Print and Audio Update

Press proofs all, so ignore the "Not for Sale" banners.

I approved the press proof and got the email that Dilemma was available in the Amazon store, and it wasn't until I took this photo that I realized another mistake. The Dilemma cover is matte and the other 2 are glossy. Dang. So I just fixed that and set the wheels in motion again. It should clear in about a day.

Derek loaded all the files for Gleanings, so it's my turn now. I will start proofing the audiobook right away. There are reports of a backlog at ACX that's making the technical review take up to a month! So as of right now, I can't give an exact date when it will be available. But as soon as it clears all the hoops, I will let you know.

Audiobooks - Free and Cheap

Have you heard about Chirp?

It's a new audiobook newsletter that showcases the free and discounted. It also has a website where you can find tons of audiobooks discounted at all different rates.

Lethal Seasons has a steep 82% discount through 2/24. You can get the first audiobook in the series for $1.97. Click HERE to check it out.

Scattered Seeds has a 10% discount.

Gleanings is in the works and should be out by mid-March. I've already heard the first few chapters and Derek is doing his usual fabulous job.

A Changed World is a completed 5-book series that is available in ebook and print.

Children of a Changed world is a new series set 20 years later. The first book will be out this summer.

Audio Update

It's almost done.

I hope to review the last few chapters today and then send it to ACX for approval.

BUT

It's Christmas and then New Years and they will be closed for the holidays. So I am hoping that the files will be approved and out to retailers by mid-January.

I will update as soon as I know!

A New Banner

As you can see, I made a new banner for the blog with the first book in each series. It's really amazing the tools that are available for the technologically challenged!

The release date for the next book is shifting again. Life has gotten in the way and I need a little more time. I've decided to accept the fact that I can't write as fast as I'd like to. At least not this year. Maybe next year I will have a better handle on my time-management and stress.

Scattered Seeds audio is in the works. Still looking at late October, early November for that to come out. And then we'll start on Gleanings. There was a lovely review of Lethal Seasons audio book on Audible that confirmed what I already knew - they said Derek did a great job. But even though I was sure he did a wonderful job with reading my story, it was very nice to have a stranger say so.

I'm planning a promo for Lethal Season at the end of the month to drum up a little more interest. I'll post here when it goes on sale.

Fall has finally arrived in my neck of the woods. Temperatures dropped about 20 degrees overnight. I had that odd laundry basket with shorts and sweatpants, summer shirts and hoodies. The leaves are dropping but not many of them have changed. It's a strange autumn so far.

Bits and Bobs

I have a lot of snippets for this post.

Lethal Seasons Audiobook is now at Nook.

Scattered Seeds Audiobook is in the works. I'm thinking about a 99c promotion on the Lethal Seasons ebook when the Scattered Seeds audiobook comes out. Some promotion sites allow you to mention audiobooks. By the time Scattered Seeds is out, Gleanings will be in the works.

I sat down today and made a plan for audiobooks of the rest of my novels. It's going to take some time, but I hope to have them all out by the end of 2020.

I also made a plan for large print editions for the rest of my series. That won't take as long, but it will be several months before all of it is released.

Dilemma (Transmutation Book 3) has hit a bit of a snag and I'm pushing the release date to November. Somehow I always think I can write a book faster than I have in the past. Sometimes, when a story is really flowing, it feels like it should finish sooner. But there's a lot of thought and planning that has to go into science fiction and sometimes I need to take writing time to sort things out.

The next story up will be the first book of Children of a Changed World. I've been brainstorming that. One of the main characters will be Willow, Bridget and Wisp's daughter. It will be about 20 years on.

2020 is already looking like a really busy year!

Lethal Seasons Audiobook is Out!

Hooray! Lethal Seasons audiobook is now available all over. I've been told it might take awhile to roll out to smaller retailers and subscription services, but it's on the way.

Here are some places you can get it right now:

Apple

Audible

Amazon

Google Play

Kobo

It should be arriving at Nook Audiobooks soon.

Book 2, Scattered Seeds is in the works. I expect that to be available around the end of October or the beginning of November. Depending on schedules and technical issues, the rest of the books should be coming out every 6 weeks. Yippee!

Mystery in Large Print

My first large print experiment is complete. I started with a standalone mystery. As I was learning all the requirements, I realized that the book was going to be really big. This is a short novel, so I could keep it as a paperback. It's still pretty big - 629 pages!

If you'd like to grab a copy click HERE. I would appreciate feedback from anyone who uses large print. There are some conflicting requirements out there. I'm surprised that there aren't any set guidelines, but I couldn't find any.

The next in line is another mystery. I want to start work on the Asher Blaine Mystery series. However, that requires another learning curve because those books will be too large for paperback. I haven't looked into hardback books before, so I'm sort of starting from scratch. And I need to talk to Alex about the cover because these books will have a dust jacket. How cool is that?

In other news, the Lethal Seasons audiobook is in review and should be available in another week or two. 

Book 3 for the Transmutation series now has a name - Dilemma. I have to admit that working on the audio and large print has distracted me a little. I'm running a little behind on my writing. I may have to push the release date into early November. But I will try to catch up with myself. I won't have to deal with the audiobook for Scattered Seeds for 3-4 weeks, I think. And the formatting for White Lies for large print is already done.

And that means I really need to get back to work!

A Changed World Audiobooks

I have decided to try doing audiobooks again. I put up an audition for Lethal Seasons on ACX and got 12 responses by the end of the day. I have to say that felt good. It was probably due to the fact that I was willing to pay for the narrator and not do a royalty split.

I listened to them all very carefully. At first it seemed like it was going to be a tough call. Then I heard the perfect match. His pauses were in the right place. He emphasized the right words. In essence, he got my writing voice. Yay!

Since he's in the middle of another project, he'll start my book around the end of this month. I think that means that the audiobook might be on the market by mid-September. That seems a long time away, but it's a very time consuming project.

By the time that's out, Scattered Seeds should be in the works. And if that schedule holds, the audiobooks might be coming out once a month through January 2020. But that might be counting chickens before they're hatched. There's a lot of work involved and lots of possibilities for set backs.

So I am off on another adventure.

On the writing front, I am delving into book 3 for the Transmutation series. It's nice to get back into that world for awhile.

And that's it for today.

I Got Another Bookbub!

Woohoo! I feel like I won the lottery.

Bookbub is a curated newsletter of free and discounted books separated by genre. It is one of the most powerful selling tools for a writer. However, since it is curated, sometimes it is hard to get a slot.

I applied today and said I would take any date. They came right back with an approval! For April 21st!

I'm doing the Happy Dance all over the house.

This comes at a really good time for me. I'm still working on the book I started months ago, and I was feeling bad about how long this is taking. New releases are important for sales. I was pressuring myself to do some more aggressive marketing. And ugh...I was stressing myself out.

At the same time, sales for Lethal Seasons have coasted downhill. It's still selling, with the occasional spike for no apparent reason, but the general direction is down. It needed a good shove back into the limelight.

And I got it!

Excuse me while I take my Happy Dance out into the yard.

Looking Back on a Wonderful Year

I don't think I knew it while I was in it, but this has been a pretty good year for me.

I took a look back on my calendar and was very surprised to see how much I've gotten done. Part of that is probably because I've been very healthy this year. You can't believe the difference in your energy level when you are healthy.

I released 4 books this year. That amazes me. I planned it, stuck to my schedule and got them out on time. And a lot of that happened because I stopped buzzing around the forums trying to figure out what I should be doing. I put my head down and got to work. And that turned out to be easier and more enjoyable than debating the next steps an author should take.

Lessons Learned, book 4 of A Changed World post-apocalyptic series came out in January. High Barrens, the first book of the Tales of Haroon fantasy series came out in March. Blood Relations, the third book of the Asher Blaine Mysteries series came out in August, and Desperate Measures, book 5 of A Changed World came out in December. I don't know if I will be as prolific next year, but I am sure going to try.

Through trial and error, I sort of got a handle on the art of marketing. Then in June, I got the golden ticket - a Bookbub. Books flew off the shelf for a week, then marched, then strolled and it slowly worked its way down to a number of sales much higher than all the previous months. I made a lot of money and that feels amazing, too.

I cracked 10,000 sales. Lethal Seasons has over 100 reviews. I took my books wide and starting selling them in new markets like Kobo, Google Play and Apple.

And I still managed to do a little traveling, visit with family, work in the garden and start on a family history that I've been thinking about.

In the fall, we started work on turning a shed into an office for me. It took a little longer than expected, but the outcome is fabulous. I have all my things in one place. There are big windows to let in natural light and a ton of storage space for all my odds and ends.

This has been a wonderful year, and I hope you've had a good one, too.

Here's hoping for a great 2019 for everyone!

Desperate Measures Now Out

A Changed World Book 5 is out!

I had a plan to set this all up for preorders and a cover reveal. Then it occurred to me that I should just push it out the door. That plan didn't work very well the last time around, so I'm pitching it.

Click HERE to grab a copy. Desperate Measures is $2.99 right now.

I love this cover. I think Alex did a super job with this one.

To celebrate the release of the fifth book, the first book, Lethal Seasons, will be 99c through December 15th. Click HERE to grab a copy of that.

Enjoy!

It's All Coming Together

I'm always a little surprised when I hit my deadlines. I have learned to add in plenty of wiggle room for whatever life throws at me. And it's working!

Desperate Measures is right on track. I even managed to get out to the map and update it with a little more information.

There are now a series of Posts for the Sentinels and Stations for the Rovers.

Alex has done a really fabulous cover for this one. My favorite so far, but I think I say that every time. I will be doing a cover reveal next week when the book will be ready for preorder. I can't wait to show you.

Time for a Little Break

I've sent the first draft of A Changed World book 5 to my first reader. The working title right now is Desperate Measures. I think it's in pretty good shape, so there shouldn't be too much of a rewrite on it. Which means it is still on schedule for a December 13th release. I actually started planning out the promotions for a discount on Lethal Seasons (book 1) in the run up to the release. I might just be getting the hang of it all. (Fingers crossed!)

As mentioned in my last blog, I was creeping up on having sold 10,000 books this year. I passed that milestone this week. Woo hoo!

My new office is finished and I'm in the process of moving in. Another big Woo Hoo there! It's great to get all of my stuff in one place...but there is a lot of it. There will be sorting and purging for some time to come.

Next week I will have a house full of relatives and a busy schedule of visiting and playtime. Can't wait. But a week off always comes with it's own repercussions. I'm sure I will need a whole 'nother week to catch up with myself. So I might not be back to the blog for a couple weeks.

Blood Relations in Print

Finally!

Sheesh. I have been tinkering back and forth with this for too long. The print version of Blood Relations should be hitting the retailers soon. I just approved the final proof on CreateSpace which is a bit tricky.

Apparently Amazon is closing down CreateSpace. They are doing a rolling migration of the authors over to KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing). I haven't gotten the magic migration button yet. And that was a big relief because I still had a book under review and was worried what-all might happen.

So there is a possibility that some books might disappear. Since I don't sell a lot of paperbacks, I wasn't too concerned, but it wouldn't be fun. I have heard stories of people losing books, covers, jumbled insides and a gamut of other problems. There's always issues when you change over to a new system. Fingers crossed that I get to be one of the lucky ones without any problems.

It will be interesting to do the next book on a new site. It will be book 5 for A Changed World. I hope it is as easy as CreateSpace was.

But first I need to get that book written. Tillie's raising a ruckus and Wisp has left town with Nick to go find...well, I'm not ready to share that yet. Partly because I'm not sure how it's going to come out. Lots more complication will ensue!

Interviews

I have three different interviews coming up. One is a podcast for the new Asher Blaine book, Blood Relations, and the other two are involved in the SPFBO and will be about High Barrens.

As soon as they are up, I will add links here and on my website.

Interviews aren't very easy for me. I am especially concerned about the podcast. I've never been interviewed live before. Usually someone emails me a list of questions and I have plenty of time to think about my answer, write it out and edit it. This time, anything that comes out of my mouth will be out there for people to hear. That's a little intimidating.

And I worry about the cats. They all object when I use my cell phone. They sit at my feet meowing. Sometimes they jump up on the desk to make sure I am aware of their disapproval. I have no idea what their reaction to a Skype call will be. So there's a good chance that I won't be the only one on that podcast. I hope the interviewer likes cats!

Next week White Lies, book 1 of the Asher Blaine Mysteries, will be on discount in the run up to the release of book 3 on August 23rd. And I will reveal the fabulous new cover for Blood Relations here on the blog. Alex has done another wonderful job.

Now back to work on the rough draft for the next book in A Changed World series.

Thank You!

A great big thank you to everyone who took a chance on Lethal Seasons. This is now the most successful month ever, for me as an author. I am beside myself giddy about it.

A few new reviews have trickled in that show that you are enjoying the journey with Nick, Wisp, Angus, Tillie and and all the others at High Meadow. Thanks for taking the time to post a review. It really helps.

The read through shows me that a lot more of you are engaged also. Sales of the other books in the series are continuing nicely. That's a big Whew! for me. It means that I got it right in the rest of the books too.

And a nice little side effect is that a few people are reading some of my other series. So thanks for taking a chance on them, too!

You guys are the best!

I Got a BookBub!

In case you don't know what that means - BookBub is the cat's pajamas when it comes to selling books.

I've been quiet about this because I sort of couldn't believe it myself. Every author wants to be featured in their newsletter. When I was accepted, I was skeptical. Did they realize it was little old me? Me, the prawn? Really?

And then I thought, okay, like most of the "Do this and it will work beyond your wildest dreams" advice, I had doubts. It's expensive. Would it really work for me? My books are a niche inside a niche. Would the wide world really care about them?

But I took the plunge! I spent the big money and oh my gosh it's working!

It's running today and the books are selling like hotcakes. If it continues at this rate, I will make back my investment on just the sales of the 1st book in the series. Whoa. That means if anyone reads book 2 it's all gravy. (Well sorta...I do have other costs to recoup.)

As of the writing of this blog I have sold over 1400 copies of Lethal Seasons TODAY. Wow. Just Wow. That's more copies than I have ever sold of that book. Or any book...

So I'm a little stunned. And, well...wow.

Post-apocalyptic Rebuilding only 99c

Book 1 of A Changed World series will be only 99c through June 23rd. Grab a copy at your favorite retailer by clicking HERE.

Bits and Bobs

The corrected print version of Lessons Learned is now available. My apologies to anyone who received a bad copy.

The third book of the Asher Blaine Mysteries has a name now - Blood Relations. It's in rewrite and still on track for an August release. I have contacted Alex to work his magic on a cover for me.

The next book for A Changed World is in the brainstorming stage. I've doodled out a few possible scenes. That will be the next endeavor once Blood Relations is out the door.

Lethal Seasons is being discounted for the next couple of weeks. Now's the time to grab your copy for just 99c. Tell all your friends!

It's garden season and I am slowly winning the war against weeds. I don't have a lot of time to play in the dirt every day, but I've got a good plan this year. And I have been pretty healthy, so that helps my energy level. As I often say - the more you do, the more you can do - and that is especially true with physical tasks. Five minutes of weeding turns to ten then twenty, increasing as you build stamina. And the more I can do, the more that gets done.

Get outside and play today. It's good for you.

Lessons Learned Print Error

If you were thinking about buying the print version of Lessons Learned - wait a week.

I learned my own lesson about trusting the online viewer. Apparently I missed a doozy. Page 15, the first page of chapter 4, is cut in half. Not sure how that happens when I uploaded a doc. How did one page just not transfer over? Weird.

The corrections have been made and I am just waiting on the press proof before releasing it. I want to inspect this one more closely. I already looked at every page on the online version, so it should be fine, but...

And I will toss out a sincere thank you to the person who noted the error in their review on Amazon. If I hadn't seen that, I would never have realized the mistake. Thanks!

If you have purchased a bad copy, you should be able to return it for a corrected one in about a week. I'll make an announcement here and on my FB page. If that doesn't work shoot me an email.