logo
Wrong email address or username
Wrong email address or username
Incorrect verification code
back to top
Search tags: Cold-Blooded
Load new posts () and activity
Like Reblog Comment
text 2021-06-11 08:05
FREE E-BOOK - COLD-BLOODED – The Mattie Saunders Series – Book 2

FREE E-BOOK

COLD-BLOODED – The Mattie Saunders Series – Book 2

June 11-15

Download your copy now at

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

 

 

 

The Reptile Refuge where Liz volunteers has been closed by police while they investigate a suspicious death that took place on the premises. Desperately needing a home for her reptiles, she reaches out to an old friend from high school, Mattie Saunders, and asks if it's possible to temporarily board them at Saunders Bird Sanctuary? 

Mattie knows she should be more concerned with the circumstances but sees it as an opportunity to reconnect with her friend, as well as help some animals in distress. It's only after two members of the RCMP drug squad confront Mattie in a coffee shop and suggest that Liz's involvement at the refuge was more than looking after its inhabitants.

The refuge's owner, Leborg Kovacevic, used the facility as a front for his drug trafficking business, and not only Liz was Kovacevic's partner but also his partner-in-crime. Breaking the law isn’t the only risk Mattie’s taking, her life might also be in danger considering the company she keeps.

Too late she finds out Liz has something in common with the pythons, geckos, and iguanas she's seeking shelter for.
They're all cold-blooded.

 

CLICK HERE TO

WATCH THE PROMOTIONAL VIDEO

 

 

#reptiles #ExoticPets #DrugAddiction #Homelessness #RockandRoll #friendship #loyalty #relationships #parrots #conservation #petrescue #snakes #Lizards #iguanas #pythons

#romance #adventure #action #murder #dysfunctionalfamilies

Like Reblog Comment
text 2019-02-20 07:10
Book Tour - Cold-Blooded

 

As the toughest son with the fewest morals, Manō Alana promised his mother that he’d protect his siblings. Since her death, he’s embraced his role as the family heavy, but killing is the one part of his job he hates. And the awful nightmares driving him to commit violence aren’t doing him any favors—nor is the sinister, ancient magic calling to him from under the slopes of a dormant volcano.

 

A shakeup in power between rival drug lords reveals a half brother Manō didn’t know he had, complicating the Alana family’s plans to take over the marijuana trade on Maui. Not only that, but one wrong move could turn the sexy cop he’s involved with against the family.

When a crime the Alanas fought hard to bury is exposed, their whole cartel is in danger. Now Manō’s blood has him trapped between two clans: the siblings he’s loved since they were kids, and the ruthless, shadowy kin he just learned he has.

 

Manō can either succumb to the darkness threatening to drag him under or tap in to its power and embrace his role as a cold-blooded killer.

 

 

 

About the Book:

 

Cold-Blooded by Kendall Grey

Series: Ohana Book Two

Genre: Adult, Supernatural Suspense

Publisher: Howling Mad Press

Publication Date: February 19, 2019

 

Purchase Your Copy Today!
Amazon

 

Also Available On:

 

 

 

AUTHOR Q&A
 

What literary pilgrimages have you gone on?


A trip to Australia several years ago sparked the backdrop for my Just Breathe urban fantasy series. I was part of a whale research team and learned a ton about whales during my time there. Many of my experiences in Hervey Bay, Queensland became actual scenes in the Just Breathe books.


I also own property on Maui and go there at least once a year. Early visits fueled my ‘Ohana supernatural suspense series and gave me lots of ideas for not only portraying the setting of those books but also Hawaiian culture.



Does writing energize or exhaust you?


Both. Writing can be exhilarating or debilitating, depending on the book. When I write comedy, I usually have loads of fun. Heavier stories can be hard on the soul, though.



Did you ever consider writing under a pseudonym?


Yes! I have two pseudonyms—Seven Slade (check out COMING OUT, a friends-to-lovers romance with a twist) and Kendall Day (FALLING FOR MR. SLATER is an enemies-to-lovers teacher romance).



Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want?


I tried writing what everyone else writes, but it’s not for me. I’d rather make art than house payments (just ask Letty Dillinger, the heroine of my Hard Rock Harlots series). If I can’t write what I want, I don’t enjoy it. No point in being miserable, so I write original stories from my heart and hope the right readers will find them.



What was the best money you ever spent as a writer?


I took most of the money I made from STRINGS and put it toward my condo on Maui. Best investment ever! But nowadays, a good investment for me is paying a solid editor and quality cover designer for every novel. Bad editing and bad covers will ruin a book.



What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel?


THE PRICE YOU PAY by Aidan Truhen. It’s effing brilliant and so, so funny!



As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal?


Whales, of course! Whales have been my spirit animals since 2006 when I met my first one off the coast of Massachusetts. I wrote an entire series based on them (INHALE, EXHALE, and JUST BREATHE).



How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?


Currently, three. They’re all written and have been through first-round edits, but for various reasons, I haven’t gotten back to finishing and publishing them. Maybe one day.



What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?


My research is always extensive. I don’t often do a ton of research before writing, but I’ll stop to look things up while I’m writing. I’m a firm believer in fact-checking every little detail I’m not sure about.



What did you edit out of this book?


I had to cut several thousand words from COLD-BLOODED on the advice of my betas and editor, and it broke my heart. There’s one scene that provides the answers to all the mysteries in the ‘Ohana series (as well as a connection to my Just Breathe series and its upcoming spin-off books). Readers said it slowed the pace too much. While I understand that, it was painful to delete it. I wanted to yell, “The entire book is unpacked here, and you’re not seeing it! UGH!” But they were right. The scene slowed the pace too much, so I worked around it. Maybe I’ll published that deleted scene someday.



If you didn’t write, what would you do for work?


Ideally, I’d be a marine naturalist on whale watch boats.



Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?


YES! All the time. In fact, pretty much every book I’ve published is connected in some way to the others. Sometimes it’s the characters; sometimes the worlds overlap. I love finding ways to connect my stories, even if readers don’t notice. It makes me feel like I’m welcoming a new member to the Kendall Grey ‘Ohana. Ha!



What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?


Dealing with my own emotions around writing. I’m very hard on myself and have paper-thin skin. The tiniest bit of criticism hurts. When I get edits or beta feedback, I have to read through everything and step away from it for a few days so I can come back later and look at it more objectively. I try not to read reviews. Those can be brutal. It’s best to avoid reading other people’s opinions of my work.



Does your family support your career as a writer?


My husband is by far my biggest supporter. My kids pretty much ignore anything to do with my book stuff. Ha! My parents have both passed away, but my dad was around during my first release, and even though he didn’t read the story, he was very supportive. My sister and a couple aunts are also amazing. The rest of the family … I don’t think most of them view what I do as valuable or an actual job, even though this has been my full-time job since 2008. I don’t talk about my work around friends or family much. They’re just not interested.


Do you believe in writer’s block?


Absolutely. I struggle with depression, and that puts a dent in my writing mojo from time to time. When I’m feeling down for long stretches, I can’t write. Thankfully, it’s been a while since I had a depressive episode, so writing has been much easier this last year. But yes, writer’s block is very real for me.

 

 

 

About Kendall Grey:

 

A whale warrior, indie freedom fighter, and vodka martini aficionado, KENDALL GREY is calm like an F-bomb*. She writes about fierce women and the men who love them. Her aliases include Kendall Day (FALLING FOR MR. SLATER) and Seven Slade (COMING OUT).

 

Kendall lives off a dirt road near Atlanta, Georgia, with three mischievous Demonlings, a dashing geek in cyber armor, a long-haired miniature Dachshund that thinks she’s a cat, and an Aussie shepherd mix whose ice-blue eyes will steal your heart and hold it for ransom.

 

*Detonation manual not included.

 

Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  | 

 Pinterest  |  YouTube  |  Goodreads  |  Amazon

 

 

 

This promotion is brought to you by Pure Textuality PR.

 

 

 

 

Like Reblog Comment
show activity (+)
text 2018-05-14 08:30
Free and Easy Book Launch Basics
Cold-Blooded - Rod Raglin

 What's more disappointing than launching a new book and getting no sales and no reviews?

 

Paying hundreds if not thousands of dollars for someone to launch your new book for you and getting no sales and no reviews.

 

Cold-Blooded, Book 2 in the Mattie Saunders series was launched with a pre-order on Smashwords on January 15, 2018.

 

The Mattie Saunders Series is what I now go back to when I'm between, or need a break from, the major novel I'm working on. Mattie is a modern young woman dealing with new adult issues of relationships, career and family as well as addressing the contemporary challenges confronting society.

 

I'm actually taking subjects right from the nightly newscast and examining them from a fictional perspective. Because my overriding concern is wild places, plants and animals there's also a subplot that examines this problem as well.

 

In Cold-Blooded Mattie deals with the opioid crisis, a crumbling relationship and the exploitation of reptiles by the exotic pet trade.

 

This series of novella's are fast paced, somewhat irreverent and short - about one hundred pages.

 

The book was published on February 23, 2018, as an e-book on Smashwords and Draft2Digital and as an e-book and paperback on Amazon.

 

At that time I sent out approximately two hundred and thirty-four emails to members of my Advanced Reading Team with a coupon code for a free download of Cold-Blooded from Smashwords. Follow up emails went out March 4th and 13th.

 

The launch continued with giveaways on BookLikes and LibraryThing beginning March 18. I use these two sites because they don't charge you to offer your book for free like Goodreads that now charges $119.

 

If I ever thought I'd have to pay to give my books away I may have reconsidered becoming an author.

 

I used Goodreads prior to them charging to list giveaways and despite having a far greater audience than these other two sites I never found it generated more reviews.

 

After a month, BookLikes had two people requesting Cold-Blooded and LibraryThing had twenty-six.

 

I use free coupon codes on Smashwords with both my ARCs and giveaways so I can see how many actually redeem the coupon. Totally coupons offered, 271. Totally coupons redeemed, 27.

 

To date, marketing for Cold-Blooded has generated two tepid reviews and no sales.

 

It is now May 13th and I've just generated a free coupon for The Rocker and the Bird Girl, Book 1 in the Mattie Saunders Series, on Smashwords. The strategy is by offering the first book in the series free, readers will purchase the second book. Here's the link if you're interested. It expires June 3, 2018.

 

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/727720

 

I'm likely going to enroll The Rocker and the Bird Girl on KDP Select so I can take advantage of offering it free for five days over the course of the three month exclusive commitment to see it that will generate any interest in Cold-Blooded.

 

What's the take-away?

 

This is classic book launch marketing, something you can easily pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars for and I did it all free.

 

Okay, I got zero results, but if you're and Indie Author and considering investing in marketing your self-published book ask yourself, why should you expect a different outcome? Unless you've got a real good reason, consider going the free route as outlined here or you'll likely learn the hard way what's more disappointing than launching a new book and getting no sales and no reviews.

 

Stay calm, be brave, watch for the signs.

 

Links associate with this blog:

Author Amazon site https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

Link for free copy of The Rocker and the Bird Girl https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/727720

BookLikes http://booklikes.com/giveaways

LibraryThing https://www.librarything.com/more/freebooks

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway

Draft2Digiatl https://www.draft2digital.com/

Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/

KindleDirect Publishing https://kdp.amazon.com/

Createspace https://www.createspace.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like Reblog Comment
show activity (+)
text 2018-03-19 18:08
Win one of 100 copies of Cold-Blooded - The Mattie Saunders Series Book 2
Cold-Blooded - Rod Raglin

The second book in The Mattie Saunders Series, Cold-Blooded, has just been released and you can enter to win one of 100  free E-Book editions on BookLikes until April 15, 2018.

 

In Book 1, The Rocker and the Bird Girl, you'll meet the heroine, Mattie Saunders, a twenty-something, slightly eccentric loner who loves birds and so far has devoted her relatively short life to the rescue, care and re-homing of exotic ones people keep as pets, like parrots.

 

The sanctuary her grandfather left her is out of funds and in an effort to raise some money so her birds won't be homeless yet again, she reaches out the Bodine, the lead guitarist of the bad-boy rock band Seditious. She's learned Bodine has a pet Macaw and since she assumes he's fabulously wealthy hopes he'll by sympathetic and use some of that wealth to help these precious creatures.

 

Telling you more would be like shooting myself in the foot since I want you to buy the book.

 

In Book 2, Cold Blooded, Mattie receives a call from Liz, an old friend from high school, asking if it's possible to temporarily board some reptiles at Saunders Bird Sanctuary. The Reptile Refuge where Liz volunteers has been closed be police while they investigate a suspicious death that took place on the premises.

 

Mattie's not concerned with the circumstances and sees it as an opportunity to reconnect with Liz as well as help some animals in distress, but she soon discovers it's not just the displaced inhabitants of The Reptile Refuge that are cold blooded.

Cold-Blooded also addresses contemporary issues including love, friendship, family, the rescue and rehabilitation of exotic pets including birds and reptiles, and the devastating impact of the opioid epidemic.

 

Links associated with this post;

Link to BookLikes Giveaway http://booklikes.com/giveaways

 

To purchase The Rocker and the Bird Girl, Book 1 in The Mattie Saunders Series as either an E-Book or Paperback go to my Amazon Author Page at

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

 

 

Stay calm, be brave, watch for the signs

30

 

Like Reblog Comment
text 2018-02-05 07:16
The benefit of a bounty of Beta-Readers

 

I am constantly amazed at how many errors there are in my manuscripts.

 

And I don't mean the first draft.

 

Nothing is more frustrating for me than finding errors in my books, or worse, having others point them out. As well as being patently unprofessional I feel it shows a lack of respect for the work, not to mention the reader. I suppose this could be resolved by hiring a professional copyeditor.

 

Bookbaby's Copy Editing services include, "A word-by-word edit that addresses grammar, usage, and consistency issues." My soon-to-be-released novella, Cold-Blooded, The Mattie Saunders Series Book II, is about 100 pages and would cost $700.00 to be copyedited by Bookbaby

 

If I sell the e-book edition of Cold-Blooded for $3.99 on Amazon my royalty will be $1.40, which means I'd have to sell 500 copies to pay for the copy editing alone (in my dreams). So I'd rather recruit non-professionals who are committed to making my work error free.

 

Beta readers can be anyone, though I tend to shy away from friends and absolutely won't use family. I'm not asking them to review or comment on the story (though I don't discourage it), just read it and make note of the errors. Right now I have two who had previously reviewed my books (favourably). I contacted them to see if they'd like to beta-read my new works. The other one is a friend. None are professionals and they all do it for a free copy of the finished book with their name on the acknowledgements page.

 

Prior to sending the manuscript to my beta readers, I've developed a process to make it as error-free as possible.

1. Each time I sit down to write I re-read and revise what I wrote during the previous session.

2. After I finish a rough draft I revise it thoroughly, then let it rest.

3. After I've got the story out of my system, which means I no longer have instant recall for each line written (minimum three months), I pull it out and revise it again with fresh eyes.

4. Then comes the computer spell-check.

 

Then I send it out to my three beta readers.

 

I used to be pretty confident once I'd done all that I'd caught at least most of the typos and filled in the dropped words, but it's embarrassing how many errors they still find. It's also remarkable how what one misses the other catches.

 

Once they get back to me I do the corrections which entails another revision. Finally, uploading it to Smashwords, Kindle and Draft2Digital gives me another opportunity to check it since I always do a visual review for formatting glitches.

 

I strongly urge you to begin recruiting beta readers - from your email list, through your website, on social media, a supportive friend, a note pinned on the bulletin board in the local library, or like I'm doing here in a Booklikes blog (see below). You simply cannot have too many and they tend to fall away.

 

If you're patient, methodical and persevere you can self-published a respectable book.

 

Besides, there are no guarantees a professionally edited, self-published book will have any more success than one that is carefully vetted by a group amateurs committed to making your work the best it can be.

 

Plus you'll save a lot of money.

 

Stay calm, be brave, watch for the signs

 

30

 

If you'd like to become a beta reader and have an opportunity to read (and improve) my new work free, please send me an email at rod_raglin@yahoo.com

 

 

 

Web links associated with this article:

Bookbaby Editing Services https://www.bookbaby.com/book-editing-services

Kindle Direct Publishing https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US

Draft2Digital https://www.draft2digital.com

Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com

Rod Raglin's Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

 

 

More posts
Your Dashboard view:
Need help?