And the last book will be called…

As promised, I am posting today to reveal the name of the final book.

*drum rolls*

 

 

As you may see, the book will be published as “Unbroken”. (Yes, I like past participles.)

Instead of simply writing the name on my blog, I decided to finish the cover and was able to complete it just in time. I think displaying it here would have been a nicer touch than originally planned.

Therefore, I am happy to announce that “Unbroken” is indeed the title of the novel.

While I am here, I will also say that I am more that halfway through writing the book. I have been spending many nights writing, re-writing, and brainstorming, but I think it is all coming along very nicely.

So far, I do not have a deadline planned. Once I’m in the editing stage, I will post a tentative publishing date.

I hope everyone likes it!

Also, Happy belated Thanksgiving! I had no time to tweet or blog last weekend!

I hope everyone had a fantastic turkey day!

 

Remember: Patience is a virtue :)

Alright, so I am going to take a brief pause from writing to post a quick update. I know many of you are getting quite impatient and antsy. I’m terribly sorry but, it’s remarkable how busy one can get within a few weeks!

The reason for the delay is twofold:

1)      I have been participating in two short story contests, and, unfortunately, it has been eating up the little and precious time that I have. I want everyone to know that it is important and necessary for me to be literary active. Plus, it will also help with my novels, since many of you know that practice makes perfect.

2)      Secondly, the third novel of the Bitten series will be the last. I cannot say how crucial it is for me to finish it on a good note. I want to tie up all the loose ends, and assure myself that nothing will be amiss.

So, why am I being so tedious with the last one? Well, I’m planning to write a spin-off.

“Bitten”, with Ally and Benedict, has always rather been a prequel to another story I wanted to write. If you have read “Stolen”, you can see that the main storylines were shifting to Trish and Gabriel.

I am going to be blunt: Something sinister is happening to the human and vampire worlds. The Verdons have been secretly planning a move that is much bigger than the union between Moira and Benedict. Vincent, Moira’s father, will finally have all the cards needed to change his realm for the “better”.

I cannot go into details as to what he is doing and how he will succeed. Nor, can I say what will happen to the characters. All I can say is that the last book is longer than I expected, but it must be written without any short cuts.

I can almost hear the groans…

So, to appease some of you, I promise to write more often via Facebook, Twitter and this blog. I won’t be giving any juicy tidbits away, but I will be posting my progress.

I hope this post reassures everyone that I haven’t given up on the saga, nor that I have been slacking off.

Stay tuned, because next week I will be revealing the title!

-MG

 

A cause to celebrate!

Last week, before my departure to Venice, Florida, I realized that once again, Stolen was not in the iBookstore.

Now for those of you who know, it was released and published on August 1st. So, imagine my frustration when after almost TWO months, it was still unavailable.

For the record, I use Smashwords to aggregate my published books to Apple, Kobo, Barnes and Nobles, and other book stores. However, I am unsure if I will be using them in the future.

As of now, I publish directly to Amazon without any troubles and I am looking to do the same with Apple.

Anyhoo, I am glad that after four e-mails and 7 weeks, Stolen is now available for download.

As always it is FREE, so enjoy!

-MG

On the next blog post: Quick update on the final book!

 

Tentative Date for the next Installment

Hey!

As promised, I’m here to announce the tentative date for the next installment. I just want to say that the final book will be much more detailed than the last two. It will be filled with more romance, suspense and intrigue! So, of course, it will take longer to complete, but it will be a definite good read!

Initially, Book One of the Bitten series was a pet project of mine. I wanted to try my hand at writing a novella.(Approximately 15000 words) Once it was finished, I chose to submit it to Harlequin’s Nocturnal Bites for review. Unfortunately (or fortunately for my readers!), it was rejected. Therefore, I self-published it into cyberspace and waited to see if anyone out there would like it. Needless to say, I was very pleased with the interest and feedback it generated. For this reason, I chose to continue with the series.

Nowadays, things are getting a bit hectic for me. I will be competing in the CBC’s Short Story Prize. The contest starts September 1st and ends November 1st. I am unsure how much time I will be devoting to this, and this is why I am pushing the date of the last installment from Mid-October to Mid-November.

Now, I can almost hear your groans, but remember that this is my "absolute" furthest date. There is no way my book will be release later than Mid-November, and there’s a pretty good chance that it will be published way beforehand.

I know and wished I could deliver it sooner, but I don’t want to lie or be accused of not respecting deadlines. Don’t worry, if ever I realize that I can get it out sooner, I will post an update on this blog. (If you haven’t already, it would be a good idea to subscribe or befriend me on Facebook.)

Cheers,

-MG

On the next blog post: Which actor do you see as Benedict?

 

Publishing woes, but finally on Amazon

Hi everyone!

For those who do not know, I rely on Smashwords to get my books across multiple mediums like the iBookstore, Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, etc.

Lately, my service with Smashwords has been quite lackluster. Stolen is still not in the iBookstore and all of my three of books have yet to be submitted to Amazon. Don’t get me wrong, I like Smashwords and I will continue to rely on them to get my books on Barnes & Nobles and Kobo, but I realize that it’s time to get my hands dirty and deal with problem myself. (If you want something done right, do it yourself!)

Therefore, I used Kindle Direct Publishing and uploaded Bitten and Stolen into the Amazon Store. (Thank you, S.J.Wright!) It worked and finally, both novellas are published. However, I was not able to price the books for free. I am very upset by this, thinking that it would not be a problem but apparently it is. Even if I were to buy their yearly membership for 39$ (trust me, I would have paid for it.), I would still have to put the minimum price of 0.99$ for each book.

I just want to state that this was NOT my idea. As anyone can see, both novels have been free since they were published and you can download them here, here and here!

If, by chance, you have already paid for them, please know that the next one will be of NO CHARGE and that you can get it directly on Smashwords. Just download the .mobi file and sync it manually with your Kindle.

I know a few beginner writers are looking for ways to make a quick buck, but as for now, this strategy doesn’t apply to me. I enjoy writing and I’m having fun doing it. I’m also still learning the craft and starting to have a deep respect for it.

All I want in return from my readers is either a review, a comment or a “Like” on Facebook. That’s it! That’s all!

If you want to support me in any way, just subscribe to this blog, follow me on Twitter, join my network on LinkedIn or share my book with a friend. It’s free, it’s easy and that would mean more to me than a few change here and there.

-MG

On the next blog post: Tentative Date for the next installment!

 

Update! Where is “Stolen” on the iBookstore?

That’s a good question!

It has now been 20 days since I submitted Stolen to Smashwords and two weeks since it has been allegedly shipped to Apple…

Yet, when I do a simple search, I see nothing.

I recently sent an e-mail to Smashwords, asking if there was a reason for the delay. But, I have yet to receive a reply.

So, I am very sorry for those who are patiently waiting for Stolen to be release on the iBookstore. As I mentioned in my previous post, anyone can easily read the sequel to Bitten on their iPad or iPhone.

However, if you rather read it with the iBooks app, here is another loophole: (Yes, it seems that I’m a master of these lately!)

1. Go to Smashwords and download the epub version of “Stolen” onto your PC
2. Plug in your iPhone or iPad
3. Open iTunes and click on “Books”. (It’s on the right under LIBRARY)
4. Open the folder of the downloaded epub and drag it to iTunes.
5. Sync your phone or iPad.

Voila! You should now be able to read Stolen on your iBooks app.

I hope this helps! If you have any questions, you can always leave a comment or send an e-mail.

-MG

 

iBookstore update and loophole!

I received news that many of you want to read “Stolen” via the iBookstore. So here’s the deal:

Last week, I was confirmed by Smashwords that “Stolen” was approved and sent to Apple. However, Apple can take up to a week send any novel to its store. Apparently, they ship each shipment on Thursdays and Fridays.

So, the sequel should be available THIS Friday ( or Thursday).

But who wants to wait that long? So, here’s a loophole:

1. Go to the app store, via your iPhone/iPad
2. Search for Stanza and Download the app.
3. Open Stanza and click on “Get Books” (located at the bottom of the screen). Click also on “Catalog” (located at the top of the screen)
4. Now you should be on the “Bookstores” page. Tap on “Smashwords“
5. At the top of the page, there’s a magnifying glass, click on it and a search option should appear.
6. Search for “Stolen Merrill“
7. Click on the book and you should be on the “Stolen” book page
8. At the top-right of the screen, you should be able to click on “Download“. Click on the button.
9. Once the download is finished, you can read it right away or view it at a later time in your library!

I hope this helps! If anyone has any questions or if this worked for you, let me know!

Don’t forget to give me some feedback! I would love to hear from you guys!

-MG