I’m establishing a mailing list

Hello!  I’m establishing a mailing list so that I have a better way to keep in touch with people who are interested in my writing. I’ve been using social media, which works well for many things. But I know I miss a lot of news from authors I like based on what’s actually easily available to me on Facebook or other online venues, and so it’s entirely possible that some of my fans are also missing out on news they might like to hear as well.  This will be a way to reach out to anyone interested when there’s a new release, a contest, or personal news they might find interesting.

Here’s the short version

• Sometimes there will be advance news or even a free bit of fiction or a poem provided to people on the list.
• Mail won’t come too often. My aspirations are two emails around releases and periodic other news about appearances and the like.  I doubt that emails will ever come out any more often than monthly (unless really awesome news comes out more than monthly!), and that in many months there will be zero emails. I don’t like spam or want to create it for others. I’m also really, really, really busy.
• The sign-up form is on my home page.  To prove you’re a human fan, you’ll need to respond to an email. It’s easy, and you get to see a photo of my dogs along the way!

This will work best if a lot of people sign up!  If you sign up by midnight on June 15th, 2016, you’ll be entered into a contest.  For every fifteen people who sign up, I’ll add a copy of Edge of Dark to the contest, up to four copies.  If this is wildly successful, I might add other things (like copies of Spear of Light or even The Creative Fire).  You have to live in the US to enter the contest (that’s about contest rules and risks and not because I don’t love international readers) but you can sign up for the newsletter no matter where you live. If you already have Edge of Dark, I’ll give you the choice of a few other books of mine I have on hand.

Everyone who signs up — even after the contest is over — gets one of my stories sent right to their inbox as a thank-you.

That’s all. Pretty easy.  And don’t worry, if you don’t want to sign up, you can still find me on social media, including Facebook and Twitter.

Official Contest Rules (because they are required)

This is a sweepstakes — that’s what they call it anyway, upon some research.

1. The prize is a physical copy of my book, Edge of Dark, which I’ll mail to you at my cost (anywhere in the US).  I’ll add one copy for every fifteen entries up to four copies, and if we get more entries after that, I might add copies of other books.  If a winner already has Edge of Dark, I’ll offer a different book from my inventory if they want that instead.
2. Prizes will be picked by random drawing. All prizes will be awarded.  Your odds of winning are probably pretty good, since I’ll be really happy if I get a hundred fifty entries.
3. Winners will be notified by email.  They must respond within 7 days or a new winner will be chosen.
4. The contest is open to anyone over the age of 18 who lives in the United States.
5. The contest opens May 25th, 2016 and closes at midnight on June 15th, 2016 (Pacific time).
6. You don’t have to sign up for the mailing list to enter the contest – you can use the contact form on my website and just put “Contest Entry” as the first two words in the “Your Message” section.  You do have to sign up to get interesting email from me.
7. No purchase necessary.
8. I’ll publish a list of winners on this blog.
9. Winners may be asked to provide a photo of themselves (hey, maybe with the book!) for the blog and to sign a release allowing me to use it here on the blog.

THANKS!