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Holiday 2016 Update

/ Eli Kale / 1 Comment

Friends,

With 2016 nearing its end and my fourth WWII historical fiction book almost ready to launch on Amazon, I wanted to send one final update regarding a few things.

First, we are in full baby mode! Sarah and I have gotten just about everything squared away in preparation for the arrival of our first child, due January 5. The nursery looks great, and it’s setting in that there will be a third addition to the family very soon (aside from Nika and Zazu, of course). Needless to say, things are getting exciting around here!

Coinciding with this nesting phase is the second course in my graduate program. At this point, I have everything done except a book to read and a paper to write on it, which I plan to knock out this week. I strive to be on top of my work and to get as much done as I can early on, which will hopefully make these final weeks easier on myself. After this course, I’ll take a few months’ break before beginning my next course (probably in April).

In addition to taking a break from graduate work, I’ll be taking a break from writing (at least any major writing) in order to devote time and energy to being a new parent. I’m also writing my own curriculum for the Modern World History class that I teach, which is to go into effect next school year, so I’ll be piecing on that as well over the months. All in all, I think this new chapter in life will be an adventure, and I can’t wait to begin it!

That’s about it for personal stuff. Below are the details for the pre-order of my upcoming book as well as discounts and deals going on with previous titles. Much of it was in the last blog post, so it might be familiar to some of you. But still, check it out if you’re interested in getting your hands on any of my books over the holiday season!

For anyone new to my work, I am on the cusp of releasing my fourth book in a collection (not a series) of stories set during the Second World War. Each story is told from the perspective of someone different from the story preceding it, covering different events altogether. My first book, Resistant, was released in April of 2014; my second book, Unguarded, was released in January of 2015; my third book, Imminent, was released in January 2016; and this fourth book will have a Kindle pre-order release date of January 5, 2017. The print version of the book will release within a day or two after the Kindle version; there is a Kindle version and a print version for my previous books as well.

This story, entitled Needless, is told from the perspective of Ben – a young man working in the U.S. Consulate-General in Barcelona in 1942 – and follows his experience in the war from there. This book is admittedly different from its predecessors in some ways, yet familiar enough for returning readers to associate it with the other three books in the collection. It was written in bulk over this past summer, but received nothing less than the usual editing rundown since then. It came in at about 80 words shy of the word count in Imminent. I had fun researching and writing this story; if I had to rank it, this storytelling experience comes in behind (but pretty close to even with) Unguarded.

Here is the cover:

pratt_needless-final-front-cover-ebook

If you’d like to pre-order this story for your Amazon Kindle, you can do so here:

Needless Pre-Order on Amazon

If you’d like to see the first draft version of the story’s Prologue, you can find it here:

Needless Prologue (First Draft, February ’16)

I am very excited to bring this story to you, and I hope that you are just as excited to read it! Over the next month, I’ll post updates on social media to remind about the pre-order. In the meantime, keep your eyes open for these deals on my others books in the lead-up to the Needless release:

Resistant – Only $0.99 on the Amazon Kindle

Unguarded – Free on the Amazon Kindle from December 22-26

Imminent – Amazon Countdown Deal from December 27 – January 2

As always, thank you for reading my post and for supporting me! To my family and close friends, I truly appreciate the love and support you all give me, inspiring me to do something I love and for which I have a passion.

I’d like to wish you all a very Happy Holiday season, and to cherish the time you have with the ones that mean so much to you. I know Sarah and I will cherish our final days as a childless couple, but will cherish time with our baby boy when he arrives. I plan to make a formal announcement through social media (as well as on my website here) when the book goes live, so keep your eyes peeled for that information.

Until next time,

-Eli

New Book Pre-Order Details

/ Eli Kale / Leave a comment

Friends,

I hope this post finds you well and that you are eager to hear more about my new book that’s on it’s way to you right now! If you’ve been following me for a while, you probably have an idea of what’s going on. If you’re new, let me explain…

I am on the cusp of releasing my fourth book in a collection (not a series) of stories set during the Second World War. Each story is told from the perspective of someone different from the story preceding it, covering different events altogether. My first book, Resistant, was released in April of 2014; my second book, Unguarded, was released in January of 2015; my third book, Imminent, was released in January 2016; and this fourth book will have a Kindle pre-order release date of January 5, 2017. The print version of the book will release within a day or two after the Kindle version; there is a Kindle version and a print version for my previous books as well.

This story, entitled Needless, is told from the perspective of Ben – a young man working in the U.S. Consulate-General in Barcelona in 1942 – and follows his experience in the war from there. This book is admittedly different from its predecessors in some ways, yet familiar enough for returning readers to associate it with the other three books in the collection. It was written in bulk over this past summer, but received nothing less than the usual editing rundown since then. It came in at about 80 words shy of the word count in Imminent. I had fun researching and writing this story; if I had to rank it, this storytelling experience comes in behind (but pretty close to even with) Unguarded.

Here is the cover:

pratt_needless-final-front-cover-ebook

If you’d like to pre-order this story for your Amazon Kindle, you can do so here:

Needless Pre-Order on Amazon

If you’d like to see the first draft version of the story’s Prologue, you can find it here:

Needless Prologue (First Draft, February ’16)

I am very excited to bring this story to you, and I hope that you are just as excited to read it! Over the next two months, I’ll post updates on social media to remind about the pre-order. In the meantime, keep your eyes open for these deals on my others books in the lead-up to the Needless release:

Resistant – Only $0.99 on the Amazon Kindle

Unguarded – Free on the Amazon Kindle from December 22-26

Imminent – Amazon Countdown Deal from December 27 – January 2

As always, thank you for reading my post and for supporting me! To my family and close friends, I truly appreciate the love and support you all give me, inspiring me to do something I love and for which I have a passion.

Until next time,

-Eli

Imminent Launch Week

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Friends,

Welcome to a new year! I hope everyone’s holidays were fun and safe, and that you got to spend time doing things you enjoy with the ones you love. This is a big week for me, so let’s get on to this post’s content…

The Faces of the War Collection

We’re in the final days of the Imminent pre-order, with the book releasing this Friday, January 8. If you haven’t yet picked up your discounted Kindle copy of my third WWII historical fiction book, you can do so here.

cover_6

I am very excited to get this book off the ground and into the hands of readers, and am even more excited to hear what you think of the story. So if you do get your hands on a copy, I’d be delighted if you left a review on the Amazon sales page telling me your thoughts on the book.

In addition to the release of Imminent, this week also marked the highest volume of downloads of any of my books to date – over 500! The book in question is my debut story, Resistant, which was free this past week. In one day alone there were over two hundred downloads, so I thank you all who took part in this promotion. It truly made my week!

As for Unguarded, the second book in this collection, there will be a Kindle Countdown Deal from January 13-19. You can go to the book’s Amazon page to get your Kindle copy if you haven’t done so already. This whole month is a great way to kick off the New Year, so come along with me for the ride!

YouTube

I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, if you are a regular viewer, that I haven’t posted any new videos since before Christmas. This is mostly because I wanted to focus on time with family. I’m sure you can understand how important family is around the holidays. That being said, I intend on picking back up with my vlogs this week, posting the first video of the New Year on Friday alongside the release of Imminent. If you haven’t yet checked out my channel, you can find me on YouTube here.

That about does it for news this week, so be sure to pre-order Imminent this week, or at least check it out in the coming weeks, and let me know what you think. And as always, you can subscribe to my mailing list to keep as up-to-date on my work as possible. Thank you for your encouragement and support!

Until next time,

-Eli

A New Year, A New Chance

/ Eli Kale / 1 Comment

Friends,

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with your family and friends!

If you’ve read my blog for some time, you know that I usually start off each post with something to the extent of “welcome to a new week – where we have a new opportunity to accomplish our goals.” I say this because I truly believe that just because you don’t achieve your idea of success one week, it doesn’t mean that it can’t be worked toward or achieved the following week. With the New Year coming this week, I figured I’d expand upon some of my thoughts for another chance at success!

First, I’ll start off by touching on my WWII historical fiction work. My new book, Imminent, is available for pre-order right now and will  release January 8. I am very excited to get this project off the ground and into the hands of readers. This book presented me with some new challenges as well as some familiar ones, and I can’t wait to see what you think of it! Also my first book, Resistant, is FREE all this week, so pick up your Kindle copy today!

With that being said, I’ll kick off 2016 by beginning the writing of the next book. I am anxious for what the year will bring for my writing, but I’m also optimistic and excited. I thoroughly enjoy writing – creating – these stories, and I don’t want to stop. I want to make it a part of my life, and a big one at that. And that’s part of the whole idea of “a new opportunity” of which I so often speak: the excitement and wonder of what lies ahead, and having the courage and passion to find out.

Second, I’d like to say that whether you’re new to writing or have been doing it for years, I hope that you’ll take this transition in time to reflect on what you’re craft is, how you approach writing, and where you see yourself taking that passion. It’s good to every once in a while sit and think about the writing, rather than write write write without a second thought.

So as the New Year approaches and begins, I encourage you to take stock of what you currently do and how you can improve it. Yes, writing is an art, and art should be partially spontaneous and free-flowing, but a portion of it must also be structured, developed, and ever improved. That is something I’m going to strive for this year.

And lastly, not having to do so much with writing, is the idea of striving to achieve success in life. I don’t mean seek out ways to become rich – that’s not what this is about, nor should it be a focus in this type of conversation. What I speak of is far more precious and valuable: the state of happiness and contentment that results from hard work and focused energy.

It’s so easy to get off-topic or become distracted in today’s world, something that makes me envy my childhood, when times were simpler. Not so much because children lack adult responsibilities, but simpler because the physical world was our oyster, not the technological one. When you think about your life in a general sense (not putting more weight toward one thing or the other), what comes to mind that would make you happy? What would bring you contentment? This answer will be different for us all, as it should be.

So as I leave you with this post, ask yourself what can be done in the New Year to help achieve your goals. Don’t think of this as a New Year’s resolution, for it should be something of an everyday thought. It just so happens that our minds make us think that a change in the year means something. In this context, it doesn’t. You are always able to strive for greatness and success; it’s just a matter of when and how you do it for yourself.

Until next time,

-Eli

Update: Imminent Release

/ Eli Kale / Leave a comment

Friends,

The week of Christmas is here! I hope this post finds you well and in good health, as well as in the position of achieving your goals. If you’ve been thinking of implementing something new into your lifestyle or have been wanting to set goals for yourself, there’s no better time to start than within the next couple of weeks. New year, clean slate, many more opportunities! I have a few important items to discuss, so here we go…

The Faces of the War Collection

This past weekend, I completed the final edit of Imminent, which is currently available for pre-order and set to release on January 8. The final word count came in at just over 46.6K, which is almost 1,000 words less than my previous book, Unguarded. Resistant‘s word count came in at just under 38K. Just figured I’d give you a snapshot of the word count across all three books.

cover_6

In terms of the discounts and deals going on with these books in the lead-up to Imminent‘s release, there has been a little change:

Resistant will be FREE from December 28 until January 1
Unguarded will have a Kindle Countdown Deal from January 13-19

Due to the price change I made on the Unguarded ebook ($4.99 to $3.99), there can’t be any promotions made until the book has sat at its new price point for 30 days. So instead of promoting it the week before the release of Imminent, it’ll come the week after. I really wanted to relay this change in information so that you aren’t blindsided by it, and perhaps can better plan for purchasing if that’s what you were going to do!

I still have until next Monday, December 28 to submit the final version of the book file to Amazon, so I think I’ll take today and/or tomorrow to read through the manuscript one last time for good measure.

After Imminent releases, I plan on beginning the process for the next book. As far as my plans are at this point, it will release sometime in 2017. For now, I’m planning on writing the fifth and final book of the collection simultaneously, bouncing back and forth between the two projects for the writing and editing parts of the process. It’s something I want to try with regard to my writing process and style, and in an effort to test my boundaries. I have the stories pretty much planned – I just need to iron out the details then begin the actual writing!

YouTube

For this week’s video, I plan on posting it on Thursday. It will be brief, because I want my readers and followers to enjoy time together with their families and friends, not stuck glued to a TV or phone screen. The following week’s video will probably be more along the lines of a normal video. If you haven’t subscribed to my channel (where I talk about my writing and teaching lives, as well as travel and other things), you can click the link above or search Eli Kale in YouTube.

I think that will about do it for this post. I want to wish you a Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, or whatever you prefer – I just hope that wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, that you’re with family and friends. I am excited for the coming weeks and the prospect of new goals to be conquered, as I hope you are too. Take care and be safe this week!

Until next time,

-Eli

Final News on Unguarded

/ Eli Kale / Leave a comment

Friends,

Welcome to a new post…I hope you are well and in good spirits, ready to tackle a new week ahead! Let’s get right into today’s post…

The Faces of the War Collection

As you know, much has been happening throughout the past weeks with the preparations for Unguarded‘s release. There are a few things in particular that I’d like to point out:

  • Pre-order: this will remain open until Saturday, January 24, which is the release date for the book. If you pre-ordered Unguarded for your Kindle, it will automatically be delivered to your device on that day. At some point after the release, the price will go up to the usual amount of $4.99.
  • Resistant: though this book and Unguarded aren’t directly related, they’re part of the same collection. As such, I wanted to make my first book available at a cheaper price on the Kindle and encourage you to pick it up. You can easily find it here. I plan on keeping the book on sale until the end of January. My hope is that you will pick up both and enjoy reading both, but I am grateful for your interest in my work either way.
  • Newsletter: if you aren’t subscribed to my newsletter already, I encourage you to that as well. You can email me at [elikale.author@gmail.com] or click on this link. The next newsletter will be sent out this Wednesday, January 21 and will contain details about Unguarded‘s release – details that won’t be revealed right away on this blog. In addition to details, I will be having book deals/giveaways and other things of the sort, so there’s no real reason you shouldn’t be on the list. Check it out today!

Those are the main points I wanted to make that will affect the immediate future. There are a few other things I’d like to talk about…

The Short Story Collection

The next volume in this collection is underway, with a tentative release time in the spring. As the weeks go along, and after Unguarded is launched, I’ll give this more attention in the blog posts. If you haven’t yet read or seen my first volume on Amazon, you can easily find it here.

Future Projects

I have already begun to brainstorm ideas of what to write after I finish my WWII collection. I really enjoy writing these books, so I want to be sure that I finish what I started and complete the collection before wholly moving on to another big project. I can say, though, that two projects have been fairly fleshed out in terms of story ideas and certain plot details. I’ll have more on this in the coming months.

I’d like to express my gratitude to you, my readers and followers, for your continued support and encouragement throughout the writing process. It means so much to me! When next I post, a new book will be released with a new story to be experienced. I hope you will experience it with me.

Until next time,

-Eli

Countdown to Unguarded

/ Eli Kale / Leave a comment

Friends,

As I began today working out (as part of a modest goal I set for myself), I thought of what you all might be doing to help improve your lives in the new year, if that is something you’re aiming to do. For some time I have wanted to get back into the shape I was in during my early college years, so that is what I am focusing on for the next handful of months. I wish you luck and would like to encourage you to persevere through whatever it is that you want to accomplish! Now, on to the blog post…

The Faces of the War Collection

This week marks the time of “zero hour” for the Kindle version of Unguarded. By this, I mean that I have to submit the final version of the manuscript to Amazon by Wednesday so that the book will be ready to launch when the pre-order finishes on January 24th (the release date). I will spend today and tomorrow doing one final read-through of the MS, in which I’ll simply look for grammatical errors and other minor things like that. Nothing in the story can change at this point.

My aim for funneling readers (current and potential) to my books is to do it through my website so they can see my other content, but this link will send you directly to the Amazon page. I am getting very excited to launch this book, the second in my WWII collection. If you haven’t yet read my first book, Resistant, I encourage you to check it out. Remember that you don’t have to read the first book in order to understand the second one, as they are separate stories.

Cover_front      Cover - Round 2

Covers for Resistant and Unguarded

I wrote a post in December about my writing process, and in that post I mentioned that I want to write a post on my self-publishing experiences so far. I am thinking, at least at this point, that that post will be written sometime in the weeks immediately following Unguarded‘s launch. I want to devote time to finishing that project, and then I can spend time pouring out some information about my experience. Another reason I’d like to wait until then is because part of that post will include more details on the editing/refining part of the publishing process, and I’d like to include some things about Unguarded‘s editing/refining process in there. You can probably expect that post to come sometime in February.

Again, the release date for Unguarded is Saturday, January 24, so be sure to pre-order the Kindle version in order to save a buck. The print version’s release should coincide with that of the Kindle. I’ll post another big reminder in next week’s blog post.

Thank you for all your encouragement and support as I trek through the journey of writing and self-publishing. I truly enjoy it, and I want to help others who have a passion for it to enjoy it as well in their own way. If you are a fellow author, feel free to contact me whenever you please – I always enjoy networking with other authors!

Until next time,

-Eli

Happy New Year!

/ Eli Kale / Leave a comment

Friends,

I hope this post finds you well and ready to begin a brand new year full of potential to achieve your goals! I have some things I want to tell you, so let’s get right into today’s post…

The Faces of the War Collection

I spoke with my editor last night and he said he will email the edited manuscript of Unguarded to me by this evening. That means I will work on amending the story where needed over the next handful of days. I must submit the final MS to Amazon on Tuesday evening to meet the pre-order deadline of ten days prior to release. Once that happens, I’ll send out more details about the release itself.

As for the story, I anticipate that my editor will send back some great feedback from which I can grow in my writing, ultimately striving to be better with each project. If you are new to writing, I strongly encourage you to have a few friends or colleagues that can read your work (or parts of your work) and provide feedback. You can’t expect to improve your craft if you don’t know what to improve, right?

For the time being, the book is in its final stage of publication, and I couldn’t be more excited about it! Once I get Unguarded launched, I will continue writing in my Short Story collection as well as bits and pieces of the next book in the Faces of the War collection. I truly enjoy doing this, and I don’t see myself stopping anytime soon.

While you await the release of my second book, please check out the pre-order page on Amazon. The book is available for the pre-order price of $3.99 but will go up to $4.99 on or around the release date, so I suggest you pre-order your copy now! Once you do, the book will automatically be sent to your Kindle on January 24th when the book goes live.

I’ll have more details about the publication process in next week’s blog post.

Europe Trip 2014-15

As I’m sure you’re aware, I just returned from a trip to Europe. My wife and I were chaperones on a high school trip that lasted ten days, with stops in Germany, Austria, Italy, and Switzerland. It was a very good trip, with only minor problems along the way. The students enjoyed themselves, as did the other adults who went. I have already seen much of what was to be seen, but it was definitely worth the time to further explore the cities and sights of our destination.

My favorite city on this trip was Munich. Having been there twice before, I was familiar enough with the area to feel comfortable walking around. My wife and I bought some souvenirs to bring home as gifts to our family members, had lunch at a nice little restaurant, and got to tour the BMW museum. It was a very fun and enjoyable day, and I’m glad we got to be there.

The rest of the trip was enjoyable as well. We made stops in Rothenburg, Salzburg, Venice/Padua, Verona, Lucerne, and Heidelberg. Much to my surprise, I bought an Italian-made scarf in a Verona market. I say “surprise” because I never saw myself as a guy who could pull off wearing a scarf. But my wife encouraged me to get one, and I ended up really liking it, not to mention that it helped ward off the cold temperatures we experienced while there. It was definitely a great way to bring in the new year!

That’s all the big news I have right now, but I will keep you informed in next week’s post. I truly hope the year is off to a great start for you, and that you find yourself accomplishing something you set out to do.

Until next time,

-Eli

Unguarded Cover Reveal & Pre-Order

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Friends,

I truly hope that this post finds you well and excited for the week ahead! I have a few items of which to inform you, so let’s get started…

The Faces of the War Collection

Last Wednesday, I revealed the cover of Unguarded to those readers on my mailing list. Seeing the cover reveal first (and earlier) is just one of the many perks of subscribing to my mailing list. So if you haven’t done so yet, I encourage you to email me at “elikale.author@gmail.com” or click this link to join the list – it’s very easy and only takes a moment!

Now, on to the cover reveal…

Cover - Round 2

I used the design services of the same person who created the cover for Resistant, mostly because I liked his work and I wanted some sense of continuity and symmetry between covers. What do you think?

In other Unguarded news, I just set up the pre-order for the book. Please be aware that it is only for the Kindle version of the book, not the print version. The release date is set for January 24, 2015, and the pre-order price is $3.99. Once the pre-order is complete and the book is live, the price will go up to $4.99, so be sure to save a dollar and pre-order!

The link to the book’s pre-order page can be found here.

This is a very exciting time for me, and I can’t wait to see how it all plays out this time around!

As a reminder, I will be out of the country for a little while, so there will be no blog post or newsletter next week. My goal is to get right back to the grind the Monday morning after I return home. In the meantime, I will have some automated posts go out with links to Unguarded on my website and on Amazon.

That’s about all the information I have for you today. With that being said, I would like to wish all my readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and I’ll catch ya on the flipside!

Until next time,

-Eli

Unguarded Update

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Friends,

Another week gone, a new week ahead. I hope this post finds you well and raring to accomplish a goal this week! There has been a development in the past week, so let’s get right into the blog…

The Faces of the War Collection

The third read-through of the Unguarded manuscript was completed on Thursday of last week. I feel that this read-through has improved the dialogue, but I will continue to focus on that aspect of the story in my next read-through this week.

After I posted to the blog last Monday, I was in contact with a friend who has expressed interested in collaborating together on a project. Given the circumstances surrounding the professional editor and how not purchasing those services at this time has affected the publishing timeline, I asked if he’d want to work on this project. He said yes! So, I will be submitting the manuscript to him the week before Christmas, over which time he’ll edit it. Upon my return from Europe, I’ll get the edited manuscript back and make the necessary changes that need made. I’ll then do one final read-through before sending it through to Amazon for their final preview before it launches in print and ebook form. My hope is that it will be no later than mid-January when the book goes live. It is definitely a very exciting development for me! I will have more details on the release as the date nears.

In the lead-up to the holidays, I am going to attempt to set up a pre-order deal through Amazon for Unguarded, which will begin just before Christmas Day and last until the book is released (so roughly a month). I plan on making the print book $5.99 or $6.99 for the pre-order, then reset the price to the usual $7.99 after it’s been live for a week or so. My advice: pre-order the book when it goes live, just so you can save yourself a couple of bucks! I’ll also have more details about that on my blog as well as through social media.

Also regarding my WWII books, the cover reveal for Unguarded will be held first through my newsletter, then a few days later on my blog. If you haven’t joined my mailing list yet, I encourage you to do so in order to receive in-depth updates before the general public. It’s well worth the time, and it’s easy to do!

That’s really all the big news for this week. If you’re a regular follower then I thank you for your continued support of my work. And if you’re new to this site or to my work, then I say “Welcome aboard!” and I hope you enjoy what I write and put out to you. Writing has truly become a passion of mine, and I’m very grateful that I have the opportunity to do it.

Until next time,

-Eli