Black Flagged Vektor live at Amazon

Posted on by Steven Konkoly

 

Black Flagged VektorI’m very excited to announce that Black Flagged Vektor is now available as an ebook at Amazon. The hardcopy version should be available by the end of the weekend (always takes me a little longer to put that together…sorry Greg).

DONATION CAMPAIGN NEWS!

As always, I will donate a significant portion of the initial proceeds to veteran’s charities.

For Black Flagged Vektor’s launch, I have decided to split the donation between The Wounded Warrior Project and the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. Both organizations serve the unmet needs of veterans and their families, bringing the concept of “no man or woman left behind” to the often overlooked battle these families face even after they return from combat.

WE have raised $7000 for organizations like these over the course of the last three book launches. My goal is to donate $2000 and have that doubled by my company’s matching gifts program, raising the total to $11,000.

You can help the cause by spreading the word…and dare I say it…plunk down $4.97 for 420 pages of pure covert operations/political/espionage enjoyment!  Purchase Black Flagged Vektor Today

Memorial Day and upcoming veterans charity campaign

Posted on by Steven Konkoly

Memorial Day weighs heavily on the hearts of veterans and service members. We all know someone, or all too often, MANY…who have fallen in service of our nation. Memorial Day weighs even more heavily on the parents, spouses, children and family  of those same men and women. It’s a solemn day for them. A day in which most of us go about our business trying to enjoy the very same things the aforementioned can not fully embrace. They attend the barbecues,  picnics and parades, but someone is missing. Someone is always missing for them. Take a moment today, to quietly remember the fallen and their families.

I decided to start Memorial Day with two things.

First, I just donated $100 to producer Tracee Beebe’s film The Unremembered. She’s tackling a difficult subject affecting Vietnam Veterans, one of whom is her father. The Unremembered is a dedicated effort to bring attention to thousands of veterans that have been denied the benefits they deserve, and their friends died to preserve. Consider making a donation and bringing their plight into the open. Link to The Unremembered.

Second, I decided once again to coordinate a charity campaign with the launch of my next book, Black Flagged Vektor. Previous campaigns raised a total of $7000 for organizations like the DAV and Wounded Warriors Project. I will continue to support the Wounded Warriors Project with my upcoming launch. My goal for this charity campaign is $2000, which will yield $4000 through a corporate match.

As always, spread the word. 

The pictures below were taken during a recent trip to my alma mater, the United States Naval Academy. The first picture shows my son, Matthew, standing at the entrance to Memorial Hall. The second gives a more panoramic view of the space. Memorial Hall is dedicated to all of the Naval Academy graduates who have fallen in the line of duty. There are many.

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Black Flagged Apex Donation Campaign…

Posted on by Steven Konkoly

UPDATE 12/23/12

The Donation Campaign is bringing out the best in everyone, and I feel better about NOT counting book sale numbers to determine the final amount. A good friend and reader has generously kicked off the campaign…ONCE AGAIN…with a $100 donation. Thank you, Greg. That immediately brings the total to $2100 (with match). I have commitments from others, which I haven’t counted, but suspect will bring the total to $2200.  The Black Flagged Series has contributed nearly $5000 to wounded veterans so far…I expect this to increase over the holidays. 

Thank you to everyone for a great start!

UPDATE 12/21/12:

Based on your votes, I will once again donate to the Wounded Warrior Project, an undeniably worthy cause. I’m taking a different approach to the donations this time. Instead of counting books and stressing myself out, I am starting at the $850 mark, which has been “our” contribution for each campaign over the past two book launches. At the end of January, I will decide whether to increase it. I very likely will. Any individual donations outside of book sales will be added to the $850 mark. Keep in mind that the total amount raised is matched by my employer.

GET THE WORD OUT! Buy Black Flagged Apex for Kindle

THANK YOU AGAIN for your support of a great cause

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11/20/12: You Decide!

Once again, I will be donating a portion of the proceeds from the initial sales of Black Flagged Apex to charity, but this time, I will take reader input regarding the charity. I have pre-selected three charities and included a poll to collect your votes. The combined total donated from my last two book launches was $3500, and all of this was sent to organizations that support wounded veterans (Disabled American Veterans-DAV and Wounded Warrior Project-WWP). Here are the choices. You can click on the links to see each charity’s homepage. Vote Below!

1. Continue with the Wounded Warrior Project – As a veteran, I can’t underscore the importance of supporting the shattered lives of the brave men and women wounded in combat.

2. Donate to Concerns of Police Survivors (COPS) – In my first Black Flagged book, a police officer is rather brutally killed (unintentionally) by the main character. I took some heat from readers about that scene, which really drove home the gut reaction people have (even in fiction) to the death of a police officer.

3. Donate to Kids in Distressed Situations (KIDS) – Specifically the Hurricane Sandy relief effort. With the holidays around the corner, this charity looks after the needs of young children and teens affected by the storm, some of whom lost everything. If this charity is selected, I will make an early donation in time for the Christmas.

Please vote, and spread the word!

Something To Be Proud Of

Posted on by Steven Konkoly

It’s not everyday that you get to help with something truly special, but this is definitely one of those occasions. One of my test-readers, Nancy Barth, asked if I would take a look at a story her nephew had written. Not just any story. Her nephew, Matthew Schilling, is a young man with mild autism and a creative mind like no other. The Magic Quest is his story, an interpretation of the world most of us are convinced we have mastered, but are far from truly grasping.

Matthew is very fortunate to have such a strong support network standing behind his dreams. I can attest to the fact that writing a book and publishing it is no easy task, and I know a considerable effort went behind The Magic Quest.

Thank you for allowing me to be a small part of bringing Matthew’s story to publication.

Ten Percent of the proceeds from the sale of this book are to be donated to the Easter Seals Central California Autism Intervention Program.

The Magic Quest is available in several formats and will be available in hard copy format shortly.

The Magic Quest for Kindle

The Magic Quest for NOOK

The Magic Quest for Kobo

The Magic Quest for Sony Ereader

The Story:

“The Magic Quest tells the tale of a young man who must stop the Evil Wizard from getting his hands on a certain spell book and thus destroying the world. Magic spells, people-turned-animals-turned-people, detestable bad guys, humor, suspense; this book has it all and more. It is not only a gripping story, but a window into the mind of someone with autism.”

Black Flagged Redux and the Wounded Warrior Project

Posted on by Steven Konkoly

FINAL TALLY  $1700 Raised For Wounded Warrior Project

Black Flagged Redux will be available to readers on Friday, May 11th.

Continuing in the tradition of giving to our nation’s heroes, I have chosen to donate the proceeds from my next charity book launch event to the Wounded Warrior Project. With Memorial Day right around the corner, May is the perfect month to honor veterans who carried the war back with them from the front-lines, facing challenges at home that few of us can possibly imagine. The Wounded Warrior Project helps these brave men and women tackle their unique challenges head on, with a variety of services designed to assist and empower .

The charity campaign surrounding Black Flagged raised over $1700 for the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) organization. I hope to double that amount for the launch of Black Flagged Redux.

With that said, here are the details:

Stage One: The Launch Weekend

1.) Starts whenever the book goes live on Friday May 11 and ends when I check the number of sales on Monday morning.

For each Kindle sale: I will donate the entire purchase price of the e-book and match that price with my own funds. I am offering the book at .99 for the weekend. Every sale will generate $2.

Purchase Kindle Book  OR  Purchase Hardcopy OR Purchase NOOK Book

Don’t have a Kindle? Really? Just kidding. The book will also be available in physical form on Amazon. I’ll donate $2 per sale over the weekend and the rest of the month. Other ways to enjoy the ebook and be part of the weekend rush? You can  Download the Kindle for PC program onto your PC  OR Download the Kindle App for iPad OR Download the Kindle App for PC.

If you don’t have an Amazon account, I’m not going to pressure you into that. If you’d like, I’ll accept a donation in exchange for a signed copy of the book. It costs me $8 to put the book in your hands ($6 for discounted copy + $2 media rate mail). Email me at skonkoly@earthlink.net and we can work out the details

Stage Two: The Rest of May

1.) After the weekend, I will raise the price to $3.99 and donate $1.00 from each sale.

2.) Like last time, you can track the progress daily on my blog. I’ll keep updating the numbers.

What You Can Do to have the biggest impact?

1.)  Buy the book from Amazon over the weekend: Purchase Black Flagged Redux eBook OR Purchase Black Flagged Redux Hardcopy

2.) I’m obviously encouraging the e-book route, as this makes the biggest impact on Amazon’s sales rankings algorithms, which will keep the momentum flowing for the rest of the month.

Spread the Word.

Forward this blog post, send the email forward…get the word out to the masses. My goal is to double the amount donated last November.