Book giveaways – Mark Stay Writes

End of Magic Trilogy in Storybundle Collection!

Very excited to announce that the ebooks of the End of Magic trilogy are included in Storybundle’s Trilogy Collection, curated by the magnificent Mr Lavie Tidhar! How can you get your hands on such a dazzling collection of trilogies? Scroll down for more details, or click on the image below…

THE 2026 TRILOGIES BUNDLE

The 2026 Trilogies Bundle – curated by Lavie Tidhar

Who doesn’t love trilogies? I know I do – this is the third trilogies bundle I’ve put together so far! I love the wide variety on offer – proper science fiction, high-octane fantasy, blood-curdling horror and everything in between. You’ll find literary weirdness and Tamil pulp fiction, giant space opera and the magical battles of gods. There’s even a sprinkling of cyberpunk! With 9 – that’s right, nine(!) complete trilogies, this is a whopping bundle of 27 books from a host of award-winning authors – plus we threw in a bonus chapbook! So dive right in, take a seat by the fire, and settle down as winter draws in – there’s plenty here to keep you entertained for the long nights to come! – Lavie Tidhar

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For StoryBundle, you decide what price you want to pay. For $5 (or more, if you’re feeling generous), you’ll get the basic bundle of three books in .epub format—WORLDWIDE.

The Salvage Crew 1: The Salvage Crew by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne
Nightmares: A New Decade of Modern Horror edited by Ellen Datlow
The Ghosts Trilogy 1 – Night Relics by James P. Blaylock

If you pay at least the bonus price of just $33, you get all three of the regular books, plus TWENTY-FIVE more books, for a total of 28, and there is ONE StoryBundle Exclusive!

The Salvage Crew 3 – Choir of Hatred by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne
The Salvage Crew 2 – Pilgrim Machines by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne
Hauntings edited by Ellen Datlow
Fears: Tales of Psychological Horror edited by Ellen Datlow
The End of Magic 3 – The End of Gods by Mark Stay
The End of Magic 2 – The End of Dragons by Mark Stay
The End of Magic 1 – The End of Magic by Mark Stay
The Cryptogonzopunk Trilogy by Lavie Tidhar (StoryBundle Exclusive)
On the Bones of Gods 3 – Ally by K. Eason
On the Bones of Gods 2 – Outlaw by K. Eason
On the Bones of Gods 1 – Enemy by K. Eason
The Ghosts Trilogy 3 – The Rainy Season by James P. Blaylock
The Ghosts Trilogy 2 – Winter Tides by James P. Blaylock
Andrea Cort 3 – War of the Marionettes by Adam-Troy Castro
Andrea Cort 2 – The Third Claw of God by Adam-Troy Castro
Andrea Cort 1 – Emissaries from the Dead by Adam-Troy Castro
The Dark Angels 3 – Dark Angels Rising by Ian Whates
The Dark Angels 2 – The Ion Raider by Ian Whates
The Dark Angels 1 – Pelquin’s Comet by Ian Whates
The Blaft Anthology of Tamil Pulp Fiction – Vol. 3 edited by Rakesh Khanna
The Blaft Anthology of Tamil Pulp Fiction – Vol. 2 edited by Rakesh Khanna
The Blaft Anthology of Tamil Pulp Fiction – Vol. 1 edited by Rakesh Khanna
Conversations Regarding the Fatalistic Outlook of the Common Man by Kuzhali Manickavel
Things We Found During the Autopsy by Kuzhali Manickavel
Insects Are Just Like You and Me Except Some of Them Have Wings by Kuzhali Manickavel

This bundle is available only for a limited time via http://www.storybundle.com. It allows easy reading on computers, smartphones, and tablets as well as Kindle and other ereaders via file transfer, email, and other methods. You get a DRM-free .epub for all books!

It’s also super easy to give the gift of reading with StoryBundle, thanks to our gift cards – which allow you to send someone a code that they can redeem for any future StoryBundle bundle – and timed delivery, which allows you to control exactly when your recipient will get the gift of StoryBundle.

Why StoryBundle? Here are just a few benefits StoryBundle provides.

Get quality reads: We’ve chosen works from excellent authors to bundle together in one convenient package.
Pay what you want (minimum $5): You decide how much these fantastic books are worth. If you can only spare a little, that’s fine! You’ll still get access to a batch of exceptional titles.
Support authors who support DRM-free books: StoryBundle is a platform for authors to get exposure for their works, both for the titles featured in the bundle and for the rest of their catalog. Supporting authors who let you read their books on any device you want—restriction free—will show everyone there’s nothing wrong with ditching DRM.
Give to worthy causes: Bundle buyers have a chance to donate a portion of their proceeds to Locus!
Receive extra books: If you beat the bonus price, you’ll get the bonus books!

StoryBundle was created to give a platform for independent authors to showcase their work, and a source of quality titles for thirsty readers. StoryBundle works with authors to create bundles of ebooks that can be purchased by readers at their desired price. Before starting StoryBundle, Founder Jason Chen covered technology and software as an editor for Gizmodo.com and Lifehacker.com.

For more information, visit our website at storybundle.com, tweet us at @storybundle and like us on Facebook.

The Return of the Signed Book and Chocolate Giveaway

Giveaway time! If you want a signed and dedicated copy of The Ghost of Ivy Barn and a bar of Ghost of Ivy Barn milk chocolate, then you’re in luck. I’m giving away five of this tasty pair this week. All you need to do is sign up to the Woodville Village Library Newsletter here to be in with a chance to win. The giveaway closes at 5pm BST on Sunday 11th September 2022. If you’ve already signed up to the newsletter then you’ll automatically be entered into the draw. Full terms and conditions are here. Good luck!

The End of Magic challenge week 9, War of the Keywords

On 9th July I made a big ol’ public declaration to sell a thousand copies of my fantasy novel The End of Magic by Christmas, and I promised to keep folks in the loop with the ups and downs of sales and marketing with a weekly update.

A few caveats…

I can only do this in the USA… Unbound have the UK rights and I have no visibility on sales other than the twice yearly statements.
I’m going to stick with Kindle and Kindle Unlimited.
I’ll be counting both Kindle and Paperback sales.
Here’s week nine!

A busy week of writing for me, which means I’ve only had one eye on the challenge, so all that’s really happened is a continued trickle of newsletter subscribers thanks to the StoryOrigin promo (which you should definitely check out if you’re a fantasy fan – so many free books!)

However, I did notice something disturbing... You may recall that in last week’s update I was pondering whether or not to return to Amazon ads to boost sales of The End of Magic. By mid-morning that day I had pretty much decided against it, but a few days later I decided to check where I was coming in the search results on Amazon.

I opened a new tab, switched on my VPN and connected as if I was in the USA, typed “The End of Magic” into the Amazon search bar, and this is what came up…

Fourth! Bloody fourth! That’s below the line, too, so if the searcher can’t be bothered to scroll down (and few do) then I’m completely lost! I have to win the War of the Keywords. And how do you do that…?

Bloody Amazon ads.

It’s almost – almost! – as if the whole system is rigged to make you pay for Amazon ads. Hmm.

So I ran a keywords report on Publisher Rocket and I’m now running ads at $2-per-day to see if I can get back to the top of the search results. Grr. I’ve only been running them for a couple of days, so nothing yet. Even the KU page reads are drying up…

Here’s a summary of last week’s sales…

Kindle units sold: 0

POD Paperbacks: 0

Kindle Unlimited Pages read: 788

Royalty: $0

Advertising spend total: £2.86

And here’s the running total…

Kindle units sold: 98

Kindle Unlimited Pages read: 10,825

Royalty: $46.98

Advertising spend total (since 9th July): $464.00 (and £105.81 in GBP)

AMS: $102.78

Bookbub: $272.70

Still 902 units to go!

That’s 8 a day between now and Christmas.

Thanks again for all your messages of support and to everyone who’s bought the book or spread the word.

If you would like to help, then please do any of the following:

Buy a copy here in the US, or here in the UK

Tell your friends about the book

Leave an honest review on Amazon or Goodreads.

FOR THE NEXT INSTALMENT “SALES, GLORIOUS SALES” CLICK HERE

Oh, and I’ve just finished with a client on a writing project and now have a slot available on my writing services schedule. If you’re looking for feedback on your novel or screenplay, or maybe you just need a second opinion on that submission letter that you’re sending to agents, I offer all kinds of services for writers at all stages in their careers. There are more details here.

The End of Magic challenge, week 8 – Giveaways and Group Promos

A few caveats…

I can only do this in the USA… Unbound have the UK rights and I have no visibility on sales other than the twice yearly statements.
I’m going to stick with Kindle and Kindle Unlimited.
I’ll be counting both Kindle and Paperback sales.
Here’s week eight!

Not a huge amount to report this week, but a quick update on how last week’s Joe Abercrombie giveaway went, and how the StoryOrigin group promo is going.

You may recall that I had read and enjoyed my ARC/Proof copy of the new Joe Abercrombie novel A Little Hatred. Rather than let the proof languish on the shelf, I ordered a copy of the book from Waterstones, and decided to give the proof away as part of a newsletter giveaway. A simple deal: sign up to my newsletter and you’re in with a chance of winning the proof. Boosted by retweets from Joe and Gollancz I was able to gain over a hundred new subscribers in just a week. Once I announced the winner at the weekend, I lost fifteen of those, but such is the cut and thrust of these sort of newsletter giveaways.

Last Thursday saw the launch of a StoryOrigin group promotion designed to attract more newsletter subscribers. The way it works is a bunch of authors in a similar genre offer a free short story each to entice readers to sign up. All of the authors plug the promotion via their channels and we all gain a few new subscribers. Since the launch on Thursday I’ve gained 68 new subscribers…

And if you fancy reading the short story yourself you can get it here.

And hey, if you like fantasy you should check it out. There’s something for everyone: high fantasy, grimdark, romance and even big cats wearing bras. Yes, really. No judgment here. Click on the banner for more…

Has all this resulted in a sudden boost in sales…? Er… no… Once again, this week has been a blank…

I have had a few more KU page reads though…

And I now have a chunk of new fantasy fans who might just like my book enough to buy it. However, I can’t just start bombarding them with BUY MY BOOK emails. I need to give them fun and engaging content to reassure them that they’ve made the right decision.

What’s next? The StoryOrigin promo runs until September 27th, so that should keep the trickle of new subscribers coming, and I’ve also enrolled in a Kindle Unlimited one that starts in early October. However, none of these are driving sales in the here and now. There’s a part of me that wants to go back to Amazon AMS ads. I know they’re a money pit, but I was getting sales and the book was more visible. Will I succumb to the temptation…?? Should I?? Tune in next week!

Here’s a summary of last week’s sales…

Kindle units sold: 0

POD Paperbacks: 0

Kindle Unlimited Pages read: 960

Royalty: $0

Advertising spend total: £0

And here’s the running total…

Kindle units sold: 98

Kindle Unlimited Pages read: 10,037

Royalty: $46.98

Advertising spend total (since 9th July): $464.00 (and £105.81 in GBP)

AMS: $99.92

Bookbub: $272.70

Still 902 units to go!

That’s almost 8 a day between now and Christmas.

Thanks again for all your messages of support and to everyone who’s bought the book or spread the word.

If you would like to help, then please do any of the following:

Buy a copy here in the US, or here in the UK

Tell your friends about the book

Leave an honest review on Amazon or Goodreads like these lovely people…

I still only have six reviews on Amazon.com (the US site). They’re good ones, for which I’m very grateful, but ideally I need at least 20+. I like my reviews to grow organically and they have to be honest, so if you’re American and have read The End of Magic a few kind and honest words will go a long way.

If you have any thoughts or comments on what I might be doing wrong, do please leave them below! Until next week…

FOR THE NEXT INSTALMENT CLICK HERE

A free short story!

Ahead of the publication of The End of Magic (and while I wait for the dreaded edit notes to come back) I’ve been writing a short story set in the same world.

How Drust Krax Lost Two Fingers introduces the novel’s main villain Haldor Frang, and it’s told from the point of view of the hapless Drust Krax. A defeated warlord, awaiting certain death, who really, really needs to use the privvy…

I’m offering it first and exclusively to anyone who subscribes to my newsletter! To download a copy for your Kindle or any other eReader device, just sign-up here.

Please note: I’ve had all my GDPR jabs and I will never sell your information on to any third parties. It’s all safely tucked away by Mailchimp!

Big thanks to Jack Logan and Julian Barr for reading my early drafts the story, taking them down a dark alley and giving them a good kicking. Thanks also to Kit Cox for the map image used on the cover art.

I really enjoyed writing it and can’t wait to hear what you think of it!

In other news, I spoke to the wonderful Gareth L Powell on the podcast this week. We discussed the slow death of Facebook and how to sing a space opera. Listen here.

There’s also a fab Deep Dive on adaptation this week with Julian Barr (second mention in the blog today). One of us has a PhD. It won’t take you long to figure out which one of us doesn’t… You can listen to a teaser here.

And I’m on BBC Radio Kent tonight (or in the past, depending on when you read this). I’ll be talking to Dominic King on his new arts show about the podcast, Robot Overlords, The End of Magic and more. Listen or catch-up here.