Happy New Year everyone-
I trust that you had a festive and joyous holiday season filled with smiles and relaxation.
And now that we’re into 2011 and dealing with the winter frost, let me warm you up with the latest and greatest with my adventures in publishing and other goofy stuff.
First off, my best dog Simon is finally, finally close to full strength. He had a few minor setbacks during the healing process, but he’s doing really well. He had the last of his sutures removed, and we’re off to see the surgeon this weekend for what he hope will be Simon’s final x-ray. With good fortune we’ll get the OK to let him run, jump and be the all around nutball he loves to be.
And, of course, my bundles of joy Abby and Nate are whumpin’ up a storm, gigglin’ and smilin’ and having a grand ole time. Hard to believe, but they’re already almost 6 months old. Yikes!
Shifting over to the the movie front, my annual Top 10 List is finally up. To check out my favorites for 2010, click here: http://bit.ly/hqucsI
Now, onto Finders Keepers ….
* If you remember, the folks over at Publishers Weekly gave Finders Keepers a big thumbs review (http://bit.ly/i0y682). Well, they liked my book so much that they interviewed me a few weeks back for a stand-alone article, due to come out any day now. Once it’s up, I’ll be sharing that sucker for sure!
* And as the momentum builds for Finders Keepers, I’ve actually gotten involved in a very cool project that came about quite unexpectedly. For those of you who don’t know, Wattpad (www.wattpad.com) is a Web site that launched about five years ago for the purpose of giving unpublished (or underpublished) authors a venue to promote their work in an e-reader format. The way the site works is that, as an author, you post your work for free, for a designated period, with the goal of building up a following among readers who probably wouldn’t have found your project anyway, and that word spreads like wildfire.
Here’s Wattpad by the numbers:
* 5 million Monthly Unique Visitors
* Users spend 300 minutes on Wattpad/month
* Users spend avg. of 30 min/session on Wattpad, twice a day
* 1 million apps downloaded/month
* #1 BlackBerry App
* top 7 eReading app in App World
Well … because of the Publishers Weekly review, Wattpad invited me as only one of five authors — in the world — to join a pilot program (co-sponsored by Publishers Weekly) in which Wattpad is putting a ton of support behind me.
I’ve agreed to post Finders Keepers on the Wattpad site for free in an e-reader format through March 31, 2011 to give the momentum a chance to build. The readers are predominantly women, and under the age of 28.
Through this pilot program, Wattpad has agreed to the following:
* Promote my Publishers Weekly Q&A
* Include a link to my Comic-Con video interview
* Has an automatic link to Facebook and Twitter
Plus … remember those character illustrations on my Web site? Well, Wattpad is posting them on their site — with links to Facebook and Twitter — about one per week over the three months, as a way to promote Finders Keepers.
In addition, I’m providing one guest blog per week through the run of Finders Keepers.
After just three weeks, I’ve already gotten about 6,200 reads of Finders Keepers, which means that’s how many people have at least clicked on the first page. So … it’s tough to say what kind of real world implications this is going to have for Finders Keepers, but at that very least it’s a rockin’ way to start off the year.
* My paperwork is submitted and I’m just waiting for confirmation about Lunacon, a small but important sci-fi show in Rye, N.Y., March 18. I’m scheduled to share a table there with fellow writer James Chambers, where I’ll be selling and signing copies of Finders Keepers, and, hopefully be a speaker on at least a panel or two. I’m also hoping to have a booth at ICON, a big sci-fi show in Stonybrook, Long Island, in late April. Details to come ..
* And lest you think it’s all Finders Keepers, think again! I’m still plugging away on Crossline, with my goal of having a butt kicking draft by late spring. My process involves many rounds of edits, but slowly but surely I’m chiseling away to get this bad boy in shape.
* And for this issue’s shout out, please join me in congratulating Pip Green, from England, who won the Finders Keepers international holiday contest. She now has her very own copy, autographed by yours truly. Congrats Pip!
That’s all she wrote for this time around. I’ll be back in a few weeks with more updates, and if the dominoes fall the right way, I’ll be able to reveal a few other items I’ve got brewing …
Thanks!
Russ
—
Russ Colchamiro
Author of Finders Keepers, published by 3 Finger Prints
www.russcolchamiro.com
www.richkoslowski.com
@findkeepnovel (Twitter)
Follow me on Facebook
To see my video interview at the NY Comic-Con:
http://bit.ly/bfA7oL
To read the Finders Keepers prologue, free:
http://bit.ly/9w5moZ
To buy Finders Keepers via Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/Finders-Keepers-Russ-Colchamiro/dp/0979480140/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1295641844&sr=8-2
To buy Finders Keepers via 3 Finger Prints:
http://www.richkoslowski.com/Details.cfm?ProdID=233
To buy the Finders Keepers e-book:
http://bit.ly/fshMh7
