My Bookplate Design

Hi all!

This week I'm going to show you my new bookplates! If you're unsure of what a bookplate is, it's a sticker that you can put in a book to signify ownership or hold a signature from the author. In this case, I will be using them to sign and send to people who want signed copies of books. It will be my first official author merchandise, apart from my books, that is!

Without further ado, here it is:

I struggled for a while with the design, as I wanted something that represented me and my books. I considered a dragon, but I'm not planning on limiting myself to fantasy books. I also thought of a snow leopard, like the one used in my logo, but decided against that too. Eventually I picked a cat, as I think that represents me and my books best. Every book I wrote contains a cat and I knew it would be the perfect fit.

Who is the cat on the bookplate?

The cat is Russetheart, my Warrior Cats original character. I wanted to use a cat, but not just any cat. Warrior Cats is what really got me into writing, and I wrote so may stories about Russetheart. Her design has changed a lot over the years, but this is the one that I'm sticking with for now. She used to be a solid ginger, but now she's a dark ginger with white paws. She's long-haired, though started off as short-haired, with deep blue eyes. Although she'd been through a lot and was an outcast to most of her Clan, she's strong, ambitious and loyal. I knew she would be the perfect cat for my bookplate.

The signature will be above her, which is what she will be looking at.

You can find the artist here: Fiverr

What the bookplates look like when printed - each sticker is three inches big

I will be doing a giveaway of a few of these at some point, once I've figured out how best to package and ship them to avoid damage. I might do more bookplates in the future with different designs, maybe one for each genre I write in. For now, I'm more than pleased with using Russetheart to represent my work.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

I hope you enjoyed reading and are looking forward to the bookplate giveaway, see you next week!

Looking for some new fantasy books to read? Check out the ones in this bundle:

NEW YEARS HIGHS AND MYTHOLOGY

The History of Elemental Dragons

Hi all!

As promised, I'm going to talk about my feelings after setting up the pre-order for Cinder and Fire.

When I first starting writing Blood and Water when I was seventeen, I never imagined I'd get this far. I never even considered the fact that publishing might become a reality rather than a dream. I just wrote because I felt like it, and wanted to write something about dragons. I had no plans for the series at that point, I just started writing based off of rough ideas I had. After three months, the first draft of Blood and Water was finished.

My first book.

The first book that I had actually written all the way through, beginning to end. I couldn't believe it. I left it for a month before starting the edits on it, researching word counts and the best way to edit. It was round 90K at that point, so I knew I had a lot of tidying up to do.

Fast forward two years and hundreds of Blood and Water drafts later, I started my second one. I didn't start it straight after Blood and Water because I honestly had no idea where the story would go. After years of not touching it, the urge to continue became too much and I finished Venom and Earth in eight months. I had just started my apprenticeship and was at the height of my depression, so it took a lot longer than what I wanted.

The first draft of Glass and Ice was completed in one month for NaNoWriMo 2018. I averaged 2771 words a day, and knew that I wanted to take writing seriously.

So I started querying.

I sent out about eighty in total, each of them rejections. One of them begged me to pass the book onto someone with more 'experience' and a 'better writing style'. I refused, and so my self publishing journey began. I also wrote the first draft of Cinder and Fire during this period.

Here I am today, three books under my belt with the fourth one coming out in two months time, and I couldn't be happier. In July I'm also planning on releasing a boxset of all the Elemental Dragons books, the cover is here:

So, how do I feel about publishing the last book in the Elemental Dragons series?

Over the moon that I managed to accomplish what I set out to do, but also sad that it's coming to an end. These were my very first books, and I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for them. I'm going to keep writing and keep publishing, as that's what makes me happy. I hope that I can inspire others to write or even just help them get through the dark period in their lives. If I can help just one person, it would mean that I've done something right.

On another note, the proof copies of all four books will not be staying on my bookshelf. The first three belonged to my Grandfather before he passed, and I don't like the thought of them just sitting there. Instead, I'm going to set up a raffle for them and donate the money to charity. He loved cats, so I am going to go with a cat charity. I'm not sure when I will set this up as it is a painful process, especially to pass on the books that belonged to him, but I want to do something in his name. Something he could be proud of. Once I'm ready, I'll get in touch with the cat charity that I would like to donate the winnings to and set it up. I will make posts about it, so keep your eyes peeled.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! Next week I have treat for you all - my bookplate reveal! I received them this week and they look absolutely gorgeous, I'll do a giveaway on a few of them too! See you next week!

Looking for some new fantasy books to read? Check out the ones in this bundle:

NEW YEAR HIGHS AND MYTHOLOGY

Cinder and Fire Pre-Order Live

Hi all!

The final book in the Elemental Dragons series is available to pre-order on Amazon!

I can confirm that it will be released in both ebook and paperback on 13th April 2021.

You can pre-order it here:

While you’re waiting for it to come out why not sign up to my mailing list? Not only do you get monthly updates about projects I’m working on and cover reveals, you also get one FREE enovella set in the Elemental Dragons universe when you do!

That’s it for this week! Next week I’m going to talk about how I feel about finishing and publishing my first series! See you next week!

Looking for some new fantasy books to add to your bookshelf? Check out these ones:

NEW YEARS HIGHS AND MYTHOLOGY

How to Market Books Online When You Have Anxiety

Hi all!

This blog post is the result of a tied Twitter poll, with the other winner being posted last week! This time, I'm talking about how to make marketing your books easier when you have anxiety. Although my anxiety is a lot better than it used to be, I still get anxious when posting on social media sometimes. I thought I would share a few of tips and tricks to decrease the amount of anxiety I feel and make marketing easier.

Schedule posts.

With marketing my books, I schedule the posts. Why? Because then I forget about them. When I log into my social media for the day I remember that I scheduled a book quote or promo image when I see my notifications. This alleviates my anxiety when checking social media, as scheduling marketing posts a month in advance means I inevitably forget when some will be posted.

Don't post anything you're not comfortable with.

Some people like to share absolutely everything on social media, but you are under no obligation to do the same. You post what you want to post, not what other people want you to post.

Likes ARE engagement.

I've seen this argument on Twitter quite a few times, and I'm sick of it. If you 'like' a post, you have engaged with that person. Some of the arguments I've seen have tried to make people feel guilty for not commenting on their posts. Some say that likes are false engagement as it's simply a click. Do not get sucked into this. My anxiety means that sometimes I just can't bring myself to comment on a post, no matter how mundane it is. Instead I give it a like and move on. You are not obligated to comment on every post you like. Take care of your mental health, don't worry about someone getting upset about a like.

Only follow people you're comfortable following.

This is another thing I've seen that is prevalent on Twitter. You don't need to auto follow everyone back who follows you. If you look at their profile and see things you aren't comfortable with, don't follow them. Again, you are not obligated to follow everyone who follows you.

Newsletter swaps.

I use StoryOrigin for newsletter swaps, as it involves no direct communication with the other author unless you want there to be. There's no back and forth emails discussing list sizes and who is promoting what. You pick what you want them to promote, what you'll promote in return, and the date. I find this much easier than approaching authors directly.

Promotions.

Again, I use StoryOrigin for a lot of promotions. It's the same as newsletter swaps, you pick what you want promoted and they'll either accept your work or not. No direct communication is necessary. This helps me with my anxiety a lot, as I'm not great at talking to people who email me out of the blue. You can then schedule these on your social media with the link and an image if the promotion has one.

Post a promotion for your book once a week, and build up from there.

Test the waters and see how you feel after posting weekly. If you feel ready enough to increase those posts, then do so. You will not get angry comments from people about how you constantly promote your book. There are people who post about their book ten times a day and just get blocked. Posting once a week will not send an angry mob after you.

Don't spend too long on social media.

Take frequent breaks, and don't constantly check your statuses. It won't help you alleviate your anxiety.

Once you post something, leave.

When I post on Twitter or Facebook, I make the post and then leave. I usually come back an hour or so later with a clear head, instead of sitting there worrying why no-one has liked it yet.

Do what you are comfortable with.

If you don't want to post on social media on days you aren't feeling up to it, don't. You don't have to push yourself to go on social media and post anything. Ignore the ones that say you have to post multiple times a day to get interaction. You don't need to do anything. There are no rules as to how much you post. It's on your terms.

If someone messages you something nasty, block them.

Don't dwell on whatever they've said. Just block them so they can no longer communicate with you.

Don't feel bad for being anxious.

If people tell you that you aren't doing enough, ignore them. Anxiety is a mental illness that can't be switched off. Some think that you might not be doing much to promote your books but in my eyes, one post is better than nothing. Your anxiety does not make you less of a person. Remember, one person's definition of 'not enough' does not need to match your definition. One post means that you are speaking up about your work. You don't need several in one day.

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

Looking for new fantasy books to read? Check out the ones in this bundle!

Reading Treasures

Why Authors Need Boxsets

Hi all!

I ran a poll on Twitter and the result was writing a blog post about boxsets. If you don’t know what a boxset is, it’s a collection of books in a series that you can buy as one product. In this post, I will cover the following points:

Design

Pricing

Readers

With design you need to think about the following points:

Spine Direction

Thumb Notch or no Thumb Notch

Boxset Cover

Although spine direction and thumb notch comes down to personal preference, the cover is the one you need to think about the most. You can get a whole new cover designed for it, or you can use your book covers. Depending on your covers, you could have multiple books on one cover. However, if your books feature the same model on each cover I would advise on picking one. With my boxset, I have chosen the cover for Blood and Water with my cover designer's advice, as they said having the same girl on the cover three or four times wouldn't look as good. Listen to the advice of you cover designer, they have more experience in that field than most authors.

Here is an example of a boxset of Warriors by Erin Hunter. The spines are facing the right and it does not contain a thumb notch:

Boxset of ‘The Prophecies Begin’ by Erin Hunter

With pricing, you need to make sure that it's reasonable, but also priced high enough for you to make a profit on advertising. I've found that a lot of authors on Amazon either set it at 99p for sales or slightly cheaper than buying each book separately. For example, each individual book may be priced at £2.99 and there's five in a series, but the boxset is priced at £7.99. Have a look through boxsets of authors in your genre to see what they're pricing their boxsets at.

Although most readers are happy to purchase a book and wait for the next one, there are a lot of people who will only buy a series when all the books are out. A boxset is perfect for them, as they can download all of the books in the series at once and read them at their own pace.

Now, onto the pros and cons.

Pros.

More readers.

As I stated above, some readers wait for all the books in a series to be published before picking up the series. A boxset is the perfect way for them to buy all your books at once.

Cheaper than buying all the books.

Having the boxset cheaper than all of the individual books combined will tempt some readers into checking out your books. It's a low risk, high reward scenario.

More reviews.

The readers who only buy boxsets gives you a new stream for reviews. The more reviews you have, the more Amazon will push your book in front of new eyes!

Cons.

Boxset design.

It's another thing to spend money on, and you need to make some design decisions so it matches other books in your genre. Although you can make it yourself, if you're not familiar with graphic design it might not turn out the way you like.

Amazon doesn't allow indie paperback boxsets.

Self published authors can only publish boxsets of their ebooks. If a reader wants the paperbacks, they'll have to buy each one separately. Or, you could combine all the books into one file. This would be one huge book, which would have high shipping and printing costs. Plus if it goes over a certain page count, Amazon won't print it.

Less profit.

Because boxsets are cheaper, you'll get less profit than if you were to sell each book individually.

Amazon doesn’t like the word ‘boxset’.

I’ve heard a lot of authors talk about how Amazon only likes the word boxset for paperback books. With ebooks, they prefer you to use ‘collection’ or ‘omnibus’. Some Amazon ads have been rejected for using the word boxset, so be careful when naming and advertising.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! Next week I'm going to talk about how to market with anxiety. See you next Sunday!

PS; looking for new books to read? Check out the ones in this bundle!

Reading Treasures

Want to Help me Design Characters?

Hi all!

This week I want to highlight my monthly newsletter once again - with a new interactive feature!

Every month I will post a character that my subscribers help me design.

This month, I ran a poll to decide what Maelstrom would look like, Marine’s dragon counterpart. My subscribers decided that she would be: a rare emerald green and white dragon with green eyes.

If you want to help me design more characters, you can sign up to my mailing list! You also get a free eNovella when you sign up!

The cover for the Elemental Dragons Short Story Collection, which can be downloaded free when signing up to my newsletter

For February’s newsletter, my subscribers will help me with the design of Frostbite, the dragon counterpart to Frost. Designing dragons will continue for another seven months after this, after that I will then be asking for help with designing other characters for different books.

If you would like to help me design characters, you can sign up for my mailing list here: Monthly Newsletter.

My newsletter doesn’t just contain dragon designs either! It also includes:

Monthly news.

Round-up of monthly blog posts.

Book swaps with other authors.

Book bundle promotions.

Writing excerpt.

Cover reveals.

If you are interested in signing up, again the link is here: Monthly Newsletter.

That’s it for this week, I hope to see you each month with my newsletter. See you next week!

PS: looking for some new books to add to your virtual bookshelf? Check out the ones in these book bundles:

Reading Treasures

New Year, New Monsters!

Cinder and Fire Chapter One Preview

Hi all!

As promised, here is a sample of chapter one of Cinder and Fire. If you haven’t read the previous books and don’t want to be spoiled, I recommend skipping this blog post.

“Rocky?” I peer into the darkness, trying to see who had snuck into my new room.

“Fuck.” A deep voice replies, but not Rocky’s.

The light switch is flicked on next to the man, who crosses his arms on the bed as my eyes adjust to the light.

“Oh, Mason.”

“Glad to see you too,” he snorts back. “I got the wrong room.”

“Marco?” I guessed, not needing to think hard about who he had been after. They are brothers, after all.

“Yeah,” he sighs, rubbing his eyes tiredly. “How is he?”

I haven’t seen him in months, but he hasn’t changed much. His brown hair still sticks up in tufts, though now at wild angles. His brown eyes are glazed over, exhausted. Clearly a lot has happened since I’ve been gone.

After months of being on the run from Ray and his cronies in the city, it feels weird to see Mason again. The others will probably find it weird too. After all, Marco and Braith left for me, and left everyone else behind.

“He’s okay.” I reply with a shrug. “Not happy that Ray has brought us back here.”

“I can imagine. What was it like out there? What did you see?”

After being out of camp so long I forgot that the kids stuck inside have no idea what’s going on out there. We must be the first escaped ones to return.

“It’s… Huge. There’s a city filled with people and dragons, there’s farms – proper ones. But no-one seems happy.” I explain, though not very well.

“Why aren’t they happy?”

I cast my mind back to the Wyverns; how they perished at the hands of humans after Thula freed them. People were terrified of them, and the Anthropomorphic. Anything that they don’t understand is a threat. I suppose that’s why Marine was so angry with me all the time. We were both threatening each other.

“They’re scared. Now that Ray is in power, they have even more reason to be.”

“Well, if it’s anything like it’s been here, I don’t blame them.” He shuffles across the bed, letting me sit down.

“What has happened here?”

“Wyrms,” Mason says with a shiver.

He doesn’t need to say any more. I’ve dealt with the nasty dragon sub-species enough times, although thanks to my heightened element, I can fight them off more easily than before. They have little control over me and Braith. I guess the others must be the same.

“Where are the dragons?” I ask timidly. I hope that Aqueous isn’t trapped in some sort of farm again.

He shrugs. “They keep them away from us usually. They think it lessens the pain, but it doesn’t.”

I cross my arms and look up at the grey ceiling, hoping it might morph into the night sky. Sleeping rough had been horrible at times, but it was better than sleeping under Ray’s roof.

Before I can say anything else, the familiar cold feeling creeps up my throat.

Shit.

I’ve used the shark too much the past few days.

Mason must have noticed me going rigid as he places a hand on my shoulder. “Haze, you okay?”

The cold forms into an icy lump, which I’m able to cough up before it can get stuck. Mason looks at me with a mixture of shock and disgust.

“Serum failure,” I explain with a small smile. “It means-”

“That the serum they injected is failing,” Mason finishes uncomfortably. “Violet has it too. Though she’s going nuts, not coughing up ice.”

Kicking the lump of ice under the bed, I clear my throat until it’s not croaky anymore. “How is everybody?”

“Surviving,” he jokes. “Just.”

My heart sinks at what’s ahead for us all. I don’t want to be trapped here again, especially with the Wyrms around. Ray can get away with anything he wants, and there’s nothing we can do about it.

“I’m going to find Marco,” Mason mutters uncomfortably. “I hope Rocky didn’t end up in his room.”

My heart flutters. My brother! How could I forget I’d be seeing him again?

***

That’s it for the preview, you’ll have to wait to read the rest until April! The book will be going up for pre-order in the next few weeks, so keep your eyes peeled. See you next week!

PS; looking for some new books to read in these cold Winter months? Check out these books:

New Year, New Monsters!

Reading Treasures

My 2021 Writing Goals

Hi all,

As promised, here are my writing and publishing goals for 2020! After how well I reached my goals last year, I thought I would push myself a bit more this year to increase my writing output.

Write three books.

I want to finish all the books in the Curse of Anubis series this year, starting with Limbo in a few weeks time. Once I've finished them I just need to decide what to write next!

Plan nine more Elemental Dragons books/novellas.

That's right, you heard me, nine. I want to continue the Elemental Dragons universe once Elemental Dragons #4: Cinder and Fire is out. But I also want to publish my backlog of books, so I will just be focusing on planning for this year! The series will be called 'Original Elementals' and will follow each of the Original Elementals, from Marine to Stellar. I have already asked my newsletter subscribers to help with designing the dragon characters!

Publish two books.

This year I'm hoping to get Elemental Dragons #4: Cinder and Fire published in April and Mute published in October. I don't want to increase my publishing output too much as I don't want my mental health to suffer. Like last time, both will be entered in Cover Wars!

Create and publish Elemental Dragons boxset.

With the final book in the series coming out, I can release a boxset! For those who prefer to download the series in one go, or others who have been waiting for all the books to come out before reading,

Get two covers designed.

As before, I'm going with Deranged Doctor Design for my next two covers. Mute and Years will have covers by the end of the year, and I even have a cover image picked out for Mute:

Edit three books.

I have found that as I have written more, I haven't been using so many drafts to edit. Now that my editing speed has picked up, I want to edit more books in preparation for publication. Years will be one of them, but I haven't decided on the other two yet.

Hire a sensitivity reader.

I want to hire a sensitivity reader for the Celestial Plague series. I'm researching quite a few now, and hope to have the books in the hands of one by the end of the year.

Write more short stories.

I'm hoping to write more short stories this year, with the goal of submitting to magazines or anthologies. I want to add more publications to my bookshelf!

Write Curse of Anubis short stories/novella.

In preparation for Curse of Anubis being eventually published, I want to create a reader magnet for it. So far I haven't decided whether this will be short separate stories like the Elemental Dragons Short Story collection, or a novella focused on one character like Celestial Plague: Seashine.

Read 30 books.

Double my goal of last year, which I blew out the water. Of course the first book I read this year was a Warriors one, which I thought was amazing!

Participate in both Camp NaNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo.

I've found that I write a lot better with a deadline, so I will be joining Camp NaNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo again this year.

That's it for this week! Next week I'm going to post an excerpt from chapter one of Cinder and Fire... See you then!

PS; looking for new books to add to your reading list this year? Check out these book bundles, filled with dragons, unicorns and creatures alike!

New Year, New Monsters!

Reading Treasures

2020 Year in Review

Hi all!

Next week I'm going to write about my 2021 writing goals, so this week I thought I would look back on my writing goals of 2020!

Write two books

I've managed to write four books this year:

Celestial Plague #3: Purgatory

Years

Mute

Curse of Anubis #1: Halfway

Publish two books

Elemental Dragons #2: Venom and Earth and Elemental Dragons #3: Glass and Ice were both published this year, thanks to everyone who has read them!

Get three covers designed

Elemental Dragons is now complete with covers, and I managed to get one for Celestial Plague: Seashine. Seashine's cover will be revealed at some point next year.

Edit two books

Although I wanted to edit Celestial Plague #1: Nirvana, instead I edited Mute. But I still manged to meet my goal, despite swapping the books around!

Write four short stories

I've written multiple short stories this year, though I didn't manage to get any published. I've posted a lot of them in my monthly newsletter for my subscribers to read. I also hope to combine some into an anthology of sorts once I have enough of the same genre.

Read 15 books

Due to lockdown I managed to blow this goal out of the water. I have read 100 books this year! Most of them were ones that I had wanted to read for a while, like Wings of Fire and Five Nights at Freddy's. However I also discovered new authors this year whose work I love.

Participate in Camp NaNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo

I participated in both this year, with writing Years, Mute and Curse of Anubis #1: Halfway.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! Next week I will discuss my goals for 2021. See you next week!

PS; looking for new books to add to your list in the New Year? Check out these book bundles:

Fantasy Reads for Cold Winter Nights

New Year, New Monsters!

My Second Radio Interview

Hi all

If you haven't seen my Twitter or Facebook posts, you may not have known I appeared on SoundArt Radio for a second time, being interviewed by John Eden. This is the second time I have been interviewed by him, the first being in August of this year. Although the main focus of the interview was my third book, Elemental Dragons #3: Glass and Ice, we also discussed my other projects and the broader Elemental Dragons universe.

Like last time, John gave me two gifts, a book and a plush cat, which we have named Normie. (John, if you're reading this, it did indeed frighten Mishka to the point where she runs as fast as lightning if we try to move it)

The presents John gave me, though this time Mishka is giving them a wide berth

I played three songs from my writing playlist, which were:

Bellyache - Billie Eilish

Sweater Weather - The Neighbourhood

Your Love, Deja Vu - Glass Animals

Like last time, my interview wasn't until 12.30pm, but I met with John an hour beforehand to catch up and discuss our Christmas plans and also what I'm writing in the future. He also asked that we dedicate a few minutes to talking about my climate change book, Years, as he has done poems and segments on this in the past. Again, he maid me feel at ease before we started the show.

We discussed the dragons of the Elemental Dragons universe, though this time in much more depth. John asked me questions about how the dragons evolved and their different sub-species. This time the interview was more centred on Draca and the Wyrms, but we also discussed Fairy Dragons as well. He also said that I should make a 'Dragonology' book about the dragon species in Elemental Dragons, which I may make one day!

My boyfriend told me I did well, as I answered all of John's questions without slipping up and managed to push most of my nervousness to the side. Again, I think I stumbled when reading a passage from Glass and Ice, but that is something I'm trying to improve on. My anxiety makes me rush through reading as I feel that people will find it boring, but that's something I have to work on myself. Afterwards my boyfriend and I spent the day together, had lunch and cuddled with Mishka next to the heater. John has kindly invited me on his show again next year, which I can't wait to attend! This show will be about Cinder and Fire, the final book in the Elemental Dragons series.

John’s show, Feast of Eden, is on Thursdays at 12:30pm GMT if you want to check out his other interviews! His show is having a break for Christmas, but will be back on air 14th January.

By the way, there’s still time to enter my Christmas giveaway! Read the rules and enter here: Elemental Dragons Virtual Advent Calendar

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading. If you listened to the show, I hope you enjoyed it! See you next week, where I will be discussing how I did with my goals for 2020.

PS; looking for some last minute reads before Christmas? Check out the books in this bundle!

Fantasy Reads for Cold Winter Nights