A milestone. A watershed. A landmark. Call it what you will, The Gullwing Odyssey has reached another.

Back on December 17 of last year, the novel broke into Amazon's top 10 list, peaking out at #7. Have a look at the screenshot below. As of 3:45 p.m. this past Wednesday, the novel has jumped up another rung to #6.

We're flattered and honored. This all wouldn't have been possible without you, the readers, and all of us here at Darkwater Syndicate sincerely appreciate your support.

Thank you, and enjoy!

We pride ourselves on providing you uncommonly good reading from fresh new voices. That's why we're proud to introduce to you Ramiro Perez de Pereda, author of the brand-new fantasy novel, The Many Deaths of Cyan Wraithwate.

See below for a sneak-peek at his novel. Want more? Help yourself to these free sample chapters. It's on sale in all ebook formats right now, and soon will be available in paperback from our bookstore.

* * *

The good part about being immortal is that you cannot die. That is also the bad part.

Brash, young, and markedly sociopathic, Cyan has the makings of a full army commander if he lives long enough to be promoted. But when a close brush with death breaks his resolve, he is rendered unable to lead his men, let alone leave his tent, for weeks.

The tide starts to turn when his superiors send him a magical artifact that ensures he will not die on the battlefield. Unfortunately for Cyan, he soon learns that not dying can be worse than not living -- a side effect of the artifact's magic turns more of his body to lifeless iron with each passing day. Knowing time is short before he becomes just another statue in a town square, he sets off on a quest to rid himself of his cursed immortality.

Help yourself to these free sample chapters of The Many Deaths of Cyan Wraithwate.

Born in Cuba in 1941, Ramiro Perez de Pereda has seen it all. After fighting communist insurgents at home, in 1959 he left Cuba for the United States where he made a name for himself working with blue-chip corporations. He has since retired from the business world and now devotes himself to his family and his writing.

Ramiro, who writes under the name R. Perez de Pereda, is the author of several dozen short stories and poems. A lifelong fan of fantasy in all its forms, in his youth he was a big fan of Robert E. Howard's work, particularly the Conan The Barbarian series. His novel, The Many Deaths of Cyan Wraithwate, is a sword and sorcery fantasy with an ironic twist. 

Let's say you've just penned the next worldwide bestseller. Great as it may be, your readers can't want what they don't know exists. Your job as a writer isn't over once your fingers complete the last keystroke. Your audience is out there, eager to read what you've written, but you need to find each other first. And while some of you may cringe at the prospect of posting on Facebook or Twitter, that fact is it's an unwritten rule of the game that you'll have to promote yourself if you are to achieve any success.

This article isn't like others you may have read about author social media and SEO (search engine optimization). Unlike those, we're going to tell you exactly what you need to do to help get your message out.

Writing is a highly personal activity. Your work speaks for you and reflects on you. Therefore, you are your own brand. Your first task is to identify your brand name. Will it be your name or your pen name? The title of your book or that of the series? Decide on a brand name so your readers -- new and returning -- know what to expect.

Pick a good name -- one that uniquely identifies you and your work, and more importantly, one you can live with. Reputations aren't made overnight, and you'll be working under this name for a long time.

Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens famously stated that the Internet is "not a big truck. It's a series of tubes." We'd say he's only partly right. Social media itself is like a truck. Your message is its load. You want to get as much of your message across while making the least number of trips. Naturally, the bigger the truck, the more it can carry and the fewer trips it has to make. More efficiency means more time you can devote to writing.

First things first: start a blog. You need one. Not only will it help keep your writing sharp, it is also a tool for getting your message across. We can't stress this enough: your blog is your message. Social media is how you get that message out. Post frequently and regularly. You want to garner a following, but that's not all -- you want interaction too. Be sure to respond to your audience's blog comments promptly and thoughtfully. After all, no one likes to be ignored.

Limiting yourself to one or two social media accounts is like using a wheelbarrow when you've got a big rig truck parked in your front lawn. Do not limit yourself to just a few social media outlets. Open accounts with Twitter, Goodreads, and LinkedIn. Then open Facebook and Google+ accounts, and make pages on both. The aim is to make it easy for your audience to find you. Your readers might have Facebook but not Twitter accounts, or LinkedIn and Goodreads but not Google+, and so on. Don't have them chase you down, because in many cases they won't. You need to go to them.

For each of your social media accounts, assign the same brand-name you devised earlier in this exercise. Your goal here is to have consistency across all accounts so that your readers can find you on several outlets.

Now that your truck is loaded up, you need to get that message out. By now you might be thinking: "I just opened five social media accounts; how on earth am I going to make time to post to all is them?" Simple. Integration.

You don't have to post to each account individually, as that would cut into your writing time. Remember, you are an author first, and a social media wizard second. Writing is the end in itself. Social media is a tool for successful writing.

First, sign up for Buffer. It's a free social media integration app that will save you loads of time. Make an account with Buffer and link your social media profiles to it. All social media posts you draft in Buffer will be distributed to all your accounts at once. Alternatively, you can schedule your posts for a future time.

Next step: syndicate your blog. This means setting up your other accounts to update every time you post a new blog entry. Sites like Goodreads and others allow you to syndicate your blog. When you syndicate, each time you post to your blog, the message can reach several outlets in the time it takes you to post to one.

...And not the other way around. Social media can be loads of fun, but it's also a tremendous time sink if you're not careful. We reiterate: you are an author first, and a social media wizard second. Don't get your priorities crossed.

Writing is a conversation. Your words speak to your readers, and your readers respond. Don't speak to an empty room. Get out there and be heard.

Best of luck, and happy writing!

"A man's most treasured possession is a beautiful, mysterious mask."

Whatever could that enigmatic sentence mean? It's up to you to find out, so stick around for Darkwater Syndicate's Monday feature!

For the week of February 17th, Darkwater Syndicate is honored to host guest author Kyra Halland. Her featured short story, A Familiar Face, is an enthralling fantasy/mystery: a young man is powerfully drawn to a curious mask. It seems so strange, yet so familiar, and try as he might he doesn't get to the bottom of it all until the story's striking conclusion.

Don't miss it! The story will be up on February 17th.

Kyra Halland is the author of dark-edge tales of fantasy and romance. She has written several books and short stories. She lives in southern Arizona and has two young adult sons, a very patient husband, and two less-patient cats.

Photo and picture by Ms. Halland.

Connect with her:
Website  Facebook  Google+  Twitter  Goodreads

We've got some big news that can't wait for the Friday update.

Last week's Monday feature here on Darkwater Syndicate was an excerpt of Algorithm, a sci-fi novel by Arthur Doweyko. It was met with much fanfare according to feedback we received from you, our readers. Mr. Doweyko has just informed us that his novel was selected for publication with E-Lit Books.

Needless to say, we're very happy for Mr. Doweyko, and honored to have had him as a Monday feature guest author. All of us here at Darkwater Syndicate congratulate him and wish him the best of luck all his future writing projects.

Be on the lookout for Algorithm when it hits bookstore shelves everywhere. We're told that it will be available in both ebook and paperback formats.

If you want a sneak-peek, catch the excerpt of Algorithm here.

Mr. Doweyko is represented by Fran Black of Literary Counsel.

Pictures by the author.

Connect with him:
Website  Facebook

At Darkwater Syndicate, we've always put readers and writers first. It goes without saying that readers are always hungry for fresh literary experiences. As writers, we're responsible for meeting that demand. Sometimes, that's a tall order. Writers have got it tough, what with deadlines and distractions, to say nothing of writer's block.

That's why we're proud to announce that Darkwater Syndicate is taking all the hard work out of getting your book into eager readers' hands. We now offer custom cover art production, e-book preparation, and paperback formatting. Even if we don't select your book for mainstream publication, we still want to offer you our technical expertise to help make your dreams of authorial success a reality.

Browse our brand-new Author Services page and leave the technical stuff to us, so you can focus on what you do best: writing.