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Books 6, 7, & 8

Yes, yes, there are more books, and now I have to write two for the series a year through 2014.

It all started when book five (Oblivion) at last began to crystallize in my head. Writers probably know what I mean when I say a book has to simmer in the brain for awhile as we do things that don't look like writing--jogging/walking, doing the dishes, staring blankly out the window--so the story can shape. Sort of like working with dough. The ingredients are there but they're a bit of a mess, mushed together, and even if you've tried to shape it, you don't really know how big it will be, if it'll collapse when it's cooked, what the consistency will be, etc. I'd always been a big fuzzy on Oblivion except that I knew it was The Book Wherein I Deliver On Plot Threads Introduced Earlier and it initially did a lot of simmering when I was hacking and slashing on my old Xbox years ago.

Then I realized how it was going to end.

And more books took shape.

So I did what anyone would do...I pitched them to the boss man. He accepted. I'll answer some FAQs below.Read more

Giveaway Over + New Sale + Freebie Reminder + Extras Update + Don't Be a Douche

Well, if five things can make a post, five things ABOUT ME must count.

1. The giveaway over at Melissa's blog is now over, and congrats to whoever won the copy of Bloodlines!

2. Right now Mundania is having an anniversary sale for the month of August--all books (print and ebook, as well as gift certificates) are available for 29% off when you enter NINE at checkout. http://mundania.com/book.php?title=Bloodlines That's the ebook for like $3.50 (if I'm doing my math right, which I might not be), available in five different ebook formats and including the short story Thrall (which isn't included in the ebook sold by resellers). The print book is therefore under $10. There are also only three weeks left to enter to win a signed copy of Hunter + a gift card + tons of other goodies, total value around $140, so if you want to enter, now's a good time to pick up Bloodlines and do so. http://www.skyladawncameron.com/hunterprizepack If the contest does well, I'll hold another, hopefully bigger one for Lineage's release. (If it doesn't, I am NEVER holding another contest again, ever. Fool me six thousand times and all that. Contests are very expensive and stressful.)

3. A reminder that there are two freebies to meet your Zara needs: You can read the short story, Home, exclusive to Melissa's site right here http://melissa-melsworld.blogspot.com/2011/07/exclusive-zara-lain-short-... and get started with the Zara serial, Amends, right here http://www.skyladawncameron.com/novels/amends Please feel free to comment on either. We loves comments. <3

4. I've updated the series extras page with embedded Zara fan art and other goodies. http://skyladawncameron.com/dob/extras Still more stuff is coming soon. I also made two quickie side banners for those who would like to link to Amends:

(Well, it's true.)

5. Regular readers can stop reading now. Go take a walk. You're looking really nice today and I love you.

To those who are going to hit this due to my cleverly added search phrases, like "skyla dawn cameron Bloodlines torrent" and such...please don't be a douche. I had to ask several people lately to please not steal from me. Look at how simple it is:

- If you can't afford the book, you can get it now for a discount, save up your pennies like everyone else and get it later, or just follow along with the entirely free serial I'm posting. Also, there's the library.
- You can get it in your country either through BookDepository--who ships free to most countries--or by buying from Mundania's site through PayPal (there are no geographical restrictions).
- If you're not sure if it's your thing, you can download three chapters as well as read some reviews.
- If you live in a country that doesn't have PayPal, doesn't have an online store distributing to your area, and you are feeding several children (or cats) and can't afford a $3.50 - $5 book though you can afford a computer + regular internet access, email me and I will send you one. Seriously.

If you are a nice-looking, awesome regular reader who decided to be naughty by continuing to read, you have my sincerest thanks for supporting writers so that they can continue to provide books for your enjoyment. You're so great, in fact, that I'd love to start naming my cats after you, but I'm not allowed to get any more for the time being. Maybe in a few years.

Now, I have Hunter revisions to finish--last chapter plus the epilogue--and a very brief short to be included at the end for the paperback and Mundania-exclusive ebook. As much as I hate revisions, I'm kind of grateful for them as they're keeping my mind off the dog's possible health problems (I won't know anything 'til Thursday, so please don't ask). I may jump into Lineage immediately afterward just for that reason, so yay for that. Also, I'll hopefully be back to blogging about non promo-y things this week when my brain's back on straight again.

Have a lovely weekend!

Changed - The Book that Will Never Be or "Casualty of War"

Changed is the book that follows River and Wolfe.

If you read Wolfe, you know there are a lot of loose ends. This is because I never saw either book as being remotely about plot--both are purely about the main character's arc. And I realize this bugged some people. But I did, ultimately, see where things were headed (her "destiny" as is alluded to repeatedly in both books), and figured I'd wrap this up in an anthology of shorts.

I called it Changed, for some obvious reasons and some not-so-obvious reasons.

(This paragraph is for River/Wolfe readers) The set up of the antho had one main, present day story, divided into multiple parts. In between were short stories from different character POVs in different points of time. I'd written two already: "Rebellion" was from Daryl's POV and took place the night he bit River, while "Doe, A Deer" followed Jewel Doe about two weeks prior to the start of Wolfe (if you've read it, you know what her condition was by the end of it and might guess what the story was about). Other shorts involved Kia and Noah from Wolfe, Danielle from Wolfe (as a possible love interest for Charlie), Gray and Rick Nacy from years before the start of River, as well as one short that followed the young hunter River runs into towards the end of Wolfe. I also wrote the opening for the main, present set storyline and plotted out where it was all going.

I'm putting the rest of this behind a cut because a) I'm posting an excerpt from Changed and there may be people who might not want to read it, and b) I'm tying this to a larger issue that you can probably guess about by looking at the tags for this entry. But if you do keep reading, please know that I deeply appreciate it. Read more

How NOT To Impress An Editor

So we all know I work in acquisitions. And I get my fair share of replies to my rejection letters. Most vary between stuff like "u suck!!!! I will b famus 1 dey!" and "thank you very much for your response." (Guess which ones put you on my auto-reject list in the future?)

Today I got an interesting one where the writer thanked me and claimed to be a fan of my work, mentioning one book by name and saying he hoped to see more books in the series.

Hmm. Well, that's nice.

Now I'm going to talk about something that *seems* unrelated.

I was kinda grumpy this morning due to seeing more website hits* from a person looking for illegal copies of my work. This guy was looking for Bloodlines and he's from Taiwan. So I grumbled a bit, but that book is less popular and therefore had no torrents, so ha! Too bad, Mr Thief!

Anyway, back to the rejected author. We review a lot of stuff at a time, and I did blank on the specifics of the book, so I glanced back at the cover letter. It seems this author--while American--was staying in first China, and then Taiwan for awhile.

Hmm.

I look at the time stamp on the reply email.

1:33 am EST.

I look at my site stats again.

Someone from Taiwan decided to Google "Skyla Dawn Cameron" at 1:18 am EST. Said person looked at my book page as well.

At 1:34 am EST, the same person returned to my site, this time after searching for "Skyla Dawn Cameron torrent" and has been back several times, still looking for things like "ebook torrent skyla dawn cameron" and the like.

*headdesk*

Not knowing me, I'm fine with. I'm pretty much a nobody anyway. But more fucking piracy? After submitting to an E PUBLISHER? Christ.

I'd love to share with you the name and email address of this person, but that information is confidential. So I'd just like to say congratulations: that's possibly the dumbest thing I've ever seen anyone do during my seven months in acquisitions.

Anyway, I hope you got a giggle from it. ;-)

* Yes, I check site stats frequently. I have a free counter, and it only holds 500 entries, so if I don't check, I miss important stuff. Although I got approximately 20 000 unique visitors last year, I do take a few minutes to follow the path of something that looks a little off. I'm nerdy that way.

Let's Play with Pirates

Dear Persons Looking For A Skyla Dawn Cameron Torrent:

Yes, I see you. And this is what I have to say: please FUCK OFF.

If you can't be bothered purchasing my commercially published work or getting a LEGAL freebie (like at, oh, I don't know, the library?), then you're not cool enough to be one of my readers. I'm living below the poverty line and YOU are depriving me of income.

Please stop engaging in illegal, immoral activities. If you don't believe you're having a negative impact on authors, read this post: http://www.skyladawncameron.com/blog/changed to find out you're wrong (and why there will be no third River Wolfe book).

(If you weren't here looking for a torrent, my apologies--this post is always what the pirates hit when searching.)

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Original Post:

Hey there, kids.

So, for the most part, I was pretty meh with illegal downloading. I never didn't really stress it because, in theory, people who download things illegally aren't the type of people who would buy something to start with. Right?

Know what does bug me, though? I have a TON of free stuff available to read on my website. Catharsis is twenty chapters and 70 000 words. Children of the Apocalypse is at 180 000 words and counting. Curio Killed the Cat will start in a matter of hours.

And why do I have free stories for people? Well, besides enjoying the writing part, I do it to draw attention to me as an author, give people a taste of my work, and then hope that they are kind enough to purchase my commercially published work.

This is why it fucking pisses me off when I get hits on my website referred from Google searches for "free ebook download river skyla dawn cameron". And this happens quite frequently.

The thing is, River as an ebook is $6 USD--and less if you hunt around a bit. That's nothing. With all this free stuff I'm providing, I get rather annoyed that people still feel entitled to more for free.

Which brings us to why I'm posting tonight.

A short while ago, I stumbled across a torrent at for River. And really...it just bugs me. Seriously, don't want to pay for the book? GO TO THE LIBRARY. REQUEST A COPY. They'll get it for you. They'll pay for it. You still get to read it for free. Get it?

See, I've been working my ass off all today to get Curio Killed the Cat ready for people to read, and seeing River pirated like this just feels like a total slap in the face. My publisher will be doing their thing to get it removed, but that's just not enough to make me feel better right now.

The torrent was requested by a 32 year old American female with the username "Bookfiend".

The torrent was uploaded by Satin2087.

If you have an account at this forum, do consider reminding each of these people that uploading books they don't own the copyright to is really not cool. If you don't, click that forum link up there, sign up, and send a PM to them there. Or post to the forum. Your choice. Do NOT threaten or harass anyone.

If you comment on any of my blogs regarding this topic, email me about it, share this post on Facebook, or post on your own blog about how e-piracy hurts authors (and tell me about it), etc,, I will put your name in a hat and draw one name. The winner gets a signed print copy of any of my available work., or, if you'd prefer, I'll send you an Advanced Review Copy of one of my upcoming novels...AND I'll send you a $10 gift certificate for Fictionwise. I'll draw a name by the end of the week (and you can always decline your prize--I'll draw another name).

To sweeten the pot, if more than ten people enter, I'll draw a second name and give a second prize.

Deal?