March Roundup

 

How have we finished the first quarter of the year already? It still feels like February. Hell, some days it still feels like 2020.

All things considered, though, it's been a productive period. I had three things written on the white board by my desk for January-March, and I crossed them all off:

Publish Lady, in Waiting ✔

Final draft Coming Apart ✔

Send ARCs and endorsement requests for Coming Apart✔

Coming Apart, by the way, is the new title for My Sister's Child. I changed it because there's a thriller by the same name where a woman kills her sister so she can have her baby, and I know that the genres are totally different, but that wasn't a confusion issue I wanted to risk.

One thing that was on my list for the first quarter as a possibility was researching whether or not to do hard covers of my Tudor Court trilogy. I still haven't decided. I can't tell you the last time I purchased a hard cover book that wasn't for research purposes, and I'm not sure if the sales would be worth the effort involved. On the other hand, I've already purchased the ISBNs, so maybe I'll just wait until I have some extra money to throw to my cover designer to adapt the covers (of course they're just slightly different dimensions so I can't use what I have).

The third item on my list of achievements there was a nerve-wracking one. ARCs (advance reader copies) get send out to early reviewers and authors who might consider reading and endorsing the book. Endorsements go on either the front or back cover, or sometimes on what's called a "praise page" just inside the cover. I sent to a few indie authors whose work I like, and also to a few traditionally published, including a few writers who I know are out of my league. I haven't heard from most of those yet, but hope springs eternal.

My goals for April include sending out more ARCs and requests, formatting Coming Apart's paperback so I can get a final page count so I can in turn reach out to the designer to finish the full wrap cover (page count is necessary so that the cover fits properly, and Amazon and the other printing sites are very specific about their wants). 

I'm also accidentally working on the sequel to Coming Apart, because I was no sooner finished the book than the characters woke me up and told me they weren't done with me yet.

How to support an indie author #842

If you're interested in paperback copies of my books and would prefer not to purchase through Amazon or other online retailers, please leave a comment here or use the contact form on this page.

I'm happy to support my local independent bookstores, but it's difficult to get them to stock books by indie writers because we can't afford to give the wholesale discount that a large traditional publisher can. 

As an example, I just changed the discount percentage for my paperbacks because my cut of a $15.99 paperback was... $0.80. 

All the rest was split between the bookstore, the printer, and shipping costs - not to mention that bookstores prefer to be able to return unsold books, which will then either be destroyed or returned to the author. For an additional cost.

I don't expect to get rich from writing, but I'd like to buy the occasional cup of coffee. Am I wrong?

Paperbacks are $14.99 (same as Amazon, but which include a bookmark, a signature, and shipping). Ebooks of all three titles are also available for $4.99 each. I can walk you through how to download them onto your Kindle or other device. Discounts available for purchases of two or more books.

Help Wanted (Needed?)

Apparently I can write, but when it comes to graphic design, I'm a bit challenged.

Decision-making regarding graphic design, even more so.

I use photographs of ceilings for my book covers, and within the next few months, I'll be combining Songbird, A Wider World and Lady, in Waiting into an e-book box set. (Not doing a paperback because it would cost a bomb and come in at over a thousand pages, and no one has the hands for that).

These are my top contenders for the new cover. Each one has their merits - and none of them are connected to the stories. In the cases of Songbird and A Wider World, the ceilings are actually from buildings (Hampton Court and a destroyed monastery) that are locations in the books; for Lady, in Waiting I chose a ceiling that meshed with the story - Margaery's home of Winterset, and the painted ceiling she envisions for the hall.

I don't have that requirement for the box set cover. It just needs to look period appropriate, which all these are, and work with the font used on the covers, which they will. 

BUT I CAN'T DECIDE.

Which one is your favorite? Help a graphically-challenged author out. Please.

February Roundup

 

Keeping track has been fun this month. Not. 

It's hard to pay attention to what feel like trivial things when the world has basically set itself on fire.

But work matters. Words matter. And stories can take us away from the flaming dumpster that is life, at least for a little while.

Lady, in Waiting

This got released on February 14, and the evening before, I survived a live reading on Facebook. It wasn't that bad - at least, I think it wasn't, I'm not watching it - and it always surprises me after the fact that I get so worked up over doing them.

I also was interviewed on the Joined Up Writing podcast about the new release, and my transition from small press published to being an indie author. Check it out here if you're interested.

My Sister's Child

Completely finished going over this draft, tweaked it a bit, and sent advance copies to several people who have offered to give me quotes for the cover. This is the nerve-wracking part, folks, letting real writers read my unpublished stuff.

Since I had to turn Sisters into a Kindle-ready book to send to them, I also loaded it onto my own Kindle for another read, because your eyes catch different things in different formats. In ebook, I notice repetitive words and excess words far more than I do on the screen of my computer. So it's undergoing another round of tidying.

The sequel is almost completely planned (as much as I plan). I've done most of the research for national and local events which will affect my characters, and I've got the high and low points of the story marked down. They will connect themselves as I write. I'm not sure how I know this - it's part of the magic.

Songbird and A Wider World

Nothing new to report. Still marketing both, and Songbird did have an unexpected number of sales in February, which is good because even though the books can be read as standalones, it is the entry point to the series for those who read in order. Hopefully, these new readers will keep going.

Once these final edits of Sisters are dealt with, I'll start working on the audiobook for A Wider World. I have the files; I just need to learn how to make them sound as good as they can. 

Video of Live Reading

 

And here it is - the video of my live reading from A Wider World and Lady, in Waiting. It ran a little longer than expected, because I did Margaery's introduction from the previous book and also answered a few questions at the end.

Let me know what you think!

Live reading!

 

Okay, folks, it's happening again. I'm doing a live reading from Lady, in Waiting on Sunday, February 13, 2022, at 7:00 p.m. eastern.

I wasn't certain I would do a reading again - before it was mandated by the publisher, so I had to - but it turns out I kind of enjoy the terror in a strange way, so...

There's no point in having stage fright for only a few people.

Sunday is the Super Bowl. I'm not watching, but many of you are, so you can always tune in for the replay. Also, if it's at all an issue, I promise to be done by half time.

The link for the event is here.

If you have any questions you'd like answered, please post them here or on the event page on Facebook, because if I'm wearing the glasses that allow me to read from the Kindle, I won't be seeing what pops up on my phone screen.

I may be wrong, but I don't think you need a Facebook account to watch. (If it doesn't work, watch this space instead - unless it's a total trash fire, I'll be posting the video here within a few days of the reading.

Chapter One

 

One week out!

Because I love free samples (the "look inside the book" feature is the best thing Amazon's ever done), below is Chapter One of Lady, in Waiting.

I hope you enjoy the beginning of Margaery's story, and if you're so inclined, you can check out the rest here.

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If my father hadn’t lost his head, my life would be very different. In point of fact, he did not lose his head; it was severed from his body with three strokes of an ax.

I should know. I was there.

One day I was a happy child, the center of a loving family, and the next my father was dragged from the house, accused of treason, and executed. My family left England, and I grew to womanhood far from home.

With such uncertain beginnings, a young woman might find herself capable of anything. She might wish to escape her situation so badly that she proposes marriage to a man she’s just met, thinking it will give her some measure of control over her life.

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Less than a week after our wedding, my husband left for England. My grandmother and I followed on the next ship.

We had been out of England eighteen years, during which time Winterset had become Robin Lewis’s home. It was one of the reasons I married him. When he first appeared at our isolated home in Normandy, I resented his presence, but I quickly realized he was a solution, not another problem: he was more acceptable than the men put forward by my mother and her husband, and if I married him, my grandmother could return to her beloved estate.

Tall and bony, with red hair gone thin in the back and a decided way about him, Robin was not my dream husband, but then I’d never dreamed of marriage. I knew only the sort of man I did not want, and if Mama had her way, those men would soon be lining up in the lane, eager to claim my inheritance.

Family money aside, most men wouldn’t consider me a prize. While I was young, and looked well enough, I had been raised away from society and my manners showed it. I read books that young ladies did not read. My opinions were strong, and I had been known to raise my voice in company and interrupt my betters.

Such behavior was not cherished by my mother, and my stepfather found me troublesome in the extreme. He tried various methods to break my will, and I ran away to my grandparents after one incident, having forced a stable lad to swap clothes so I could travel unnoticed.

After close questioning, my grandfather declined to return me to their care. With my grandfather, I could live as I pleased—within reason. After his death, Grand-mère deflected my mother’s marital plans until I made one of my own. Then she fell in with my scheme, deeming it no worse than theirs, and possibly—when she realized we would return to England—far better.

Robin was the one who balked. He claimed to be too old and set in his ways, and that I would not be happy. I bribed him with Winterset, and a promise not to disturb the peaceful life he’d built there. I was an heiress, I blithely assured him, and could make a new marriage when he died of old age.

But I didn’t want that. I didn’t know Robin well—he did not allow himself to be easily known—but I liked him. In time, I thought we could learn to care for each other.

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