Saturday, April 28, 2018

Scott D. Parker: Storyteller or What I've Been Doing This Spring

by
Scott D. Parker

Hello there. Some of y'all might be wondering why I've been throwing up book reviews these past few weeks and here's your answer: I've been gearing up for May 2018 when all the changes I've been working on go into effect. What changes you might ask? Read on.

Going Wide
For the past year, I have been exclusive to Amazon and the Kindle Unlimited program. While I’ve had zero issue with the program, I have experienced more than a few folks who wanted to read my books but either didn’t own a Kindle or the Kindle app or just didn’t want to deal with Amazon. Well, as I assessed my business this spring, I made the decision to make my books and stories available for everyone, no matter their favorite store or ereader. As a result, starting in May 2018, my books will be available at all major stores (with the exception of Google Play). I want to remove any barrier for any potential reader.

Consolidating Social Media
When I created my “S. D. Parker” western author pen name, I created duplicate everything. I had two Facebook pages, two websites, and two mailing lists. It was my attempt to segment the audience by genre. I figured that western readers might not want to read mysteries and vice versa. But the more I considered my situation—I am only one person minding the store—I made the decision to consolidate all my social media under a single moniker: Scott D. Parker: Storyteller.

I now have a new Facebook page with “Storyteller” as the business name. If you have “liked” either the Western Author page or the Mystery Author page, I encourage you to like my new “Storyteller” page. My scottdennisparker.com website is now my main website with both mystery and western titles featured. Twitter was never split out, but now the page reflects both the mystery and westerns I write. Have a look and see what you think.

The 2018 Publishing Schedule
Probably my favorite thing on the horizon is Calvin Carter. He’s a western hero, a railroad detective and former actor. He is a sort of amalgam of some of my favorite western characters: Brisco County, Jr., Bret Maverick, Jim West, and Artemus Gordon. He’s easy on the eyes, loves the company of beautiful women, and solves all his cases with his own artistic flair. His cases are typically over-the-top and exciting.

The first of six novels will be published in October.

Before that, there will be two new westerns published: THE LAW ALWAYS WINS and ALWAYS BET ON RED.

Mystery lovers, don’t think I’m forgetting you. The third Detective Benjamin Wade novel will be published in June with at least two more mystery books on the schedule for the rest of the year.
And, if you’re like some folks I know who just prefer to hold a physical paperback, all these books will be published as paperbacks.

YouTube Channel
The biggest change is my new YouTube channel. There's only one up there right now, but more will soon follow. One of my favorite things about DVDs is all the extra behind-the-scenes features on how the particular movie was created. I wanted to do something similar for my stories. For every story published, I’ll create a video where I’ll talk about the book’s creation, how I came to write it, the cover concept, how the title was chosen, and things of that nature. Along the way, I’ll be sharing books I love, music I’ve discovered, movies I’ve watched, and almost anything else. I enjoy watching YouTube videos and this is the kind of content I would love my favorite authors to do for me…so I’m doing it for you.

Looking Ahead
In order to get some more discoverability, I’ll be running some Facebook ads in the coming weeks and months. You’ll likely see them in your feeds. If you've read my stories, tell your friends. If you want a sample, head on over to my webpage and sign up for the email list. There are a couple of nice thank-you gifts if you do.

Well, that's about it. Let me know what you think of all the new sites.


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