Launch (and Sale) of Dying to Write by Mary Simonsen

Today is the official launch of Dying to Write, a Patrick Shea mystery. (My unofficial launch was in May before I went on a six-thousand-mile road trip.) Dying to Write is the fourth in the Patrick Shea mystery series. Ordinarily, a British police procedural would not be a good fit for an Austen-centered blog. However, in Dying to Write, Detective Sergeant Patrick Shea of London’s Metropolitan Police is on holiday when a murder is committed at a JANE AUSTEN conference. Here’s the blurb from the back jacket:

In need of a break from his job at Scotland Yard, Detective Sergeant Patrick Shea of London’s Metropolitan Police is looking forward to some quiet time at a timeshare in rural Devon in England’s West Country. However, when he arrives at The Woodlands, Patrick finds himself in the midst of a Jane Austen conference.

Despite Regency Era dresses, bonnets, and parasols, a deep divide exists between the Jane Austen fan-fiction community, those who enjoy expanding on the author’s work by writing sequels and re-imaginings, and the Janeites, those devotees who think anyone who tampers with the original novels is committing a sacrilege.

When one of the conference speakers is found dead in her condo, Patrick is back on the job trying to find out who murdered her. Is it possible that the victim was actually killed because of a book?

Usually, when I launch, I have a giveaway, but that would mean only one person can win, and I want lots of people to read my book. Instead, I am reducing the price of the book from $4.99 to 2.99 for six days (9/16 – 9/21). It’s a fun mystery with Austen-quoting attendees roaming the halls of an old English inn and a Lady Catherine-type bully trying to run the show. Having been on the receiving end of some unflattering comments about my novels from disapproving Janeites, I really enjoyed writing this book.

I hope you will take this opportunity to read Dying to Write at a discount and that you will let me know what you think. If you enjoyed the novel, Three’s a Crowd, the first in the series, is always priced at .99, and if you did like it/them, I would encourage you to write a review on Amazon or Barnes and Noble or Goodreads. A good review is the best way to help your favorite authors.

A word about pricing. You may wonder why many e-books are priced at $2.99. Here’s why. Amazon, the gorilla in the room, will pay you a 70% royalty for any book $2.99 or more. For anything below that, you get a 35% royalty, which means Amazon is paying you pennies for a lot of hard work. And that, my friends, is why most authors price their books, at a minimum, at $2.99. Now you know.

As always, I appreciate your support. Any comments? I’d love to read them.

Dying to Write is available on Kindle, Nook, and in paperback ($9.89).