Archive for November, 2012

“Tales, unlike stories, never lie. You see, a tale is an account of

things in their due order, often divulged secretly, or as gossip.

Would you like to hear one?” —Lord Autumn

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It’s the middle of the night, you need to send your brother to the Moon Realm, and he won’t wake up. So you improvise. . . .

When a confused Jasper awakes, he’s convinced he’s dreaming. But by the time he meets Greydor, Jasper understands that this is no dream. In fact, persuading the King of the Rinn to work with the men of Dain to defeat their common enemy is a nightmare. Then there’s the other side of the coin: convincing Tavin and Dubb that saddling a Rinn isn’t certain death. (“It’ll be fun!”) And perhaps even a greater worry: can he make friends with Dubb’s daughter Darce before she punches his lights out?

Lily has problems, too. There’s a little mousie scratching in her closet. Or at least, it sounds like a little mousie. Oh, and her second confrontation with Curse, and trying to form her first peerin. (Don’t you have to be from Dain to do that?) And where’s Ebb?

One thing’s for sure: now that Lily and Jasper have entered the Moon Realm, nothing can ever be the same again.

Illustrated by Carolyn Arcabascio. Book Two in the award winning Moon Realm Series.

For a Two Chapter Preview: click HERE.

Book Two / A Moon Realm Novel

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The tale continues . . .

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Two chapters formatted for ePubMobi, or PDF.

Please share these files with your friends. Enjoy.

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The Dragondain

Book Two / A Moon Realm Novel

Now available in paperback and ebook.

Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iTunes iBookstore, and Second Looks Books.

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 The Moon Coin

Book One / A Moon Realm Novel

Now available in paperback and eBook...

Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iTunes iBookstore, and Second Looks Books.

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Copyright © 2011 by Richard Due. All rights reserved. Gibbering Gnome Press,

A Division of Ingenious Inventions Run Amok, Ink® The Moon Realm®

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It came in the mail yesterday. A snail mail letter from Barnes & Noble, postmarked New York. My wife opened it. She scanned it. “They don’t want your book,” she said. [insert explosions, screams, and that little light that came out of Sirius Black’s mouth shooting out like a bullet from mine] Okay. It wasn’t that bad. Honestly, it had been the answer I’d been expecting all along. I’m a small publisher of two books, both by me.

Then, she said, “Wait, I skimmed over this first part.” She read it aloud: “Thank you for sending us THE MOON COIN. We welcome the opportunity to review books of all types from publishers large and small. After a careful review, the buyer for the category has decided to place an order for approximately 10 copies on THE MOON COIN.”

Then I read it. Ten times. I read it ten times because I was certain that on the next reading it would say something else.

But . . . it didn’t. It’s been a whole day. I’m still in shock.

The one big hitch is that B&N wants me to get my book into a distributor or wholesaler (there’s a difference?), before they’ll order the copies. I’ve been thinking about distributors for awhile now. I even went the the Self-Publishing Book Expo in New York last month, mostly to go to a workshop on distributors. What did I learn? There’s no way I can swing a distributor for THE MOON COIN or the upcoming THE DRAGONDAIN. My unit price is just too high. 22 full-color illustrations can do that to a book, you know. I stopped crunching the numbers after I got to the point where I was losing several dollars on each book (and I just knew there were more fees). Distributors want exclusives, which means I’d have to pull the book out of my own bookstore (and all the independents that are currently selling it). Distributors want a hefty cut of ebook sales. It’s endless.

My was despair incarnate.

Then I flipped over the list of distributors B&N had sent me. A list of wholesalers, huh? What are those?

I googled them. Wholesalers don’t ask for exclusivity. Wholesalers don’t ask for a cut of ebook sales. Wholesalers don’t ask for as big of a cut.

I said all right.

Our bookstore even had an account with one of the wholesalers on the list!

I submitted the book to them today. If they give me the thumbs up, THE MOON COIN is headed to a Barnes & Noble (and thousands of independent bookshops) near you. If they give me the thumbs down . . . all is lost and I sink into a pit of despair deeper than tar is black. Stay tuned.

Here’s the actual letter:

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Howling Turtle give 5 turtles to The Dragondain!

Click HERE or the image above for the review.

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I just got back from a trip to Traverse City, Michigan, where the Traverse City Children’s Book Festival was held in a beautiful old Opera House. It’s lovely town right on the shore of Lake Michigan, and the people there support not one, but two amazing independent bookshops: Horizon Books, and Brilliant Books. (You can get THE MOON COIN in Horizon Books now, btw, just sayin’.)

The Traverse City Children’s Book Festival. I’m in the lower right corner.

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I got to meet a lot of amazing authors at the festival, but for me the most exciting part was meeting the kids: you would have thought they were in a candy store!

Some of the winners on display in the Opera House. (I did NOT arrange these books!)

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After the festival, we packed up, got dressed up, and headed out to the top floor of the tallest building in town: the Park Place Hotel, where the Moonbeam Awards Ceremony was held.

I’m the dude on the far right. Jim Barnes, master of ceremonies, is in the center.

Link to the press release HERE.

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Lastly, I want to mention that the GoodReads Group, Anything Goes, has picked The Moon Coin as their December Book of the Month. Anything Goes is mostly comprised of UK members, but anyone is welcome to join. I’ve been in contact with Chris, a group moderator, and she’s given me permission to put together a little international contest. So get ready for a literary scavenger hunt (drawing off The Moon Coin). The winner will receive a signed, numbered, paperback copy (I will ship this anywhere I can (except to the moon Darwyth; if you’re on the moon Darwyth then you’re on your own; sorry). I’ll post the contest here at Anything Goes on the December the 1st. So if you like scavenger hunts, be on the lookout!

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Traverse City Children’s Book Festival

I’ll be at the festival, reading from The Moon Coin and signing books.

Dates & Location

10:00am to 4:00pm

The annual Traverse City Children’s Book Festival will be held Saturday , November 10, 2012 at:

City Opera House
106 East Front Street
Traverse City, MI 49684-2509
(231) 941-8082

Tickets & Admission

General attendance is free!
No tickets are required

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