Books! Updates! Anniversaries!
In which I buzz about my friend's book, writing stuff, and celebrate 10 years of authorhood
Okay before literally anything else: My lovely friend E.M. Wright, who beta read Bloody Spade and proofread Bleeding Heart and writes so many things that are incredibly up my alley, is releasing the second book in her gritty, rebellious steampunk on May 14th (just a couple days away)!!
If you like the sound of a brazen redheaded girl, airship privateers, clockwork cyborgs, and an absolute cinnamon roll of a Frenchman, I’d highly recommend this series. I got to read (and blurb!) the first book, Sedition, back in 2021 and loved it. It satisfied a steampunk craving no other novels in the genre have quite been able to, and I’m eager to see what Seraphim has in store.
p.s., Seraphim is available for preorder and there’s still time to submit your receipt for goodies! Look below for links, and be sure to check out E.M’s profile for more.
And now, back to my usual yammering.
FIRST THINGS FIRST: GENERAL UPDATE
As of today, Bleeding Heart has officially been out for one whole year, meaning it’s also been a whole year since I brought the Cardplay Duology to a close. Revamping and writing and finally publishing this once-shelved story was such a whirlwind of a journey. With these books, I found my writing voice and made many wonderful connections in the community, and it’s that community I owe so much to, because this series wouldn’t have made it as far as it has without all of you. So if you’ve supported it in any way, know that I’m enormously grateful <3
On a related note . . .
Recently I was recording myself saying fictional language tidbits for pronunciation guide purposes because—guess what—work is soon to begin on the Bleeding Heart audiobook! If all goes to plan, you should be able to snag the whole duology in audio form later this year (and I’m pleased to say Hunter McCoy will be returning to do the honors! Wouldn’t have it any other way unless I had to).
(Friendly reminder that if you already own the Bloody Spade ebook on Kindle, you can use Amazon’s Matchmaker program to get the audiobook for about $8 instead of the usual $20-odd from Audible!)
SECOND THINGS SECOND: WRITING UPDATE
Facebook notified me a couple weeks ago that my dream-sprung werewolf story idea is already four years old O_O
I haven’t spoken about it in much detail since then as it’s spent most of that time simmering in the development pot, but with the first round of revisions underway (bringing my 47k zero draft up to 91k so far—I fear this may be a chonker), I’m going to be sharing more and more. You can even take a peek at the first draft of chapter one on my Patreon for as little as a $1!
New book anxieties aside, I’m pleased with how it’s coming together so far. Also hoping that with my biggest hurdle cleared (the first act), I’ll be able to pick up the pace and have a full, proper first draft complete by the end of this year and be looking for beta readers by mid-2025 (providing the second round of revisions doesn’t fight me).
With all that uncertainty, I still don’t have a solid release date to cap this off with. I’m not setting one until the end of production is actually in sight to avoid unnecessary stress (learned my lesson there with the Cardplay Duology). At the very earliest, it might be ready by the end of 2025.
Otherwise, I’m aiming for 2026!
LAST THINGS LAST: A BELATED CELEBRATION
This past December marked my 10 year anniversary as a published author (which I’d intended to write about then but had no spoons for, so here we are, unfashionably late). When I decided to pursue self-publishing at the age of sixteen, I had no idea what this path would have in store for me, and while it’s not everything I dreamed of, it’s certainly been more rewarding than I expected it to be.
I released my debut scifi novel, The Calypsis Project, at nineteen during the golden era of self-publishing. Now at almost thirty, I have four novels and a short story to my name! There have been some blissful highs and low fucking lows along the way, and the publishing world has gotten overall tougher to navigate (I had to relearn a lot when publishing Bloody Spade), but as hard as it can be, it’s been worth it, and I’m eager to see how things go with The Howling Dark—especially being my first standalone novel.
Fun fact: Not including digital book box inclusion, BS still hasn’t surpassed TCP in ebook sales despite TCP not selling much at all since 2015 (not a complaint—I’m purposely not marketing it because I want to rewrite it first lmao). However, BS has sold many more paperbacks!
Some valuable takeaways from the past decade:
You have to get comfortable with fear (of not doing a story justice, of not living up to expectations, etc). I’ve yet to write a single book fearlessly. If anything, it grows with each new one. You just need to trust in yourself and know that if you don’t stick the landing, it’s not the end of your career.
Similarly, your author career isn’t going to die if you don’t publish a new book every year. The shortest gap I’ve had between books is approx. two years with the longest being five between Bloody Spade and The Calypsis Project, and I’m still kicking!
You don’t need to be financially well-off to self-publish or even to do it well. While that undoubtedly helps, you can still do alright with minimal spending.
Luck and hard work often go hand-in-hand. Ask that big author/creator/celebrity you admire for a blurb, and you might get one. Take a chance by submitting your work to a book box, and you might be selected. Put your book up for an award, and you might win! Opportunity won’t usually come knocking if you don’t do the work to put yourself out there first.
Word of mouth has got to be the single most valuable tool in this business, which makes reviewers and booksellers invaluable. It can be nerve-wracking to reach out to them, but they’re really not that scary up close! Most of them are actually really cool and fun to talk to.
I’m not a well of wisdom or anything, but if you’re new to or considering self-publishing and have any questions, I welcome you to DM me or comment below! And if anyone’s interested in a more in-depth look at the numbers side of things, let me know and I may write a post dedicated to that.
And once again: enormous thanks to everyone who’s supported me, however long and in whatever capacity you’ve been with me.
Here’s to another decade of storytelling <3
What I’m reading: Eden Weeping by Tegan Weissman
What I’m watching: Dungeon Meshi, My Hero Academia (7th Season)
What I’m playing: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
What I’m listening to: Welcome Home by Radical Face
Happy ten year author-versary!!