Excitement at the Dragons' Geas House!

Pseudo-Dragon recently released on audio.  Zachary Michael did an exceptional job bringing out the booming resonation of the dragon voices.   I will have an interview up by him very soon.  He is previewing the questions even as I write.  I am excited to work with him and he will be doing the final release for the series.

Available on I-tunes, Amazon and Audible

For those that are unfamiliar, this is book four in the series.  Here is the publisher's summary.

Pseudo-Dragon is Released- Reviews Coming in Positive.

I am so excited about the release of Pseudo-Dragon. A couple of days ago it reached number eight in fairy tales on Amazon.  It is meeting expectations and is probably the best work I have done.  Bloodmines remains my favorite as far as storyline. I love the dragons interactions with Alador.  However, I have began tying up strings as I head for the final book of this series.  It does not mean I will never write any of these characters again, but the Blue Dragon's Geas will be completed.   I am a little confused that it is in the top 20 for fairy tales in UK and USA, I see it as more of a sword and sorcery type book.

If there is anything you would like to see me write, feel free to put it in comments.  I have started a list of next series stories, and as such am most willing to add my reader's wish list.  

Here are some of the reviews coming out of kindle readers:

Audio Book Just Released for Bloodmines!

Okay... for those of you who gave ideas. I will have the free codes soon.  Send me an email at dragonsgeas@gmail.com and I will send out the free code as soon as I can.  For my one input that shared he was deaf, I have something special for you but you need to contact me with an email.

Book 3 - Bloodmines audio is special because it is the debut of Jimmy Moreland for ACX narrations. It is also the first book that has physical face to face dragon conversations.  Jimmy did a great job in giving each dragon their own voice and that sense of largeness.  I hope you will love it as much as I did.

Currently it is only out on Audible but will soon be out on i-tunes as well. You can find it here:  http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Bloodmines-Audiobook/B00UU1MFRK

If you have never listened to a book from audible before, then you can actually listen to this free as your gift for becoming an audible member.

May your week be inspired and may your dreams be filled with kindly dragons!

Latest Review for Bloodmines on Amazon!

4.0 out of 5 stars carole, March 18, 2015
By
Carole E. - Verified Purchase
This review is from: Bloodmines: Cheryl Matthynssens (The Blue Dragon's Geas Book 3) (Kindle Edition)

Great third story. Cannot wait to see where the next one leads us. Alador is coming of age with the help of his dragon deep inside him. It is a wonderful world that Matthynssens has created. One of dragons, magic and family intrigue. Oh may the next installment be soon on the horizon. The book was a fast read as it moved along with rapid fire excitement, cool characters, intrigue, and explanations of events that are crisp, to the point that will move the story alone. Great story thanks

Why Am I an Amazon Select Author?

I have been asked this question many times since the debate with Hachette started.  Why are you an Amazon Select Author.  The truth?  Well the truth at first is that I could not afford to be anything else or I thought so at the time. I have learned a lot since then but even now I do not expand beyond Amazon.

But why?

First:  When I had no money but I had a story, Amazon published it through createspace for free.  No minimum purchase.  No upfront fees.  No inventory on hand.  Just.. here is my story.  I was working full time and knew from previous business experience there was some benefit in this as my time is also worth money.  Instead of panicking about filling orders and different sites, I could leverage my time to writing and publicity.

Second:  I have long known and agree with Amazon's position with Hachette that a lower price tag means more sales and when you leverage those numbers that it will mean more profit to the bottom line. Amazon recently released this information and I have used the same tactics when I owned a gift store.

My ebook

"E-books are highly price elastic. This means that when the price goes down, customers buy much more. We've quantified the price elasticity of e-books from repeated measurements across many titles. For every copy an e-book would sell at $14.99, it would sell 1.74 copies if priced at $9.99. So, for example, if customers would buy 100,000 copies of a particular e-book at $14.99, then customers would buy 174,000 copies of that same e-book at $9.99. Total revenue at $14.99 would be $1,499,000. Total revenue at $9.99 is $1,738,000. The important thing to note here is that the lower price is good for all parties involved: the customer is paying 33% less and the author is getting a royalty check 16% larger and being read by an audience that's 74% larger. The pie is simply bigger."

Third:  My time is worth money. Especially now that I have to battle cancer.  By not keeping track of  the many websites and portals, I have leveraged my time to free it up for more writing.  I have heard, you could have more sales if you listed your book here and here and here.  Maybe, maybe I could.  But I am not writing to be rich and famous.  Oh, I won't lie, that would be nice.  However, by having a single portal without paying additional people a share of my profits, I have freedom of time. This means more to me than a few more sales.

Fourth:  Profit: Okay, let us be honest.  Profit makes additional writing possible. The more reduction of financial stress, the more creative I am.  I am making enough profit doing things the way I am doing that I had already given notice to be a full time Independent writer before I found out I had cancer.  Even now if the face of cancer, I know if I don't stop doing what I am doing, there will be enough profit to pay the medical bills.

Fifth:  What about the new Kindle Unlimited?  The jury for me is still out on this program.  My sales immediately dropped when Kindle Unlimited came out.  Little self disclosure here:  In July, my book was borrowed 610 times in the US with a profit of $1366.40.  I averaged 2.24 per borrow prior to KDP select starting.   My book, Outcast, when sold at $2.99 only brings in  $2.00 in profit.  Assuming that the amount I receive per borrow stays above 2.00, I am actually better off if my book is borrowed. That just makes good financial sense.  However, I am waiting for the first report to come out to see what the price per borrow was when Unlimited was introduced and that will decide for me.

Lastly:  What if it changes?? What if you quit making such a good income because Amazon squeezes down the profit margins?  These are questions I have been asked.  Contracting Cancer has only solidified something I have always believed.  I can't live in tomorrow.  I can't future trip and run around panicked trying to leverage against something that has not happened.  I don't have the time or energy for such a waste of energy against something that might NEVER happen.  If it does happen, then I will take it like I live life, one day at a time.  However, for Amazon to sell books, they have to have authors.  The truth is, no great outlet ever squeezes their supplier out of existence.    But if it does happen, if the worst shoe drops, then and only then will I jump a ship.  It make no sense to me to jump off a ship that might sink some day.

I hope those of you that have bought in to Hachette's media campaign will at least take the time to read this article http://www.readersunited.com/ . Authors are not United on this issue as Hachette claim,   I have learned that over time, loyalty often triumphs diversity.

Book Two is Complete and Publishing. Book Three Already in Planning.

Book Two is coming out next week!

The Blackguard

And now Book Three is in planning!

Excerpt from

The Bloodmine

Book Three

Just When I Begin to Falter...

It has been a rough week for writing.  Editing is far from my favorite thing; I would much rather be working on the next big scene.  Add to this, the fact I have the creeping crud that has hung on for two weeks.  My doctor's advice: Emergence C and chicken soup. Thanks Doc!

 I had submitted Outcast to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest but apparently I am not good at writing a pitch and the first round was judged completely on the pitch.  It didn't make the cut.

Then, Amazon launches my .99 cent countdown which I was doing to help prepare my readers for the upcoming release of Blackguard and Amazon totally broke the thumbnail on every country's website.  I quickly wrote to them to fix it but they didn't. You can only do countdown once a quarter and I did mine with a broken thumbnail.  As you can see, this is a recipe for the blahs.

So in the midst of virus fed disappointment and editing blahs, I get the most delightful email on a conversation thread I have for Outcast on Amazon.  I have reposted it below and I hope Barry does not mind.  I wanted him to know how such a kind word to a struggling writer can come at the most perfect of times.  I finished reading and writing back to him with a great smile on my face.  My heart is lighter and I am a bit more determined to get that polish on the sequel.

While we as writers only know a small percentage of the smiles we bring to our readers,  know that every kind comment from a reader brings a smile to the writer.  Thank you Barry for a kind word when I needed it most.

Barry B says:
Can not wait for the sequel. I spend a lot of time reading fantasy books in fact it is said that if you study something for 10000 hrs you are an expert, if that is true I would be an expert fantasy reader with the amount of fantasy books ive read. at times I get bored with the same old type of story and consider stoping for a while if a lot of the books ive read for a while have only been ok, but then I find a gem or in your case a bloodstone and my faith is renewed. so I hurry online to see if there are more and am crushed that there is not but then delighted that there is more coming. please keep churning them out the best ive read in a few months at least thank you.

A Wondrous Journey of an Independent Writer!

Fear - That is the word that drives home.  I have never sent my books to a publisher due to straight out fear.  However, I had read an article out of Woman's Day Magazine about a woman who worked from home writing books.  She had put her kids through college, bought a house all through Createspace and Amazon.

I thought, wow, my mom has this little story she has always told. We should try that.  So my friend, Rebecca Hunt who drew dragons that would appeal to a child's eye, agreed to illustrate and the two of us set about creating How the Dragons Got Their Colors.  A rework of my mom's bedside story.  It was mildly successful.   We immediately got to work on a second book about the angst an older child goes through when mom is expecting and Not An Egg! was born. Later we converted them for Kindle download as well and made them part of Amazon's Kindle Select Program. 

This gave me the confidence to go ahead and tentatively put out my first Novel - Outcast.  I figured I had nothing to lose, if it did not do well, the only thing I lost was some time. There is no upfront outlay to Createspace.  I followed the forums on how to self promote as an independent author.  I got another friend to do my cover, Heather Scoggins.  I think she will be a bit surprised when she gets April's percentage that she and I agreed upon. I think she didn't expect it to really go anywhere.

Yesterday, for a time, Outcast was in the top 30 in the US in coming of age, it was #25 in the UK and had crawled it's way up to #16 in Epic Fantasy in Australia.  As I sit in amazement and wonder, the downloads of the ebook just keep rising.  I have been furiously working on the sequel per reader request.   My editor, yes I have one, pushes me constantly to re-describe and to re-work. I have him to thank in the success of Outcast as well as my own creativity and the support of good friends!

No, not all my reviews are good.  Either you love the way I describe the slow journey into adulthood and the details of culture and the intertwining of the characters or you hate it. There has been little in the way of middle of the road reviews.  Another writer told me not to sweat that, everyone has a taste for the type of books that they like to read.  If you want a frantic tale of battle and climax and a sweet ending, well I am not the writer for you.  The Blue Dragon's Geas books each have a minor climax but the main story is spread out over them.  We don't grow up over night, so I refuse to have Alador do so.

I guess the most wondrous part for me was at my day job, someone was telling me I needed to knuckle under because I "need this job."  I stood there for a moment and slow smiled.  Then I responded. "No.. actually.. no I don't." I am going to make it as a writer.  Maybe not every book will get the accolades of Outcast. Maybe not everyone will love my style.  But today, I realized Ms. McDonald, my English teacher in High School was correct.

 I was born to WRITE!

Free Today - 1/4/14: The Blue Dragon's Geas: Outcast

My publishing advisor suggested that I raise the number of reviews I have on Goodreads and on Amazon. In the spirit of this, I am offering the eBook version of Outcasts for today.  It will be free for a few more hours for those with a kindle or those who can download the app for smart phones or tablets.  Please enjoy and if you have the time, give me a review. I am not expecting 5 stars.  I am looking for honest feedback.
Get  your copy today at : http://t.co/N5nMTuIOYd

Sunday Promotion - Outcast

Just a heads up to my readers, Amazon is promoting Outcast today and it will be free for Kindle all day.  This is your chance to get my first novel for free to see if you like my writing style or concepts without risking a dime.  All I ask in return is a review, good... bad... or indifferent.

Don't have a Kindle?  Amazon has a kindle app for every major smartphone, tablet and computer.  It means that you can buy a kindle book even if you do not own one and read it on any device you own.   With Whispersync technology, you can automatically save and synchronize your furthest page read, bookmarks and even  make notes.  It has adjustable text size for those smaller devices.   In addition, many of the kindle books have the first chapter up before you download or buy it.   The link is right on this page to my book.

The Blue Dragon's Geas: Outcast (Dragons Geas)

See, no excuses, go get your free copy today!  I am looking forward to your review. Thanks everyone!
Love Cheri

P.S.  Still need gifts, I still have dragon items available at dragonsgeas.com

Excitement Builds with the Dragons' Geas Team

So while doing a search to see how my Amazon listing was ranking in the search engines, I came across a big surprise.  We have been picked up on Barnes and Noble on their online site.

Barnes and Noble Link

This was exciting news for us as we were automatically placed in the Amazon arena by the publisher we are working with to promote this children's book.  To have it picked up by other suppliers and book companies was up to us.  Due to the size of Barnes and Noble, we had not pitched it to them yet.  It got picked up on its own.

So today, our little team at Dragons' Geas celebrates!

How Dragons Got Their Colors

This book is available wholesale as well. Please contact me if you would like multiple wholesale copies.
Content Preview:

The first of the Dragons' Geas' books is published on April 24, 2013 by Writer Cheryl Matthynssens and Illustrator Rebecca Hunt.
Featured on Amazon and Made the top 20 Large Print Children's books on May 4, 2013.
Get your Copy today!  How Dragons Got Their Colors



One day, a little gray dragon decided that being gray was just not right when the world was so full of colors. Follow the little dragon on his journey to gain color for his scales. Being kind-hearted, he makes sure all the dragons have a fitting color. Find out happens when the little dragon runs out of color for himself?

The great sea dragon spread out his wings and blew a plume of steam into the air.  The steam glistened on his scales like sparkling ocean waves …it was just the way it should be.