A handful of small announcements have piled up, so I figured it would be wise get them all out here before I forget.
First, NYCC. My spare time is split between writing these novels and doing articles and reviews for BrainLazy.com. That site started as a way to justify all of the time I spent saying stupid stuff and playing video games, but like the books, it has taken on a life of its own. Aside from the steady stream of video games to review, BrainLazy gets us press access to some pretty major events, including PAX East and New York Comic Con. For the third year in a row, I’ll be attending NYCC while wearing my journalist hat. However, since I now have a legitimate product that might interest attendees, for the first time ever I’ll be wearing my author hat, too! I even had some cards made up!
Joseph Lallo: Card Carrying Author
Take a close look at that QR code by the way. Yep! My card bears the mark. I’ll probably be attending NYCC on Saturday, Oct. 15th, and Sunday, Oct. 16th. I won’t have a booth or anything. I’ll just be pacing the floor, looking for cool stuff to write about and trying to hand out a few business cards, but if you’re going to be there too, send me an email or post a comment if you want to meet.
Speaking of BrainLazy, keep your eyes peeled for a little bit more crossover between this site and that. I created www.bookofdeacon.com to avoid polluting the BrainLazy front page with news about the books. (Technically, I created it because a friend of mine bought me the domain for my birthday, but offloading my book-related yammering was the best use I could think of.) Every now and then, though, a topic arises that would be of interest to both the readers of my books and the readers of BrainLazy. When that occurs, I’ll probably do a double post: Once here as myself, and once at BrainLazy as my somewhat more abrasive alter ego, Decoychunk.
Another cool thing I’ve learned is that the iBookstore, which is one of the many retailers that carries my stuff, will be distributing it to 26 more countries. Not just my book, naturally, but everything in the Smashwords premium catalog, and presumably everything ELSE they have for sale. Here’s the list of countries:
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
I’m not sure how many sales these new countries will send my way, considering most of them aren’t native English speakers, but it’s neat to know that the iPod, iPad, and iPhone bearing public in a host of new nations will be able to download my books if they wish.
Finally, I’m beginning to gather requests, comments, and suggestions regarding how best to connect with my fans and readers. I was recently asked if I have a Facebook fan page for myself or my books, and while I don’t right now, that’s something I could certainly create. There has also been talk of a forum. The mere mention of it to my web guy made it magically appear, though it isn’t quite ready to be deployed to the general public. I’ve been seeing a lot of search hits on my site indicating that there are people out there with great concern for some of my more popular characters and little patience to find out what happens to them in the long run. Obviously I won’t be putting up a big list of spoilers to set their minds at ease, but I could certainly imagine that sort of thing showing up in a forum for readers to discuss. Expect a few changes to the site, and an update to this very post when they roll out.