When you self-publish on Amazon there’s this thing you have to do, which is about choosing an appropriate category for your books. You know, like “Crime” or “Mystery” or, of course, “Romance” with shape-shifting werewolves that look like Brad Pitt… and so on.
In the past I’ve tried to dip my toe in lots of different categories at the same time in the hope of reaching a wider browsing audience – more results in Searches, in other words. Seems that’s a bad idea, because instead of creating more results it kind of dilutes the effectiveness of your Search terms in all those categories, rather than concentrating on just one or two.
So with that in mind, I’ve gone back to the “Mystery” theme for my Lukas Boston books and redesigned the covers… again. I’m also going to make the first book free permanently, but that’ll take a few days. I’ll let you know when it’s done.
In the meantime, what do you think of the new covers?
I appreciate that a lot of mystery and thriller readers don’t like novellas – they’re simply not long enough. So in the interests of addressing that I’ve bundled my first three Lukas Boston books into a collection called “Murder, Mystery, Villains and Ghosts” and published it at a bargain price. The cover here was designed by Jennifer at Acappella Book Designs – great job, Jennifer! I’ve also started promoting the individual books through Amazon’s KDP Select, which unfortunately means they’ve been withdrawn for sale from other outlets. Get in tuch, if that’s a problem for you and maybe we can work something out?
Happy reading, and I hope you enjoy “Murder, Mystery, Villains and Ghosts”. You can find Amazon links here.
Hey everyone, here’s another cover we’re working on – posted here so I can link to it in forums. More info soon!
Here’s a montage of all three of my Lukas Boston covers. What do you think?
A new ebook, my first Lukas Boston novella, The Good, The Bad And The UnGodly is available. Must say, I haven’t had so much fun writing a book for years. Here’s the blurb.
Lukas Boston is a private detective who attracts trouble, beautiful women who prefer him tied to a chair, and the kind of investigation jobs that no one else will take on. Lukas also has the Gift to see the Dead, but the spiritual world is often more annoying than helpful. When the ghost of a dead drug courier starts visiting Lukas, it reopens a case involving a missing shipment of cocaine. Suddenly everyone wants Lukas to find the hidden, illicit treasure. He’ll be paid very well if he does – and killed if he doesn’t.
The style is modern crime mixed with a kind of dark humour. If you ever watched the movies “Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels” or “Snatch” you should know what I’m talking about. The Good, The Bad And The UnGodly is priced at US$2.99, but it comes up as something like AUS$3.74 in the Australia Amazon store… not sure why it’s not a straight currency conversion. Apparently Amazon charges more for digitally “sending” the book to Oz. Anyway, you can find it here. If you like the book, please leave a review.
I’ve almost finished the second book in the series, called “Damned If You Do, Hanged If You Don’t” and after editing and book cover designs it should be released in a few weeks. You can sign up for the newsletter, if you’d like to be told when it’s out.
Happy reading!
I’ve started a new series of books called Lukas Boston Stories, and I’ve got to admit I’m pretty excited by the whole idea. But one thing I’m going to make clear straight up – each book is a complete story of its own. While these books will have recurring characters and it will be best, though not an absolute must, to read them in order to know the “back” stories fully, each book will be a stand-alone adventure and you won’t be left hanging, waiting for the next installment.
Lukas Boston is a character who combines all the fun things I’ve been doing over the years – a slice of my ghost story writing, an even bigger slab of the crime and thriller stuff, plus I’ve mixed in some of the dark humour that my friends and family have been urging me to write for years. The end result is the Lukas Boston Stories, novellas of around 100 pages long (about one third the size of a “normal” book) that I’ll be regularly publishing as ebooks. Why only novellas instead of full novels? Simply because it lets me write and work on a great idea and finish it within a comparatively short space of time, then I can move on to the next one. Full-length novels can take well over a year to write, edit and publish, which means my readers have to wait a long time between books! I’m planning to release a new Lukas Boston ebook every six weeks or so.
Lukas Boston is a caricature of everyone’s favourite idea of a private investigator. An ex-police detective who quit the force to avoid a scandal, Lukas is ridiculously good-looking and knows it, believing every woman must find him irresistible (and many do, while the rest kick him in balls). He’s clever, witty and fearless, not mention a little arrogant and full of himself. To help things along, Lukas has inherited a fortune from his father, leaving Lukas financially free to do what he does best – chase down criminals, beautiful women and keep out of the gun sights of the bad people who don’t appreciate Lukas’ successful, crime-busting career. And to top it off, Lukas has a unique gift born from his grandmother’s gypsy blood to see and sometimes talk with spirits from the Afterlife. Unfortunately, these ghosts are usually more annoying than helpful, often pestering Lukas to right some wrong and providing clues that are less than clear.
I’ve completed the first draft of the opening book, “The Good, The Bad and The UnGodly” and it will hopefully be edited and published within a week (the cover design might take a little longer). I’ve added a newsletter sign-up to my website for anyone who like to be told directly and, of course, I’ll post on this blog when the book hits the virtual shelves. Feel free to comment here too, or drop me a line at lukasboston@graemehague.com.au
Cheers, Graeme Hague.