My new book “Finding the Goddess” is now live on Amazon!

Yes, she has arrived!
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Writing under my pen name of Sean M. Mallam, I have just released my new book Finding the Goddess on Amazon, in print and Kindle versions. (They are linked on the one page.) It's also available in print on CreateSpace Direct, but Amazon's page has a few more features. Plus a pic of the print book's back cover, for people who like to see what's on the back.

I'll put it here as well, for folks who like everything in one place.
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That's probably fairly close to what the Great Pyramid looked like for about 3800 years until the casing stones were disturbed by a big earthquake in 1303. Until then, the pyramid looked smooth and shiny because of its highly polished tura limestone casing.

While that's all very interesting, you're probably wondering what the book is actually about!

Short and sweet, it is the story of a woman from our own era who goes back in time 4500 years to fourth-dynasty Ancient Egypt and lives there as a goddess.

I guess that might raise a couple of questions. Like: “Why does she go there?”

That's a good question. The back cover says a little, but fortunately, the Goddess herself tells us a bit more about it in the final page of her golden diary, which you can read in the book's prologue. Here's how it starts:
I sit here as I have sat on more than twenty thousand mornings before, and still I always stop a moment and draw breath in wonder at the sight of the mighty pyramid, gleaming in the sun like a jewel from the gods. It is probably the most astounding thing ever made by the hands of man, and I have watched them build it, and I changed its purpose as I decided.

So, there you are. She went back to change the purpose of the Great Pyramid. Simple, really.

Okay, maybe not so simple. Because it begs a few more questions, such as how she was found and who she is (in our time), how she gets “back there”, and what the purpose of the pyramid was before she decided to change it. And yes: “Why did she need to be a goddess?”

Well, I could tell you the answers right now, but obviously I won't! So instead, I'm asking you to take the plunge and actually get a copy and read it.

If you like, you can read the whole prologue plus the first three chapters of the book (minus the last 4 lines!) via the Kindle version's “look inside” feature. The print version's “look inside” will happen when – umm... when Amazon gets round to it!

To be fair, the book only went “live” a day or so ago and they need a little while to do the extras like “look inside”. They got the print and Kindle pages linked pdq once they had the ASIN to get it done. Oh, and just a note: on the Amazon Kindle page right now, it shows “Lustlocked” as a “similar book”.

No... Just – no. My book is not about lust and sex and goblins and paranormal weddings in New York City. The only similarities between my book and that one are they are (a) both books, and ( b), they are both in the fantasy genre. That's all. I've asked them to change it for something that is similar, but the response is they can't as it's part of the way they do promos on their site.

While we wait for Amazon to get the print book's “look inside” up and running, here's a pair of pages from the Proof's pdf. So, at least you'll know what the printed pages look like. Right-click then "view image" to see both pages:
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Now you can read the last 4 lines of Chapter 3 that Amazon KDP's “look inside” doesn't want to show you! (If you think the typesetting and design looks pretty good -- and I hope you do -- then it's largely due to Bookow.com and the top-class, professional work of Steve Passiouras who owns the site. He created the software to create the printed book's text file and also the MOBI file for uploading to Kindle. A great guy, who knows his stuff and is very approachable. I'll definitely be using his services for my next book!)

If you have any questions and I can answer them without spoiling the story, then fire away!

For those who like technical details, the book's main text comes out at about 128,000 words, including my few pages of notes at the end. The cover was a joint effort between our very own Blaine and myself. Blaine offered to help and then designed and set up the two main scenes: the front cover's temple and the night-time view of the pyramid on the back, along with a separate image for the night sky. He also created a couple of sample images of “the Goddess” to try out some slightly different makeup styles for her. I chose the one that my own (young adult, female) students preferred. After all, they have a better sense for this kind of thing than I do!

Working with Blaine's big-format main image files, I simply put them all together in some Adobe image manipulation software and messed around with them to balance things out and get the sizing right, tweaked the pyramid a little (I made the capstone smaller), added in the “falling star”, then adjusted a few lighting and contrast effects. Then I put the Goddess into the scene. After that, it was just a matter of loading it all into Gimp, adding in the title and other text, then converting it all to a CreateSpace-spec pdf so they could print it. Yes, it took a while, but without Blaine's efforts to create the main images I'd probably still be trying to get it done!

Autograph copies, anyone? I have some copies on order and am just waiting for them to be printed and shipped. They should arrive within a few days. Then, if folks are interested, I can offer a few autographed and sequentially-numbered copies for whoever wants to bid for them.

Finally and most importantly, a huge thank you in advance to anyone who buys the book! I'd also really appreciate your feedback and reviews – especially if you enjoy the story!

a reply to: JustMike
Wow!! Awesome! Congratulations!!!

Such a fantastic accomplishment. I am going to look at amazon now.




edit: "Thanks, Tracy!
Finding the Goddess: Book one in the Tales of the Goddess series will be auto-delivered wirelessly to Tracy's Android via Amazon Whispernet. You can go to your Kindle to start reading."

The downloading is slow to kindle for android, but it is on it's way

a reply to: JustMike

My book is not about lust and sex and goblins and paranormal weddings in New York City.

That's a shame, since that sounds good too.

Congratulations on being a published author, that is a fantastic achievement! I will definitely add it to my list of books to read.

a reply to: reldra
Thank you! Even though the "look inside" only lets you read about 38 of the book's 360 pages, at least it gives you a feel for some of the main characters in Part I and what the story is really about. I hope you enjoy it.

a reply to: beansidhe

I love your opening comment. Hmm... Maybe there is some method in Amazon's seeming madness.

And thank you for your great support as well.

Grats on the book.

But I am pretty sure peddling wears goes against T n C. They don't look fondly on selling stuff on ATS from what I understand.

Could be wrong tho


a reply to: JustMike

a reply to: Athetos
Thank you for the congrats.

About the other, I have permission from Mark (Springer), one of the owners of ATS. This is not all that unusual. We have quite a few members who have owners' permission to promote their work/s here, and even websites. They can also link to them in their signatures, as I have done. Providing a member is in good standing and has been around for a while, the owners will normally support them in anything that does not otherwise breach the site's T&Cs.

Well good to know. Thanks for the info.

The book looks interesting to say the least. I'll check it out myself



a reply to: JustMike

a reply to: Athetos
Glad to help. Just by way of example, here are a couple of members who have promoted their own books on this site. I am mentioning them simply because I have known them both (via ATS) for quite a while now.
TrueAmerican within his thread about his book entitled "The Last Survivors Chronicle".
And, the profile page for westcoast, who is quite prolific and has at least three ATS threads for books she has released. (Though she has written more than that!) They both also have links to their books' website pages in their signatures.

And thank you also for taking interest in my book. It truly means a great deal to me.

ETA just after 8pm US Eastern time: because I'm in the middle of Europe and it's already gone 2 a.m., I'll catch up with any new posts or PMs in about 8 hours or so. Goodnight, all.

a reply to: reldra

The downloading is slow to kindle for android,

???
Mine downloads fast. As in a 900 page book in under 5 seconds.



On Topic - Congratulations!! I won't bother with a preview, I'll just buy the book. Always ready to support a "starving artist".....and one of our own.

ETA - Got it! Now to get a fresh cup of coffee and settle in for a read.

originally posted by: reldra
a reply to: JustMike

edit: "Thanks, Tracy!
Finding the Goddess: Book one in the Tales of the Goddess series will be auto-delivered wirelessly to Tracy's Android via Amazon Whispernet. You can go to your Kindle to start reading."

The downloading is slow to kindle for android, but it is on it's way

Wow! Thank you!

a reply to: DAVID64

Wow again! I'm so hyped I couldn't sleep.

David, thank you also for obtaining a copy of Finding the Goddess. I'm not quite starving these days (have in the past at times), but I know what you're saying and really appreciate it.

How exciting! Congratulations to you and the very best luck in sales!

Great news.. Just got my Kindle copy downloaded on my computer, Kindle and Android for when I have the time to enjoy.. Great value on the kindle version, thanks Mike and I wish you much success..

Congratulations! That is awesome! I would love to read it.

But I'm guessing it isn't available for the nook?

a reply to: Night Star
Hi, Night! Thanks very much! It's not doing too badly for its first day, thanks mainly to ATS members.
Here's a screen shot of the KDP version's current ranking:


Considering there are over 270,000 books in the sci-fi/fantasy section, being nr 412 in Fantasy/historical is a pretty good ranking!

a reply to: skywatcher44

Thank you, skywatcher. I hope you love it! I tried to set the price as a fair balance, based on what Amazon's analytics showed me. They even produce a graph to show what a given book's best price should be. So, that's what I went for.

a reply to: chiefsmom
Thank you, chiefsmom! My book's in Amazon's KDP Select program right now, which gives them exclusive rights to digital sales and distribution for 90 days. In exchange, my book gets some promotional/sales advantages over not being in the program. So, I can't supply an ePub (Nook readable) file right now, even free of charge.

But here's the good news: you don't need a Kindle to read my book! If you have a PC, you can download the Kindle Reader software free from Amazon HERE.

I don't have a Kindle myself, so that's what I use. I just download Kindle books straight to my PC and then read them in my Kindle Reader. And yes, it really is free. Installing it is a snap and it works fine. It displays the cover in full color, it auto-bookmarks so you can read from where you left off, and all the chapter links in the Contents page work perfectly.

a reply to: JustMike

Congrats on getting published.

I love reading books, love reading them on Kindle....and have added your book to my collection!!!

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe
Great! Thanks, DTOM!