Release Day for These Cold Strangers 🥶

These Cold Strangers book covers on a treelined foggy background

I could not be more excited to share that my short story, THESE COLD STRANGERS, is now available from Amazon Originals! What’s so fun is this is a part of a themed collection called We Could Be Heroes, which digs into what it really means to be a hero. Do you need a cape and the ability to fly? Or is it something deeper, smaller, but no less extraordinary?

The collection features five original short stories written by a couple of folks you might know... Lisa Scottoline, Lisa Unger, Janelle Brown, Victor Methos, and me! They’re all available today—the full collection or as individual stories—and in both digital and audio!

Here’s more about THESE COLD STRANGERS, which is read by Brittany Presley, who beautifully narrated Her Dark Lies, too.

From New York Times bestselling author J.T. Ellison comes a chilling tale about how a reporter’s deep dive into a viral video challenges her preconceived notions of what being a hero really means.

When she recognizes the heroic stranger in a sensationalized news video, Addison Blake plans to use the information to her career’s advantage. That means returning to the hometown she left behind ten years ago, but her ambitions are more important than the ghosts of her past. She’s focused on breaking this story—as long as it doesn’t break her first.

J.T. Ellison’s These Cold Strangers is part of We Could Be Heroes, a darkly inquisitive collection of short stories that examines heroic intentions versus their real-life consequences. Read or listen to each in a single sitting.

Get yours today!

KINDLE | AUDIBLE

And some background for you about this cool program:

Amazon Original Stories is Amazon Publishing’s imprint dedicated to short nonfiction and fiction by bestselling authors and new voices. AOS stories are intended to be read—or listened to—in a single sitting (5,000 to 20,000 words). Each story is available free to Prime members and Kindle Unlimited subscribers, and $1.99 for non-subscribers. Every download includes a free Audible edition as well.

Amazon Original Stories has published stories by Pulitzer and National Book Award winners and international bestsellers, in categories ranging from memoir to suspense to true crime to literary fiction. AOS stories have won the Hugo, Audie, and O. Henry awards and have been nominated for the Edgar, Locus, and Thriller Awards. They have been selected for the Best American anthology series four times and optioned for film and television. An overview of all published titles can be found here.

Sunday Smatterings

Happy Sunday, chickens! I hope you had wonderful week. As I'm sure you heard, I had a great time in New York at BEA. You can scroll back through the blog this week to see all the excitement, but suffice it to say, I think the message was sent loud and clear. LIE TO ME is coming... and we kicked it off with a bang. I had a blast, met so many awesome folks, and am really looking forward to September.

Lot's happened in the world whilst I traveled, so without further ado...

Here are your Internet reads for this week:

Going Mobile: can we write a novel on a smartphone, or edit a short story on a tablet? In short? Yes. Yes we can. It's a new dawn and a new day, fellow writers. (You may even spot someone you know in the article!)

Starred Review from Publishers Weekly: NOT A SOUND by Heather Gudenkauf. Looking for your next summer read? Snap. This. Up. And Nashville friends, come see Heather and me in conversation this Thursday, June 7, at the Vandy B&N on West End. 

Amazon made a small change to the way it sells books. Publishers are terrified. It's an interesting time in the book world, folks. I'm not sure how this is going toward out, but I'm hoping for the best. Technically, it means indie booksellers can bid for the buy button to sell their wares on Amazon....that would be sweet irony, right?

Amazon Starts Weekly Bestseller Lists. Amazon had a very busy week, injecting all kinds of variables into the publishing sphere. This was another one. I dig the idea of seeing what people are actually reading, since I know what I buy and what I read are very different.

Six Reasons You're Not as Creative as You Could Be. Lisa Unger brings some truth in the form of a Target parking lot. She's brilliant!

Creator of the GIF says it is pronounced "Jif." I'm just gonna leave this here...

Bill Gates says this is the most important book for college grads to read.  Though perhaps everyone should.
 

And closer to home:

Author Assistant 101: The Best Tool I Use to Create Images. This week, the Kerr divulged how she creates the images you see on this website, my social media platforms, and beyond. If you're into social media marketing, this may be the tool for you!

Win a Mega Bundle of Contemporary Mysteries & Thrillers + MORE! Don't forget about this giveaway, folks. Entry is just a few clicks of a button! (and may get you a boatload of good books and a Kindle Fire!)

That probably got you through your morning coffee.

Our thoughts and prayers are with London today after yet another terrible terror attack. Heartbroken for the victims, and fighting the idea that this is our new normal. We can't let that be the case. 

Read a good book, and I'll see you next week!

xo,
J.T.

Daily Tao ☯ 5.18.17

A MUCH better work day today. Solid planning and outlining, editing some cool stuff for a project y’all will hear about shortly, and, of course, a mega-storm that as of this writing has dumped nearly a foot of snow on us, with more to come, which spurred me on to great focus and energy.

I am worried about the goslings, and I saw a hummingbird, so we put out some food for them, so they have enough energy to stay alive in this. Other than that, it’s a stunningly gorgeous winter wonderland. It snows in May a lot out here. Growing up, it always snowed on or around my birthday. This is a nice treat, considering we came out for the snow in March and ended up in shorts. 

As much as I accomplished, I forget how hard it is to start a book. It’s super strange to have the ideas bouncing around but not be getting up in the morning to write them down yet. Such is the annoyance of the outlining process for me. I spent so many years just diving in and figuring it out as I went that this whole planning a book stuff isn’t my forte. But planning I am, and with luck, I can start actual writing next week.  

Amazon launched their new bestseller list today, which is a very interesting set up and a clear shot across the bow to the NYT. One list is for actual sales, and one tracks which books are being read. In doing that, Amazon acknowledges how we buy books but don’t read them right away. I’m guilty of buying books that I don’t read for months, and we’re conditioning readers for a sale, which is rough on front list, but a boon to our backlist titles.

Case in point, I’m curious to see which, if any, of my books ever show up on either one of these lists. 14, Taylor Jackson #2, is a Kindle Daily Deal today for .99 — will those sales be enough to push me on? I have no idea. Will this help tap into the zeitgeist, as they claim? Perhaps, though the Reads list is limited to digital, so it’s not a fully comprehensive look, because there are still a lot of people only reading print. But as far as I know, it’s the first of its kind trying to measure what people are actually reading, and so warrants watching. 

Will you be paying attention to Amazon Charts? Do you pay attention to any bestseller lists?

That's today's food for thought. I’m off to watch the snow and keep dreaming up plot points. Sweet dreams!