Jordan Summers

Yesterday BLOOD LITE 2 came out in mass market paperback. I haven’t picked my copies up yet, but I will. (I keep three copies of all my paperbacks.) It’ll probably be my last paperback release for a while, since I have no idea when (or if) I’ll sell my completed young adult novel. Such is publishing.

As for my future plans, I’ve released Phantom Warriors: Bacchus. It’s available now at Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon. I’m finishing edits on Phantom Warriors: Saber-tooth now. I hope to have it formatted and ready to put up by tomorrow. Once it’s done, I’ll read through Hot Shot (an original long contemporary romance novella that is a follow up to my Kensington story, Private Investigations in Wicked Women On Top).

After I finish all the above, I’ll complete edits on my YA and begin the agent querying process. I’m no longer looking for an agent to represent my romance books. I plan to self-publish anything that falls into that category, including short novels and novellas that are tied to all my current series. The only exception will be if I submit short works to Harlequin or Samhain. If I do so, they will not be tied to anything that I’ve currently got going. Other than the two novellas that I mentioned above that are still in the process of edits, I won’t be releasing anything else this year. Next year, depending on how long it takes me to write my next YA, I plan to write at least three/four new short novels/novellas. One will be the third Phantom Warrior book called Phantom Warriors: Talon (It’s already started.), another will be a Lords of the Night novella (Josephine’s story), there will be a Ghost Hunter Chronicles follow up, and a Dead World novella. Between those and my young adult books, I should be plenty busy.

I have no idea how the agent querying process will go given the state of the industry and the fact that so many agents are becoming publishers (whether they call themselves that or not). I suspect it will be quite difficult–as always. I cannot do anything about the state of the industry. All I can do is write the best books that I can. The rest will sort itself out in the wash.

I just finished editing and formatting Phantom Warriors: Bacchus. I also started editing Phantom Warriors: Saber-tooth. Depending on how long my dentist appointment takes tomorrow, I should be able to get it done. That will leave one long novella left to edit. It should be interesting because I haven’t read HOT SHOT in years. The good thing is I’d prepared it for submission. The bad news is that was YEARS ago. To say my writing has changed is an UNDERSTATEMENT. YIKES!!!

I have so much work to do before I leave for the Novelist Inc. Conference. I’m really starting to feel the pressure. I have to get the novellas edited this week, then I’ll have exactly 18 days to finish edits on my YA. I have two hundred and sixty something pages to go. GULP! I have a feeling I’m going to be scarce–even more so than I already am. Which is a drag, since there are a few blog entries that I’d really like to make this week. Maybe I’ll do those in the mornings, when my brain is useless.

In the meantime, here is the cover for Phantom Warriors: Saber-tooth. As you might guess, it’s rather difficult to get a photo of a saber-tooth tiger, so we had to make do. It’s not as striking as Bacchus, but I still like it.

Found out the other day that my book, CRIMSON from the Dead World series is out of print on Amazon. My guess is it won’t be long before Barnes and Noble follows. I have mixed feelings about this happening. It’s a little sad because anyone starting my series now will have to buy the book used or via ebook version. I knew it would happen someday, but I thought it would be RED that went out of print first since it’s technically the oldest (i.e. the earliest release date). On a positive note, I hope this means that I’ll eventually be able to get this series back from Tor. I’d really like to rework the books. But that will be down the road.

For now, I have the mass market release of BLOOD LITE 2 to celebrate. It comes out on Tuesday the 27th.

I’m halfway through edits on PHANTOM WARRIORS: BACCHUS. It’s taking longer than I’d anticipated (story of my life) because I’ve changed a few things in the story, including character names. I’m hoping to have it finished by the end of the weekend. Tomorrow morning dh and I are going for a hike (got to get ready for Switzerland), then I’m going to spend a few hours working since the Taylor Lautner movie I wanted to see is getting slaughtered by the critics. (Man, I thought some book reviews were bad.) They aren’t anything compared to the write-ups on Abduction. :-O If anyone is brave enough to go see it, let me know what you think. I really love action movies, but I do want some story to them.

I finished typing in the first hundred pages of edits on my YA last night. I’ve decided to finish editing the Phantom Warriors before I tackle the rest of the book. I don’t want anymore interruptions.

I also decided to have Frauke redesign my cover for The Ghost Hunter Chronicles: Solomon’s Seals. To say she outdid herself it an understatement. I LOVE this cover:

If you hadn’t guessed, it’s my anniversary. I must’ve been especially nice, since dh got me a Kindle. I plan to take him out to dinner. Personally, I think I’m getting the better deal. We’re celebrating lucky thirteen. I’m weird because I’ve always thought of 13 as a lucky number. I suppose with numbers and superstitions, they are what you make of them.

This week is going to be pretty busy work wise and social wise. Tomorrow, I’m off to get my hair done. No idea if the guy is going to cut it, but I’m liking what he’s been doing to it, so fingers crossed. On Wed. a friend and I are going to see THE HELP. We’ve already packed the tissues. On Friday, I’ll be seeing a flight attendant friend of mine. Around all these fun things, I have to finish editing Bacchus, Saber-tooth, Hot Shot and my YA.

Until then, I’m off to spend time with dh. Talk to you later.

Sorry, I tried to post yesterday and my site wouldn’t let me on. Yes, I’m still having technical difficulties. I will get them taken care of soon.

Had a good/hectic time while home visiting. My Aunt’s 90th birthday party went off without a hitch, though it did tire her out quite a bit. I don’t think she expected to have to take so many pictures. If I showed you her picture you’d NEVER believe that she was ninety. Seriously. Very few gray hairs on her dark head and not many wrinkles. We’re talking terminator genes. Like any visit back home, the trip had both highs and lows. We went to the graveyard to visit my aunt who passed a few weeks ago. I couldn’t make it down for the funeral, but I was determined to pay my respects. We drove a few hours to get there. It turned out to be a really wonderful day despite the sadness that surrounded the trip. We had a nice lunch with her daughters, then went to visit a river that I grew up playing in. This particular river has cradled my family for generations. It feels alive to me and will always be part of the ‘family’. It’s my Chattahoochee.

While I was home I found out that a friend of mine killed himself back in May. I’ve been trying to get in touch with him for the past several months and now I know why I haven’t been able to. This marks the third suicide that has struck close to home. The one thing I hate more than anything about suicide is never having answers.

I managed to edit a couple of times while I was visiting, but I didn’t get far. It’s hard to do that and visit with folks. I really need to learn how to balance both, especially since dh and I are looking at staying places for longer periods of time.

I have exactly four weeks before I head off for the Novelist Inc. conference. In that time, I need to finish edits on my YA, edit Phantom Warriors: Bacchus, edit Phantom Warriors: Saber-tooth, and Hot Shot. It’s a LOT of work to get done, so I will be putting my head down/nose to the grindstone, etc. until I leave.

In the meantime, feast your eyes on two of my new covers:

Today is my Aunt’s 90th birthday!!! Tomorrow we’ll be celebrating with cake and punch. Should be fun. It’s been a while since I’ve seen that side of the family. Can’t wait!

I’m off to visit family. I’ve tucked Bacchus in my handy dandy carryon, so hopefully I’ll manage to get him edited while I’m away. I’ll also be sharing my new covers once I return.

Hope you guys have a great week. Talk to you soon. Ciao!

August finally showed a change in my number of sales. Prior to Aug., like I said in my last post, I was only selling between 275 to 400 copies a month on Nook and Kindle combined. I hadn’t looked at All Romance Ebooks because I’d completely forgotten that I could access the sales records there. Doh!

In August, I sold the exact same amount at Kindle and at Nook (i.e. 275 copies in the US. Not exactly setting the world on fire, but certainly better than before.) Why is that interesting? Well, because it’s the first time it’s EVER happened. I know exactly how much money I have coming from Nook. What I’m super curious about is if Kindle will match the amount. I’ve had a couple of occasions where I thought the math was a little off. Not a lot, but enough to where I thought it was lower than it should be. I’m sure it has to do with the various foreign calculations, but this month I’ll know for sure since I have a solid base to work with.

As for total sales, I’ve come the closest I’ve ever come to selling a thousand books a month. I sold 742 ebooks this month. I hope to see that number rise once I get the last of my books up (still waiting on the covers) and the rest of the books released on All Romance Ebooks. I’m in the process of getting a few of them converted now. What have I learned from all this? I’ve learned that I probably (anything’s possible) won’t make big money off any ONE book. Like I said, it’s always possible, but far less likely given the genres I’ve been releasing. That said, it looks like if I can manage to do what I talked about in several earlier posts (i.e. release a few novellas/short novels a year), then I could start making a decent living. I’m so not there yet. I think that will still take another six to eight months, but overall that’s not too bad.

Obviously none of the above takes my YA’s into consideration. Those will still head to N.Y. I’m strictly thinking about the series I have started like the Atlanteans, Phantom Warriors, Lords of the Night, and the Dead World. There are other spin-off stories such as Paris After Dark that I may revisit, since I REALLY enjoyed writing that book. But that will be down the road. First I have to re-edit and re-release the Phantom Warriors and a follow-up to my anthology story from Wicked Women on Top. After that, I plan to tackle the next Lords of the Night story and the third Phantom Warrior story, which I started over five years ago. That, and finishing up the YA’s, should keep me busy for the foreseeable future.

I do have a couple questions for my readers: What stories have you wanted me to write? Is there any particular series you’ve been waiting to see more of?

Thanks for the input!