For a Good Cause...

I hate selling books to friends. I wish I could give all of my friends a free copy of my book. But, sadly, it doesn’t work that way. It just doesn’t. Writing for me is therapeutic. When I was a child, creating imaginary worlds in my mind separated me from all the nonsense around me. Living in a poor neighborhood, criminal neighbors, asshole neighbors, school drama, gangs constantly trying to recruit, and a terrible home life, the only way to survive was to escape. And so, I started picking up books once my imagination couldn’t go any further. And there it was, all imagination written on paper. (And don’t even get me started on the Harry Potter series, my goodness, what imagination!) So, I started writing. Eventually, it became something so precious to me, that I wanted to share it with anyone interested in my stories. Thus, publishing It Runs at Night wasn’t for the money. Never was. It was so people could get lost in an imaginary world. And whether or not you’re someone who needs an escape, reading can do so much more than that. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to make a living off writing, but for now, I’m just getting my feet wet.

How does this stop me from feeling bad about taking money from my friends? (Because let’s face it, my amazing friends are most of the purchases of my books.) Well, it doesn’t, but it got me thinking, “My next book is about to launch, and I’m going to act awkward when my friends tell me they’ve bought my book (I don’t know why I’m like this, don’t judge me). What to do? Oh, what to do?” And the solution was so easy, I’m not sure why I hadn’t thought of it before: Donate!

All proceeds for It Runs at Night Volume 2 The Jackal will be donated to two charities: First Book and BuildOn. I did some extensive research in trying to figure out which charity I wanted to donate to. But there were so many that have such a positive impact on literacy that I couldn’t choose just one.

First Book provides new books, educational resources and other essentials to kids in need. In fact, 97% of their revenue goes to these efforts! And they target those in need by providing a list of where the need is and a link to help understand the need. See more at: https://www.firstbook.org/about-first-book/our-approach#sthash.R9Qo8RQF.dpuf

BuildOn has a section titled “The Education Crisis.” Yes, a crisis indeed. As an educator, I’m constantly devastated as I witness a child struggling to get the education they deserve; it’s a basic human right. And going through BuildOn’s website, told me that this was the charity to help. The Education Crisis section reads, “Education is a basic human right. Yet those who need education the most – children living in poverty - are the least likely to attend school.” I couldn’t have said it better. See more at: http://www.buildon.org/about/the-education-crisis/

So, everyone wins, right? I hope so. If you see any holes in my plan, please let me know. I want to have a guilt-free time at my next book signing, which may be different than my first. Still trying to work everything out. As for Vol. 2, working with a 28K word manuscript has been a lot more difficult than I imagined. But I promise it’s almost done.

While We Wait For Volume 2: The Jackal

If you read my last blog, you'll know that I've decided to start a Wattpad account (the website where teens rule and I feel like the old guy crashing the party...but still, I'm not a creeper I swear). There's something called the Wattys where I write stories and if people like it, it gets votes and it could possibly get some awards. Since that website is entirely free, I've decided to post the work I write there onto my blog as well.

Since I've written a Young Adult story with It Runs at Night, I decided to post up a story that I've written for an adult audience (it hasn't been edited, so please forgive all the mistakes). I'm really bad with titles (It Runs at Night was a title that was years in the making, and I still feel it could use some improvement, but that's what I ended up with) so I simply titled this one with the main character of the story, Dr. Collin Murphy. So what's it about? Well, here's my blurb for it:

It was the moment Dr. Collin Murphy saw Beatrice kissing another man that caused the memories of their entire relationship fly through his mind like bullets full of mementos, destroying every layer of skin they hit. Rushing to confront her, he gets hit by a car and misses his opportunity. Recovering from the accident with minor injuries and his old college friend by his side, Collin's search for answers leads to a side of him that he's never felt before. Will this new Collin get answers to his questions or will it lead him to a world of regrets?

Since we can create covers and put them on Wattpad for our followers, I created my own cover for this book and it is absolutely horrendous. But it'll have to do since I can't afford to pay someone for a cover of a story I may or may not decide to formally publish. Please accept my sincere apologies. I'll be posting up a chapter at a time, so stay tuned for it. I hope you enjoy it while we wait for Volume 2. 

As always, click the link below if you're interested in picking up a copy of It Runs at Night Volume 1 The Water Boils.

It Runs at Night on Amazon

I'm not a creeper, I swear...

In the world of writing, I encounter something new almost every single day. A new suggestion, post, blog, website, app, reader, writer, the list goes on and on. 
        Recently, I've discovered wattpad.
        I couldn't believe it! The lists of books, the amount of writers, the ease of access to just pick up your phone, tablet, or laptop and start writing. I wondered why I never heard of it before.
So, to grow my readership, I decided to start following other writers and take advice directly from wattpad:

• Follow other writers and read their work. Get an idea of what they like, and tell them what you like about their work. The more of a presence you have on Wattpad the more likely they are to check your work out. 
• Acknowledge follows. When someone follows you, send them a quick message and let them know how much you appreciate it.

        I gained some momentum and I started to follow all kinds of readers and writers, and some have followed back.
        But then, I started going to the pages of people I follow. About 90% of the writers I follow are between the ages of 12-18 (I then realized why I hadn't heard of this site before). I've entered a website where tweens (fan fiction), teens (middle/high school drama), and young adults (vampires, zombies, werewolves) rule. Don't get me wrong, some are great writers and they have a lot to offer. But I feel like an old man crashing a fun party. Not only that, going off of Wattpad's advice, I'm creating a presence. I'm engaging in conversations, telling other writers what I like about their work, etc.
        But, alas, most of them are children. The dilemma now is to stay on Wattpad and continue to grow a readership, or leave and avoid being considered a creeper.

• Pros: A lot of my work, published and in progress, is geared towards a young audience. The short stories I've posted on Wattpad are getting some interest from that age group. And since I've joined Wattpad, I've had an increase in website clicks, amazon views, and Facebook views.
• Cons: Old man creeper status.

In the meantime, I'll keep Wattpad going until I decided where to go. If the momentum is there, I'll keep it, otherwise I should leave the party.
        Because Wattpad is entirely free I've decided (for those of you who aren't 12 years old and don't have a wattpad account) to post the stories I'm posting there to my blog as well. This is so my adult readers can read some of my work and don't have to fall into the same creeper category as me.
        Thanks for reading, and as always, click the link below the cover if you're interested in picking up a copy of my book. 

It Runs at Night

5 Star Streak Broken

Reviews are tough. It takes a person with a desire to give feedback to take the time and review a product online. For many, this desire comes from one of two things: the product was amazing or the product was terrible. Then there are those reviewers whose desire is to reach people around the world and tell them the truth about the product, great, terrible, or mediocre. 

But reviews are tough. For me, they're tough because my book hasn't reached that many readers. I'm proud to say that I've reached 300 books sold, but in the grand scheme of things that isn't a lot. I'm not interested in making a profit. I'm interested in knowing what people think of my product (I wish I could give my book for free but distribution doesn't make that possible). Is it great, bad, terrible, ok, meh? And 22 reviews gives me some good insight but there's a bit missing. 

For example, 2 reviews gave it 3 stars. Their biggest complaints were that the book is too short. Does this warrant a 3 instead of a 4 or 5? Or does it say, the book was good and ended too soon? I can't really tell from those 2 reviews. Some people like short and sweet. But do most? 

This isn't a way to get more reviews, rather a way of seeking help. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can expand my readership? I feel as though I've tried a few things, but not much is working. Sadly, I don't have a lot of time on my hands to dedicate on promotion, but there has to be some efficient ways of doing this that bring in results, right? Nonetheless, I think reviews are tough. What if I'm asking for reviews and, if I do get the bulk I want, I don't like what I hear? Oh the struggles of the self publishing world. On a positive note, I'll be putting up some works in progress on my blog soon. Maybe It Runs at Night won't be the only work I self publish...

As always, click the link below the image if you're interested in picking up a copy of the book. 

It Runs at Night

We Don't Care What Happens to These Books

I hit my first wall. I walked into this bookstore (to avoid a blog post in bad taste let’s avoid the name of the bookstore) knowing that they don’t do consignments, but they do take donations. A consignment is a deal between an author and a bookstore to sell the books and each party get a cut of the profit. I try to sell my books as cheap as possible. I’m not trying to make money, I just want my work to be out there. I walk into the donation area and this is how it went:

“I’d like to drop off these books,” I say as I remove the books from my bag.

“Oh we don’t do consignments,” says the man with a scruffy beard and wild hair.

“It’s ok,” I reply. “I just wanted to make a donation.”

“Ok,” he says and he takes my books and begins to walk away with them.

“So what happens next?”

He turns around and accidentally drops my books, “We send them to the warehouse.”

“And what happens in the warehouse?”

“They figure out which books go into the store.”

“So there’s a possibility that these books will never make it to the shelf?”

“Yup,” as he begins to walk away assuming I’m done with my questions.

“How do I know if they got on the shelf?” I ask, again interrupting his pivot away from me.

“Look,” he replies exasperated. “We don’t care what happens to these books. Some make it others don’t.”

At this point I was at a loss for words. I’d like to think I’m professional, even with this hobby that has yet to become anything else but that, I try to keep things professional. So I swallowed my pride, only left 3 books, and walked out.

A big part of my writing is inspired by my students. I want to promote literacy to my kids. I want them to have access to as many books as possible. And the way my students and I get along, they’re even more motivated to pick up my book and read it on their spare time. It’s a win/win. The kids have free access to my book through my website. But this wild haired man actually said we don’t care what happens to these books. Who says that? Who in their right minds, especially working at a bookstore, says something like that? I know I was asking a lot of questions, but to not care about a book is to say you don’t care about the thousands of people in the surrounding communities who don’t have access to books when they truly need it. I was extremely bothered by the encounter. I tried not to let it get me down, but it did. Hopefully this is the last time I encounter something like this. And to the crazy haired man, I hope you never know a day without books.

As always, below the photo is a link to my book. If you're a student visit www.LDannyPerez.com to get a free ecopy of it.

It Runs at Night

It Runs at Night

This is one of the prettiest terrors. I've finally self-published my first book. This particular story has a deeper meaning than to simply terrify. This story has been a work in progress for about three years. My mom had given me glimpses of her tumultuous journey to the U.S. It wasn't until she met my girlfriend that I heard the entire story. After a few cold ones, my mom let it all out. I thought, two things were going on through her journey, she was scared out of her mind, or she was a bad ass. I couldn't decide, so I wrote a story about it to decide for me. So far, she's a bad ass. I introduce you It Runs at Night Volume 1 The Water Boils a story about a girl lost in the Mexican valley while a mysterious creature is following her. Click the link under the photo to check out my book on Amazon. I'm trying to see how I can make it free, but it looks like the lowest I can go is $1. I'll keep everyone posted about reducing prices, I know I've seen some books for free on there. One last thing, visit the It Runs at Night website to see all updates of the series and future release dates.

It Runs at Night

Bowzoe's Gang

On my last blog I explained how these short stories worked. My girlfriend helped me with this one by providing a random photo she found online and selecting the random genre/location/subject below:

Mystery/Supermarket/Love Letter 

The challenge is to write a short story with the information provided in one sitting less than 1000 words. Forgive the poor editing. Without further ado...

These three were always the last to leave The Alamo Supermarket. Running down the aisles, throwing items from bags they tore open, always causing mayhem. Of the three was Bowzoe, the most feared gang member of Hillside Park. He had BOWZOE tatted on his upper back next to sleeves of tattoos that depicted clowns, women, and mementos of the deaths of members of the Zoe Street gang. 

            “Go home,” said Julio to Miguel at the next register. “But go out the back.” 

            “Are you sure you want to be alone with these guys?” he asked.

            “I’ll be ok, just go.” 

            Miguel nodded and left unseen by the hooligans. Julio surreptitiously closed the market early. He locked the doors, turned off the registers, and put on a pair of leather gloves. He walked down aisle two of nine towards the back room that lead to the back exit. 

            The gang members had made their way to the produce section on aisle nine to juggle fruit, use cantaloupes as bowling balls, and even take a bite of some of the produce. 

            Julio looked at the monitors in the backroom, glad that everything was going according to plan. He turned off all the lights and let the moonlight that shined into the supermarket through the tall glass walls and the sounds the gang members made guide him. 

            “Hey, what the fuck?” yelled the smallest one.

            A car pulled up outside and its headlights lit up aisles three and four. A woman turned off the engine, turned off the lights and ran to the entrance of The Alamo. She had a piece of paper stuck to the palm of her hand. She hadn’t realized that Julio’s love letter was in her hand for so long, that it was practically one with her. She tugged on the locked doors of the supermarket. She continued to struggle with it as though she would soon break it off its hinges. 

            “Julio!” she yelled. “Don’t do it!” 

            Damn it thought Julio. Antonia figured out what I was telling her sooner than I hoped. 

            The smallest gang member ran towards the door. Julio tackled him from aisle four, before he could get in eyeshot of Antonia. He held him down, grabbed a knife from his back pocket and sliced his throat. He left the body to soak in the pool of its own blood expanding on the floor. 

            Bowzoe and the other man heard the commotion. 

            “’Ey, go check it out,” he delegated. “I’ll check this side of the aisles.”

            The other one crept through the aisles. He was no taller than the first one Julio killed, but much heavier. 

            “It’s not him!” yelled Antonia tugging on the doors. “It’s not him!”

            She’s just trying to talk me out of it thought Julio. 

            He saw the fat one walk towards the entrance. He strategically placed himself in an aisle that had stacks of cans he could hide between. 

            “Who the fuck is out there?” asked the gang member in Julio’s crosshairs.

            “Julio?” asked Antonia, unsure if that was his voice or not. “Is that you?” 

            Before he could answer, he saw his comrade’s body on the floor. The initial shock distracted him from Julio’s steps. Julio came from behind and sliced his throat too. The heavy body thudded on the ground and Bowzoe stopped in his tracks. 

            “Hey!” he yelled. “What the fuck, man? Who’s there?”

            He walked into aisle five where Julio stood at the opposite end.

            “Wassup man,” he said aggressively to Julio’s silhouette. “Watchu wanna do?” 

            Julio wiped the knife on his pants and launched it at Bowzoe’s chest. It made precise contact and threw Bowzoe onto his back. He walked over and bent down next to him. He dug in his pocket and took out the photo seen all over the news. It was a white clown mask with green hair, a five o’clock shadow, red eyes, and teeth as sharp and as cold as icicles.

            “I found you,” said Julio showing Bowzoe the picture. “You son of a bitch.”

            “What the fuck are you talking about?” asked Bowzoe spitting blood from his mouth. 

            Julio removed the knife from his chest and drove it three times around the same spot. After the third, he left it in his chest and dug through his front jean pocket for another photo. 

            “You remember her?!” spat Julio at Bowzoe’s face. “Her name was Lupita!”

            “Damn you Julio!” yelled Antonia. “Don’t do this. Don’t you dare do this especially after this letter you wrote me! You said you couldn’t live without me! Open up! It’s not him!”

            “Do you hear that?” Julio asked Bowzoe drowning out Antonia’s yells. “That’s Lupita’s mother. Because of you, our marriage fell apart. Because of you, I have nightmares of Lupita begging for mercy.”

            Somewhere in the background Julio heard Antonia’s yells, but couldn’t make them out completely. At one point it sounded like she said He has a bar. 

            Julio grabbed the knife one last time. He pulled it out of his chest and began looking for a weapon, some sort of crowbar Bowzoe may carry. Suddenly, he heard footsteps from behind. 

            He turned to look up and saw the clown he scourged the earth to find. He didn’t have time to react. The clown kicked Julio in the face, knocking him out instantly. The clown grabbed Julio’s knife, and slit his throat with it. 

            Antonia kept tugging at the door. She got her phone out and began dialing 911 when a figure appeared at the door. He unlocked it and held Antonia from going in. 

            “You don’t want to go in there,” said Miguel, keeping Antonia back. Antonia stopped trying to go in and pressed send on her phone to call 911. When the operator answered Antonia couldn’t put two words together to say she was in trouble. Instead, she looked at Miguel’s face, clutched Julio’s letter close to her heart and dropped the phone. 

            He has a scar…