Book Reviews and Plans of greater Adventure

Traveling the world is great. But it comes with some challenges. These are pretty much invisible if you’re just doing the tourist thing. The release of Redemption’s Bullet has made me much aware of these issues. The new website had to be created, and this meant interaction with designers in different time zones. Vision is a personal thing, and the communication of those ideas is a difficult process without the added challenge of doing everything via email. Inga and I are returning to Russia for the summer, and that included the usual hoops of getting a visa to enter the Russian Federation. This was my third such visa application, so I am well versed in the process. Being able to read Russian and understand the sentence structure was a real benefit. ScottDCovey

The book released in Europe first, then America, and finally Canada. I had to stay on top of the timing to ensure no issues in the distribution pipeline occurred. The first review was from a European fan, and it went live in America about the same time it got published in Europe. It took several more days to show up on the Canadian side. But it is there now.

I don’t believe in paid reviews. I have talked about this before but, I think it needs to be mentioned again. Book reviews from reviewers or worse from other authors are deceptive. If a publisher asks one of their authors to review a book by a junior writer how honest can it be? They both have the same boss, and the purpose of the boss’s company is to sell books. So how realistic is the review? I have a few friend reviews on my first book, but each of those people said in the review they were friends of mine. Honest reviews are from regular people that buy the book and post a review. I like this policy that Amazon and Apple has. 

Redemption’s Bullet got a little more exposure this time, and it has a couple of Blog reviews. This helps the book show up in search engines. It helps interested readers find it and me through the new website. I applied the same rules as Amazon’s policy. I didn’t pay for the review. The reviewer bought his copy of the book, and I had no influence on what they wrote. The review is found here.  

http://columbusfriends.org/books/redemptions-bullet/

And here 

http://ebook-gift.com/books/redemptions-bullet/

I will copy and past the reviewers impressions for you inside this blog without any editing as I want it to remain truthful. 

Review of Redemption’s Bullet by Columbus Book Friends.

“The story starts with old sea containers being used as drone flight centers. I liked the description of dirty socks and rotten tulips. Those unique details are what engage me into a story. Another thing that I find interesting about this story is that it's not a "rags to riches" or coming up from the bottom type of story. Instead, the story starts with the character already being a dictator of a country (with much of the press hating him). The inciting incident (the event causing the tension and chaos) is that the 'New World Order' (using USA equipment) attacks this dictator and his family. As you might expect, there is a lot of swearing in this book. I am fine with that. One thing that made me pause for a few moments is that the dialog doesn't seem to be broken up properly. I am used to a style where each person says a few lines, followed by a line break. In this book, you can expect full paragraphs of conversation. That makes several of the characters come off as "chatty". Lucky for readers, such as myself, there is a bunch of action throughout the book. This book does not fail to deliver on action (or hold back on how far it will go)!”

As you can read the review, I take Rhys way out on the curve in this darker series book. It also makes me think; “did I go too far with the countess?”

It is an honest, independent review and I like it. I look forward to the reviews independent fans will post and the ones from friends. Only my family is prohibited from posting reviews. The rest of you are free and encouraged to post what you thought. Good or bad. 

My friend Bekka and I at Davidoff Cigar Tbilisi

On a more personal side, I will be once again attempting to start the resident process in Russia so the current visa is the last visa I will have to apply for. I love the Russian people and the idea of society they share. This doesn’t mean I won't be returning to Canada. I will, I promise. Inga and I have been looking already and have decided on a neighborhood. Past the next four months, our plans are fluid. 

I saw a post on Facebook about a guy who drove a Jeep from Calgary Alberta to the top of Alaska and then turned around and drove to the tip of South America. It was a cool post that embodied the nomadic lifestyle. It gave me the idea of doing the same thing, but harder. Why not Russia? I will pitch the idea to the Russian company that owns the rights to sell Jeeps in the Russian Federation. Inga is game. But, then when isn’t she game to do anything her crazy husband comes up with. The basic idea is to travel from Moscow to Vladikavkaz the southern most point. Luckily Inga can speak that language. Then turn north to Anapa and Crimea. Following the northern edge of the country through Siberia and down to Kamchatka. Finally ending in Vladivostok, we would have to charter a boat to get across to continue the drive in Canada. I think it would be a great trip and an even better sales venue for both Jeep Russia and Jeep Canada. Although I think Americans and Canadians alike will be jealous of the Russian 2.8 turbo diesel. The Jeep that drove the two largest countries in the world. 

This odyssey would tie in well with the piece of NonFiction I’ve been working on. Thinking about how we live life and how most other people live life has gone from comparisons to convictions. When Inga and I were looking at homes in BC, the key ideas were simple, small, and supportive. Communities that didn’t require you to drive to the gym or grocery store. 

Many species migrate. Genetically programmed they pick up and make a journey. We humans used to do the same thing. The First Nations people in Canada were migratory to some extent. It is hard to think that perhaps we are still driven by that biological coding. But if you’re honest with yourself I think you’ll find other examples of these biological drives. Midlife Migration is the working title for this MSS, and it has been fun to write.

It perhaps shows a little to much about the author, But, real confidence is showing up naked and telling people what you think. So while only one person wants to see me naked I think you all like reading about my rather warped sense of the world,  right? 

Launches, failures to launch, and success.

   When you start to write a book, you usually approach the project with vim and vigor. Technically speaking you have already made your first mistake. It isn't a book till it receives an ISBN number. It is called a Manuscript or MSS. That day was a long time ago for Redemption's Bullet. It started with a vote on Facebook, asking fans and friends if they wanted a sequel or prequel. During the MSS process, I left my full-time job and joined the ranks of the retired. I had to let my old friend and dialog critic go to cat heaven. The furry fury aptly named The Piker was 18 and in considerable pain daily. This rationale did not make that act easy. Perhaps the hardest decision of my life. Then I packed everything I owned into a single suitcase and moved halfway around the world to Russia. Yes, this all done while devoting 4 hours a day to write Redemption's Bullet and a few more hours to make sure I kept my blog and FB pages current.

My father liked to say; "If it were easy, they wouldn't call you a professional." Life gets in the way of our writing this is certain. But we are professionals, and as such we make the time to apply our energy to the goal of creating an incredible and entertaining story. It took me a long while to finally complete this task started so many years ago. I learned a great deal about grammar and the technology needed to push the books envelope and stay inside the lines of believable. I know this is a much stronger story because of these things than my first. We all make mistakes with our first attempts. We, professionals, get better, because of those mistakes.

Because I made the choice to keep this sequel inside a price point easily enjoyed by everyone I've had to apply this shoestring model to the marketing and advertising. This is something new I had to learn as well. I think the ad campaign has been successful, and I hope entertained you as well. I say I think it has been successful because it is too early to tell how many books have been sold. It will also be impossible to determine which ad was successful in making people aware of the new book. The numbers look large and those engaged past the like or act of watching the videos were good. But when you get to wise age numbers you know what you know, and you're even more aware of what you don't. I don't know marketing and advertising, and so I guess I will have to wait to see if I am provided more lessons to learn from. Youtube Channel

Book promotion seems to be a new cottage industry on Twitter. So much so that I have had to delete a few groups I follow as I was getting too many "This the GREATEST book I've read this month." When you get three such tweets from the same person, you have to wonder.

Redemption's Bullet got it's first review and while I know we typing monkeys are told not to read reviews who actually doesn't? Perhaps Stephen King. But, I doubt many others don't. I saw four stars and thought why not five? I thought why not five not because I have a huge ego and think it deserves five. I thought what could I have done better? I thought how did I not live up to the readers expectations. The comments did not shed any light on the why. Perhaps it was the change from the first person to global? I arrived at this because I am not Stephen King and can easily go back through my reviews and read his last one in the first book.

The early release of the book also served to put a fire under my ass to get a new website created. I hate website creation and all that goes with it. Tactical mind talking to the practical designer on a virtual shared persona. It was hard, frustrating, and not without drama. But I learned a little more of life's little lessons and got past it all. Scott D. Covey is live.Scott D Covey

I wanted to make the site more like a lounge or place people could go to see more about me and the books but be light on selling. I find in today's marketing and Ad adventures sites are asking me to buy, or place a deposit, before I've even had a chance to come to a decision if I want to. Now I know this isn't the newest technology smart car and at 2.99 and 9.99 respectively we aren't talking big money. But, still I don't like the trend, so I made the choice not to follow it.

I might have been successful in this regard as I can see the pre-order sales numbers for the Ebook. It releases on the 29th of this month, and I am happy about the number. Ok, OK I will tell you. 96!

Thanks for having faith in me. For waiting as I traveled all over the world to make sure I captured the feel of the place to better bring you along as Rhys hunted and avoided capture. For spending your hard earned cash on a story. For your comments, reviews, and all the learning experiences you my readers, and friends, provided.

My time in the Republic of Georgia is coming to an end. I will miss the great people that call this place home. I've shared some great times here, with truly unique and hospitable people. Georgia is in Redemption's Bullet, and I know because of my experience here it will feature in my writing again.

That is if I ever write another paragraph of publishable prose.

Don't worry. Every writer feels the same way after completing twenty edits and various revisions and rewrites. If they say, they don't. THEY ARE LYING BASTARDS.

Please enjoy Redemption's Bullet responsibly. In no case should you ever try to follow Rhys Munroe as a role model. He is the man that stares down leopards after all.