1. Read the books and short stories in J.R. Rain’s Vampire for Hire series. So far, he’s written 20 books and stories starring Samantha Moon, a vampire private investigator and single mom of two amazing kids. The more of the series you read, the more you will get in synch with what the characters face in their daily challenges. You’ll learn their secret desires, and understand their life goals. For example, if you have read to the most current book in the series, do you know what Fang does for a living now? Do you know who is Samantha Moon’s best girlfriend? How old are Tammy and Anthony? Do you know what all of the medallions do/did? What happened to Danny? Who is Jacky and does he know what Sam is? These are basic questions and if you don’t know these answers, it would be tough to write a book in this Kindle World. (No spoilers in comments below, please!)

2. Read the current Kindle Worlds offerings in the Vampire for Hire World, or at least read the book/story descriptions and free samples to see what has already been done. You don’t want to spend your precious time creating a similar book or story to one that has already been published.

3. Look at the reviews and rankings of the current Kindle Worlds novels and stories in the Vampire for Hire World at: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=kindle+worlds+%22vampire+for+hire%22

4. Read the Kindle Worlds guidelines for the Vampire for Hire World at: https://kindleworlds.amazon.com/world/VampireforHire

5. Pick a character within the Vampire for Hire World to be the protagonist of your story. If your book or story is in first person, then you will only have one viewpoint and your knowledge and empathy for your main character needs to strong enough to follow through the plot from beginning to end with your hero/heroine in EVERY scene. If you need to write ANY scenes where your protagonist is not present, choose third-person viewpoint for writing your story.  I really recommend first-person because that is what J.R. Rain uses in his Vampire for Hire books, and what his readers may expect from a Kindle Worlds book, too.

6. Once you pick a character from J.R. Rain’s Vampire for Hire books, what do you want to accomplish for that hero or heroine? What mystery are you going to solve? What challenges will your character face? How will the character evolve? How do you want your story to end? (You should have a good idea of how it ends before you start writing.)

7. Write your story or novel and aim for a word count of 25,000 minimum and under 50,000 maximum.  The suggested length is just my personal preference and opinion. Shorter stories may be  accepted by Kindle Worlds, however, keep in mind that you want to provide a good value to your readers. As a reader and a writer, I tend to prefer books and even stories that use chapters, rather than one huge block of text.

8. Try to stay true to the characters as they appear in J.R. Rain’s books, if possible. In a Kindle World, having familiar faces act and react the same as they do in J.R. Rain’s books is going to win your readers’ approval. Remember, the readers are reading your Vampire for Hire Kindle Worlds books because they love J.R. Rain’s books and want more of who they know and love! I suggest that you don’t kill off any characters that J.R. Rain created. Your own new characters within the story can bite the bullet if they have to, but you want to treat his characters with respect and care, as if they were your own series ensemble cast.

9. In a perfect publishing world, you should seek and find paid editors who are already fans of J.R. Rain’s own Vampire for Hire books. An editor who is already a fan of the series will be aware of character traits and quirks…and series plotlines…that other editors wouldn’t know.

10. My best tip is to use LOTS of dialogue to show your story, rather than tell in narrative. Hey, lots of dialogue works for J.R. Rain’s books.

Note: As in all publishing venues, submitting a book or story doesn’t mean that it will be accepted by the publisher. However if you adhere to a high level of professionalism in your work, and respect the wonderful world of Samantha Moon, Vampire for Hire, I think you have a pretty good chance at Kindle Worlds. Good luck to all Vampire for Hire lovers and writers.

I hope you will visit all of the launch authors’ pages in the Vampire for Hire Kindle World. Thanks for the book love, launch authors, and especially, love to all Vampire for Hire readers! And of course, thank you to J.R. Rain, the creator of Samantha Moon, Vampire for Hire.  — Eve Paludan