Man Cannot Live on Hot Dogs Alone (The Fair Day 1)

Today was the first official day of the local fair. I manned a booth all day, selling books and handing out bookmarks. (I hope to post a picture of the booth later, after I have my banner, posters, and uh... hopefully books.) And I ate two hot dogs (lunch and dinner) in the process!

I sold 12 pre-orders, which I think is pretty good for a low traffic setup day in a small community. I handed out a TON of bookmarks, and got many assurances from people that they would come back and buy a copy in the coming days. Tomorrow, stories about KMS will hit the local newspapers, so I expect that to be a big boost, and I think I'm on track to hit my goal of 100 copies sold by Sunday.

I made some new friends with my neighboring booth-mates, as well as a kid named Matt. He wanted a copy of KMS but couldn't afford it, so I told him I'll give him a copy for free if he roams the fairgrounds handing out bookmarks and directing people to my booth. This arrangement has proved quite beneficial thus far. He's really good at it.

Some things I've learned:

-Nothing seems to grab people's interest more than seeing someone else in front of my booth talking to me.

-Some people (more than I would have thought) think all authors are rich and famous. I'm starting to wonder if a joke I made in my acknowledgements will backfire badly.

-There are a lot of aspiring authors out there.

-Eleven hours is a long time. Sixteen will be longer.

Highlights:

-Some teens asked me to sign bookmarks for them. One of them kept coming back for replacements because he kept losing his. I said, "I think you're just stashing them somewhere so you have more to sell on eBay," and handed him a new one. He said, "Yeah, I am. See you tomorrow."

-Some smaller kids didn't believe that I was really the author. I asked how I could prove it to them, and they looked into the ARC and told me to name the first chapter, when I did, they asked me to name the second chapter. When I did that, they believed me.

Calling All Kindle Users

First, an update...

I think it's safe to say that all editing of Kestrel's Midnight Song is done. In a matter of days, a truckload of books will stop by my house. Very exciting. :) Right now I'm planning out the national book tour, which is coming up fast. If you'd like to help organize an event at your school or homeschool group, send me an email.

Now for the real news...

Kestrel's Midnight Song is available on Kindle RIGHT NOW! So for those kindle users out there, consider buying an e-copy now, and then getting a shiny physical copy in a few weeks! Check it out at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/tags-on-product/B003ZDOW1C/ref=tag_dpp_cust_edpp_sa

And be sure to post a review when you're done reading!

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43602175@N06/4069260433/

Live Online Party! (Finally)

Hello everyone. For those of you who haven't heard through other outlets, the Live Online Party will be TODAY (Tuesday, August 3rd) at kmsparty.blogspot.com at 4:00 pacific time. Due to the abundance of technical difficulties and ill-timed commercials that the video format caused, this time it will be a simple text chat in which I will announce who won which books. Then you can ask me anything (unless it involves the underwear incident.)

I think it will be a fun time to interact with other fantasy readers/writers/broomstick-jedi-warriors. I hope to see you there! Oh, and Thadior might make an appearance...

Endorsements!

I am happy to report that, so far, I have received two endorsements for my novel, Kestrel's Midnight Song. The second of which just arrived this morning. (Note: Receiving a novel endorsement is a great way to start your day.)

The first is from Jill Williamson, who recently WON A CHRISTY AWARD!

“Kestrel’s Midnight Song is a solid addition to the fantasy genre. Jacob Parker writes an imaginative tale, filled with adventure, mystery, and unique characters. The storylines intertwine and keep the reader turning the pages, desperate to see how it will all work out. I can’t wait to read the sequel.”
—Jill Williamson, award winning author of By Darkness Hid

The second, the one I just received this morning, is from Wayne Thomas Batson:

"Because of his youth and the genre, people will no doubt compare J.R. Parker to Christopher Paolini. I don't claim to be a prophet, but I think Parker very well could be better. Kestrel's Midnight Song is a wonderful first novel. Parker's language is quite stunning without being wordy. And his opening hook is terrific. Marauders, stolen children, haunting mystery, and ever-present danger make this a book worth reading."—Wayne Thomas Batson, bestselling author of The Door Within Trilogy, Isle of Swords, Isle of Fire, and Curse of the Spider King

Advance Reader Copies have also been sent to various review publications such as Library Journal, Publisher's Weekly, etc. Getting a review from one of those is a long shot for a small press, but it's worth a try, right?

In other news, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel on the editing front. In a day or two I should receive the suggested edits from the editor and will then apply them to the novel. It won't be long now before it's off to the printer.

Why I Canceled Everyone's Orders

For those of you who didn't notice the refund notification in your inbox, I was forced to cancel and refund everyone's Amazon.com orders in full. Why? Well, here's the whole headache—I mean story...

Long before the party and the amazon.com explosion, I sent an email to Amazon support, asking them if I could sell pre-orders with an FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon) Merchant Account. The response was, "If a book it posted as pre-order and it Merchant fulfilled, it would work as intended. If you would want to use FBA for the same, it would not work at all."

So I followed that advice. I set up a Merchant Account (in which I fulfill the orders) listed Kestrel's Midnight Song for sale, and sold pre-orders on the party day. (Thanks everyone!)

Amazon.com has a policy for its sellers that states all products must be shipped within two business days of the order.Obviously, since I sold pre-orders, fulfilling that policy was not going to be possible. But I didn't think that was a big deal.

I was wrong.

There's a nice shiny button you get to press that "confirms shipment." I thought the button sends a message to the buyer notifying them that the order had been shipped and sends a green light to the Amazon.com people watching to make sure I don't steal everyone's money. So I figured if I pressed it, and then sent a message to everyone letting them know that the pre-orders would be delivered on schedule—months from then—everything would be fine.

I was wrong.

A couple days later I got an email from Amazon stating my account was being reviewed. My profits were being temporarily withheld.

I sent them an email stating what happened and that it was all a small misunderstanding.

The response was that my account was now being suspended, and that I'd committed a serious offense.

I'll spare you the details of the back and forth. It all concluded with Amazon telling me to refund everyone's orders. So I did.

I'm not sure what the original amazon.com support person was thinking, but I'm at least partially to blame. My biggest mistake was my false presupposition that the deal-making would take place between me and the customers. I saw Amazon Marketplace as resembling a real marketplace. Amazon.com provides the location; I set up shop and sell stuff. As it turns out, it's nothing like that. Amazon closely monitors and surveys and regulates all transactions.

So, I'm very sorry for the hassle and confusion, everyone. I appreciate the support you showed in ordering lots of copies of Kestrel's Midnight Song. However, there is a bright side in all of this!

*Drumroll*

As of today, you can re-pre-order Kestrel's Midnight Song straight from my website (done securely through PayPal.) The good part about that is there's no restrictive Amazon.com shipping policy (in which every copy sold must include a $3.99 shipping charge) or fees. So that means the pre-order is now cheaper! $9.95 with a flat shipping charge of $2.38, no matter how many copies you order. So go re-pre-order your signed copies now! And if any new people want to join in, feel free. ;)

All original transaction deals will be honored. So, for instance, if you ordered five copies the first time, and you order at least 5 copies this second time, you still get all the free stuff you would have gotten before.

Please note that the pre-order price is temporary. The low pre-order price on Amazon was intended to be a short-time thing, and this is too.

And... oh, right. The party reschedule! It will be in July. That much is certain. I'm still waiting to hear from someone who—I just discovered—has been on vacation for a month. If you don't know what party I'm talking about, check this out. Mwahaha.

Interviews Galore

First of all, Kestrel's Midnight Song is officially the #2 most discussed book of all time on Shelfari.com! Plus, its trailer is the #4 most popular book trailer of all time on Goodreads.com! How cool is that?

Second, I've been interviewed a multitude of times recently...

Want to know my biggest writing pet peeve and hear about my aversion to ballroom dancing? Go to Writing it Out

Want to know my favorite fantasy book? Go to Endurance and Victory

Want to hear the plot for the first story I ever wrote? Go to Write Big

Want to discover the origin of the Aegre Bird (on the cover)? Go to Teen Inklings

Also, that same interview will be posted on Clash Entertainment on Friday.

And... last but not least (there wasn't any rhyme or reason to the order I posted) here's a link to an old interview I did at Storyteller Journey that I realize I neglected to link to.

Oh, and almost forgot, silly me... this is a link to my interview on Oprah.

The Party!

Well... the party didn't go quite as planned. I got to chat with everyone all day, (which was a ton of fun) but come party time, the internet died. The Amazon.com Sales Rank did hit #1,591, though. :)

And, the party will be rescheduled! In fact, I have a good lead on solid internet. But you can get started on the free books and gift cards now! In fact, if you get your entries in before the end of May, you get an extra entry. So GO HERE right now and see what's going on. And again, get your entries in ASAP!

Thanks to everyone who attended. And to those who couldn't make it, I hope to see you at the reschedule.

http://www.kmsparty.blogspot.com/

Announcing... THE KMS BOOK TRAILER!

It's done! A huge thanks to Music Composer Extraordinaire, Jon Maiocco of Jtmlife.blogspot.com and CGI Proffesional Jaw Dropper, Leighton Hajicek of SlyGames.net for their excellent work.

Before I show it to you, I want to talk a bit about a book trailer contest I entered it in. The finalists get played at Book Expo America!!! (The mere mention of which gives me goosebumps.) And it's only open to books published by independent publishers, so I think I have a shot. What I would like you to do, my dear, beloved, awesome, terrific (Did I mention beloved?) readers, is to vote for the KMS Trailer! The video with the highest votes doesn't automatically win, but getting into the top few is definitely a plus.

So... to explain how to vote, I made this handy graphic, depicting each step and in which order.

1. Click on "Join Group"

2. Click on "Recent"

3. Click on "Kestrel's Midnight Song Book Trailer"

4. Click on "I love it"

It's that simple! Here's the link to get to the contest page: youtube.com/group/booktrailercontest

Ok, enough with the commercial, here's the real deal:

(If the sidebar is blocking part of the video, just double click on it)

UPDATE: We've driven the KMS trailer all the way to #5 already! Woohoo!