Matrix Crystal Series Continues

I am so thrilled, Matrix Crystal Christmas, now has a professional cover.

I hired Winterheart designs to make a new cover for my book that chronicles the further adventures of Vach and Maya. They made a wonderful new cover which is much better than the homemade one I had.

Matrix Crystal Christmas

 Matrix Crystal Christmas is made up of two short stories (one erotic and one sweet) for the fans of my novel, Matrix Crystal Hunters, who told me that they wanted to know what happened next.

In Crystal Flower Christmas: Vach and Maya are on a mission to undam the Laonooco River for the drought stricken region. As heartache fractures their marriage, will the gift of a crystal flower mend their relationship or break it beyond repair?

In Crystal Clear Christmas: Plague has struck the village of Zama and the citizens blame the only human left on Zenevieva, Maya. Will Vach make the ultimate sacrifice to save his wife? 

I have a special announcement to make---Book three in my Matrix Crystal Series is with the editor. I plan on publishing the next book: Matrix Crystal River later this year (2016)

I  had thought I'd end the series there, but then a new story idea came to me and I wrote another manuscript. Its completed and already with the editor.

Here's the professionally made cover from Winterheart design.

 This next book will be about Vach and Maya's son, River. 

It's been twenty-five years and not a word, and now the humans were back. River Namaste is sure it would be a cold day in hell before his family helped them again, until he meets his mom's replacement.

Shy Native American, Winona Miracle, is the geologist for Earth Team Alpha Six. She would love to be on a dig with the famous Maya Namaste, but how to convince her to go? Then there is Maya's hunky son always hovering about. Will it be love or the matrix crystals?  

Coming soon.

What's In Your Hat?

Thank goodness writers have choices these days! Used to be a writer had to write what their publisher told them to write. I've heard horror stories of requests for authors to change their names, adopt new pen names for different genres, or adopt a new pen name when a writer's book didn't sell well, giving a "fresh start" to things. Authors often trusted these decisions handed down to them, such as, "I don't think you can write suspense" or "you need to make this paranormal very dark and gritty and strip out all the humor." Some authors were able to accept and embrace these changes, and others could not. 

Just to be clear, some of those decisions and requests were good ones, and I don't pretend to understand or question the motivation of the Big 5. But we all know authors who didn't take their suggestion of tossing their manuscripts into the circular file, or sitting on them in boxes under their bed for twenty years. And let's not talk about what it does to an author who has had ten or fifteen manuscripts rejected, only to see something similar to one of their WIPs wind up on the shelves published by the same house. Good books were rejected due to shelf space, or "we already bought two titles in that line," and not because the book wasn't any good.

Today, if a writer can work hard to build a readership and audience, he or she can write in any genre, even in multiple genres and do it without changing their author profile or persona, depending. Things such as merging YA and Erotica would be obvious exceptions to this. But the secret to success today isn't necessarily in a "fantastic book" as in the promotion and the readership it gains, and how prolific the author can be. Authors who can churn it out quickly, have a distinct advantage in this market. And yes, the series is king. Once you sell them on the world, you don't need to sell it to everyone, you just need those people coming back over and over again.

I was floored when we asked readers how many books they read in Romance this year. Do you know what the average was of the 80 or so people who responded to that question? How about 200 books!! And did you know that there are some romance readers who read 1-2 books a day. I had a handful that said they'd read over 1000 books this year, and this year isn't even over yet! The average U.S. Citizen reads 5 books a year. That's right, 5.

So, when you have an avid public, looking for good reads and wonderful new authors to follow, because they have this insatiable appetite for reading, why would anyone want to restrict the number of books being written?

Mark Coker of Smashwords has said there is about a 413% increase in new titles this year. Do you think that will even make a dent in the shape of things if readers are reading 300 books a year? And with the ease of getting iBooks now on over a billion new iPhones and iPads out there today all over the world, with just one click, the market is certainly expanding. 

Some will argue the quality has suffered. Yes, we all know of some recent blockbusters that were poorly written, poorly edited and yet were loved to the point of making authors a household name, set for life. While it has worked for a few, I also don't advocate an author should aspire to this either. Putting out a professional book, looking professional, with professional detail to craft and editing, is still the goal. And today, we have readers who read everything from sweet cozy mystery to BDSM and back again.

So, I say hooray for choice and cross genre readerships, for series that go on for 25 books or more, for characters that blend elements to give us compelling stories in a wide variety of  textures and fabric that make up the quilt of the reader's desire. The world is becoming more connected through social media, some say getting smaller. But the world is also getting more and more varied as subgenres are able to flourish in this Indie Revolution.

And I think that's a good thing.

NYT and USA/Today and Amazon Top 100 Best Selling Author Sharon Hamilton’s SEAL Brotherhood series have earned her Amazon author rankings of #1 in Romantic Suspense, Military Romance and Contemporary Romance. Her characters follow a sometimes rocky road to redemption through passion and true love. Her Golden Vampires of Tuscany earned her a #1 Amazon author ranking in Gothic Romance.

A lifelong organic vegetable and flower gardener, Sharon and her husband live in the Wine Country of Northern California, where most of her stories take place.

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Sharon's 8th book in the SEAL Brotherhood Series, SEAL's Promise is available for preorder now, and will launch on Veteran's Day, 11/11/14. Lots of parties are planned to sign up for the newsletter and find out how you can be a part of this exciting time for Sharon!

Guest Blog: Paty Jager: A Series is More Than Connecting Books

When I came up with the idea of Isabella Mumphrey a high IQ anthropologist who not only is single-focused in her studies of Native American cultures, but also becomes a Worldwide Intelligence Agent, I had the dream of it becoming a series. I envisioned her traveling to North, South, and Central American discovering new evidence about the cultures and working with her Venezuelan lover to uncover villains. There are so many different Native American cultures she can investigate as ruses to travel and uncover wrongdoings I could see this series lasting for a dozen books.

I had experience writing a series. Well, really writing five connecting books. The Halsey Brothers Series of five historical western romance books, hadn’t started out as a series. I wrote the first book, Marshal in Petticoats, which introduced four brothers of the hero. When that first book was published and readers wanted more Halsey stories, I one-by-one wrote each brother’s book. They weren’t thought out or planned other than the titles had to show a woman in a (at that time) man’s occupation. That was it. All the series plotting I had ever done.

With the Isabella Mumphrey Adventures, I knew I had to have the stories thought out and see a vision of how I wanted her to proceed not only through the books, but through her life. I sat down, researched the Native American cultures that I had always been intrigued with and penciled out the first four books, giving Isabella an overriding character arc and planning where she would be with each book and even coming up with the titles.

For the most part I stayed with the overall arc for both Isabella and the hero, Tino Constantine. But there were things that changed as I researched for each book and worked on the overall arcs. The main thing being that my original idea of four books to launch the series wouldn’t work. The third and fourth books subplots were weak. Once I discovered that, I merged parts of book four into book two and parts of book four into book three. Those mergers made books two and three stronger and got rid of the weak plot for book four.

Secrets of a Mayan Moon, the first book in the series set in Guatemala, shows Isabella’s determination and love of her occupation, her dysfunctional family life, and her social awkwardness from having been a child genius. It also brings her into the arms of a Venezuelan DEA Agent out to avenge his family’s deaths.

Secrets of an Aztec Temple, book two set in Mexico City, again uses Isabella’s occupation to bring her to the city to work with a museum, but this time in her capacity as a Worldwide Intelligence Agent. An occupation she took up to be closer to her parents. In this book her emotions for Tino and her desire to right wrongs is a subplot and Tino’s need for revenge is his subplot. This book has him undercover working for the very man he wants dead to avenge his family.

Secrets of a Hopi Blue Star, book three set in the desert of Arizona, re-connects Isabella with estranged family members and shows her the reasons behind her dysfunctional family while she is searching for a sacred kiva that could explain the exodus of the Hopi to the third world. Tino’s subplot deals with doing his new job as a border patrol agent and keeping Isabella alive. While this book gives Isabella a look at her past she hadn’t known, it also opens up new questions and a desire to bring justice to her family.

My goal with continuing the series is to keep that quest of family justice alive for a while and bring it into play in subsequent books. She and Tino will travel on more steamy adventures through South and Central American countries as well as a few more in the Southwest United States. The connecting factor between all the books in the series will be Isabella and Tino, her IQ and survival tin and vest that gets her out of tight spots, and her need to right wrongs whether it is in anthropology circles or crime. Also her Indiana Jones/MacGyver approach to problems.

Are you a reader who likes series? What draws you to a series?

All three books are available now as single title books, however, for a limited time June 15th -30th they will be available during my Birthday Bash Sale in an ebook box set for $.99. So watch Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Nobles, and Apple ibooks for the sale.

Buy Links:
Isabella Box Set
 http://windtreepress.com/portfolio/adventures-isabella-mumphrey/

Secrets of a Mayan Moon
Windtree Press
Kindle
Nook
Kobo

Secrets of an Aztec Temple
Windtree Press
Kindle
Amazon
Nook
Kobo

Secrets of a Hopi Blue Star
Windtree Press
Kindle
Nook
Kobo

BIO:
Award winning author Paty Jager is a member of national and local writing organizations. She not only writes the western lifestyle she lives it. With seventeen novels, five novellas, and two anthologies published, she continues to have characters cavorting in her head and enjoys teaching other writers. You can learn more about Paty at her blog, her website,  or on Facebook, Goodreads, and twitter; @patyjag.