Audible

Who Let It Be Monday Again?

I’m seriously not ready for Monday, y’all. It’s taken me until past 2:00 PM to even come up with that much.

Focus? There’s no focus today. There is only coffee. Well, there was coffee. I finished the coffee. Now there is only tea. (Chocolate Mint “Like-the-Cookie” Oolong, from Plum Deluxe.)

And… well, I’ve bee thinking about writing. But not actually doing it. I have to get these words down before I get those words down. Right?

So here are these words about those words. Those words from last week — of which I had a fantastic word week. Sitting in the car dealership for two hours appears to be my word place — there were twelve pages handwritten in my notebook. Which was fun when it came time to transcribe because my handwriting is… creative. There was a bit of “What the heck does that say?” But it came out to just over two thousand words written in just about two hours.

Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home
(Heir to the Firstborn, book 6)

101619 / 150000 (67.75%)
Too bad I only have to take the car in for regular service twice a year. Imagine how fast I’d finish a book if I had to bring it in more often!
I have heard the first sample of the Hidden Things audiobook and I am so excited over this! There were a few little tweaks that needed to be made (Roland sounded too young, for example), so Mark is making adjustments. Once I get the redone sample, I’ll see if I can share it. Reminder –the Kickstarter is still ongoing, and needs to really get up and go if it hopes to fund! So if you’d like to get all four audiobooks read by the incredibly talented Mark Oosterveen, then share and maybe throw something into the hat!

Next week, I’ll be appearing on the These Mums Write podcast, a podcast about supporting mothers in achieving their writing dreams and goals. My interview with show host Jackie Amsden I talk about the Kickstarter, share my experience pushing through fear and breaking boundaries as a sex-positive story-teller and as an introvert navigating the extrovert world of author marketing.

You can find this show on Apple or Spotify.

 

Today is also the last day to grab books at the Red Hot book giveaway. The last day to grab Hidden Things for free by signing up for my newsletter. The newsletter comes out once a month, on the first Friday.

I feel like there’s something else I’m missing, but I honestly can’t think of it. One of those Mondays, right?

More tea!

Posted by EASchechter in 2022 plans, accountability, Audible, author chat, Boosting the signal, Heir to the Firstborn, Hidden Things, Kickstarter, promotions, public displays of geekery, publishing, Swords of Charlemagne, Updatey things, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments

Toss A Coin To Your Writer…

And on this gray and rainy Monday, I’m having a slow start. Sort of like my Kickstarter…

You did know about the Kickstarter, right?  To fund all four audiobooks for Swords of Charlemagne, so that we can have the same narrator for all the books?

The Kickstarter has a little over a month left to go, and hasn’t broken 10%. Not going to lie, I’m starting to worry here…

If we don’t make it, there will still be an audiobook for Hidden Things — I’ve already contracted that, and Mark (the narrator) is working on it now. But I’ll be paying him out of pocket for that, which means that I won’t be able to get The Lady and the Sword into production until later this year, which means gambling on Mark’s availability.

So… if having an audiobook series change narrators halfway through annoys you as much as it annoys me? Share the Kickstarter, and maybe throw something into the hat. And if nothing else, go read the updates — I’ve been posting about the visual inspirations for the main characters. So far, I’ve done Turpin/Yael, Roland and Olivier. Margaret is next.

Which I’m on the subject of Swords of Charlemagne, voting is open for the Paranormal Romance Guild’s Reviewer’s Choice Awards. The Lady and the Sword is up for best LGBT Fantasy, and Swords of Charlemagne is up for best LGBT Fantasy Series. Voting is open until February 12th.

I’m now twenty-seven chapters into Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home. I think I’ll be pulling this one off as the last book. We’re about to hit a point where I can move them along more quickly, so I think we’re almost to the top of the big hill on the plot roller coaster. I’m debating adding a scene not in the outline (because that never happens. Ever.) I’ll see if it actually fits when I get to that spot.

Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home
(Heir to the Firstborn, book 6)

91442 / 150000 (60.96%)
Preorders are up for the re-released of  the Rebel Mage series, and the first two books have been finalized. I’m going to get started on the reread and revision of Where Home Lies today. I’ve already made a note of something that came up in one of the earlier books that I never addressed or resolved, and I’ve caught a few places where people leave the same room twice, or say they’re going to go get something, never leave, and then magically have the thing they never went to go get.
It’s interesting, going back and rereading something that I wrote with an eye on republishing it. There are some things that I did then that I wouldn’t do now, or would do differently now. If changing them wouldn’t break the story, I made changes. But for the most part, there’s very little that I’m changing other than editorial goofs that were missed the first time around.
And finally — FREE BOOKS!
Yes, really. The Red Hot book giveaway is ongoing for this entire month. Nineteen books either free to download entirely, or as a sample. Go check it out!
And that’s where things are in this neck of the woods. Plugging along until next week!
Posted by EASchechter in 2022 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, Audible, audiobooks, contest, Counsel of the Wicked, except-for-when-it-is, giveaway, Haven's Fall, Heir to the Firstborn, Hidden Things, promotions, Rebel Mage, Self-publishing, Swords of Charlemagne, upcoming books, upcoming work, Updatey things, Where Home Lies, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments

New Things!

It’s been a WEEK, y’all. Three new things to discuss today, and only one of them is on the usual radar.

New Words!

Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home
(Heir to the Firstborn, book 6)

81461 / 150000 (54.31%)
Of course there are new words. I’ve been working away at Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home. If you follow me on Facebook, you may have caught a glimpse of some of those new words — there was one phrase in particular that struck me as amusing enough to share:
“You might as well spit on a fish for all the good it will do.”
Patreon readers haven’t yet met the character who says this, so that’s all you’re going to get.
There’s also been some more planning on Tales from the Arena: Dead Man’s Hand. I will hopefully get to that book late this year, but there are some other things that have to come first. Like finishing the revisions and re-release on the Rebel Mage books, for example. And prepping for the next thing on my list….
New Audiobooks!
Friday evening, I got the approval from ACX to start accepting auditions for the Hidden Things audiobook. I immediately sent the audition page to a narrator whom I’d picked out months ago… AND HE SAID YES!!! So Hidden Things will be narrated by Mark Oosterveen. I’ve already told him I’m interested in having him read all four books.
Putting together an audiobook is not cheap, even under royalty share. So I’m starting a Kickstarter to fund all four books. The Kickstarter will go LIVE on Wednesday, and we’ll have 60 days to raise $5000. You can click the link to follow on Kickstarter, which will notify you when the page goes live for bids.
New Awards!
I got an email out of the blue last week telling me that Hidden Things has been nominated for the Paranormal Romance Guild’s Reviewers Choice Award for Best of 2021 (I’m not sure what category), and that Swords of Charlemagne has been nominated for Best Series. I have no other information on that but OMG!!! More to come when I know more.
New Shop!
Conventions are starting to say, “Um…. maybe meeting in person isn’t a good idea” again. So, because I probably won’t have that many opportunities to get out and meet people and sell signed books this year, I’ve gone ahead and made a virtual dealer’s table! You can buy print books and I’ll ship them directly to you, personalized however you like. You can also buy the limited edition Swords of Charlemagne thumbdrive, which is a 2GB thumbdrive that contains all four books in mobi, epub and pdf formats.
And that is, I think, everything that happened this past week.
Wow!
Posted by EASchechter in 2022 plans, Audible, audiobooks, conventions, forthcoming works, heady praise, Heir to the Firstborn, Hidden Things, KermitArms, Kickstarter, kvelling, presales, promotions, public displays of geekery, publishing, Rebel Mage, Release date, Self-publishing, Swords of Charlemagne, Tales from the Arena, upcoming books, upcoming work, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments

Excerpt: House of Sable Locks

Audible has provided me with a short excerpt of House of Sable Locks. So here, have a taste!

(Note: If it doesn’t work, just leave me a note here. I’m currently using the public library wifi, and it won’t let me check the link.)

Posted by EASchechter in Audible, audiobooks, Sable Locks, 0 comments

Contest!!!

All right! I’ll be giving away 5 redemption codes to my fans and followers. So check out the contest link!

 


Posted by EASchechter in Audible, audiobooks, Boosting the signal, contest, Sable Locks, 1 comment

Aural Sex.

I just now got the email.

House of Sable Locks has gone live on Audible!

I have some redemption codes for free copies. As soon as I figure out how to run a contest, I’ll get it set up.

 

 

Posted by EASchechter in Audible, audiobooks, Sable Locks, SQUEEE, 0 comments

Giddiness!

The countdown has begun! Today I got the word that House of Sable Locks has entered the production phase at Audible! Which means they’ve done the casting, and now they’re recording! (At least, I think that’s what it means.)

Now, I made suggestions for the casting, (include my “If I were Queen of the Universe and money was no object casting” — Tom Hiddleston and Emma Watson.)  But I don’t know who they went with (or if they went with a man or a woman, or both).  So I’m just going to hold on to the fantasy of Tom Hiddleston reading my words for a little while longer.

Soon!!!

Posted by EASchechter in a-writers-life-is-never-dull, Audible, audiobooks, Sable Locks, upcoming work, 1 comment