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Watched and Printed

Published by Adam on August 13, 2013
It's real! It's in my hands!
It’s real! It’s in my hands!

The day has finally arrived — my first novel We, The Watched is now available as a paperback!

It’s had a long history. After working on the novel during college, I self-released We, The Watched on my website chapter by chapter.

Later, I found out about Smashwords, an e-publishing platform that let me sell the book through a variety of popular eBook stores includes Barnes & Noble, Apple and Sony. After about a year, I added We, The Watched to the Amazon Kindle store.

I avoided print for years, not because I was on a crusade for eBooks or anything, but because I knew there was a lot more formatting and appearance details to consider.

Finally, this year, I decided to go ahead and pay a few professionals to help me with that. It turned out not to be as expensive as I thought, and the result is amazing! Much thanks to Belinda Pepper for the cover design and Lis Sowerbutts for interior formatting.

But don’t take my word for it, as LeVar Burton would say. Buy a copy for yourself at Amazon.com for $9.99 (Amazon might even sell it to you for less) or Barnes & Noble. If you’re more of an eBook person, you can still of course grab the digital version for $2.99 on Kindle, Smashwords and other popular eBook stores.

If you’re looking to get even more hyped up about the paperback release, check out my official press release announcing the print version right here.

 

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Brilliant new cover for We, The Watched

Published by Adam on July 10, 2013
The new cover for my novel! Sweet!
The new cover for my novel! Sweet!

I’ve got a pretty exciting update. We, The Watched is getting a brand new cover. And this time it’s professional.

The new cover was designed by Belinda Pepper over at Red Swallow Design. The basic design is a modification of the previous cover, but instead of the CCTV camera, it features the fire-eyed graffiti tag of the secret rebel organization known as the Underground.

For those of you keeping track, this is now the third cover for We, The Watched since it was first published a few years ago. However, the more important thing to remember is that it’s the coolest. By far.

“But that’s not all!”

There was a very important reason for designing a new cover: We, The Watched is finally getting a print version! This freshly revised edition will be sold through CreateSpace and available on Amazon from the start. There’s still a little more work to do before it’s up for sale (these things take time), but I’m shooting to have it ready for purchase in the next several weeks. Stay tuned to this blog for the announcement.

But don’t worry, eBook fans, I have not forgotten you. I have also gone ahead and updated the eBook version to include the new cover, more eye-catching formatting and minor revisions made for the print edition. You can get the Kindle version on Amazon or the ePub version (for all other eReaders) on Smashwords right now!

The latest eBook will be rolling out to Apple, Sony, Barnes & Noble and other online booksellers over the next few weeks. If you have already purchased We, The Watched online, depending on the store you should be able to download the new version for free (if not, please contact me).

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Watched in the real world

Published by Adam on June 12, 2013

We, The Watched by Adam BenderThe current debate over the National Security Agency’s surveillance program, PRISM, highlights a great conundrum for citizens of any country: How much personal privacy should one give up in exchange for better national security?

When I wrote my novel We, The Watched and its upcoming sequel Divided We Fall, I imagined a dystopian nation in which the government had used national security as an excuse to take all privacy rights from the people. That’s not the case today, but it’s one possible outcome if the balance swings too far in one direction.

With every call, social media update or credit card transaction, people leave behind a long trail of data that can potentially be stored and analyzed by businesses and the government. The digitization of video and an increasing number of surveillance cameras potentially adds even more data to mix.

Evolving tools for big data analysis provide an ability to parse and make sense of all this information like never before. This technology can be used for good and keep people safe, but like any great power it can be abused without the right privacy checks in place.

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Divided We Fall manuscript acclaimed by Publishers Weekly

Published by Adam on April 18, 2013

Publishers Weekly has praised the manuscript for my unpublished second novel, Divided We Fall.

An independent reviewer from the literary mag wrote that the story “raises interesting questions about the influence of propaganda on the construction of the self, the idea of true tabula rasa and the power of memory.” In addition, “the central love story propels the narrative energetically.”

Divided We Fall received the review after finishing as a quarterfinalist in this year’s Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards, one of the top 100 novels selected in the sci-fi/fantasy/horror category. Unfortunately, it was not one of the five entries to go onto the next round, but I’m quite happy with how well it did and look forward to seeking representation.

While you’re waiting for the release of Divided We Fall, please check out my first novel We, The Watched as well as my recent short stories “Life Trade” and “Smokers Corner.”

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Divided We Fall is an ABNA quarterfinalist

Published by Adam on March 28, 2013

A couple of months ago, I entered the manuscript for my second novel in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards. Now I’m happy to report that Divided We Fall has made it through the first two rounds and is a quarterfinalist!

There were 500 novels across five genres that made the cut. Divided We Fall was one of 100 sci-fi/fantasy/horror entries.

A couple Amazon.com reviewers had a look at the first few chapters, and here’s what they had to say:

Amazon Reviewer 1:

This novel has some serious promise. Here we are in the first few thousand words and we already have a love triangle and a religious/political rebellion. Seriously, the author has provided some interesting angles to work out what the pitch promises to deliver.

Amazon Reviewer 2:

Its flows and is good. With a few fixes it may outpace “The Handmaids Tale.” I hope to see more.

Even if I don’t make it any further in the contest, I will still get a review by Publishers Weekly. This will be a great tool for convincing literary agents and publishers to take a look (unless PW hates it, but I’m feeling optimistic).

What’s that you say? If I win the contest, I won’t need to convince anyone else?

Hey dude, take a chill pill! I’m trying to measure my expectations here!

For now, please check out the sample and–if you like what you read–leave a review. Please also give my first novel We, The Watched a go. I appreciate all your support!

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Adam Bender | adambenderwrites.com | watchadam.blog