Chapter 9
"In which Dr. Veedermeier asks for a favor, and gives a strange piece of advice."
"In which Dr. Veedermeier asks for a favor, and gives a strange piece of advice."
UPDATE: I just sent out Chapter 9 as of 9:35 PM Eastern on May 10, 2011. If you are a member of the Secret Society and didn't get your email, email me again and I'll make sure you get on the list. I've never had to delve this deeply into Gmail before, so getting everybody into "My Contacts" might be a bit sloppy at first...
Hola, folks! Welcome to the Secret Society of Updates! If you haven't read previous days, be sure to email me at peterandthevampires(at symbol)gmail.com to continue getting these chapters through email!
Here's the update that Secret Society Members have received:
Hola, all!
First, a little business:
1) Many have asked when physical copies of the books will be available. I definitely plan to do them, but each book will cost somewhere around $400 to get ready for printing (I would pay someone else to format them and do the back covers). Since I’m already in the hole for the ebook covers and formatting, I’m going to wait awhile to do the print versions. It might be 6 months – I would love to have them ready for the holidays.
2) But don’t wait to buy the physical copies! If these stories have given you ANY enjoyment over the last months (or years), I ask you to please buy a copy of the ebooks. If you can only afford 99 cents, get PETER AND THE VAMPIRES. If you can afford $7 US, get all three. The reason is not for money, it’s for the exposure. I hope that if I concentrate enough buyers on one day – right now, I’m thinking May 18th – then the book might land somewhere in the top 400 on Kindle, and maybe in the top 10 on some of the lists (like Horror and Fantasy > Supernatural). If it does that, more people will see it. And the people who see it, the more people will buy it. Which will hopefully build like a snowball in promoting the book. And if that happens, I can devote more time to writing – which means you get more PETER AND THE… stories faster. It may not happen like that at all, but it’s worth a shot.
3) I’m still working out other tactics, but if you are willing, I would really really REALLY appreciate you posting something about it on your Facebook page when we do the Big Book Launch Day. I know that I buy a lot of stuff on the recommendation of friends; if you’re passionate about the PETER stories, I could really use the help in telling people about it when May 18th rolls around.
4) In fact, if you don’t mind, go ahead and friend me now on Facebook: I'm darrenpillsbury1 (look for a guy with a red shirt in the profile picture).
5) Also, I’ll need reviews on the books. That will be key. If you don’t mind, please post a review on Kindle (or Nook/BarnesAndNoble.com if that’s where you buy it) after May 18th. In fact, I think there’s a way to review things you haven’t specifically bought, so even if you can’t afford to buy the books, you can still leave a review.
6) What else…if you have a blog and wouldn’t mind reviewing the book, that would be awesome. If you’re a member of Goodreads or another website that reviews ebooks, a review would be DOUBLE AWESOME.
7) I am open to giving bribes. For those who want a little something extra for your efforts, let me know. Want your name to be mentioned in one of the books, perhaps as one of Peter and Dill’s classmates? Hmmmm…what would you be willing to do for a bit of immortalization in the Peterverse?
I also have a lot of villains to name over the course of the next 60 stories or so. The promotional “pricetag” on that would require a lot, but I’m open.
Send me your ideas, either through email or on the blog, and I’ll put them out there for all Secret Society Members to see!
Anyway, enough shameless promotion. Thanks to those who have continued posting on the blog – which will still continue, in its currently altered form – and drop by and post if you haven’t already!
Enjoy the next installment! It’s not creepy yet…but we’re getting there awful fast. Soon I will be advising you to not read the updates before bedtime. Or before meals with marinara sauce.
Get that installment by emailing me at peterandthevampires(at symbol goes here)gmail.com!
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8 comments:
Hmm as cool as it would be to see my name in the book again (Jennifer), it seems too much like selling out.
One of the problems of Tales of MU, other than the bad writing, was when the author started selling names to buildings and characters for money and other donations. It really cheapened the writing and whole experience. I wouldn't want you to fall victim to the same thing and have to make names fit into your stories because someone bought it. I think a little byline thanking your blog readers in a book dedication would be cool enough.
Keep it classy. ;)
Also can't wait for the ebook. Maybe my husband will finally read Peter and the vampires if I buy it and put the ebook on his phone. Make sure there's a big anouncement so I can get one. Is $7 a discounted price for getting all three books at once?
WV nospin: Nobounce, Noplay.
Nospace.
I agree for the most part with Jennifer. There are things I'd love to see happen in the stories, but only if they felt true to the stories, not because I gave you 99¢ for each nuance. I'm terrible at self-promotion, though, so I appreciate that you're proactive in getting the word out. I'm eager to see how things evolve from here.
Did not get Chapter 9, unless it's on my laptop!
Dr. V is back to being too friendly. Its good to see that Peter is still wary of him.
I'm really curious what's gonna happen next. There are so many potential plot threads, it is getting almost impossible to predict anything (except the obvious). Peter has spotted, as far as I can tell, most of the significant things though.
Jennifer -
Hmmmm...a good point, and duly noted. I'll respond again after I answer Todd, too.
Yaaaay! Definitely put them thar ebooks (if you don't mind buying multiples; if VAMPIRES is all you can afford, no worries) on your husband's phone on May 25th (the Big Launch Day)! There's a link on Chapter 10's page for downloading the Kindle App for iPhone, Android, or Windows phones! Thanks!
Nope, $7 (actually $6.97) is just all three purchase prices together - 99 cents for VAMPIRES, and $2.99 each for FRANKENSTEIN and WEREWOLVES.
So anybody who can't afford the latter ones, that's cool - but you can afford 99 cents, right? COME ONNNNN.
And I KNOW everybody can afford a free Kindle app download.
Todd -
Now that WOULD be crazy:
"Hey Darren, can you have Gwen, like, shoot a guy in the head? Here's three bucks, dude! Make it happen!"
That request would come from Dill, if he exists somewhere in the real world.
The character name bit was more along the lines of a casual mention. I've come up with names like Susie Wong and Andrew something, but I can't remember the others (like the guy who was super excited that his uncle owned one of the COWS THAT GOT DESTROYED in "Werewolves" - Bill Halperin, maybe?). It was a suggestion that, hey, if you can get five of your friends to buy the ebooks, I'll use YOUR name as a random school kid in a future story, instead of just thinking up a name.
(Literally, sometimes I just create minor characters' names from combinations of author names on book spines on my bookshelf. Or name them after people I actually know, or knew. Eric the Ranger was named after a good friend, and Jennifer in BOOGEYMEN was actually named after my first humongous crush in Junior High.)
And the villain offer was more along the lines of, "Hey, you posted on Facebook and got FIFTY friends to buy the ebooks? Heck, I'll name some as-yet-undisclosed villain in the future after you for that!" *Fine print stipulates that it might take a year or more, though.
You know, instead of Chubbs, or Jon, or Kyle. Actually, no, Chubbs would still have to be Chubbs. But Jon or Kyle might could've been Alec or...Todd, even!
Cyrus Gimler or Grimoire would have always kept their weird names, though, because...well...'Bob' the evil mannequin just doesn't have the same ring.
And it was more of a one-shot thing, for this initial launch, and not a longstanding offer.
But I do understand the concern, and I thank you and Jennifer both for pointing out the potential pitfalls. I'll certainly think it over some more...
And yeah, nobody's getting anything named after them for 99 cents. Not happening.
Mary -
Check and see if you got 8,9, and 10 in the most recent mailing. If not, email me again!
Eldoran -
What?! YOU TOO? Eldoran, you're going to have to join the "I Distrust Dr. Veedermeier" Club.
Good to know this one's a little more unpredictable - thanks! That's what I like to hear!
You know, instead of Chubbs, or Jon, or Kyle. Actually, no, Chubbs would still have to be Chubbs. But Jon or Kyle might could've been Alec or...Todd, even!
When you put it that way, how can I resist? I've always wanted to be mistaken for a homicidal, megalomaniacal -- maybe I should stop there, if we want to avoid spoilers.
Todd -
Hahahahahaha!
You're right, we should keep spoilers to a minimum.
Especially if law enforcement officials are monitoring your Blogger profile online...for...some reason.
By the way, I am so happy with a new story idea (for realz, not a joke) that I can't resist sharing it here.
In the next book, which starts right after CRAZIES, I already have two of the four (or five, maybe) stories squared away. But I have to figure out the other two, which is always a struggle. BOOGEYMEN, for instance - it took me forever to commit to that story idea.
But after some of the horrors in CRAZIES (and potentially in one of the tales in the next volume), I want to do a couple of lighter stories, and I've hit on an idea.
Dill mentions it in one of the books, though I can't remember where.
Two words:
Monkey rodeo.
Ohhhhh yeeeeeah, people. It's ON.
When he mentioned if that ever happens again stay in room and someone will come and get you, makes me think he just sent for help using their phones, and they need to stay out of the way while he gets broken out or other various bad things happen. seems like he was talking about a specific event that is going to happen soon.
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