The Branding of a Style...

BEAM'S DOORWAY

Beam's Doorway has been on the internet since the internet transformed into the world wide web and went commercial. Yes, there was a time when the internet frowned on any commercialism. And that was but a few years ago! Now, that's about all the internet is and I love it. Now everyone has a chance to be an entrepreneur on a shoestring budget.

Beam's Doorway is my brand. When you see the alien logo above you should anticipate a mind bending experience with the intent of suggesting a greater reality than the one we see.

“ Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

"The high mission of any art is, by its illusions, to foreshadow a higher universe reality, to crystallize the emotions of time into the thought of eternity."

The Teddy Bear Singularity

The Teddy Bear Singularity

Nica works at home, lovingly repairing teddy bears. Retiring for the night, she is awakened, along with every other resident in Crestville, by a loud cracking noise that shakes every cabin in town. The next day, paranormal investigators already know of the incident and begin questioning the townsfolk.

Nica's friend Nellie had insomnia the other night and saw an object falling from the sky, landing nearby in the woods. After speaking with the investigators, the two friends hike into the forest to uncover the mystery. A horror ensues that no one could have imagined and otherworldly forces invoke a most unlikely savior.

I Finally Know My Genre! Bizarro Fiction!

Hallucinations, Channeler and Hiding Darkly are more than Horror blended with  Sci-Fi, they are in the new genre of Bizarro. Wikipedia gives this genre a great description below:

"Bizarro fiction is a contemporary literary genre, which often utilizes elements of absurdism, satire, and the grotesque, along with pop-surrealism and genre fiction staples, in order to create subversive works that are as weird and entertaining as possible. The term was adopted in 2005 by the independent publishing companies Eraserhead Press, Raw Dog Screaming Press, and Afterbirth Books. Much of its community revolves around Eraserhead Press, which is based in Portland, Oregon, and has hosted the BizarroCon yearly since 2008."

Hiding Darkly - eBook for Kindle

Hiding Darkly 

A first person narrative told by a lost soul that doesn't know who, where or what he is, a creature obsessed with escaping from chaos - the world eating monster that grows more threatening by the hour.

The surreal pilgrimage begins on a walk through a decaying town, then across desert sand and finally into the bowels of the earth. This  refugee from reality is either a victim of an otherworldly conspiracy or something much darker and much closer to home. 

Hallucinations eBook for Kindle

Hallucinations

Gilbert lives in small desert town. For most residents, the days pass tediously. Fortunately, Gilbert has brain damage and hallucinates a fascinating menagerie of otherworldly creatures - he is his own biological entertainment system. That's all well and good for Gilbert but when events occur that cause his visions to enter into the real world, the nightmare begins.

Lizard men, phantoms from space, transexoids, bat-like flying testicles, the desert landscape morphing into canned Spam...the world has never ended this way before.

Channeler

CHANNELER

Sarah and  Dave own a quaint bookshop in the small mountain town of Boulderdale in the redwood forest of the Santa Cruz mountains.

One dark, stormy day, a strange man asks Sarah if he can post an ad for his metaphysical channeling session to be held here in town. Soon after, the couple's world is  Invaded by insane energies and bizarre creatures. This interdimensional fallout heralds the arrival of the ancient ones, a race of diseased machines with a digital gateway into our world.

The deep, dark secret of eBook promotion

Is there a deep, dark secret to eBook promotion? Are their authors that have discovered  an effective trick to eBook promotion that brings this task into the realm of economic reality and still leaves you time for writing and living?

I don't know if there is a secret trick. There is a popular thread on the Kindle Publishing Forum called "What Mioves Kindle books off the shelf?" The originator of the thread kindly condensed this huge thread to ten main points. This is probably as close to the Holy Grail of eBook promotion as it gets.

1) Write a book description that reads like a short story. Something that the reader can’t wait to get more of. And make sure it has no typos. (Quality editing becomes quite a theme on the thread, despite the loose attitudes we have taken to the editing of the actual posts.)

2) Price your book right. If no one has ever heard of you, your best bet is to go for 99 cents. Don’t give the reader a reason to say no to your book. If you’ve got a book out at 99 cents and have earned yourself some readers you can go higher, but try to stick between 2.99 and 3.99

3) Participate in every kindle related forum you can find. (and yet try to ignore the ones that are specifically for authors or you will only meet more authors instead of more readers.)

4) Make hay with good news. When you get a great review, or reach a new best seller list or anything else that gives you bragging rights, let the world know.

5) Blog. Blog your success, blog your progress, blog your friends and do blog tours.

6) Get early readers who can tell you if you are ready to publish yet.

7) Get a good editor who will take your book from good to professional

8) Get a great cover. People will judge your book by it.

9) Get your tail in gear (marketing is a ton of work.)

10) And be patient.

If anyone wants to tell us their deep dark secret technique of eBook promotion, we're all ears and eyes.

Here is my web page promo on my ancient website, Beam's Doorway.

Changed Comment Settings

Hopefully the new setting will allow you to promote your Horror, Sci-fi, cross-genre, fantasy and thriller eBooks for the Kindle more effectively. Join this blog so you can post your promotional blurbs and links in the comment section, which should now be more prominently displayed.

Think I'll give it a wack...

About the Author of Hallucinations, Channeler and Hiding Darkly

Stephen Beam is a native Californian. For many years he was a video game artist, starting out freelancing, then later employed full time at Interplay Entertainment. He created game art as diverse as Nintendo's Mario Brothers to realistic Star Trek worlds. He moved on to work as a graphic artist and web designer, creating games and presentations for various government services such as the Long Beach MWD and many VA hospitals around the country. He is now writing eBooks for the Kindle Store and creating experimental digital art.

Looking at visual art and the written word as the same creative experience - using texture, color and composition to create emotion, these eBooks are unexpected and unique, horror mixed with humor with a touch of science fiction, blended with an original attitude. If, after reading one of these books you remark,"What the hell did I just read?" then own them all, dear reader.

Beam's Doorway

The Invitation to All Genre eBook Authors

No, The Invitation isn't a new book I'm promoting. It is a little poke in your side if you write eBooks for Amazon's Kindle to come and post your eBook's information and Kindle Store link in the comment section. Promote your book here and tweet the page. I don't know how much good it will do but I don't see how it can hurt.

And if you have discovered an unconventional and effective way to publicize your book, share the knowledge with us. Someone suggested Craig's List. I wonder how well that would work? Think I'll go try it out...

Hiding Darkly

New and unusual horror eBook: Hiding Darkly

Writing "Hiding Darkly" was a challenge I set for myself. I wanted to write a first person narrative. The unusual and challenging aspect is that the main character doesn't know who he is, where he is or what he is. This novella fits into the horror/sci-fi genre but doesn't quite fit into my strict definition of  the synthetic reality subcategory, unless we believe the viewpoint of the narrator, if we don't, then we have discovered the second level of meaning in this book

It is the story of a lost soul obsessed with  hiding from the encroaching chaos that approaches from the horizon. He is apparently suffering from some mental problem and the reader must determine what is real and what isn't based on the character's narrative. His pilgrimage begins as he wanders out of town, across a desert and into a cave that becomes his safe hiding place - only it isn't safe. This is where he confronts his demons.

If you know someone suffering from Alzheimer's disease, give this book a read. Take notice of the book's dedication page.