So, you may have been wondering, what is up with the Seacliff High series? In this blog I hope to share the good, the bad, and the ugly.
In 2015 I published the first 5 Seacliff High’s. These were books I had written for fun years earlier before I was a published author so all I had to do was polish them up and have them edited. Those who read the series seemed to LOVE it but I had a hard time getting people to try it for the first time. I think part of this problem may have been due to an identity crisis of sorts. One hand the series features teens which gives people the idea the series is for teens, but on the other hand, given the lack of sex, drugs, and violence, it really wasn’t the sort of thing to appeal to most modern day teens. While I did gain some teen readers the largest reader pool were my ‘forever teens’ in my 50+ age group. This particular age group grew up on Nancy Drew and welcomed a modern day equivalent with a little bit of paranormal thrown in.
In 2016 I decided it was not economically feasible to continue the series. By the time I paid for editing, cover, advertising, etc., I actually lost money on every book in this particular series. It seemed at the time to be a logical decision but what I didn’t know was that I had some very impassioned readers of the series who launched a email campaign to convince me to write another book.
I love my readers and want all of them to be happy so I decided to complete a Seacliff I had started but never finished. This story will publish as The Shadow on June 1, 2017. I am also definitely going to do book 7 – The Haunting in September (or maybe October). After that??? I would like to continue the series and think it has a lot of potential but I will need the help of everyone who loves the series to help me get the word out.
In an effort to introduce the series to new readers I decided to have Alyson visit Madrona Island in Taming of the Tabby. If you follow the Whales and Tails series but have not yet tried Seacliff here is an opportunity to meet Alyson and her faithful dog Tucker. I have also moved the series from Amazon Exclusive and have published the first 5 books on all the major outlets – Amazon, Nook, Kobo, and ibooks. This is risky but in the end I hope this will help me find new readers.
I had already put The Shadow in Kindle Unlimited before I decided to move the series out of Kindle Unlimited so this is what you can expect from this book. It is currently on presale for $2.99. Once it publishes the price will be raised to $3.99. It will remain in Kindle Unlimited for 90 days and then it will be pulled and offered on Nook, Kobo, and ibooks like the other books in the series. If you want to buy it for $2.99 buy it while it is in preorder. If you want to borrow it do so within 9o days of publication. http://amzn.to/2p6MsTU
At this point I plan for all future books in the series to be distributed widely from the very beginning in the hope of getting a large enough following to continue with new books for years to come.
If you have read the series comment below and let me know what you think.
Random Thoughts and Meaningless Musings 
I have read all the books in the series to dare and I love the.. You are right they remind me of Nancy Drew, Bet, George and Ned so it brings back good memories.I will tell everyone I know,about them and get the word out. I can’t wait to read the newest one.
I too have read and enjoyed the series. I wanted to mention the first time I “saw” anything on the series it was promoted as a series for teens. Unfortunately I don’t remember if this was on Amazon or elsewhere. Because I had read two other of your series I purchased the first book anyway and have read on. Introducing Alyson in the Whales and Tails series is a great way to add readership. I was wondering if a campaign stating the series is more than intended for teens would be helpful.
I have read all of the Seacliff High Books and I really enjoyed the series I will get the word out that you are writing another edition to the series. I’m looking forward to the new one.
At the beginning of the year I had read all your books except this series although I had purchased them each at some point. I read them in January and loved the series. I’m looking forward to the new book!
I haven’t read any of the books in this series and will have to look it up. Thanks for sharing this today.
I love this series as I am in that category of 50+ who grew up on Nancy Drew. I do agree it is not the series of the “now” teen as they are looking for riskier books with sex and more adult situations, things we wouldn’t have read at that age back then. This would be better for the ages of 8 to 13.
I have not read the series yet but it is on my tbr list. They sound great.
I really never thought about my Nancy Drew history and why I may be enjoying this series so much, but I think you’re right. I guess I’m still young at heart! Looking forward to future Seacliff High books.
I am so excited to learn that there will be more Seacliff High books! I have read them all and I thoroughly enjoyed them all. I find it sad that today’s teens are so jaded that they would not enjoy reading the Seacliff High stories. I agree with the person who suggested ages 8-13 would be a good possible target for these books and I am going to start pointing family members in that age group to this series today!
Thank you for explaining the history of and your plans for this series. I’ve read all the books in the Seacliff High series and loved each one. I hope your marketing strategy works! I’ve already preordered The Shadow.
I love this series..like you said growing up on Nancy Drew I was drawn to them..so glad your doing another..I will try and get the word out…thank you for all you do for your readers..
I haven’t had a chance to read this series yet but I do LOVE the Whales and Tails books. So definitely will go start them now especially with a crossover. :-p
I am still trying to get caught up on the other series you write. I just love them all. I admit I haven’t started the teen series yet, but I will. I did enjoy the “Drew” series.
I love this series also, I have mentioned it to some of my friends who have teens. Will do so again! Thank you for continuing Alyson’s story.
I LOVE this series, and I’ve introduced it to others, but I may have to introduce it to my book loving granddaughter. Even though she’s not quite 2, she loves books and to be read to.
Love this series – read them all back-to-back. I’m excited to see you continue with it. I very much appreciate the lack of sex, drugs, etc. in a book about teens. Maybe I have my head in the sand, but I’m happy here. Enjoyed the books for myself and feel comfortable sharing them with my pre-teen nieces.
I have enjoyed the series. Didn’t care if it was about adolescents or not. I read the series because it had been written by YOU and you have not let me down yet! 🙂 I, too, enjoyed that the books did not contain sex, drugs, etc.
I am so glad there will.be more books. I really like the series. I think if they read it they would like it .but some may think it is strictly for teens and skip it. They are missing out if they don’t read them.
I just got done with Easter Escape and I loved it . The books that you write are perfect for an afternnon read and love to figure out who did it. I am in the 50 or more group and i even read teen books and other ones . I am a reader when you get down to it I read almost everything although there are some I don;t like none of what you have written though! Have a wonderful weekend birthday and how neat it is that you go to the little league games the more that go the better for the little kids.
Informative post! This series is new to me Kathi!
I just started reading The Secret and love it. If you haven’t read it yet, try reading just the first chapter, you can’t put it down.
When will the conspiracy be on sale?? Did I miss it??
I have read them all and so has my youngest daughter. Her take on it was a grown up Nancy Drew. I believe another comment or nailed it. The target audience would be more junior high as the older teens and young adults tend to look for more risk, violence, sex, etc. Curious as she does enjoy pure cozy mysteries to relax. I’ll discuss this with a friend who teaches that grade range and let you know her thoughts.
Love this series and I am excited that it will continue! I am one of those 50+ and I really enjoy the characters. Hopefully more readers will try it!!
I haven’t read all of them yet but I think I have all of them on my Kindle. It is a fun series to read & not just for kids.
I think it’s great you are introducing the character through Whales and Tails as this is the first series of your books that I started on and is my favorite! I bought all the Seacliff High books because they sounded so good, but I’ve yet to read them with all the other series you write that I’m trying to catch up on. I have no doubt they will be wonderful reads! I will be happy to help get the word out! I’d hate to miss out on a Whales and Tails book so I can definitely relate to the email campaign for Seacliff High!! Wonderful fans!! Here’s to great success for Seacliff High’s continuation!! 🙂
I have always read and loved this series. I am a Nancy Drew fan, and this series reminds me of the Nancy Drew type mystery. Sex, drugs, and violence are not necessary requirements for a good mystery. I will help promote this series every chance I have. 🙂
I love this series and I’m 66 years old. I shared them with my grandaughters and they also loved them (ages 14 and 17).
I am 64 and love this series. They remind me so much of my childhood with a little touch of paranormal cant wait for the crossover looking forward to new books lets get the word out
Love this series, as I do all the series you write. I don’t know how you keep them all straight, but I’m glad you do!
I too have read and loved this series and am so glad you decided to write some more. So looking forward to reading
Your reasons for not continuing the series originally make sense but I’m so very happy there will be more of these!!! I had stopped reading them part way through the series because I was going through them so fast. Then they stopped coming out & I thought I’d better drag out finishing them. Now that there is a new one (which I of course preordered immediately when it was announced) I’ve started back reading them & I’m loving every minute of it. I’m in my 40’s still but would consider myself a “forever teen” too as I grew up reading Nancy Drew as well. (I still pull one out every now & then.)
Happy to help any way I can to promote them.
Love, love, love this series! 53 here, but a “Trixie Belden” fan rather than Nancy Drew. As a former librarian, I read a lot of Young Adult novels. This series is definitely on par with the best of them.
Your books are awesome and this series is one of the best – I was a Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden & a Hardy Boys fan growing up and love my cozy mysteries. Keep them coming Kathi!!
I have read all of the Seacliff High books. I absolutely love them!!!! So excited to see they will be continuing! Thank you Kathy.
My favorite books of yours are the Seacliff series. I just like the way they’re written. I’ll be 45 next month. I grew up reading Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden, and the Three Investigators. When I was about thirteen I discovered British mysteries such as Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes. I enjoy teen books, especially paranormal ones. I’m sure there are still lots of clean teen reads. I know they were cleaner when I was a teen in the 80’s.
I too love this series. I’m 64 and grew to love mystery stories when I discovered Nancy Drew, and Trixie Beldon and another older series the ‘Judy Bolton” books which I seem to remember were the next step up from Nancy Drew tho not quite to Agatha Christy or Ellery Queen. Will be thrilled to help promote this series by having my granddaughter to read and tell her friends. So glad more will be forth coming, have been checking every time time new books have come out in your other series.