The plan is the limited edition signed leather-bound will release this December, just in time for Christmas for $99.99. Only 100,000 copies will be published, available ONLY through me. 10,000 are reserved for American Express Centurion members. (Black Card members can submit a request to their concierge) Each will be signed and numbered by me. Pre-orders will open after 11.18.14.
The beta members all voted for their favorite character, with the winning character receiving additional “write time”. That story will be available in the special edition.
The normal hardbound will come out in January 2015, just after holiday when kids have a fistful of cash to spend. The money raised from the special edition will be used as seed money to fund the production of Angel Academy, the animated movie.
Traditional publishers just want to make money, so they release the most expensive (hardbound) first, six months later, they release paperback and maybe eBook at the same time. I’m doing it reversed. Paper & eBook at once, and then pricey hardbound for those who REALLY want an autographed copy.
Great News! We are still working on getting our book translations for our foreign friends! Here’s the cool thing, Vietnamese (my peeps) is going to be first and it will be specially priced at .99 USD! Spanish, German, and Arabic are right behind and will be priced at $2.99 USD. Look for these editions in 2015! New book covers possible for different editions. English eBooks on sale at: aaronmstephens.com for only $7.99! Go to the home screen and click on the banner for your favorite online retailer.
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Advance Copy
Today I went to an office supply store to have the final manuscript printed off. I told the clerk that I needed it printed front back with three holes so I could put it in a binder. As silly as it sounds, I got really excited seeing it finally printed. The advance copies will be here this week, so this is the first time I have seen the final printed, edited version. It literally has been months since I saw it, handing over a raw, rough final draft. I ordered a red inking stamp to imprint on all the books “ADVANCE COPY”. I only printed 100, so I imagine one day if someone has one it will be worth something. Right now I am sending them to media, television, spiritual leaders and celebrities. I want the Pope to have a copy, as well as Oprah. Sure why not right? I was told in meditation that anything is possible if you only attempt it. 10 will be used as prizes on Goodreads.com.
I’m currently in the process of working with Barnes & Noble in Thornton, Colorado for doing my book launch. They will be one of many stores. The key is to get one to approve me, and then the rest will be like dominos, one right after another. I am still waiting to hear back from Hastings Entertainment (gohastings.com), another big bookstore retailer. Individual stores many times have to contact their corporate office for approval. They have over 500 stores so it is worth my time to utilize them. The idea behind it is that they have a store in my hometown back in Nebraska. If I go there and do a book signing event, they will want to have me in all their stores. Kearney Nebraska has not had any big authors there doing any events …ever. So this will be a cool fun time.
I also had 50 flyers printed up that announce my book signing events. Stores can put them up to advertise the event. Make things as easy as possible for the store so they will want to host you.
This weekend is the Mile High Horror Film Festival that I will be attending on Friday and Saturday.You won’t recognize me because I will be hiding behind a costume with makeup on. 🙂 My editor is also a small business owner making interesting jewelry and decorative items for this niche market. https://www.facebook.com/PrimAndGrim If you like her stuff help her out and like her page. I would be so grateful if you did. Thanks. Leave her a message that you found her from my blog.
She is also my editor and one of my best friends, and she has a table this weekend showcasing her products. I am co-sponsoring her table and I will have a display of the book with free bookmarks. So if you happen to be at the film festival you can grab one of these goodies. They aren’t signed, but they are still really cool. If you’re a reader, shove it in your favorite book. That way you won’t forget that Angel Academy is coming out.
The bookmarks, btw are super popular. I carry them with me everywhere and whomever I talk with I end up giving them one or two bookmarks. Women especially love the cartoonish Disneylike characters. Boys really dig Braeden, so it was really smart of me to double side the bookmark and put the “Sleeping Beauty” angel, Morgan on one side and the “Hercules” angel, Braeden on the other side. My smiling face is on both sides.
I am sure you have not read through all my postings on the Facebook fan pages, so I’ll just reiterate for you now. Some of the cool things planned for Angel Academy is merchandising. My background is marketing so I have angel “Barbie” dolls planned. If it is actually Mattel that produces the dolls, that is to still be determined. Regardless, I can contract to have dolls made and marketed under the Angel Academy brand. Next year look for angel dolls to go on Christmas trees. Ornaments of course would be a natural complimentary gift. I was thinking like Swarovski, only doing one ornament a year with one character; make it special.
I am also planing a couple of different events in the Denver area that I will be making appearances. One is a holiday event where I actually am bringing signed, wrapped books. The other is going to be at my church, Mile Hi Church. If you didn’t know I sing in the choir. We sing on the 3rd Sunday of every month. You can go online and stream the service and signing. You can actually see me, as I am in the front row. It is my only normally scheduled appearance as of right now. I was selected to sing in the descant, a small group of soloists, for this month. So be sure you tune in when I’m signing. You’ll be able to see and hear me for sure! I’m excited.
I am contemplating my own television show. It would be something of a talk show, interview type of show. The easiest thing would be to record it and then post it on YouTube and let everyone on my fan pages know about it.
You may have noticed that this blog different from other author’s blogs. No advertising, nothing blinking at you, popping up at you. Just my writing that you can read distraction-free. That’s how I like to read, I figured you’re a lot like me in that regard. I hope you enjoyed this blog.
You like to read. I like to write. What a great combination we make.
I added a “subscription” at the bottom of the site. When I post a blog it will send you an email notification. My other blog my friends really liked that feature. Of course it will always post to Facebook and Twitter that there is a new blog.
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Goodreads Giveaway
Friends – I will be giving away TEN free autographed paperback copies of Angel Academy! English Version.
Open to U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom and Australia (due to shipping costs). You can preview the first 20% of the eBook at Goodreads.
In this day and age it is impossible to be an author without having a place to direct your readers. For a lot of authors that may start off with a personal Facebook page, then move to a Facebook Fan page, and then at some point you also create an author website. If you are writing a fiction book, then you will also need a book website. Depending on how successful your fiction characters are, at some point you will also have Facebook fan pages for your characters.
I have created dozens of websites for specific purposes. I have had my business website for selling websites for over 20 years, I created a book site to actively promote the book before launch, and now I have created an author website, specifically related just to me. I do have a personal blog that I have had for years, and it still gets hundreds to thousands of hits every day. That is a good reading site to immerse yourself in my thoughts, ideas and inspirations.
The site you are sitting on right now is the new author site, www.AaronMstephens.com. Just like any business I had to create a logo for my name, brand myself, share information of who I am, where I came from, what I like to do, where I am going, and where you can find my books and signing events.
I am a writer. I have been writing my whole life. The book writing, editing, advertising, marketing and now distribution are all set into place. It has been a never ending challenge learning everything that I needed to know. I have been so busy that I haven’t been able to write anything other than my short little 140 characters on Twitter. @aaronmstephens if you are a Twitter user. I find less commitment to a short random thought.
So I created this site really just for my fans, and for media. It will be a place you can go to find out what events I am doing, things related to books and publishing. It will automatically post to my Facebook Author page, which now has over 42,000 fans. The cool thing with my two Facebook pages, is they are totally different markets and audiences. The author page has mostly guys who are my fans, and the book/angel page is mostly women. Sure there are both, but Facebook tells me all the demographics of the who and the where. There is a little bit of overlap, but not much.
I have designed a lot of websites, and I think that this is one of the coolest ones. I wanted to make it fun. I also needed a place to send people if they wanted to pre-order the book. Even though I wrote a “religious” kids book, I’d really say I wrote a magical “fantasy” kids book. You can call it whatever you like, and after you read it, I think you will agree that it’s not very religious at all. You may notice I use some really cool photos in my websites and marketing. To me, each photo elicits a certain feeling or emotion when you gaze into it momentarily. The main website background of this mysterious little tree that bears a tiny little door with a heart on it. What does the heart represent? Is it love? Who lives there? Is the light on to welcome someone home? So many questions that are left unanswered.
There is just six weeks or so before the book launches, and that really gives me a lot of time for my readers to get to know me more. I have requests almost daily from fans asking me to post more. Facebook is really limited in what it can do for the user, and so this blog will provide a cool fun place for readers.
I don’t know about you, but I get frustrated when I go click on an article and it’s this really wimpy one paragraph or two that really didn’t say anything more than the catchy title. So I will be sure that if I post something it will be worth your time, or at least won’t be one of those trick you blogs and there is nothing to read.
When I originally contacted my church they told me they were full, and then I said I could do it during the day and they told me it was going to be $950 USD! The Tatttered Cover is a very large bookstore in Denver with 3 stores. It has a very strong reputation in Denver and one of the reasons I would like to have my book launch there. The I have sent 3 emails now with no response, so if they don’t want to host me I know Barnes and Noble will OR the Boulder Bookstore will also do it. Boulder is where Rick Riordan is having his book launch next week. As soon as I have it locked down I will update it on this website and also on the Facebook fan page. I plan on writing a lot more for you guys! If you happen to make it all the way to the end of this blog I have a small gift for you. You can go to the official book site: http://angel.academy and there you can read the first chapter of the book. The password is “godloveme”. No quotes.
