The Disaster Curse is now FREE FOREVER!

 

ANNOUNCING IT FIRST HERE!

I made the decision to make The Disaster Curse perma-free (with a slight catch that I have to periodically check it on Amazon because they like to revert free eBooks back to their original pricing now, unlike the good ole days when a book was perma-free indefinitely).

NOTE: THE DISASTER CURSE (DISASTER CRIMES, 7) IS A SHORT STORY OF 23 PAGES THAT FOLLOWS A FIGHTING CHANCE (FT. THORN) AND WRAPS UP THE DISASTER CRIMES SERIES.

Could you read The Disaster Curse without having read any of the previous stories?

Well, I couldn't stop you. It could be a good way to test out if you like my writing style.

I personally would recommend at least reading A Fighting Chance (Disaster Crimes Book 6) as that's the first story in Thorn's and Amanda's points-of-view.

To test out my writing style and not spoil what could possibly be six other great reads for you, you can also get free short stories that are earlier in the series, such as:

The Crime Before the Storm (Prequel) - This is a short work of 16 pages and is the prequel before Hurricane Crimes, Book 1 of the Disaster Crimes series and a novelette under 50 pages. It's exclusive to my museletter (aka newsletter) subscribers, so you do have to subscriber to get the secret link. You can read this story for free before Hurricane Crimes. Although I'll give a little warning that it may take away some of the mystery from Book One if you read Hurricane Crimes afterward.

Lightning Crimes (#2.5) - This is a short in-between story of 22 pages, set after Seismic Crimes (Book 2), before Tsunami Crimes (Book 3). It's not an absolute requirement to read this fast story, but I will say that a mystery in it does return in Frozen Crimes (Book 5). This one is free on Amazon and elsewhere.

Pages: 23 

Genre: Action-Adventure 

Heat Rating: None

BLURB: Following a 7.1 earthquake in Guatemala, Thorn and Amanda, volunteering for the American Red Cross, help survivors in any way that they can. They hand out food and water and offer comfort to the people shaken by this event.

A sudden tremor knocks everyone off their feet, only it’s not an aftershock of the quake. One of Guatemala’s many volcanoes is erupting—a disaster on top of a disaster.

Thorn and Amanda now must do whatever they can to help each other and the survivors of the quake endure this natural phenomenon.

FREE EBOOK: Amazon / Nook / Kobo / Apple / Smashwords

REVIEW: The Story Graph / BookBub / Goodreads / LibraryThing

PRAISE:

“I enjoyed this short follow-up to A Fighting Chance and won’t even complain about it being too short. I just always seem to want more of these characters than the author gives me, but I’m pretty sure she has to eat and sleep at some point.” – Toi Thomas, Lit Carnival Reviewer

“The Disaster Curse by Chrys Fey is a short story that gives a hint of the life Thorn and Amanda will have. It’s not all smooth sailing. An earthquake caused by an erupting volcano, setting off a firenado…and the story shows how small the world can be and by believing you deserve good things, your belief will allow you to have them.” – Sherry Fundin, reviewer at Fundinmental.com

About Us by Elizabeth Seckman / Free eBook!

Elizabeth Seckman has a new eBook and it's FREE!

Blurb:

Hayden Matthews isn’t looking for love—she’s trying to get as far from it as possible. She's already wasted eight years in a failed marriage and is ready for a good life. A peaceful life. One where she can raise her daughter to be strong, independent, and happy. But to make that happen, she must fix her own life first.

Trick-or-Treat Reads Blog Hop - FREE EBOOKS

WHAT IS TRICK-OR-TREAT READS?

Trick-or-Treat Reads is an annual Halloween event where authors put their books for free and readers go trick-or-treating to get the books. BOOKS ARE THE CANDY!

FREE SHORT STORY!!!!

Disaster Crimes Series:

Hurricane Crimes #1

Seismic Crimes #2

Lightning Crime #2.5

Tsunami Crime #3

BLURB:

A freak lightning storm unleashes its energy on Central Florida. Bolts of lightning crash to the ground. Torrential rain soaks everything within seconds. And the power goes out, casting Beth and Donovan’s apartment into darkness. Beth is already on edge after receiving a menacing phone call several months ago, and this storm doesn’t help with her nerves.

Donovan tries to distract her from Mother Nature’s tantrum, but someone else has other plans. When they find the front door to their apartment wide open, they soon realize it isn’t an accident. Someone is in their apartment with them.

What crime can happen as fast as lightning?

FREE LINKS:

Amazon / Smashwords

Barnes & Noble / Kobo

HAPPY TRICK-OR-TREAT READS! 

FREE EBOOK - LIGHTNING CRIMES

FREE SHORT STORY EBOOK!

I self-published my first ebook! I also designed the cover art myself, so don't hate on it. lol And I've made it PERMA-FREE!

 Title: Lightning Crimes

Series: Disaster Crimes 2.5
Genre: Romantic-Suspense

NOTE: LIGHTNING CRIMES is a teaser story that takes place between Seismic Crimes and Tsunami Crimes.

BLURB:

A freak lightning storm unleashes its energy on Central Florida. Bolts of lightning crash to the ground. Torrential rain soaks everything within seconds. And the power goes out, casting Beth and Donovan’s apartment into darkness. Beth is already on edge after receiving a menacing phone call several months ago, and this storm doesn’t help with her nerves.

Donovan tries to distract her from Mother Nature’s tantrum, but someone else has other plans. When they find the front door to their apartment wide open, they soon realize that it Isn’t an accident. Someone is in their apartment with them.

What crime can happen as fast as lightning?

DOWNLOAD FOR FREE:

Amazon / Smashwords

Barnes& Noble / Kobo

FREE IN ALL AMAZON STORES!

****

QUESTION: What writing rule do you wish you’d never heard?

I wish I never heard that passive voice is wrong. Although active voice is better, and I do eliminate as much passive voice as possible in my work and the work I edit, I (for one) don’t think it’s entirely wrong. 

Another rule I struggled with (only because I stressed out about eliminating it from my writing) is that comma splices are incorrect. Comma splices are super common in most books. It's apparently acceptable in some languages, but in English it's an error. Go figure. :P

These two rules gave me the biggest headaches when I first started publishing. Why? Because I had to learn to change the way I wrote. Hurricane Crimes and 30 Seconds are FULL of passive voice. I'll admit it. And comma splices can be found in my stories up until recently as well. Since then, however, my writing has grown. And I am proud of that! :D

OPTIONAL FEBRUARY 1ST QUESTION: How has being a writer changed your experience as a reader?

Reminder: The questions are optional and meant as a prompt if you struggle with what to post. You don't have to answer a question if you don't want to. :)

How to Promote Free Days / Listing Blog Hop

*If you're here for the Listing Blog Hop, scroll down. :)

***

Some publishers set up free days on Amazon for their authors. This program is called Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) in which Amazon publishes your eBook three months sooner than your release date and during this time you get 5 free days. So many first-time authors don’t know how to promote these free days. I didn’t when Hurricane Crimes was free, so I had to learn.

First, let me warn you about expectations. 

Free days are great for first-time authors because it gets your name out there and your eBook into many Kindles. But...

1. Not everyone who downloads your eBook will actually read it. Many people just love the word FREE and will one-click every free eBook they can find.

2. Many authors shoot to the top of Amazon’s 100 Top Free Ebooks list. But this won’t happen to everyone.

Now that those pesky expectations are out of the way, let me tell you how you can promote your free days:

1. Create an event on Goodreads. Goodreads is always my #1 tactic for spreading the word about a new release, sale, or giveaway.

2. Make a special post on your blog to announce it. (You can even create a Google Form to ask bloggers to post about your free eBook. After they sign up, send them all the info, including an HTML code for their ease.)

3. Of course share the news on Facebook and Twitter.

4. Also share the news on Google + (tag your circles) and any Yahoo Loops you’ve joined.

5. Now the one that’ll take the most time...submit to free eBook websites. You can find them by simply using Google.

Here are some websites you can use to promote free days:

Freebooksy

It’s Write Now

Digital Book Today

Ereader Cafe

Ebooks Habit

Free Digital Reads

EbookLister

Free eBooks Daily

Ereader Perks

Best eBooks Free

Ebooks Free Daily

Book Freebies

Ebook Deal of the Day

100 Free Books

TIP #1: Check their guidelines. Many of these sites require you to submit your book info ahead of time. And some of them cost money or don’t accept short stories. 

The results of my Free Days for Hurricane Crimes:

Hurricane Crimes reached #10 in the Top 100 Free Suspense books, making it an Amazon Best Seller (or freebie), which thrilled me to no end. It also cracked the Top 100 Free list for Romantic-Suspense at #22. After that, Hurricane Crimes clung to the low 400's, staying around #20 in the top free suspense books.

Number of free downloads - 2,324.

TIP #2: You can do all of these things when promoting a book sale. Just look for discount eBook sites instead of free ones.

For more tips on how to promote see:

Easy Ways to Promote Your Book

How to do a Cover Reveal

Preparing for Release Day

How to Set up a Blog Tour

Book Release Party

QUESTION: Have you put any of your eBooks for free? What did you do to promote it and what was the result? 

************************************************************

The List Blog Hop is hosted by Bish Denham and it's pretty much what you think it is...a blog hop of lists. These lists can be about anything at all, anything you find fascinating or even a bucket list. My list consists of things I've Googled for my books.

Research for my unpublished series:

- Types of fighting styles

- Military guns

- Helicopter machine guns

- Military combat uniforms

- Code Red

- Arrow quivers

- Sai daggers

- Circular saw blades

- Taser guns

- Bones in arms

- Tourniquet

- Seizures

- Carotid artery

- Thoracic curve

Research for Seismic Crimes:

- San Francisco

- Earthquakes

- Self-defense techniques

- Monster truck driving

- China Town

Research for new WIP:

- How to hot wire a car

- How to escape from a trunk
- Crossbow pistol

- Throwing knives

- Road flares

- Voodoo

- Zombies

Good News and a Confession + FREE EBOOKS

GOOD NEWS: In June I asked for prayers for a big day, and last month I asked for more prayers for another big day. Well your prayers and wishes for good luck paid off! It may take months before I see any good changes to my life, but this is still a blessing. So thank you from the bottom of my heart!

PUBLISHING: I am writing a prequel to 30 Seconds called “30 Seconds Before," which follows Blake when he goes undercover in the Mob. I am hoping for a 2016 release. In the meantime I have other publishing plans...such as the sequel to Hurricane Crimes!

FACEBOOK: I reached 300 likes! I know many of you have 1,000+ likes, but 300 is great for little ole me. Thank you to everyone who has liked my page.

THANKFUL: I am thankful for the Blogging from A to Z Challenge where I met countless wonderful people.

Image by Chrys Fey.

CONFESSION:  My ultimate insecurity is . . . my family.

After I left school and got my GED, I couldn’t find work due to medical limitations from spine surgery, so I put my energy into writing. I was completely happy with this, but I don’t think anyone else in my family (other than my mom) liked my plan. 

Last summer, my father came down to Florida for my sister’s college graduation. They took me out to lunch and the first question my father asked me was, “Are you still being a bump-on-the-log?” Meaning: Do you have a real job?

Two months after his visit, I got my first publishing contract. I was thrilled! But not everyone shared my enthusiasm. My sister congratulated me by adding this at the end of a Facebook message: “btw congrats on your book.” That “btw” made her words feel half-hearted. She didn’t buy Hurricane Crimes for $1.99, or even get it when it was free. During all of that I waited for my father to say he was proud of me, but that never happened. To this day, hardly anyone in my family has shown support or interest in my writing.  

So yes, more than reviews, and rejections, my biggest insecurity is my family.

QUESTIONS: Does your family support your writing dream? What are you thankful for?

GREAT FREE STORIES:

Campus Crush by Ashelyn Drake (Romance novellas collection 1-4 ) 5 Stars

Two Tales of Terror by Kelly Hashway (YA flash fiction) 5 Stars

Curse of Death by Kelly Hashway (PDF short story) 5 Stars

Kiss of Death by Kelly Hashway (PDF short story prequel) 5 Stars

The Imaginary Friend by Kelly Hashway (Children's short story) 5 Stars

Small Graces by M. Pax (flash fiction) 5 Stars

Plantgirl by M. Pax (flash fiction) 4 Stars

Translations by M. Pax (flash fiction) 4 Stars

*Don't forget to post reviews on Goodreads and Smashwords/Amazon!