You can now get my novels in print!

Shift Happens and Gym Dandy are now available in hard copy.

I’ll have a few copies with me at the upcoming Toronto Book Fair.

Lost Boys 2.0 will follow shortly!

 

New and improved

As I learn more about indie publishing, I go back and improve the eBooks I’ve created. Today I uploaded new and prettier files (content not changed) to Kobo, Amazon and AllRomanceEbooks.

I also uploaded to Barnes+Noble via Draft2Digital. Still waiting to find a friendly Mac I can borrow to upload to iTunes.

Then I headed over to Createspace. Hard copy coming soon!

Cue STRIPPER music for the BIG REVEAL!

Here’s the first of my new book covers… for fan-fave SHIFT HAPPENS… drum roll please…. And sing it with me now… Da da, da da, dum duh dum dah…

 

 

Take it off, baby! Let’s see what ya got!

 

 

Can’t see. Bigger is better. I can’t wait!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ta da! Cue the big finish! SHIFT HAPPENS: A CHANGE IS AS GOOD AS A QUEST!

Is that not awesome? Cover artist Willsin Rowe outdid himself.

More info on the book, here.

To pre-order on Amazon, go here.

Marketing without Annoyance!

MARKETING MADNESS! For months–years even–I’ve been shoving anything I find about marketing into a folder (3 actually: email, hard copy, downloads). So now I’m reading through it all and making notes of what I need to do to achieve: PROMOTION SANS ANNOYANCE*! (I don’t want to annoy you or me. You’re welcome. 😉 )

So here’s something I came across today. You can download Guy Kawasaki’s book on self publishing (APE) for FREEEEE! from BookBaby today. He’s got a lot of interesting info on selling directly that I hadn’t come across before. Oh, and about 400 nicely laid out pages of other useful stuff.

I also purchased all the RWA 2013 workshops (audio) on self-publishing (you can purchased just that set for US$55.00) so I can listen to them as I get my Fitbit steps in. Today on the way to Weight Watchers (lost another .6 of a pound!) I listened to the first session:

Self-Publishing Roundtable: Marketing Speaker: S.R. Johannes. Is your mind spinning with marketing ideas, but you don’t know where to start? Join marketing pro and best-selling author S.R. Johannes in an interactive roundtable discussion that gets down to specifics.

Joannes has a strong background in marketing, and after 2 years of failing to sell to trad publishing, she spent 6 months bringing her book to market where she quickly rose to best-seller-dom. While listening to her lecture on my iPhone, I switched over to a little productivity ap called Paperless and dictated a few notes to myself. Here’s what I wanted to remember:

Pick your top 3 to 5 target markets. In her case, she’d written a teen thriller involving environmental themes, so she googled the hell out of “green teen” and related terms. For me, say, my B.O.O. series, I’d google m/m-GBLT, shapeshifters, funny. And variations thereof. Then I need to figure out where the people who like funny paranormal books featuring GBLT themes hang out. Go and post–give stuff–worthwhile content, free books, etc. NEVER JUST PUSH YOUR BOOK!

Figure out other authors who write like you. See if they want to do something cooperative, or just write: “If you liked Andrea Speed’s humorous books, you might like mine…” Something.

Set up a blog tour. Never say no. Sometimes blogs with a smaller following have a greater trust factor so are more likely to reach a receptive and engaged audience. Give away a free book on every stop. Create a series of blog posts with topics and offer themes: for example, ask the blog host: “do you want my post on marketing, or the one on GBLT, or my post on Jaguars, etc?

Since marketing is my background, I think I’ll make this a series. Is that a good idea? Yes? No? Something else you’ll tell me in the comments?

And since last week’s lecture I attended on blogging said you must include infographics, here’s the best one ever.

I’m a tri-brid author!

So what’s up with me?

I’m about to be officially a tri-brid author. Yes, I did make up that word. It means I’m:
1) e-published,
2) traditionally published, and
3) about to go indie (self-published.)
I’ve got several backlist books returned to me as well as two brand spanking new books I’m editing.
Here’s a comprehensive list:

	TITLE	Word Count	Genre	Tagline	Status	Links
GBLT books by Storm Grant
1	Re-Inventing Love	60,000	Steampunk historical, new adult, gay romance with paranormal elements	The road to love is paved with good inventions	NEW–to be e-published	Coming soon!
2	Lost Boys 2.0: Book #2 in The Chronicles of B.O.O. series	66,000	New adult, gay, contemporary, paranormal multicultural mystery with romantic elements	A man trapped between life and death must partner with Secret Agent Peter Pan to save a new generation of Lost Boys.	NEW–to be self-pubbed Summer 2014	Coming soon!
3	Shift Happens: Book #1 in The Chronicles of B.O.O. series	80,000	Contemporary Fantasy m/m–Won a Rainbow Award	A change is as good as a quest.	reprint–to be self-pubbed Summer 2014	Coming soon!
4	Tart & Soul	15,000	Humorous m/m contemporary	It’s a business doing pleasure with you.	reprint–to be self-pubbed Summer 2014	Coming soon!
5	Assume the Position (formerly “Lust in Translation”)	9,000	Sexy, humorous m/m contemporary	Can false arrest lead to true love?	reprint–to be self-pubbed Summer 2014	Coming soon!
6	Gym Dandy	56,000	Humorous m/m contemporary	A gay tale of seduction and denial, humor and sweat.	reprint–to be self-pubbed Summer 2014	Coming soon!
7	Dual Citizenship	1,000	Humorous m/m contemporary	Putting the “B” in LGBT! Available in the Best Bi Anthology	Available from Circlet Press	Link
8	Sucks & Blows	4,500	wacky urban fantasy	No greater love has a vampire than for his dentist.	Available from Riptide Press	Link
9	Few Are Chosen	13,000	urban fantasy, multicultural, YA–Won a Bookie Award	Sparks fly between virgin teenage demon hunters when the Chosen One turns out to be… the Chosen Two?	Available from Riptide Press	Link
10	Be Prepared	1,100	m/m romance	In the Coming Together with Pride anthology	Available on Amazon	Link
“Straight” books by Gina X. Grant / Storm Grant
11	The Reluctant Reaper: Book 1 in The Reluctant Reaper Series	62,000	wacky urban fantasy	Death is what happens while you’re making other plans.	Available from Simon & Schuster	Link
12	Scythe Does Matter: Book 2 in The Reluctant Reaper Series	46,000	wacky urban fantasy	Be careful what you wish for, it just might get you!	Available from Simon & Schuster	Link
13	Esprit de Corpse: Book 3 in The Reluctant Reaper Series	50,000	wacky urban fantasy	Hell is where the heart is.	Available from Simon & Schuster	Link
14	One Scythe Fits All: Book 4 in The Reluctant Reaper Series	30,000	wacky urban fantasy	So a Grim Reaper, an insane murderer and a 700-year-old poet walk through a portal. Stop me if you’ve heard this one.	WIP	Coming soon!
15	Creep	6,000	m/f erotic romance, horror	Typical folk tale—only the narrator remains to tell the tale.	Available from Excessica Publishing	Link
Freeeeee! Stories by Gina & Storm
16	A Wolf in Cheap Clothing	700	Contemporary Fantasy	A naked werewolf story	Free!	Link
17	Click Click	300	Autobiography	An alarmingly abridged autobiography	Free!	Link
18	Continental Divide	1,200	Future History	A future history of sorts	Free!	Link
19	Grapes	300	Contemporary Crime	A dark tale of murder by inaction	Free!	Link
20	Lost and Found	750	Contemporary paranormal	A spooky dog story	Free!	Link
21	Sea Monsters	750	Contemporary paranormal horror	A horrific tale of seduction and body-snatching	Free!	Link
22	Wheels	175	Contemporary m/m not romance	A sad tale of insecurity	Free!	Link
	PSSST. Stormy Stormheller’s fanfiction is available here:			Sentinel, Due South, Stargate Atlantis, etc.	Free!	Link

 

#1 with a bullet

This is what the Amazon listing pages for THE RELUCTANT REAPER look like for both the US and Canada: (I added the red burst.)

#1 with a bullet

THE RELUCTANT REAPER IS NOW #1 on Amazon Canada’s contemporary fantasy list! I’m on the same page as greats like Neil Gaiman and Patricia Briggs!

Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon.ca Bestsellers Rank:
#101 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#1 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Contemporary
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Contemporary

And at Amazon.com:
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #366 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#5 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Urban
#7 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Humor & Satire > General Humor
#7 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Contemporary

Climbing the ranks with a bullet!

Thanks to YOU, THE RELUCTANT REAPER is shooting up the Amazon ranks!

Amazon.com Best Sellers Rank:
#1,492 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#20 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Humor & Satire > General Humor
#20 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Urban
#22 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Humor

 Meanwhile, in Canada:

Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#242 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#3 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Contemporary
#3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Contemporary

Woo-hoo!

2013 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,100 times in 2013. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 3 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Make Your Own Book Trailer

Make Your Own Book Trailer.

A handy tutorial.

I’ve made a couple. Here’s the one for Gym Dandy: