of-age prequel to Some Rivers End on the Day of the Dead, we follow the struggle of Carmen Principia to achieve her dreams, despite her impoverished beginnings as the Pinata-Maker’s daughter in San Ysidro, California. She has a college degree in mind; her mother wants her to hone her skills in what else? pinata-making! Add relationships with men and a challenging roommate. The results are an emotional, sometimes comic, adventure in learning about the real world beyond the ivory tower of the U.
Book review:  5 Stars 
It was with some misgivings that this middle-aged male read this coming-of-age tale about Carmen, a Mexican girl embarking on her journey through life in a new land. Wow…was I pleasantly surprised!
The author’s turn of phrase hooked me in from the Prologue onwards. (Try this sample excerpt: In Mexico City, I felt like a sparrow among flocks of parakeets, the colorful clothes and the chatter of thousands of people. Mama spread her striped serape to draw me close and keep me safe. I trembled against her like a shy toddler.)
Eileen Granfors’ decision to relate young Carmen’s endearing story in the First Person has proved masterful. This reader felt as though he was right there, experiencing the highs and lows of the piñata-maker’s daughter and her over-protective solo mom as they carved out a new life for themselves over the border, in southern California.
I unreservedly recommend this book to anyone – male or female – who enjoys stories about love, families, relationships, traditions and traditional values. You won’t be disappointed. -Lance
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The Kindle edition of this novel is available via Amazon at: www.amazon.com/The-Pinata-Makers-Daughter-Marisol-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00EUDYXH4/
Other books by Eileen Granfors:
Product Details  Product Details  Product Details
Happy Reading! -Lance & James
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Book three in our conspiracy thriller series The Orphan Trilogy has maintained its average 5-star rating with Amazon reviewers with a stellar review from Lynelle Clark, Editor of the respected ‘Aspired Writer’ literary blog.

The Orphan Uprising

Here’s Ms Clark’s (abridged) review:

***** Great end to a series

A sad but fitting ending to a great series. It was my privilege to read all three books in this series, and what a wonderful and exciting read it was.

Book 3 continued years later with Nine and Seventeen as the main characters. Isabella in her supporting role as wife, mother and sister-in-law brought the human aspect back in as their struggle continue to outrun and outwit the Omega Agency.

This time the Agency’s target was Nine’s son, seven year old Francis. Abducted from his home, we once again traveled the world with Nine as he searched for his son. As always you are drawn into the plot as it unfolds with its many layers, that kept you guessing and hoping until the very end…

Fast paced and well written the story meet up with the family, Isabella far advance in her second pregnancy, and Nine struggling with a heart condition when their son is abducted. It took all of Nine’s skills to search and destroy the Agency that once trained him. Now he used everything he knew against them, running against time to get his son from this diabolic group.

Led by Naylor, they did everything they could to prevent Nine…This man was brutal, ruthless, and a heartless bastard with no emotions as he tried to catch Nine and Isabella, using people as he wished with no second thought. Their was no remorse as he hunts them down, his main objective to get them out of the way to go ahead with his cloning project, with Francis as his main focus…

I loved the way the authors brought in each orphan as Nine and Seventeen met them, reminiscing about their youth before they did the ultimate…As always the book was filled with descriptive and in-depth scenes, interesting characters and great story line. From Tahiti, Greenland, America and to the heart of the DRC this was evident. Plotting and scheming with Drug Lords and Militia Captain’s to get the job done…

Nine’s determination, skills and cunningness put him ahead of the Agency, willing to risk all to save his son. His humanity more at the forefront as he raced against his own heart problems, not willing to stop until…

A great book and series I can recommend to all readers who loves a good spy thriller with all the elements of action, adventure and humanity inside to give you hours of enjoyable reads…Loved it.

For Lynelle Clark’s full review go to:  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BFC66DM/

For anyone interested in The Orphan Trilogy box set (3 books in 1) go to: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BGGM05U/

 

The Orphan Trilogy (The Ninth Orphan / The Orphan Factory / The Orphan Uprising) 

                                               

Happy reading! –Lance & James

 

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