New Covers for Shadowkill Trilogy / Happenings In The Outhouse 24-July-2026

My Shadowkill Trilogy has been out for a while.  But boy oh boy did they need a bit of a makeover.

The Shadowkill Trilogy (3 book series) Kindle Edition

The Complete Shadowkill Trilogy (The Shadowkill Trilogy) - Kindle edition by Peterson, Mark S. R.. Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Here are the updated covers:

And here is for the boxset of the complete trilogy.

I also updated the blurb (description) for each one.  These are so much better than the first ones.  More in line with what the stories are.

Watch Your Audience / Happenings In The Outhouse 13-June-2025

It's important to know who your audience is.  If your marketing (how you are promoting yourself and/or your product--in my case, it would be my stories) has the potential to turn off your audience, I would highly suggest refraining from the type of promotion you're using and try a more positive tactic.

What do you mean, Mark?

I've been watching a young entrepreneur who is trying to find his way, to find out what he's good at and wants to do (and make a boatload of money at the same time despite it being unrealistic in what he desires).  The problem is his social media posts.  Tons of swearing, foul language.  If your audience isn't turned off by this type of language, by all means go for it.  But the audience that this person is trying to attract are homeowners, middle class people, hard-working people.  Starting a video with the line, "Hey, motherf---ers!" and "What's up, pu--ies!" would definitely turn me off.  I wouldn't comment.  I would just decide not to do business with that person.

Also, I strongly urge you to watch your political (or other hot topic) affiliations.  Yes, you may have an opinion about something, but at the same time you may be alienating 50% of your potential audience in a single post.  Trust me, I have completely unfollowed and not purchased any more books/products from a particular company/person based on a single post (okay, truth be told, it's a series of posts, but you get what I mean).

Watch what you put out there.  It's true that you have your opinions, but are your opinions aligned with your audience (or potential audience/customer)?

Honorable Mention / Happenings In The Outhouse 22-Nov-2024

I have done it!

Although the journey is long from over when it comes to this contest, I received an honorable mention from the Writers of the Future, for the 4th quarter 2024 submissions.

This is a huge accomplishment as there are THOUSANDS of writers who submit to this contest each and every quarter.

Now, for the story I submitted, I will submit these to other markets for publication.  Then, I'll write another story to be submitted to this contest, in the hopes that I move further up the chain and even win one of the slots where my story will appear in print.

QR Codes (Ways To Hinder An Easy Buy) / Happenings In The Outhouse 20-Sept-2024

Ever since one of my daughters went off to her first year of college, we have visited her a few times, to take her to brunch/lunch, and to bring her things that she needed.

One thing I noticed lately was on one of these visits, when we took her to lunch.  It was our second time at this restaurant--one featured on Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives--so we knew the food was good.  But the main difference I noticed between this restaurant and others was that the menu could only be accessed by a QR code.

Okay, you may ask what's the big deal?

The big deal is: what is someone doesn't have a smartphone?  Also, when I asked a few people who were of the older generation, they didn't have a clue what a QR code was.

During our last visit, we took our daughter to a diner for brunch.  I had the French toast, which was like eating a cinnamon roll.  My wife had a pancake that was as big as her plate--she couldn't even eat it all.  But in order to reserve a table, you had to scan a QR code and reserve a table.

Hmmm, again, same question as before.

How's this for an interesting concept: I get why a restaurant owner may want to run their business this way, but in doing so it alienates a segment of the population.  And if you're alienating a segment of the population, what other barriers are you putting in place that hinders an easy buy?

Another Story Done and Looking Ahead to 2024 / Happenings In The Outhouse 01-Dec-2023

Another short story has been completed, sent off for publication consideration, and I am now working on the next one or three.  I do have three short stories planned out (all of these were done while sitting in the deer stand, waiting for that big buck to come along but didn't).  It's just to sit down and write them.

And, of course, there are other stories that crop up from time to time.  Ah, life as a writer . . .

Looking forward to 2024, I will be following the same path as I am now, which is focusing more on short stories and submitting them for publication in the short story market.

Reminder to Buy / Happenings In The Outhouse 29-Sept-2023

My annual gym membership came to an end for another year a few weeks ago.  I received no reminder, no head's up that "hey, do you want to renew?"

Nothing.

This would've been a great opportunity to reach out and let me know about any new deals or even a simple reminder that my membership was coming to a close.

How does this apply to your art, to your creations?

You need to remind people that you're still creating, still working on your craft.  Whenever you have something new, tell people.

Are You Memorable? / Happenings In The Outhouse 18-Aug-2023

In the last weekend of July, our small town had a summer festival with all kinds of food trucks, auctions, nightly concerts, and a Saturday morning parade.

One of my daughters was on a float in the parade, and afterward she asked how her competition did--she works for one of two banks in town.  Her bank did something unique.  All of the workers had flower hats and gave out flower seeds, along with the usual assortment of candies.  The other one?  I don't even remember it.  Seriously.  Not at all.

There were other floats in the parade that were . . . unremarkable.  Not memorable.

We have a haunted woods near town, and their float is always memorable.  A few other floats (I recall a kid promoting his dog poop scooping business) were slightly memorable but honestly that's about it.

What are you doing that's memorable?

Rebranding And Brief Pause To WIP / Happenings In The Outhouse 19-May-2023

A large local employer in my area is going through a rebrand.  Rebranding what they stand for and what they do, how they want to be perceived by customers, vendors, and even employees.

Even if you are a solo entrepreneur or artist, your brand is just like this.  John Grisham is known as the legal thriller author.  Stephen King is known as a horror author.  J. K. Rowling is known for Harry Potter.  J. R. R. Tolkien is known for the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.  Despite all of these authors writing outside of what they're known for, that is their brand.

Your brand also reflects what one does on social media.  If you are politically sided on one end of the spectrum or always known to be contentious, that's your brand.  If your brand is that you are a genuinely nice person, then so be it.

What do you want to be known for?  What will be said about you at your funeral?

Think on it.

And live your life to fulfill that.

On a side note, I am slowing down my work on my current work-in-progress.  I am taking two online classes (three weeks in total for each of these two, and both are being taken at the same time) I achieved from a Kickstarter about cold cases and modern cases from a fiction writing perspective, and it's eating into a little of my writing time.  But that's okay.  Because it's only going to make my writing that much better.

This Book Is NOT For You / Happenings In The Outhouse 18-Feb-2022

It's okay for your book not to be for someone.  Even though you may want the entire world to read your book, it will not happen.  No, it will NEVER happen.

So it's best not to even try.

Your best route to success is to find out who your book is for, so they can enjoy it.

And here's the thing: just because it's different doesn't mean no one will like it.  Many readers that I know get bored from the same old stuff.  They want something new.

A close friend of mine can't stand anything NR puts out (I'm putting this author's name in initials, but this author is uber-famous, has put out tons of books, and is quite successful).  I have read a few of NR's books and at first I liked it.  Then, the more books I read, the more I noticed that the ones that I have read all had similar plot lines.

But who cares?

Legal thrillers weren't truly a thing until John Grisham put them on the map.  Horror didn't go mainstream until King put them on the map.

And even then, there are readers who do not like JG or King.

Create the best product you can.  Publish it.  Then move on to the next one.

Marketing Wall Drug / Happenings In The Outhouse 11-Feb-2022

The dreaded M word: marketing.

Nearly all writers that I know HATE to self-promote their own books--yours truly included.  They want nothing more than to sit in front of their computer and plunk words down onto the page.  Going on book tours or lining up interviews makes them uncomfortable and are seemingly a complete waste of time because it doesn't seem to coincide with a sudden spike in book sales.

If you go anywhere within a few hundred (or more) miles of the Badlands in South Dakota, you will see billboards galore about a place called Wall Drug.  I have been through the Badlands and the Black Hills area a handful of times in my life, and truth be told I have never visited the store Wall Drug.

But I remember the signs.

Even still to this day.

When it comes to writers, the axiom of keep publishing, keep putting more and more stuff out there in the world, seems to be the most valuable advice when it comes to marketing.  Are there other pieces of advice to market your works?  Of course.  But the best overall is to keep writing.

The more inventory you have, the better your chances of gaining someone's attention.  When I finish reading a book and crave something different, I go through my list of ebooks to discover an author I had bought their book long ago or something in my mind reminds me to check out their books.

Remember, slow and steady wins the race.  Look at the most recent theatrical or television or streaming adaptations of books to come out in the last handful of years.  The majority are from books written a few decades ago.

With that being said, if you like serial killer thrillers, be sure to check out the first in my Central Division series: Beholder's Eye.  It is free.

Here again is the link to all ebook retailers for this book.

Lastly, on my current work-in-progress, I have finished with the third part (out of four) and my current word count is around 89,000 words.  Hoping to be done with this and move on to the next project by early summer.

The pitfalls of having only writers as your followers / Happenings In The Outhouse 18-June-2021

There is an interesting trend I've noticed in social media, and it's not a new trend either.  It doesn't matter what business you seem to be in, those who seem to follow you are in the same business as you and seem to demand that you follow them back.  Business leaders follow other business leaders, actors follow actors, musicians follow other musicians, and so on.

I'm going to bring this to writing, since that's a business I know a bit about.  So, therefore, writers following other writers.

There is a local writer I know who self-published her debut novel last year--which is an amazing accomplishment!.  This writer is VERY active on Twitter, and I'm amazed at the over 18,000 followers.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of these followers are, much like myself, other writers.  Now, on the surface, you may wonder what the big deal is.  Here's the deal: who's buying your books?  Readers.  Readers of that particular genre.  Not necessarily writers.  Now, this is no fault of this author, because I follow a fair amount of writers myself, but you can't believe the ton of follows that I get and they demand that I follow them back.

But I don't.  Then they disappear.  Good riddance.

On a side note: I used to follow them back, until I noticed that they weren't the ones buying my books.  So I stop that in its tracks.

One of the pitfalls to this trend occurred just last week with this author.  She posted on Twitter that she was having a book signing.  Cool!  I read the Twitter thread and other authors gave her advice.  Good advice?  I'll zip my lip on that one.  Then, the day before the signing, she posted a picture of her "author" signing shirt.  It was pretty cool, and there was more advice in the thread.

But all this time I was wondering the key questions: where and when?

Of that, nothing.

Did any of the other writers ask this?

Nope.

You're right, I didn't either.  Maybe I should've, but I wanted to see if any readers would ask her.

In fact, this author didn't even say, "Hey if you're near (fill in the blank), I'll be signing my book at (date/time)."

Again, nothing.

Now, I'm a complete shit when it comes to marketing my own works too, but I at least posted a link when two of my stories was on a recent podcast and when I have a new book out I post links to it.  If I had a book signing, you better believe it that I'd be posting about it.

Be careful who you're attracting as far as followers.  For the business of writing, readers are your audience.  Go after them.  Don't follow others back if they demand it.  Readers only buy books.  Writers, not so much.

To put this in perspective, I checked out mega-bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson's Twitter numbers.  He has a little over 12,000.  Less than the local author.  And how many does he follow?  A few hundred.  Neil Gaiman?  Over 2 million followers.  How many does he follow?  Less than a thousand.  That's quite the ratio.

On a final note: she did post a picture during the author signing, but again there was no where and when.

Lesson learned?  I pray it does, and the reason for this post isn't to shame the writer.  I'm happy she was given an opportunity to have a book signing, in a real bookstore.

We all make mistakes.  We just need to learn from them.

Beholder's Eye is (finally) free in the Amazon Kindle store!

Yes, you heard it right!  I was finally able to get Beholder's Eye, the first novel in the Central Division thriller series free in the Amazon Kindle store.

Here is a link to the store: Beholder's Eye.

Here's the full link from my website.

Keywords and covers and blurbs, oh my / Happenings In The Outhouse 07-Dec-2018

Keywords.

Covers.

Blurbs.

These may be the triad of book publishing and marketing.

Think about it for a moment.  You're either at a bookstore or an online venue, perusing the next great read.  If a cover intrigues you, and you're in the bookstore, you'll probably pick it up and read the back.  Or even read the first page.  That covers two of the three.  The equivalent to keywords would be the section of the store they're located in.  You would never find any epic fantasy novels by Brandon Sanderson in the mystery/thriller section.  And you wouldn't find any Agatha Christie mysteries in the travel or self-help section.

It is important covers, blurbs, and keywords are up to date.  I am in the process of working through my books, first with my thriller series, and then going through the rest.

I surpassed the 11,000 word mark on my new story.  It's an escape room suspenseful mystery on a large scale.  I will share more when it's complete.

When will it be?  I'm shooing to have it complete by the middle of this month.

Where you can be found - investing in your career - making it easy to find you / Happenings In The Outhouse 10-Mar-2017

Last week, a guy I work with had just returned from vacation.  He knew I read a lot of science fiction and fantasy, and asked me if I knew a certain author.  Apparently, while on vacation, he met the family of this particular author.

The name sounded familiar, but, after a while, names tend to blend.  So I did what anyone nowadays would do: I Googled the author.

I didn't find much.  Oh, sure, this author had a Wordpress website (with wordpress in the web address, which means it's the free version--come on, people, if you're gonna do that, just pay for the darn thing; otherwise, just go with a BlogSpot blog).  The author had a Facebook page, which hadn't been updated since 2013.  This author may or may not have even been on Twitter.

I will call the author a "he" since a saw a picture of him.  He had a smattering of short stories, and even had novels published by Tor--okay, I'm impressed by that bit.

Honestly, though, it still wasn't much.  I was surprised.  He had been publishing for quite a number of years.

Google my name: Mark S. R. Peterson.  Since I have a common enough name, you get other hits too, but for the most part it all leads back to me.

And, again, I suck at marketing.

It doesn't take much to start building an online presence.  A blog post here and there, even publishing here and there, it doesn't take much.  And this particular author had been publishing for years.  Much longer than me.

The point is that if you find someone who wants to know more about you or your books, be mindful of what many people will do nowadays.  Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither will your career.  But if you treat your career like an investment, adding to it bit by bit over time, your presence will grow.

Okay, let's be honest, I suck at marketing / Happenings In The Outhouse 04-Nov-2016

I suck at marketing.  Seriously.  Honestly.  Positively.  I suck at marketing.  That is, I suck at marketing my own art.

I have no problem talking about other people's art, promoting them.  But, somehow, when it comes to me, I suck at it.

On occasion, I've had a few people at work inquiring about what I'm working on--I bring a laptop to work, and use it to write during breaks and lunches.  At this point, my stomach churns and my heart races.  What do I tell them?  Should I be specific?

The answers to these largely depends on who's asking.  Are they just interested in what I'm doing?  Most people on breaks and lunches are either chatting or have their nose in their tablets/phones.  A few play card games, but I rarely see anyone else lugging around a laptop.

I have disclosed to a few that I am an indie author, but then I ask what kinds of books they read.  If they don't read, then what's the point of showing them what I write?  Oh, I'm positive they may buy the book, but that's it.  What I'm looking for are readers.  And not just any reader.

Love thrillers?  Click on this link.

Horror?  Got that too on this link.

Suspense?  Check this out.

Military fiction?  Gotcha covered there too.

Can't forget inspirational.  Here you go.

Here's a list of all my books right here.

On my new work-in-progress, I'm currently 35,000 words into it.  I'm shooting to finish this in a month, early December, but at the same time I'm not going to rush it either.  It's fun to write, and I'm even starting to write a little each night too.

Happenings In The Outhouse 26-Sept-2014 / The silent approach

Aside from the authors who publish one book and, when they do not see any grand success from it and quit, authors can be (somewhat) divided into two camps:

1) publish one book and promote the hell out of it

2) publish one book, then another, then another, then another . . . leaving the marketing promotion machine to simply function as a funnel from one story to the next

It irrirates me when I see authors go gangbusters on a first novel, ranking in the top ten in several categories, only to have nothing else to follow it up with.

I am in the second camp.  I call it the silent approach.  I don't suggest publishing the way I have been, stories in several genres with no clear funnel from one to the next.  But I am changing it, and am in the process of creating several products to do just that: to lead readers from one to the next.

Also, I have a surprise for you.  I am adding something to Beholder's Eye.  I'll share what that is shortly.

I am around the 15,000 word count in the sequel to Beholder's Eye.  It's coming along great.

Don't forget to sign up for my newsletter too. That way you'll get updates on upcoming publications.

Need an author website? Check out this free video tutorial by Simon Whistler.

Are you an author in need of a website?

Simon Whistler of the Rocking Self Publishing podcast has put together a free, simple tutorial on how to do so.

Here's the link: http://rockingselfpublishing.com/create-amazing-author-website-free-video-course/

A few months ago I updated my website marksrpeterson.com although I didn't know how to work many of the features.  Now I do, thanks to Simon.

So, be sure to head on out to http://rockingselfpublishing.com/create-amazing-author-website-free-video-course/ and check it out.  It's a total of 12 videos: an introductory video and 11 how-to videos.

Happy creating!

By the way, I did take a lot of Simon's suggestions and tips, and updated my own website.  It still needs work and more content, but it's MUCH better than what it was: marksrpeterson.com

Happenings In The Outhouse 25-Apr-2014 / A free alternative

I've seen Brandon Sanderson do it.

I've also seen James Patterson do it.

And they aren't the only ones.

In my last post, I ripped pretty hard on the whole "free book" marketing technique.  However, there is an alternative I could get behind--besides sampling, that is.  And it is this: offer a larger sample (say 15-20 chapters) for free.  It gives readers a little bigger bite of your story to chew, and at the end, for your call to action, you can direct them to your website, your blog, your author page, or a link to sign up to be on your mailing list.

And, of course, don't forget to have a link so they can purchase the entire book.

I know you still run the risk of readers still not reading the book--I have a pile of free sample chapters by Mr. Patterson I haven't read yet.

Once again, it depends on your marketing plan and writing goals.

Free isn't all it's cracked up to be

You participate in two seminars: one is free and the other you pay $100 (or $250 or $500 or $2000) to attend. Both are weekend-long seminars. Once they’re over and when it’s time to reflect on what you’ve learned, which one do you either go over first in your notes? The one you paid for. Why? Because you have a financial investment in it.

The same goes with ebooks. Some authors—and many of these are bestselling, mind you—will tote that you need to have the first book in your series for free and then, if the reader likes it, they will buy more in your series. While all this seems fine, great, and dandy—and I want to add it is with this strategy that those same bestselling authors will propagandize how they sold those truckloads of ebooks—I think there is an element missing and all one had to do is look at your own ebook collection to figure out what that is.

There are three authors who, collectively, put out a weekly podcast that is not only entertaining, it is very informative when it comes to indie publishing. They have a dozen or so series of books, where in all of them they have the first book set at permanent free status. I’ve “bought” all of these free ebooks because, quite frankly, I used to be a whore for the free. Nowadays, I’m not so much. A perfect example is when I go looking for a book to read—and my Amazon cloud has several hundred ebooks to choose from—do I pick the free book or do I pick something I paid a little coin for, even if it’s $.99? I go with the one I paid money for. Why? Investment, my friend. There is no investment when you get it for free.

I am a devoted fan of the “Writing Excuses” podcast (no, this is not the podcast I mentioned earlier) and in one of their recent episodes they had a guest: Mette Ivie Harrison. I had never read anything by her and when I’ve listened to her on this podcast before, I thought she was one smart cookie and wanted to know what she had written. When I reviewed herAmazon author page I found that her least expensive ebook was $2.99. That’s smart. If there is a book I’m thinking of investing in and I’m unfamiliar with the author, I may get a sample of the ebook first. You can always go that route, but it is marked as SAMPLE on the ebook. That way, I know it’s not the entire ebook and I may still read it sooner than others.

I currently have four ebooks, with three listed at $.99 and my full-length thrillerBeholder’s Eye at $2.99. Oddly enough, guess which one I sell more of? It’sBeholder’s Eye.

Now, I’ve said I’m not a fan of the free, but that doesn’t mean I won’t buy something at a discount. I’m currently reading in the second book of the five-book collection of George R. R. Martin’sSong of Ice and Fire series that I purchased this past holiday season for $9.99. That is WHY too much I want to pay for a single book, but when I saw that I could get all five for that, I bought it. I’ve also purchased ebooks by Brandon Sanderson, Brian McClellan, Bradley Beaulieu, David Farland, and Alan Baxter (to name a few of my favorites) when they’ve ran discounts on their ebooks.

But somehow those “free” books keep sliding further and further down my list.

Having ebooks permanently free, to get readers interested in your series, may still be a viable way to go, but it’s not the only way. It all depends on your marketing strategy and what your goals are as a writer.

Eyeballs on your work

What all writers, new as well as seasoned, need are eyeballs on your work.  You need more and more people to read what you write, and to crave it, so that when you have something new come out, they can't wait to pick it up.

It's as simple as that.  It doesn't matter if you're Stephen King or a new writer who just started her first blog post, all of us writers need readers to read our work.

And the more people read your work, the more money you can make.  You may never get up to the level of success where instead of asking if you can afford the latest Lamborghini, you ask what color, but if you don't put yourself out there, you may never achieve your dreams.

Write something.

Send it out--whether it's on a free blog post or self-publishing on the Kindle or even submitting to a professional market.

Then write something else.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

The world depends on it.