A Long Overdue Update

I’ve neglected this blog for four long months, it’s time for a long overdue update.

Let’s see, where do I start? I could talk about the new books coming out over the next few days. I have two coming out, one on Sunday and the other on Tuesday.

Supernatural Slayer is Book 1 in the Supernatural Slayer series. It’s centered on Aisha, a bounty hunter/assassin. I had a lot of fun writing this book. The first draft got tossed out because it fell short but it came together in the second rewriting. I’m really happy with how the book has been received by readers so far. It currently has a 4.6 rating on Goodreads and many lovely and kind comments from people in my Readers’ Group.

I sent the ARC copies of Beautiful Magic to some readers just earlier. Beautiful Magic is the first segment in the Must Love Dragons serial with each part under 100 pages long. Its protagonist is a 16-year-old girl named Vanessa who finds herself thrust into the magical world and discovers a secret about herself. A secret that can get her killed.

The serial is set in the same world as Magic Runes and Supernatural Slayer. It’s the hidden magical world of Barcelona. I suppose I should come up with a name for the world but I haven’t yet. If you have any ideas, leave me a comment and let me know what you think the world should be called.

Right now I’m juggling a few projects at once. I have to finish the third and final book in the Dare Valari series. I’m not happy with the second half of A Sword of Blood and Lies and trying to fix it. I’m also working on finalizing Magic Rifts. It’s with the editor and I’m awaiting feedback. It may need one more round to fix things. I want to make sure I put the best possible product out for readers.

I’m also trying to put together print copies of Magic Runes, Supernatural Slayer, and Beautiful Magic. I love how Magic Runes turned out. Here it is visiting one of the locations in the book, the marvelous Barcelona Cathedral.

Sadly, I wasn’t the one who took the photograph. One of my closest friends went to Barcelona and wandered around the city with Carmen by her side. They both went to visit Mateu and have a chat with the snarky gargoyle. My friend sent me many more awesome photos and I’ll be sharing more images over the next few days.

General musings – It’s strange knowing I haven’t published since November 2017. Of course, a short story of mine appeared in an anthology, Beyond Midnight, organized by the lovely Stefan Nardi and some stuff under a pen name. It’s going to be interesting to see how these books do out in the wild. I’m cautiously optimistic.

This is the first time I launch two books at full-price without promotions of any kind. I’m not sure what to expect. I could land flat on my face and have the books sink to the bottom of the Amazon seabed but I’m hoping they find their audience and readers enjoy the stories. That’s all I ask for.

#20BooksLondon

On 3-4 February 2018 I attended the 20 Books London event. I first heard about it from the 20Booksto50k Facebook group. I couldn’t make it to last November’s event in Las Vegas, so I made an effort to be there for the event in London. It was pitched as a “20Booksto50k educational and networking event for committed authors to take their career to the next level”.

The venue for the event was the Runnymede-on-Thames hotel which was a beautiful place. The entire staff were friendly and professional, and the restaurants served good food. The room I booked was spacious and clean. I loved it and definitely would return for a longer stay. It’s such a tranquil place. I wish I had more time to visit the places around the area.

It’s around 40 minutes away from Oxford Street by car. The local ducks greeted me upon arrival.

Saturday morning, I checked in. I got a badge to write my name on and a custom pen and notebook, along with information packet.

Day 1 – Saturday program:

As this was the first writers’ event I had ever attended, I wasn’t sure what to expect. For the record, I felt awkward and wasn’t sure how to talk to people. I was in major introvert mode but managed to work up the nerve to talk to people. Special thanks to people like David, Wendy, Tameri and David for helping me get out of my shell. I appreciated the kindness.

I found the talks motivational and inspirational. Craig Martelle‘s introduction was fantastic. It set the tone for what to expect from the event.

Michael Anderle is the person that set this whole 20Booksto50k in motion with a Kboards post you can read here. Many of the speakers mentioned how they had followed Michael from that post into the Facebook group. Michael’s talk was amazing. And he made me aware of one thing I never noticed – the reason why I reread books. It’s the emotion, dummy. I don’t know how I never realized that. It was a lightbulb moment for this bookworm.

Andrew Dobell touched on different aspects for covers. He designed an awesome Izzy Shows cover so I was already familiar with his work.

Derek Murphy highlighted the importance of list building. Everybody’s path is different but I agree with his outlook on list building.

Michael Cooper’s talk about Facebook Ads was interesting. I’ve read his book Help! My Facebook Ads Suck. His wife, Jill, is lovely. She always shares such great advice on the 20Booksto50k group.

Faleena Hopkins discussion about fighting demons was emotional. We need to cut out the demons from our lives, people who bring us down and make us less.

Day 2 – Sunday

Martha Carr‘s world building talk was great. Lots of great tips and she also shared a very emotional story at the end of the day that brought me to tears.

Abby-Lynn Knorr presented about her journey of writing in Italy and reaching 4 figures in 40 days. I love hearing about how people reach success. I find it motivational. What she managed to do is fantastic.

Dan Wood from Draft2Digitial and Ricardo Fayet from Reedsy were interesting in their arguments for going wide. I currently have all my books in KU but I’m going to experiment with going wide in April.

Jonathan Brazee gave a good talk about professional organizations and the merit on why to join one and be part of the community. NETWORK!

Barry Hutchison by far was my favorite speaker (sorry, everyone). He was hilarious and brought the house down.

One of my favorite parts was when all the speakers stood and answered questions from the audience. David asked if each of them could do one thing, and one thing only, to promote their book what would it be? He also requested that they not repeat the answer of the previous speaker.

Speakers were inspirational and generous with their time. I really enjoyed the entire program and thought it was a great way to start 2018. I’m eight months into my writing journey so this was a wonderful and motivational event to attend. Persistence is key! Network! And above all, write a good book!

Here’s a shot of the speakers answering questions at the end of the event.

The event cost me ₤165 + hotel room + transportation. The organizers are such stand up guys that we were refunded ₤53 because expenses were less than they thought. Just goes to show that they’re awesome.

I’m happy I attended the 20 Books London event and left wanting to attend Las Vegas. I’m sure I’ll have more confidence there. Thanks to Tameri Etherton & husband David, Wendy. Thanks to May Sage who was generous with her advice (also I managed to pronounce her real name correctly! I thought I would and I was right!) and it was cool meeting Timothy Ellis in person. I also bonded with Ana Calin as I was waiting for my car to arrive which was a great bonus. I made lots of new friends. I wish I had been more outgoing but I know I did the best I could and I will definitely be more comfortable (and hopefully more outgoing) at the next event.

A Pretty Big Decision

I made a Pretty Big Decision yesterday. I can’t really talk about it but it has the potential to really change my writing career. Okay, scratch that, it will change my writing career.

It’s funny how the universe puts things in our path. I had finally locked down my writing schedule only to have it turned upside down again by an opportunity I couldn’t let pass by. It was something I had wished for but thought was too early for me to gain at this point in my self-publishing journey.

I was wrong.

It’s been one day and already I’ve realized how much value I’ve gained by making the Pretty Big Decision. I know this experience will be instrumental in how I manage my writing career moving forward.

2018 is the year of seizing opportunities and experimenting. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me over the next few months but I’m excited to start this journey. It’s going to be epic!

And the winning name is…

Aisha!

 

All it took was one vote to choose Aisha as the preferred spelling of the name, beating Ayesha. There wasn’t much love for the Aicha spelling, only 11% voted for it.

Thank you all for voting! You’ll be seeing Aisha in an urban fantasy releasing in January 2018. 

Instafreebie – An Awesome Resource for Readers And Writers

As a reader and writer, I love Instafreebie. Instafreebie is one of the best sites today for book lovers. It’s my first pick whenever I want to discover new authors. The wide selection of free books available on the platform is one of the main reasons I visit Instafreebie. And now, Instafreebie has made it even easier to get books with an app.

I’ve been a published author for 7 weeks now. One of the first things I did before publishing my book was join Instafreebie to build my mailing list. I uploaded my short story BLAZE in April 2017 and since then I’ve had 4,469 copies claimed. Instafreebie helped me reach over 1,000 new readers a month.

Instafreebie has been an effective method of building my mailing list and I recommend it to any new author starting out, existing author looking to build their mailing list with quality subscribers, and all readers in search of a good story to read.

Now Instafreebie’s app should make it even more easier for hungry readers to get their hands on new work from their favorite authors.

Whether you’re a reader or a writer, one of the best places you can get books is Instafreebie. It’s an awesome resource for readers and writers. The best thing I ever did was open up an instafreebie account. If you’re a writer, click here to open your Instafreebie account. If you’re a reader, all you have to do is get the app or visit the site and get your free books today.

 

Cover Reveal: Blaze

I relaunched my instaFreebie short story BLAZE with a new cover.

When I first published Blaze I couldn’t find a cover that suited the story and settled for the original cover. I thought it matched the plot line but perhaps gave more of a dystopian/post-apocolyptic vibe. Despite my misgivings, the cover seemed to appeal to readers. Over 1,500 people have downloaded Blaze since I launched it at the beginning of April.

I’m curious to see if the new cover will attract more readers.

What do you think of it? I’ve included the original cover so that you can compare the two.

Before:

 

After:

 

 

 

What do you think? Do you like the original cover or the new one?

Get Blaze here – exclusively on instaFreebie.

 

 

Personally, I think it’s stunning. Look at all the lovely details!