C h a z z W r i t e s . c o m

See all my books at AllThatChazz.com.

Art matters. Writing matters. We matter.

Graphic designers make a big difference to readers and the success of authors. A snarky writer once told me I was a hack, too concerned about the look of my book covers. Once.

Everyone else knows, yes, of course we do indeed judge books by their covers.

You can say it shouldn’t matter all you want, but beautiful people and beautiful things get more attention. I won’t find out if you have a great personality and keen intelligence if, when I spot you from across the room, you appear to be surrounded by flies because you’ve rubbed dog feces in your hair. That’s life. That’s science. 

My graphic designer is the brilliant Kit Foster of KitFosterDesign.com. Check out his portfolio.

Kit is my friend and ally. He helps to make my existence matter. He’s helping me get my message out, subliminal and subtextual. It’s that important. All my books are about escaping who I was. They’re about all of us rising to the higher potential of what we could be. Everything I write is about making our existence — yours and mine — matter. Book covers are the come hither stare that lets me into your brain, to play in the Mindfield, to turn the words, to entertain, laugh and think. That’s what it means and why Art matters.

That’s the why. A book cover with solid art is part of the how.

Here is the new cover for the This Plague of Days, Omnibus Edition. It’s not at all what I pictured for the Omnibus cover. It’s better. I just let Kit do what he does best so I can concentrate on what I do best.

This Plague of Days OMNIBUS (Large)

To find out about more about secret video and to get a free ebook with your purchase of the TPOD Omnibus Edition, click here.

~ I am Robert Chazz Chute and, even though I occasionally write books with zombies in them, I am not a hack. It’s not the subject matter that makes the hack. It’s a lack of passion. Ultimately, with every twist, turn, joke and murder, I’m writing about me. And you. 

The suspense is in making our existence matter. Can we do it?

We will.

 

Filed under: book marketing, self-publishing, This Plague of Days, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

And the winner of the Six Words or Less Contest is…

Liberty Montano!

Thanks to all who entered the Six Words or Less Contest. We had some solid entries, but there can only be three in the top three, if my understanding of math is correct.

Liberty’s happened to be the very first entry and the votes skewed toward a religious bent. (I have mentioned

Click to get Bigger Than Jesus here

my Cuban hit man’s name is pronounced “Hay-soose” a ton already, right?)

Liberty’s entry won first prize with:

“Ezekiel 25:17”

Cloakey Notes came in second with

“Revelation 6:17”

Who would have thought I would have so many readers so familiar with Bible text?

Tony Collett came in third with a reference from The Fisher King:

“Moral Traffic Light”.

All three will get mentions on my podcast and, when Higher Than Jesus comes out, they’ll receive a free ebook. Congratulations to each of the winners.

Liberty’s name will appear in Higher Than Jesus and her quote will be woven into the story. Hey, that’s a good character name! Not too many people named “Liberty” out there. She’ll be getting the paperback, too.

As the publication date for Higher Than Jesus approaches, I will contact the winners with details.

Thanks again to everyone who participated.

Filed under: publishing, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

BOOM, baby! Bigger Than Jesus has arrived in handy, dead tree form!

The paperback has arrived. For $9.99. Did you hear that? Distant thunder of the Book Gods mumbling to each other. Oooh, shivers!

 

The witty “wickedly real and violently funny” foundation book of The Hit Man Series has arrived. So happy.

Next up: Higher Than Jesus

 

Filed under: publishing, , , , , , , , , , ,

Support authors. Buy books.

FYI: I promised the big announcement today.

That post drops here

at 12:01 pm EST.

Now, to business:

Author Jeff Bennington from The Writing Bomb wrote a very helpful post for Chazz Writes comparing his publishing experience with Lightning Source vs CreateSpace. 

Besides helping self-publishers out with some great information, Jeff’s written a great book. The early reviews are very exciting, so I’m not just asking that you help out an author. I’m asking that you enjoy a good book.

http://www.amazon.ca/Reunion-Jeff-P-Bennington/dp/0615450865/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302828982&sr=1-1Jeff is trying to climb high in Amazon‘s rankings today so readers can find his novel. Get in on the ground floor and help kickstart Jeff’s career. He’s encouraging fans and future fans to buy Reunion today. The novel has received great reviews, so why not? It’s not expensive.

Check out the awesome reviews and blurbs here.

Why not buy two? I will.

For this strategy to work best, it would be great if you bought the book today, April 15, if you please. It’s tax day in the States, so console yourself and forget about that horror by reading Jeff’s cool horror story.

Please support the arts and chill with a good book. Thank you.

UPDATE: Just bought two copies of Reunion.

Can’t wait!

Filed under: authors, book reviews, Books, publishing, Writers, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Announcements and changes 1, 2, 3

First, author India (The Great) Drummond will be profiled right here in a few hours. She’s really nice, which I value immensely. And her book sounds interesting, so check her out and order some copies.

(Also, if you’re an author, you know I do author q&a profiles, right? Shoot me an email by clicking my happy pic above and we’ll chat about publicizing your book, too.)

Second, I have a big announcement coming this Friday. If you follow me on Twitter, you already know the broad strokes. If not, follow me on Twitter! Also, here’s a hint: I found a publisher for my novel. More to come on that but it’s all very exciting. Well, especially to me. Lots of new news unfolding over the coming year on the publishing front. You’re used to lots of links, opinion and non-fiction in this space. My fiction will be coming to the forefront in a big way soon(ish).

Third,  I’m changing the schedule of the blog starting next week. You’ll recall I switched to three posts a week (unless I saw something that caught my fancy and couldn’t wait.)

I’m still in the publishing/information/curation business here

and will continue to be.

However, I notice that my Friday post stats take a dip so next week I’ll be posting Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Apparently on Friday afternoons, y’all just want to get the hell away from your desks and out into the sunshine! I don’t blame you. Might add or switch in a Sunday post in the future depending on how the stats work. I’m watching how I hit you for optimum impact with minimum annoyance on your part.

The blog is growing faster now that I only post three times a week! What does that say about me? Either a little of me goes a long way or girls just hate it when you look desperate.

Have a great night! Or make it one.

Filed under: blogs & blogging, publishing, Useful writing links, Writers, , , , , , , ,

Chazz Writes: Q & A

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Image via Wikipedia

Do you have a question for me about writing or editing?

(Mr. Director! Cue the happy music!) 

Email me at:

 chazz@chazzwrites.vpweb.ca

Also, at the bottom right of this screen is an email subscription box. Please take a moment to key in your email address. You’ll get my blog posts by email and never miss another scintillating post. I don’t share email lists with anyone and I won’t sell them to anyone. Thanks! 

 

Now, to clear your palate of my lonely plea for human contact in the outside world, below you’ll find meaty links on the subject of the slush pile. 

(Cue the ominous music.) 

Filed under: Editors, Publicity & Promotion, publishing, Writers, writing tips, , , , , , , ,

Bestseller with over 1,000 reviews!
Winner of the North Street Book Prize, Reader's Favorite, the
Literary Titan Award, the Hollywood Book Festival, and the
New York Book Festival.

http://mybook.to/OurZombieHours
A NEW ZOMBIE ANTHOLOGY

Winner of Writer's Digest's 2014 Honorable Mention in Self-published Ebook Awards in Genre

The first 81 lessons to get your Buffy on

More lessons to help you survive Armageddon

"You will laugh your ass off!" ~ Maxwell Cynn, author of Cybergrrl

Available now!

Fast-paced terror, new threats, more twists.

An autistic boy versus our world in free fall

Suspense to melt your face and play with your brain.

Action like a Guy Ritchie film. Funny like Woody Allen when he was funny.

Jesus: Sexier and even more addicted to love.

You can pick this ebook up for free today at this link: http://bit.ly/TheNightMan

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