2023 Year in Review

Hi all,

It’s time for my year in review! Truthfully I haven’t been looking forward to this as I think I set my goals too high last time. I’m proud of what I’ve done but I think I could have been a bit nicer to myself. This will be reflected in next year’s goals. Either way, I still hit a few of my targets!

Write Five Books

I managed to write four books this year! They were:

Original Elementals #6: Sunrise

Empty Skies #1: Missing Constellations

Street Rats

Original Elementals #7: Stormburst

One off my goal, but I’ve still done pretty well! I have plenty of time to write all of the books that I want to write, which is what I need to keep reminding myself.

Publish two books

Celestial Plague #2: Heaven and Celestial Plague #3: Purgatory have both been published this year!

Edit three books

I just need to do one more self-edit of Curse of Anubis #1: Halfway and that will be two books edited this year. Celestial Plague #4: Hell is completely edited and ready for publication next year.

Get covers designed for the final books in Celestial Plague

I’ve had actually had five covers designed this year, three of which are in the Original Elementals series. You’ll have to wait to see those covers revealed though.

Write the Curse of Anubis Short Story Collection

I’ve written a lot of short stories in the Curse of Anubis universe, mostly thanks to the Furious Fiction monthly writimng challenge. I’m going to work on making a few of the stories a bit longer and then they’ll be ready to be made into a reader magnet. There are also a few stories that I still want to tell that I’ve drafted but not completely written yet.

Write more short stories

This one I’ve actually done a lot of! I’ve been writing a lot more short stories thanks to my writing group and the Furious Fiction challenge. A few have even been submitted to anthologies and have been accepted.

Design more merchandise

The Elemental Dragons bookmark was released this year and I was getting another one designed but unfortunately there were communication issues with the designer. I would love to get more dragon stickers designed in the future and maybe also some cats from my series.

Set up a Patreon

I’ve been stalling on this one because I’ve made a few changes to this plan. Instead of the Empty Skies series, it will instead be dedicated to Elemental Dragons. I want to turn it into a dragon lovers paradise. Everything on there will be dragon (or cat) related and I’d love to get this set in stone for 2024.

Build up my mailing list

This one has been great because I’ve got 450 people on my newsletter now. I’m running more polls and giveaways to hopefully drive up engagement. I’ll be releasing the Curse of Anubis Short Story Collection as well as a thank you to everyone who has supported me.

Continue learning Spanish

Unfortunately this one has taken a back seat this year. I’d love to pick it up again at some point and carry on learning.

Read 50 books

I blew this goal out of the water and read 126! I love reading and found so many good books this year. I read a lot of GameLit which was recommended to me by work colleagues. I’ve got plenty of books on my TBR list to get through which will hopefully make a dent in all of the piles around my flat.

Participate in both NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo

I participated in all three again this year and loved every second of it. I managed to hit one million words written total throughout all the challeneges I’ve done over the years. I love the community and all of the work that goes into creating NaNoWriMo and how many writers participate. It’s my favourite writing challenge.

That’s it for this week! Next week I’m going to discuss my goals for 2024, so keep an eye out for that. See you next Sunday.

PS; if you’re looking for new monster books to read this year then check out this bundle:

New Year, New Monsters 4: From the Caves

StoryOrigin Review

Hi all, 

I last did a review post about Infostack and I wanted to do another. This time it's StoryOrigin. It's a platform where you can do newsletter swaps with other authors, join group promos and even send out review copies. I first joined when it was free and stuck with it when they added a payment system. It is now a core part of my newsletter as it brings me new fans and new eyes on my books. 

Newsletter Swaps

You can swap either free reader magnets or books available to buy. I do a mix of both to keep my newsletter going and generate a few sales. Without it, I wouldn't have been able to grow my newsletter so quickly. You can swap with other authors by genre so you can see who would be a great fit for your newsletter. You can also see their open and click rates to decide if you want to swap with them. 

Group Promos

I love creating and participating in group promos. They bring lots of new eyes to your books and are so much fun to organise. I love creating themed ones, such as dragons or monsters. I mostly use them to promote my Kindle Unlimited books, but I have done a few sales ones which have done quite well too. 

A group promo banner I created for a StoryOrigin promotion

I haven't used the other features yet, such as review copies. I do want to use it to gather more reviews at some point though. The dashboard is easy to use and you can keep all your links in one place. It's easy to upload reader magnets and create universal links for all of your books. Without StoryOrigin, I would be struggling a lot more with my newsletter. I know a lot of people compare it to Book Funnel, but I haven't tried that one so I can't comment on it. 

If you're looking for somewhere to build up your newsletter, I would recommend StoryOrigin. I've been using it for years and can't see myself without it. 

Do you like these reviews? If you do, let me know and I'll do some more! 

That's it for this week, see you next week. 

PS; don’t forget to check out these giveaways!

A Post-Apocalyptic Christmas Giveaway

A Giveaway for National Author’s Day

Flights of Fantasy

Hi all!

One of my short stories has managed to find a home in an anthology. You can read ‘Flames of the Moon’ in Flights of Fantasy, which is available now!

Dive into a realm where magic knows no bounds, and legends come to life.
From the mystical depths of ancient forests to the soaring heights of dragon filled skies, these tales will transport you to worlds where heroes rise, kingdoms clash, and the extraordinary becomes ordinary.
Whether you seek epic adventures, tales of mystical creatures, or stories of unlikely heroes, this anthology has it all!
Prepare to be spellbound and experience the magic of an entire universe in a single book.
The authors within this book are:
A J Wilson
Alexandra Haverská
A.M. Cummins
Andra Dill
Andrea Barton
Andrew Kurtz
Angela Zimmerman
Anna-Maria Aschmann
Ariel Finkle
Ashleigh Cattermole-Crump
Austin Worley
Barend Nieuwstraten III
Beth W. Patterson
Blake Jessop
Brandon Hingley-Lovett
Brenda Anderson
Bruce Rowe
Cara Twomey
Cassia Hall
Catherine Berry
Charles Reis
Charlotte Langtree
Chris Hewitt
Chrissie Rohrman
Claire Davon
Connor Sassmannshausen
Dale Parnell
Danielle Mikals
David Bowmore
David Green
Dawn DeBraal
Declan Liam McKendrick
Diane Arrelle
DJ Elton
D’mitri Blackwood
D.M. Slate
Dorian J. Sinnott
Edward Ahern
Elizabeth Nettleton
Ella Everly
Ellie A Goss
Emma Kathryn
Erica Damon
Fiona Honor Hurley
Gabriella Balcom
Gabby Gilliam
Gemma Paul
Georgina Stancer
Ian T. Wilson
Isa Ottoni
James Carraghan
Jasiah Witkofsky
J.A. Skelton
Jessica Labbe
Jessica Turnbull
Jodie Francis
Jon Chan
Jordan Eagles
Joshua D Taylor
Joshua Williams
Juliana Amir
Kailey Alessi
Kaitlyn Arnett
Karen Bayly
Kate Campbell
Katie Jordan
Keith Burdon
Kevin Hopson
Kim Plasket
Lauraine S. Blake
Lisa H. Owens
LJ McLeod
L.J. Wynn
L. T. Emery
Luis Manuel Torres
Lynne Phillips
Lynette S. Hoag
Maggie D Brace
Marianne Reese
Marie Sinadjan
Mckenzie Richardson
Meera Dandekar
Melody E. McIntyre
Michelle Ann King
Michelle Brett
Miriam H. Harrison
M. M. Montelione
MM Reynolds
Monica Schultz
M.W. Irving
Naito Diamond
Natasha Sinclair
Nathan A. Jacobs
NC Smith
Nerisha Kemraj
Nicole Walsh
Olivia Arieti
Pat Woods
Patrick Winters
P.L. Glaser
Rachel L. Tilley
R.A. Clarke
R.A. Goli
R. C. Capasso
Renata Pavrey
Rich Feitelberg
S.A. McKenzie
Sammi Cox
SL Kretschmer
Sophie Wagner
Stacey Jaine McIntosh
Stefan Grieve
Stephen Arndt
Stephen E Sorensen
Stephen Johnson
Stephanie Parent
Susan Cornford
Tabitha Baumander
Taya Rune
Terry Hooker
Terry Keelan
Tim Blaine
Toko Hata
Tony Steven Williams
Toshiya Kamei
Troy Deacon
V.H. Stone
Victor Nandi
Vinny Cucuzza
Vonnie Winslow Crist
Ximena Escobar

As you can see, this anthology is chock full of stories from plenty of authors! There are hundreds of fantasy stories to make your way through. I’ve read quite a few of them already and I think they’re all amazing.

I wrote Flames of the Moon on a whim after a writing prompt from my writer’s group. I had a dream about a girl who was given fire magic from a moon goddess and rolled with it. Despite only being 500 words, I really loved writing it. So much in fact that I have ideas to turn it into a book. The moon goddess will still give out fire magic but there will be three other goddesses too. Once I’ve plotted the story out a bit more I’ll share a few more details with you.

That’s it for this week, I hope you check out Flights of Fantasy. See you next week!

PS; don’t forget to check out this awesome bundle of fantasy books before it ends:

Abundant Woo-niverse Giveaways for Magical Realism, Supernatural, Paranormal, Fantasy, and Sci-Fi

My Feline Co-Author

Hi all! 

It's been a while since I wrote a post about Mishka, so I thought I would rectify that! She's my five year old cat who has been with me through several books. 

Writing. 

She assists me with my writing, usually by headbutting my phone or laptop. Occasionally she will place a paw on the keyboard to try to add stuff in. If I spend too long writing and not paying her enough attention, she will walk all over me until I pet her. She's always making sure that I take enough breaks. 

Editing. 

If I spend too long editing, she let's me know by screaming or walking over my laptop. Unfortunately she has a habit of deleting sentences that I often have to re-write anyway. A bit annoying, but helpful in the end.

Formatting. 

While I'm formatting my books, she usually takes this time to curl up beside me. Either by my hip or by my armpit. I guess this is the time she knows not to disturb me too much, except if I've done it too long without a break. 

Uploading books to Amazon. 

Despite publishing eight books, I still get nervous whenever it's time to hit publish. Luckily I have Mishka beside me. Just stroking her while she purrs eases my anxiety while my book uploads. She makes me feel better about the whole process. 

Marketing. 

Now we're back to headbutting my laptop. She loves doing this, just to let me know that she's still around and wants my attention. Whenever I run Amazon ads she wanders in front of the screen so I can't check the numbers too often. Either that or she paws at the keyboard.

Despite her being annoying sometimes, I wouldn't swap her for anything in the world. She's become a vital part of my author career, even if she is just screaming. I know I'm not the only one who has pets that help them write, quite a lot of authors have fuzzy companions to help them! 

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading. See you next week. 

Infostack Review

Hi all! 

I'm not sure about how many authors are aware of Infostack and the deals they offer, so I thought I would give my thoughts here. I've purchased their Write, Publish, Profit bundle three times and I'm happy with what I got. 

Infostack offer cheap bundles with certain themes and businesses in mind. The one that I'll be talking about is Write, Publish, Profit. They do other bundles as well, such as wellness, healthy eating and marketing. I've never tried any of them as they haven't been of any interest to me, but from what I've seen they look quite good too. 

They contact a variety of writers, marketers and course owners and bundle it all into one for $49. They have several ebooks, courses and worksheets that you can work through. Some are discounts on software or services, such as cover design or editing. There is a cheatsheet you can buy to help navigate your way through the bundle if you're confused too. 

My favourite part of these bundles are some of the courses you can take. I've always struggled with marketing and a few of the courses are really good and have helped with that. 

Anyone can purchase the bundle at any point in their writing journey. It covers starting your story to marketing it when it's published. Even though I've published books previously, I still find some of the writing and editing courses useful. 

I'm a huge fan of Infostack because of Write, Publish, Profit. I've just purchased 6.0 and I'm getting through everything in there slowly but surely! It's only offered once a year for a week, which means you have to sign up to their newsletter or risk missing out on the deal. For $49 you get a bundle worth thousands of everything was purchased individually. I was cautious when I first heard about it as I thought it was too good to be true. I'm so glad it wasn't! 

So, if you've never heard of Infostack before or you've been on the fence about purchasing from them, I'd say do it. The deals are amazing and have helped me so much with various aspects of being an author. 

That's it for this week, don't forget to check Infostack out! See you next week. 

Paperback Price Increase

Hi all,

Amazon have recently announced that they are increasing the price of their paperback production due to rising costs. I will be raising my prices slightly to align with this, but you can still order paperbacks at the current price before the middle of June. The current prices for my paperback books range from £9.99-£10.99, depending on the book and series. The price will only go up by a small amount, but I still wanted to give you a heads up just in case you were thinking about buying one.

I do have some plans for my paperback books, some long-term and some short-term. Seeing as this post is about paperbacks, I thought this would be a great place to discuss it!

Signed paperbacks.

Some authors use their own websites or sites like Etsy to sell signed paperback books. I've thought about this a lot and it is definitely something that I would like to do in the future. I would like to do bundles where you can buy a signed paperback, bookmark and some stickers as well. This would be exclusive to that site and I think it would be a great way to also sell some of the merchandise that I've had created. 

Distribution.

IngramSpark have recently scrapped the fee that they used to charge authors to upload their books to their database. I'm looking into this one, but it is definitely something that I have been interested in for a while. On Ingram, you can list your books at a discounted price and retailers/libraries may purchase them. I've looked into this before, but the £50 upload fee for each book is what always put me off. Now that it's gone, I'm thinking of uploading all of my books on there at some point. This will only be the paperback version, the ebook and hardcovers will still be available on Amazon.

Rewards.

I've discussed creating a Patreon several times before on my blog. For Camp NaNoWriMo July 2023 I will be writing the first draft of Missing Constellations, the book that would be a Patreon exclusive. My plan is to have a tier where patrons would get the option of receiving a signed paperback twice a year. They would also eventually get a signed copy of Missing Constellations, when that book has been completely published on Patreon and is ready for publication in ebook, paperback and hardcover on Amazon.

Giveaways.

I would love to get back into the habit of doing regular giveaways for paperbacks whenever a new book is published. I just love the feeling of readers receiving a signed copy.

If you want to order one of my paperbacks at the current price, make sure you do this before mid-June, as that is when the prices will be raised. That's it for this week, see you next Sunday!

PS; check out this Fantasy/Sci-Fi book bundle!

Summer Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books in Kindle Unlimited!

Purgatory Cover Design

Hi all!

This week is the cover reveal for Celestial Plague #3: Purgatory. This is the third book in the Celestial Plague series and as with previous covers, it has been designed by Deranged Doctor Design. They will be designing the last cover in the series later on this year and I love working with them. My banners and newsletter will get updated in August 2023, when I’m hoping to have the book available for pre-order. The cover is…

• The character on the cover of this book is Raya. As with previous books, each of the MCs will get their own cover. The last one will be Jenna.

• DDD came up with the colour scheme for this one and I love it! It fits nicely with the previous covers and is eye-catching.

• The typography remains the same as the other books.

• The background for this cover is the mall, which the characters have used several times in the previous books to hide and escape Sarjs.

• The panther, Damisa, is represented on the cover as Raya’s power. She’s a panther shifter and I wanted to include her on the cover too. I adore the pose that DDD picked for her.

• I decided to continue with the hoodie theme that the previous characters wore. Jenna will probably have one too.

• The sky in this one is my favourite. The colours are beautiful.

Purgatory will be available in October 2023 and will be available for pre-order in August. Celestial Plague #4: Hell, will have it’s cover designed around November.

That’s it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week.

PS; don’t forget to check out this bundle before it expires:

Great Books Giveaway!

Heaven is now Available on Amazon

Hi all,

If you haven’t been keeping an eye on my social media, the second book in the Celestial Plague series has now been published. It’s available in ebook, paperback and hardcover. This is the second series I’ve published and I loved writing it, I hope you love reading it too! Check it out below:

The survivors seek Heaven, but sanctuary comes with a price, one that could cost them everything.

Ashleigh has now been infected in an effort to save her life. Feeling betrayed and distraught over being Bitten causes friction among her and the other survivors which threatens to tear them apart. And when she starts having visions that show her the only way to Heaven is to infect more people, will it be the end of them all?

Danger is around every turn for Raya who discovers a mysterious man wielding multiple strange powers while escaping Warren. Who is this man? Why does he have her sister’s tail?

To escape the control of Warren, Cindy and Jenna decide to do the unthinkable… Head into The Rot. Will they find the secret truths about the infection there, or will they only become victims of The Rot?

That’s it for this week, if you check out the Celestial Plague series I hope you enjoy it! See you next week.

PS; don’t forget to take a look at these book bundles before they go!

From Your Worst Nightmares…

Great Books Giveaway!

A Flight of Dragons

Hi all,

A story from the Elemental Dragons universe, Orange to Blue, has found a home in an anthology. I always love submitting to anthologies and adding new books to my bookshelf and an anthology about dragons was just perfect! You can check it out below:

A collection of short stories and poems, all about dragons.

Dragons, dragons, and even more dragons. Get your fix of dreamy, dragon-based fiction and enjoy a tantalising mix of humour, emotion and intrigue.

Contributing authors:
Heather C Page, Linda M Crate, Jessica Turnbull, Stephen S Power, Sean Britten, Andrew Murphy, Jason P Burnham, Matias F Travieso, Alex Souza, Mark Mills, Alex Evans, Jibril Stevenson, Joachim Heijndermans, Ismail Ahmed, Dibyasree Nandy, Ben Sawyer, J D Byrne, Mary Jo Rabe, Kathryn Reilly, Rohan Magerman, Oliver Smith, L N Hunter, Marisca Pichette.

Orange to Blue contains no spoilers for the Elemental Dragon series and is instead a fun little side story set during Blood and Water. It features Hazel, Aqueous, Marco and Draca as they try to help an Amphiptere Dragon who is going to be used as entertainment during the summer solstice. I originally wrote it for a different anthology but it didn’t make it through. I’m glad it has managed to find a home now though!

I’m hoping to get published in more anthologies throughout the year and maybe get some of my older short stories published. I still occasionally look up ones that I think I might be interested in.

That’s it for this week, I hope you check out A Flight of Dragons! See you next week.

PS; if you’re looking for some more fantasy reads, check out these book bundles:

Time to Thaw Out with a Free Short Story!

Soar Through the Sky

My 2023 Writing Goals

Hi all!

Seeing as I posted my year in review last week, I’m now going to post my writing goals for 2023! There are a lot of big ones this year and I’d like to push myself to get them done.

Write five books.

Of course my first goal is how many books I want to write. This year I’m planning on hitting five. One of those will be Street Rats, which I want to finish by the end of the year. The others will be:

Original Elementals #6: Sunrise

Missing Constellations

Original Elementals #7: Stormburst

Original Elementals #8: Turf

Publish two books.

Celestial Plague #2: Heaven and Celestial Plague #3: Purgatory will both be published this year! Heaven in April and Purgatory in October. I would love to publish more often once my books start earning more profit.

This book will be published in April this year!

Edit three books.

Like last year, I’m going to stick with three books to edit. One will be Celestial Plague #4: Hell while the others will be in the Curse of Anubis series.

Get covers designed for the final books in Celestial Plague.

The cover designs have been booked for both Purgatory and Hell, which will both have covers by the end of the year! I’ll also be booking in covers for the first two books in the Curse of Anubis series. As always, I’ll be going to Deranged Doctor Design to have these covers made.

Write the Curse of Anubis Short Story Collection.

I’ve decided that I want this reader magnet to be like the Elemental Dragons Short Story Collection, a bunch of short stories written from that universe. So far I have stories planned for: the fight between Bastet and Sekhmet, how Sekhmet got her mane, why Mafdet ran away, how Set created the sha and Ra fleeing before the events of Curse of Anubis. I want to get all the stories done by the end of the year, even though Curse of Anubis won’t be published until late 2024.

Write more short stories.

I had so much fun with this last year and I love expanding my publishing portfolio. I want to add more anthologies to my publishing shelf so I will be writing more short stories to submit next year. Now that I have an easy way of finding ones to submit to, it shouldn’t take too long for me to submit them.

Design more merchandise.

So far I have had a lot of stickers designed for Elemental Dragons and also a bookmark (to be shown at a later date!). I want to get merch designed for my other books as well as finding a way to get it out there for you. I’m looking into setting up an online shop so you all can order what you like from me. I would love to add signed books into the mix as well, as I think that’s what you would be interested in as well. So for this year, I’ll focus on getting more merch designed with the possibility of a shop popping up as well.

I’d love to get stickers designed for Mute and Years - they will probably be cats!

Set up a Patreon.

I have been wanting to do this for ages. I’ve asked my newsletter subscribers what they would like to see most from me and also what rewards they would be interested in. I have a simple plan for content at the moment, which would be:

Mishie Mondays - weekly updates written in Mishka’s perspective, complete with pictures.

100 Word Drabbles - once a week publication of a 100 word story from one of my books. Although my main focus is to start with will be Elemental Dragons, I want to write drabbles from my other books as well.

Chapter of Missing Constellations - once a week I will post a chapter from the Patreon exclusive, Missing Constellations. It will be a YA Fantasy book focusing on Laelaps and the Teumessian Fox. Every few hundreds years they are allowed to return to Earth for a day in their human forms, but are then sent back to the sky. However, one day they aren’t sent back, and are instead turned back into their canine forms when night falls. They need to find out what’s stopping the gods from sending them back to their constellation, and why other creatures like them are also suffering the same fate.

Weekly polls - once a week a poll will be posted so my supporters can vote on what I write next, character design, 100 word drabbles and even what merch they want designed next.

Build up my mailing list.

My aim is to do more newsletter swaps and participate in more book bundles in 2023. I would love to spread the word of my books and my newsletter seems like the best way to do that!

Continue learning Spanish.

This is a more personal goal than a writing one, though I suppose it will help me if I decide to add a different language to my books. I want to continue learning the language anyway, even if it’s just five minutes a day!

Read 50 books.

I’m cutting my goal in half this year so I can focus on all of my goals above. The first book that I read will of course be a Warriors one! I have many books on my to be read pile that I need to get through so I can make room for more.

Participate in both Camp NaNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo.

As with past years, I will be participating in all the events. I love filling up the word counter on their website and I’ve found that I work so much better with a deadline. Plus, I made a lot more buddies this year and it’s so fun to see everyone’s progress!

That’s it for this week! If you have any goals for 2023, I wish you the best of luck! Next week I will be posting an excerpt of the first chapter of Celestial Plague #2: Heaven, so make sure you keep an eye out for it, see you next week.

PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles!

Mid-Christmas Horror Giveaway

New Year, New Monsters 3: From the Darkness