As the school year slowly winds down, I am gearing up for the Sell More Books Show Summit in Chicago this weekend. It looks to be a great time for authors of varying paths and genres to come together and learn from one another. The podcast is a popular one that has run for years, but this year many highly successful authors have come together to share what they know and record the latest show. I’m looking forward to it. Should be fun.

In addition, A Life of Death has garnered more attention with the release of the audiobook. (Listen to an excerpt through Amazon and Audible here.) Readers are continuing to post their thoughts. It is always nice to hear how Alex and Paige have endeared themselves to readers, especially when it’s touched someone like some of these recent reviews.

Speaking of… recently esteemed author and respected Amazon Vine Voice reviewer Sheila Deeth read and reviewed the entire A Life of Death trilogy, calling it, “Dark but tinged with surprising light.” While she enjoyed the first, it seems like the series grew on her more and more with every book, going from review headlines like “A smoothly enticing read” in the Golden Bulls to “Thought-provoking, exciting mystery” in Sacrifices. Read all of her reviews on her Amazon page. Or find out more about Sheila on her website.

On the writing front, I have a number of projects underway and even a special project I will announce in coming months. Here’s a hint: it’s in cooperation with a great writer, Marcus Calvert. Till then, I’ll leave you to research who this writing talent is if you don’t already know.

Happy reading!

Weston Kincade ~ Author of the A Life of Death collection, The Priors, and Strange Circumstances

Hello everyone,
This month was certainly exciting. So much happened. Woohoo for March!

Build Your Authors Alley on Amazon

I had the pleasure of attending Cleveland ConCoction 2018 over my birthday for the release of my newest book, Build Your Authors Alley. Although the print copies weren’t ready yet, the convention was great. I participated in panels about flash fiction, self-publishing vs. traditional, best methods for your elevator pitch, and marketing for authors. I even got to read a short excerpt from the recently released Sacrifices, Book Three in the A Life of Death trilogy. It was great fun.


Weston Kincade and J.L. Gribble
(Photo courtesy of Sara Dobie Bauer)

Over the weekend I made many new friends like Tony Isabella (writer of Black Lightning comic book and television series), while conversing with old friends like S. Andrew Swann, J. Thorn, and Addie King. During the author soiree Saturday night, we had drinks and discovered the secrets of writing great books. It was fantastic and there were so many wonderful people, I know I didn’t get the chance to mention them all! ConCoction has become a family of authors and friends, and it is always fantastic when we get together with new and old members. Even the new hotel worked out great (with the exception of one vindictive light fixture that tried to take out a guest author). Overall it was wonderful.

With the change in location, all of the volunteers expected a small drop in attendance, but boy were we wrong. ConCoction 2018 had the highest attendance of any year thus far. The con seems to be growing every year, even with venu changes. To top off the weekend, Camille and Kinnerly (the Harp Twins) gave five wonderful performances that we could hear right across the hall in Authors Alley. I hadn’t seen them since DuckCon back in 2015, and they are just as good as I remember. Give them a listen, but see them in concert if you get a chance.


Listen on Amazon
Lastly, as of yesterday the audiobook for A Life of Death was released on Amazon and Audible. Ian Gordon from HorrorBabble did an incredible job. Just listen to the free retail excerpt and tell me what you think. The audiobook for book 2, The Golden Bulls, is currently underway.
Thanks again for visiting. Check back later for more updates.

Weston Kincade ~ Author of the A Life of Death trillogy, The Priors, and Strange Circumstances

As readers, fans, inspiring authors, or all of the above I’m sure you have questions.
Well, I want to hear them.

Introducing One on One with Weston.
The idea is quite straight forward. You ask, I’ll answer.
To start us off, here’s a question from an exchange I had not long ago.

Reader: I often wonder what draws an author to a genre, or maybe more accurately, a genre to an author. What was it that connected you to horror? What was it that made you try another genre?

WK: Honestly, I don’t know. This is a question I’ve considered time and again because my favorite genre to read casually is epic fantasy (think George R.R. Martin, Robert Jordan, David Eddings, Mercedes Lackey, etc.), but the stories that come to me tend to be darker. As I’ve said from time to time, they dip a claw or three in horror but span other genres like fantasy and science fiction too. I write what grabs hold and won’t let go. An idea has to speak to me to get me to dedicate enough time to write the entire story… or maybe it’s better to say, speak through me. I certainly don’t have too much choice about what’s happening once the ideas start flowing. The letters just hit the page with legs running.



Weston Kincade ~ Author of the A Life of Death collection, The Priors, and Strange Circumstances

Although I am sure that all my readers and followers know of and have probably already signed up, I will be participating in Authors Alley this weekend at Cleveland Concoction.
Not only will I be participating, at this year’s event I will be releasing my newest book!
Build Your Authors Alley is a hybrid work. This “Tales from” crossed with a “How to” not only gives a look into how some improvising led to an annual literary event, but how you can create your own.
Here’s a snip-it from the “Tales from” aspect:
   “After a few minutes, security arrived, opened the door, and asked the crowd, “Could the authors please raise their hands?”

In that moment you could hear crickets chirp. I glanced around, much like the other attendees, but no hands stood over the crowd. Thinking quickly, I hesitantly raised mine.

“Great,” he barked, motioning me forward. “Just you?”

After a quick explanation that I wasn’t supposed to be running the panel, he shrugged, said, “It’s all yours,” and walked away.

I was astonished, but now the crowd was staring at me. Leading them into the large banquet room, I introduced myself and took the stage to talk about my books and experiences. The panel went well, considering it was completely improvised, and I followed up with a Q and A session. None of it was planned or orchestrated, for I hadn’t even met the convention volunteers, aside from security, but my experience speaking in front of classes allowed me to slip into the role.”


And now from the “How to” aspect:
   “Networking is a task many people find arduous or simply don’t understand, but it doesn’t have to be difficult. When you network, you are simply getting to know new people in the industry. Authors, publishers, and editors—no matter who they are—are people. Just treat them respectfully like you would anyone else and build friendships. If you are running an Authors Alley, networking needs to become second nature. You will deal with people of varying levels of celebrity, and connecting with them on social media can prove beneficial down the road. You never know who is friends with someone else, whose recommendation could change your convention overnight, or what the future holds. However, if you are outgoing and friendly and maintain an online connection with your panelists, it can open unexpected doors.”
 
As you will read in BYAA, things do not always go as planned. Such is the case with this release.
That being said, for the time being BYAA with only be available in E-book format.
You can get your E-book on Amazon today.

For those who prefer to have a physical copy, preorders can be requested with me at Authors Alley.
As a thank you for those who do, I will autograph your copy when it becomes available.

As always, I look forward to seeing and interacting with you all.

Just in case you haven’t signed up yet, tickets are still available.
You can check prices and details here.

Weston Kincade ~ Author of the A Life of Death collection, The Priors, and Strange Circumstances


I am happy to announce that I have a new nonfiction book set for release this March. It’s about my experiences developing Authors Alley for Cleveland ConCoction and how to adapt those experiences for other conventions. (See below for a brief summary.)

Recently conventions have started modeling their literary departments after ours and I have been asked to provide information for convention boards to review for potential improvements. Considering this information is proving helpful to conventions in surrounding states, I figured I’d do what I do best and write a how-to book based on my experiences. It is currently titled “Build Your Authors Alley: A Convention Story”. But that is a working title. I am considering changing it to “Build Your Authors Alley: A Convention How To Guide” because I think that would fit better since the focus is not on telling the story, but using the events to help build and update future literary departments at other conventions.

And that is where you can help. Please weigh in on the title and let me know which cover attracts your attention best. If there is anything that doesn’t quite work for you as a reader, what is it? Simon Critchell, the cover artist for Build Your Authors Alley, has created two with varying texts. Which do you like better, A or B? Please leave a comment and let me know.

A


B


Brief Summary

Cleveland ConCoction did pretty well the first year. I even got to see the fruits of the volunteers’ labor, but their literary side was nearly nonexistent. In fact, the one literary panel on the schedule that I attended had no panelists. When the organizer asked the group at the door if published authors would raise their hands, surprisingly I was the only one to do so. So, I wound up improvising and leading that panel when I meant to attend and see how it was done. Talk about being thrown into the lake to learn how to swim. Shortly afterward I was asked to step in as the department head and make the literary department something to be proud of.

Now, four years later, Authors Alley is thriving, our volunteers are passionate about helping authors and readers, and nearly 30 authors attend annually. Panelists range from self-published and newly published to New York Times, Amazon, USA Today, and international bestselling authors. They include esteemed Bram Stoker, Hugo, Nebula, Elgin, and Robert A. Heinlein award winners, and some are included reading on the International Space Station.

Using my tried and true experiences, you can confidently build your own Authors Alley or update your current one. Build Your Authors Alley will be available March of 2018. Look for its official release at Cleveland ConCoction 2018.

Weston Kincade ~ Author of the A Life of Death collection, The Priors, and Strange Circumstances

I was happy to hear from Julie Eason over at Read with Me just the other day. She finished the third book in the A Life of Death series, Sacrifices, and her reviews have been truly exciting her followers. Check out her thoughts on the trilogy at Read with Me.

Weston Kincade ~ Author of the A Life of Death collection, The Priors, and Strange Circumstances



I love impromptu sales, so here’s a great one. October 15-18, get each of the A Life of Death books in the trilogy for .99. You can’t beat that deal for a 5 star paranormal mystery of this caliber. Join Alex as he seeks justice for the dead. http://amzn.to/2z6cQCO

Weston Kincade ~ Author of the A Life of Death collection, The Priors, and Strange Circumstances

It didn’t take long for Stormi to get through book 3. Sacrifices is the final book in the A Life of Death trilogy. It turns out that the series went over well at Boundless Reviews and received yet another 5 star review. I love what Stormi had to say. They even prepared an image I had to share.

Thank you for the feedback and sharing your reviews, Stormi and the rest of the crew at Boundless. Much appreciated.

Happy reading!

Weston Kincade ~ Author of the A Life of Death collection, The Priors, and Strange Circumstances

Not too long ago I posted about Boundless Book Reviews’ 5-star review of A Life of Death. Well Stormi just finished the sequel, The Golden Bulls, and posted her review.

I couldn’t be more pleased that the sequel was received just as well as book 1 and couldn’t be more impressed with her review style. What do you think?

Here’s Stormi’s latest review.

Weston Kincade ~ Author of the A Life of Death collection, The Priors, and Strange Circumstances

Boundless Book Reviews recently read and reviewed A Life of Death. I was quite pleasantly surprised to see it and hear what Stormi had to say. Thank you for taking the time to read A Life of Death, Stormi. It was great to hear what you thought.

Readers, check out Stormi’s review and the other great book recommendations at Boundless.

Weston Kincade ~ Author of the A Life of Death collection, The Priors, and Strange Circumstances