Introducing a New Urban Fantasy Series is Rough

Believe me when I tell you, selling the first book in a series is the easy part. Normally I’d be thrilled that the first book is in hardcover, but I think that’s slowing me down a little bit too. It’s “take a chance on something new” and oh, by the way, it’s $20 even with Amazon’s discount.

Still, Vintage Soul seems to be taking off. Book I of the DeChance Chronicles is up and down on the rankings at all the online booksellers, and since the publisher is godawful at reaching out to retail outlets (preferring libraries) – the best gauge of how it’s doing is probably the aforementioned online outlets.

I’ve been spending my evenings with Donovan again. I have revised the first sixteen of twenty-nine chapters of Heart of a Dragon. I think, in many ways, it’s a stronger book than Vintage Soul, but it lacks one thing that has helped me launch the series. Vampires. There is a werewolf in this one, but mostly it’s focused on bikers, voodoo, a young Hispanic artist, and dragons. All of this in an urban setting has been a challenge, and a lot of fun.

For those not familiar with my odd, roller coaster of a life, I rode with a motorcycle club – Tiburon MC – when I was stationed in Rota Spain. I rode with them when I came back to the states, as well. Things fell a apart a little between myself and some of the local members, but that experience – and those men and women – are a part of everything I do. You can’t share that kind of bond and not be changed by it. I hope – in part, at least – that I’ve managed to incorporate it into Heart of a Dragon.

This novel is born from a short story titled “In His Heart Live Dragons” that was first published in Deathrealm Magazine. I knew I wasn’t done with Salvatore Domingo Sanchez, or old Martinez, just didn’t know they had a novel in them.

If you love urban fantasy, I urge you to give Vintage Soul a try, and hope you’ll find yourself eagerly anticipating this next one. The dragons are very cool.

My feeling is that once you have two or three books, and it really is a series, you can start picking up readers exponentially, some going back to find what they need to catch up on in book I, some starting at three, or four, and then picking up the series. It’s a commitment, both for the reader and the author. I’m committed. I invite you to join me.

I’m still on my “virtual tour,” so if you are looking for a guest blogger, an interview, or a give-away and are willing to review Vintage Soul (like it or hate it) then please contact me… david macabreink com.

Also – don’t forget – you can pre-order the SIGNED LIMITED EDITION of VINTAGE SOUL at the Horror Mall.  One lucky pre-order customer will win the beautiful, hand-bound leather one-of-a-kind edition created for me by Christ Hedges…personalized and everything.

-DNW