Announcements

Destroy Releases

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Ta da!

Today, Destroy (The Blades of Acktar 3.5) releases as a Kindle ebook on Amazon!

This companion novella gives a sneak peek at the backstory of the events of Dare as well as some of the aftermath of Defy. Actually, time wise, it covers the most time of any of the books (nearly 6 and a half years).

You can buy it here on Amazon.

So far, the early readers have enjoyed it, which was something I was biting my nails about. The main character in this one is a character that was nearly universally disliked in Defy (as he was supposed to be).

Yet, somehow, this new main character stole a corner of my heart, and hopefully does the same for a few readers.

I really enjoyed giving the backstory and messing with perceptions in this one, even my own. There were times, I’d catch myself writing something where a character struck back against the Blades and I’d start cheering…only to realize my poor darling Leith was in for a horrible time of it. That’s the nature of backstory, I guess.

I hope you enjoy the book!

Destroy Cover Reveal & Release Date

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This is the moment you have all been waiting for. Information on the next Blades of Acktar release.

Destroy (The Blades of Acktar #3.5)

Release Date: 12/30/16 (Kindle only)

Yes, that’s two weeks from today.

Ready for the cover?

*drum roll*

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Back Cover:

Before the war, before the Blades, before the Leader…

There was a boy and a scullery maid and a secret shame.

One moonlit night of blood and knives destroyed their country and their lives forever.

The cost was hard, but forgiveness is harder.

The Leader failed to die, but will he also fail to lead?

I’m actually a little nervous for this one. It is the first Blades of Acktar release without Leith or Renna as a main character. And the new main character’s sins and struggles aren’t Leith’s sins or struggles. Everything is kept clean, but parents might want to read the first chapter before handing the book to their ten-year-olds just to make sure it isn’t anything their child isn’t ready for.

But plenty of your favorite characters still make an appearance. New characters will steal your heart. And I might have a new favorite cinnamon roll character to huggle.

What do you think? Are you excited for this one?

 

 

Fandom Merchandise

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cross-daggers-header-the-blades-of-acktar-version-smaller

This Friday, I’ll post the cover reveal and release date for Destroy (The Blades of Acktar #3.5), but until then, I have another announcement.

I set aside the first week of December and put together a few designs for Blades of Acktar fandom merchandise. I’ve seen other authors do this (and I’ve bought several things as a result because, let’s face it, fandom merchandise is so much fun).

I thought about making the merchandise only available as part of a street team. I’ve seen other authors do this. But, I decided I don’t have the time right now to run a street team, not without taking away from the little writing and editing time I have. Besides, all of you essentially ARE my street team. You do such a great job of getting the word out. You all deserve a way to shout your love of the Blades of Acktar fandom.

Right now, I have two sites where you can get Blades of Acktar merchandise.

  • Zazzle.com – this one has more designs available since its rules on picture sizes are less strict and I had less trouble uploading designs. I believe I left most of the items as open as possible so you can customize colors and sizes. For the clothing, the women’s version is pictured, but they should all be available in youth and men’s sizes if you customize them.
  • Society 6 – this one has more options for housewares items (such as pillows and clocks), but fewer designs available at the moment since this site demands higher pixel counts than Zazzle. Currently I don’t have any apparel set up, but I will be working on that in the future.

Here’s what the Zazzle site looks like and a few of the options:

I have personally purchased items from both of these sites before and have been pleased both times. Currently, both sites are running a lot of promotions for the holidays, which is always nice for saving money if you would like anything (or you can convince a family member to get it for you for Christmas).

Have fun looking through the designs and options!

Upcoming Publishing Schedule

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It’s been a while since I’ve updated you all on a few things. I apologize in advance because there is going to be a flurry of activity this week, but it all good stuff and I think you’ll be excited.

Deliver Update

I have had a lot of people ask me when Deliver (The Blades of Acktar #4) will release.

The short answer: I don’t know yet.

Sorry. *wince* *ducks flying books*

The long answer: The first draft is written. That’s the first big step. Now that November is over, I plan to spend December revising. The revised draft should go out to my editor and early readers in late December or early January. Then it all depends on how long it takes for my editor and early readers to go through it and send it back to me, and how many changes I have to make in the second revision. Then all the publishing stuff and proofreading. Right now, I’m hoping for a March release, but I’m making no promises. I don’t want to rush and give you a sub-par book.

Before you despair too much, keep reading for an update on everything I plan to publish in the next few months.

I Won NaNoWriMo!

In case you don’t know what that is, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. In November, authors all over the world commit to writing 50,000 words in 1 month. Yes, it is as crazy as it sounds, especially for writers like me that also work a day job. To put this in perspective, since working my current full time job, I have never written 50,000 words in a month. My highest word count was roughly 30,000. Somehow, I needed to find time to write an extra 20,000 words.

I did it. Not really sure how. Actually, I do know how. I pretty much did nothing but write and work the entire month of November. But, it was worth it.

What does this mean for you, my amazing readers?

Well, obviously, I wrote 50,000 words of new Blades of Acktar stuff. That’s a lot of words that will be coming your way.

Stuff I wrote during NaNo:

  • I finished the novella about the Leader titled Destroy
  • An extended ending short story for Deliver
  • A short story about Shad and Jolene
  • A few backstory scribbles of scenes in Dare from Shad’s POV
  • A short story about Laurence & Annita Faythe, Renna and Brandi’s parents
  • A short story set 10 years after the end of Deliver
  • A few scenes set 8 years after the end of Deliver that could turn into a novella down the road (but not right away.)

Publishing Schedule

If you’ve been keeping track, I have first drafts of Book 4, a novella, 4 short stories, and a few random backstory scribbles waiting in line to be published. You might be wondering when in Acktar all this cool stuff will finally make it your way.

Here’s the tentative schedule. Things might change, and I’m making no promises.

Late December

  • Destroy (The Blades of Acktar #3.5) releases as Kindle only – this is the novella on the Resistance Leader that gives both backstory for when Respen took over and some new information on what happens immediately after Defy ends. This novella is something of a prequel-sequel that spans about 6 years of time. It isn’t necessary to read this book before Deliver, but it gives more insight into certain characters.
  • short story about Shad and Jolene (to be titled yet) – this will be posted as a freebie on my website as part of launch stuff for Destroy
  • short story about Laurence and Annita Faythe (to be titled yet) –  this will also be posted as a freebie on my website as part of launch stuff for Destroy 

March

  • Deliver (The Blades of Acktar #4) releases – remember, this is a tentative release date. Subject to change
  • extended ending short story for Deliver (to be titled yet) – this will be posted as a freebie on my website as part of launch stuff for Deliver
  • short story set 10 years after Deliver  –  this will also be posted as a freebie on my website as part of launch stuff for Deliver

April 

  • Destroy releases as paperback with all the short stories released as part of the launches for Destroy and Deliver included as bonus content.

Some of the other random backstory scribbles will probably also be released during one of the launches as freebies on my website.

Yes, you read that right. The next Blades of Acktar release is planned for the end of THIS MONTH. It’s a novella (though technically long enough I could call it a short novel) and releasing as a Kindle ebook only at this time, but still. That’s only a few weeks away. I might be kinda freaking out at this point.

Later this week, I’ll have a cover release for Destroy and give out an official release date so you can count down the days. There will also be more information about Destroy then.

So stay tuned. 😉

Black Friday Sale

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Like last year, a group of fellow indie authors and I got together to cross-promote Black Friday deals on our books. Unlike last year, I have 3 books instead of 1, and the deals will be better.

For example, Dare and Deny will be selling at $9 (plus shipping). This is $1 off from what I normally sell them on my website. Defy will also be $1 off. But, the real deal is going to be the 3 book set. If you buy Dare, Deny, and Defy as a 3 book set, it’ll be $25 (plus shipping). If you figure that out, that is $8 for Dare and Deny and $9 for Defy. In other words, if you’ve been waiting to get your hands on the paperbacks, this would be a good time to do it.

To promote the Black Friday sale, we’re looking for bloggers to post about the sale. In return for your time and effort of posting, you’ll be able to choose a free ebook from the ones offered by the below authors:

If this interests you, please fill out this form to participate:
Thanks so much!

Release Day!!!!!

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Defy releases today!!!!! Eeep! I can’t believe it is here already!

Blood and Battle Quote

The blog tour is in full swing. You can check out what has been posted already and upcoming posts here.

Today is the last day of the giveaways on Goodreads for Dare and Deny. Be sure to check them out here and here and enter before it is too late!

One final bit of housekeeping. The Kindle versions of Dare and Deny were both supposed to be on sale this weekend. You may have noticed that the sale on the Kindle version of Deny suddenly cut out. Never try to schedule a sale on one of your Kindle books right when your Kindle Select membership is set to renew. It makes it difficult, just saying. Due to this, the sale won’t go back up until June 2 and will continue to run to June 4. This is only on Deny. The sale for Dare went off without a hitch and will be running through June 3.

Enjoy Defy and the rest of the blog tour! Don’t miss the Facebook party on June 2. It’s going to be a blast!

Defy’s Cover Reveal

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I’ve been promising to reveal the cover for Defy sometime this week. I was holding off on sending out the ARC copies, hoping I’d get the cover in time to include it on the ARCs.

Last night, I broke down and sent out the ARCs. An hour after I sent them out, I finally got the cover. It’d my own fault it was so delayed. I’m the one who based Nalgar off a ruined castle.

If you signed up to review Defy as part of the blog tour or as one of the review copies, you should’ve received an email from me last night. If you didn’t, you might want to check your junk mail. If the email is still missing, please email me.

Oh, yes, you’re waiting for the cover reveal, aren’t you?

Once again, my cover designer did an amazing job. Click here to check out her website. She had to digitally recreate Nalgar Castle based off the ruins of Raglan Castle in Wales and my own tweaks. I’m amazed at how it turned out!

Without further chatter from me, here is the cover for Defy!

Defy_Cover

Deny is an Audiobook!

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As you can see by the title and the huge picture below, both Dare and Deny are now available as audiobooks! I am so excited about this, and once again, the narrator Jesse Dornan did an amazing job! Deny had its own peculiar challenges, such as two songs, but I love the end result! If you want to listen to the first five minutes of Deny, here’s a link.

To celebrate, I’m giving away 5 free audiobooks, your choice of either Dare or Deny. Please see the end of this post for the Rafflecopter entry.

Available on Audio Dare and Deny

Like before, Deny is only available as a digital eAudiobook. You can always burn CDs for your own personal use if that is how you prefer to listen. Or you can listen to the eAudiobook through an app or download onto an IPod or other device. There are a number of options.

Options for purchase:

  • Whispersync (only available for Dare right now) – If you buy the ebook copy of Dare through Amazon, you can also buy the audiobook at a HUGE discount. Right now, adding the audiobook is only $1.99. That means, you pay $2.99 for the ebook, $1.99 for the audiobook, for a total of $4.98. As I said, this only works for Dare right now. It could take up to three months before Deny has this option (last time, I had to bug them until they finally processed Dare).
  • Trial Audible Account – If you sign up for an Audible.com membership for the first time, you get 1 free audiobook for signing up. If you don’t want to pay the monthly fee, you can cancel right away. You’ll still get to keep your free audiobook. Only works once, but it is a great way to get one free audiobook if you don’t listen to audiobooks frequently, but would like to try one out.
  •  Audible Account – For those who listen to a lot of audiobooks (like me), an Audible account is amazing. You pay $14.95 a month for 1 audiobook a month. With this membership, you also get discounts on all other audiobooks you purchase. If you have a membership, you have the options to either use your $14.95 credit or purchase either Dare or Deny for $13.96.
  • Amazon – If you don’t want to sign up for an Audible account, you can buy the audiobooks for full price at ITunes, Amazon, or Audible. I don’t know about ITunes, but full price at Audible is $19.99 while full price on Amazon is $17.46, so that would be your best option there.

I know audiobooks aren’t for everyone, but they were a lifesaver back when I was in college and the only time I could “read” was listening to audiobooks during my commute. Nowadays, I still get a big chunk of my reading done during my hour-round-trip commute every day.

Okay, you all have waited patiently to find the Rafflecopter entry link. Because, admit it, winning a free audibook is probably your favorite way to get a copy. 😉

Enter to win 1 of 5 audiobook copies of either Dare or Deny here:a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Edited: Thanks for the response for the blog tour and reviews! All spots are now full!*

Defy Blog Tour Sign up

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*Edited: Thanks to everyone’s enthusiastic response, all spots are now full. Thanks!*

It’s that time again! Defy releases in a little bit over a month and a half. Eeek! My cover designer is furiously working on the cover, so I should have that by the time I send out the blog tour information in the first week of May.

Defy Blog Tour Header

I have two sign ups this time around. One is the standard blog tour sign up. The other is for those who don’t have a blog and would like to review Defy on Amazon and other places.

Thanks in advance for your willingness to help out once again! I know this is a crazy couple of months with lots of releases, so I definitely appreciate it!

I have a Release Date!

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No, that’s not an April Fool’s joke (because that would be cruel). Actually, I planned to announce this yesterday to avoid any April Fool’s fake outs, but being sick through that timeline out the window.

Anyway, the news that you’ve all been waiting to hear:

The release date for DEFY is…

Badlands Landscape; Defy Announcement

May 31!

My awesome cover designer Ashley is working on the cover, so hopefully I’ll have that to reveal shortly. And it’s time to start putting together all the launch stuff. Seriously, didn’t we just do this?

Oh, and I got to finish the final edit and send it off to the proofreader. Details, details.

Anyway, what are you looking forward to in a book launch?