Back in October I wrote about a new digital project I was involved in centering on a new series written with fellow scribe Jon F. Merz. The series, HELLstalkers, was specifically designed for the mobile phone and ebook markets and would be published by Blackbetty Mobilemedia in conjunction with telecommunication giants Vodafone and Verizon.
The story centers around an accident at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva and features transdimensional rifts, otherworldly creatures, and a mysterious group known as the Cerberus Project. We will be releasing several of the opening chapters as teasers to introduce readers to the storyline and the characters. The first of those, chapter one of The Cerberus Protocol, is available today, formatted for enjoyment on your favorite ebook reader of choice.
You can get the free download HERE.
We’ll be releasing a new episode each week over the next month or so and new formats will be rolling out on a weekly schedule as well. Next up will be versions specifically formatted for various mobile phone platforms, including the Android and the iPhone.
We are also putting together a street team to help with promoting the series. In exchange for your tweets, blog comments, and general promotion activities like posting a banner or two, Jon and I wil be giving away lots of free swag, including HELLstalker hats, T-shirts, the chance to be a character in the series, and even consulting time with the two of us to help you move your own projects forward. You can find out how to join your local HELLstalker unit by visiting the Recruitement Center.
At the recent Digital Bookd World conference in NY, it was revealed that Harlequin sells more than one million downloads a month to Japanese cell phone users. That’s one heck of a market. Jon and I are hoping that by making an early move in this direction, our work will reach a broader audience and that we’ll be in on the ground floor of one of publishing’s next new frontiers.
I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments about the series or about the medium itself. The first five or six chapters are going to be free, so why not give it a try? If you don’t have an ereader, you can always download the free Kindle for PC app and give that a go.
