In the old days of book publishing—you know, pre-2010—publishers pushed the latest book and then moved on to the next. That’s not a criticism, it was simply the prevailing model.
Fast-forward a few years, and today’s publishing landscape means readers have many opportunities to find new books. The latest release is still a big push, don’t get me wrong, but we publishers also have opportunities to promote books long since published, especially if they launch a series of books that provides readers with multiple opportunities to enjoy the rich and diverse worlds the author has created.
Along that line, WMG is running a special, limited-time promotion on A Dangerous Road, Kris Nelscott’s award-winning first book in the groundbreaking Smokey Dalton series. Today, Monday, September 29, you can purchase this ebook for just $1.99 from your favorite online retailer.
In A Dangerous Road, Private Investigator Smokey Dalton works for Memphis, Tennessee’s black community. He has almost no interaction with the white hierarchy, even though they exist only blocks away. So he’s surprised the day a white woman walks into his Beale Street office. Laura Hathaway has sought him out because he’s a beneficiary in her mother’s will, and Laura wants to know why. So does Smokey. He’s never heard of the Hathaways, but his search will take him on a journey that will change everything he’s ever known.
Set against the backdrop of the strike and protests that will end with Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination, A Dangerous Road combines the politics of race, betrayal, unexpected love, and the terrible cost of trust into a story so memorable the Mystery Writers of America chose it as one of the top five novels of the year and the Historical Mystery Appreciation Society honored it as the winner of the Herodotus Award for Best Historical Mystery.
See why Salon said, “Kris Nelscott can lay claim to the strongest series of detective novels now being written by an American author.”
And why Entertainment Weekly said, “It’s not hard to draw parallels between Nelscott’s PI Smokey Dalton and Walter Mosley’s Easy Rawlins, another secretive, canny black man trying to solve mysteries while circumspectly navigating the white world. But Dalton’s no knock-off. (Would you label the hundreds of hard-boiled detectives who’ve appeared in Raymond Chandler’s wake mere Marlow Xeroxes because they’re white?)
But don’t dally. The price goes back up on Tuesday.
This is an experiment of sorts for us, so if you like these kinds of promotions, please take advantage, and be sure to tell your friends. I hope to do this again with more of our series starters.
Because I love book deals like this. And I love being able to share them with you.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.