Let’s Make an Audiobook!

A.k.a. THE KICKSTARTER IS LIVE!

I have so many awesome things to tell you about this kickstarter that I don’t even know where to start! This is my fourth kickstarter, and it’s also the one that’s taken the most prep work. The other three only took a couple weeks to get ready, but this one took more like 10! And it’s basically my dream kickstarter from a backer’s standpoint – a variety of items that make you feel like you’re part of a fictional world.

And by that I mean that the kickstarter is back-to-school themed, complete with school paraphernalia, and you choose whether you’re going to Heroesworth or Vilmore. You don’t just get to feel like you’re part of a fictional world, you get to make choices about your place in it!!! I can’t tell you how happy that makes me!

Speaking of bringing fictional worlds to life, you can also get a recording of a short, customized message read by Damien! Or any of the other Renegade X characters! Basically, everything I talked about in this post is there.

If you’ve been waiting for the next audiobook, this is your chance to make it happen! If you can pledge, that’s great, and if not, please help spread the word! (Actually, please help do that anyway!) Let’s make this the best Renegade X kickstarter yet!

Go check it out!

On Sale Now – The Persistence of Renegade X!

The latest installment in the Renegade X series, The Persistence of Renegade X, is here! Grab all three novellas for only .99 cents each for a limited time!

This novella takes place between books 4 and 5.

Watching Damien’s two favorite siblings for the night—and stealing his sister Amelia’s title of “best babysitter”—should be easy. It shouldn’t involve his mom calling and begging him to watch his awful half brother. And it shouldn’t involve having to go rescue his two best friends from a superhero mission gone wrong. And it definitely shouldn’t involve getting stranded in downtown Golden City with all the kids he’s supposed to be watching. Especially not when the night’s almost over, and it’s a race against the clock if he wants to get everyone home before his parents and, more importantly, Amelia find out anything ever went wrong.

Available now in ebook and paperback!

Coming Soon to a Kickstarter Near You

I’ve been skeptical about doing a kickstarter for the next Renegade X audiobook (which is book 3, The Betrayal of Renegade X, for those of you just tuning in), but you guys have been asking for it, and the idea’s lit a fire in my brain and won’t let me go, so you guys are going to get the chance to make this happen.

And maybe I shouldn’t be skeptical about it – after all, we raised enough to produce the book 2 audiobook during the kickstarter to publish book 3 (which is still one of the most awesome things that has ever happened, so good job, guys!), so I may have underestimated how well an audiobook kickstarter will do. Though it’s still a lot of money to raise in just a short time, which is always nerve-racking!

One of my goals for this kickstarter is to have incentives for everyone, not just the audiobook fans. So even if you haven’t been listening to the audiobooks, there’s something for you here. It’s going to be back-to-school themed – the only question is… will you be attending Vilmore or Heroesworth? >:)

Possible incentives include:

  • The Betrayal audiobook, obviously!
  • Maybe the audiobooks for books 1 and 2. There might be a way to include them, but I need to talk to ACX first and find out.
  • A mention on a thank-you page on my website.
  • Vilmore and Heroesworth school supplies: keychains, notebooks, T-shirts, and blankets.
  • A special ebook omnibus that includes all four main books, plus the novellas, including the one I’m currently working on that doesn’t have a title yet but is basically Renegade X meets Adventures in Babysitting, plus some yet-to-be-determined bonus content.
  • A recording of a short, personalized message of your choice read by Damien (or any of your other favorite Renegade X characters). This could either be completely custom, as in written by you, or I can make something up for you.
  • A diploma from the school of your choice, either Heroesworth or Vilmore, with your choice of specialty/major. (Or for those of you obviously going back to school, what with your notebooks and your T-shirts and whatnot, this is, like, a pre-diploma. Something to put above your desk as a motivator to get all your villain homework done and stuff.)

Let me know what you think in the comments or if there’s anything I’ve left out! All of the physical items are things I can get through Zazzle, which has a shipping program where you pay $10 and have free domestic shipping, which will mean free shipping for you guys, as long as you’re in the US (international backers will still have to pay extra for shipping, unfortunately), and more of the money raised will be able to go toward funding the audiobook.

And if you haven’t tried out the audiobooks yet, you can start here. (<—- I get a bonus if you use this link to sign up, just FYI.) If you’re new to Audible, they give you a free audiobook for signing up, and then you don’t have to stay subscribed if you don’t want to. And if you’ve already bought the ebooks for book 1 or book 2 on Amazon, then you can get each corresponding audiobook for only $7.49, even without being an Audible member.

Anyway, I am super excited about this and I hope you guys are, too!

 

Upcoming Sneak Peek!

Just a heads up–newsletter subscribers are getting a hilarious sneak peek at The Rivalry of Renegade X next month! If you’re not signed up, you can do so here: https://www.subscribepage.com/e7w5g1. (I’m always paranoid that I’m going to spell it “sneek peak,” but looks like I made it through. *phew*)

Also, you may have noticed, if you’re viewing this on my site, that the website has a new look. I loved the old theme, but it had some issues, like not showing the drop down menus properly and layering the heading so it was on top of literally everything. So, at least for now, I’ve switched to something cleaner and easier to deal with. Though I find it kind of hard to read, but I find everything hard to read, so I might just need new glasses. My Scrivener files are all turned up to 175% right now…

No audiobook news yet. The contract I was waiting for (unrelated to the audiobooks, but that would have paid for the next book) is still maybe happening, but it’s been a year and a half, so I’m not holding my breath on that one. But the audiobooks are still really important to me, and it is still happening, I just don’t know when. I keep coming back to the idea of crowdfunding it somehow, but it’s a bit tricky because I can’t give away the existing audiobooks, due to exclusivity rights, and I’m not sure a kickstarter for it would be successful (I’d need to raise at least $2500, not including paying for incentives and fees). Patreon is a possibility, but I keep talking myself out of it, because I’m not sure what I could offer or how it would work to do a big project like that on there. I just picture it taking months and months and still not making it and then everyone hating me forever. Anyway, opinions/suggestions on this are welcome!

Honorbound – Cover Reveal and Pre-Order

It’s here! I am so excited to show you the super gorgeous, amazingly shiny cover for Honorbound! I’ve seen it a bunch of times now, and every time I’m still like, “Whoa.” This cover was created by the uber talented Fiona Jayde of fionajaydemedia.com. If you’re an author looking for an artist, I wholeheartedly recommend her! She was great to work with, her prices are more than reasonable, and her artwork is crazy awesome!

Anyway, not only does it have a cover, but Honorbound is available for pre-order! I listed the release date as May 29th to give myself plenty of wiggle room, but the book is close to being done and I plan to have it out by the end of April, sooner if possible. It will be part of Kindle Unlimited, and there will be a paperback release to follow. I am really hoping to also do an audiobook version, but I haven’t talked to the narrator yet, so I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up (including my own). Plus, as you all know, I am woefully behind on the Renegade X audiobooks, so this one will have to go to the end of the queue. (And yes, those audiobooks are still happening.)

Honorbound, Take Two

For those of you waiting for the Dragonbound sequel, here’s an updated (read: completely new) blurb:

When Amelrik proposes, Virginia couldn’t be happier, even though she knows the king of Hawthorne clan will never allow his only son to marry a St. George. But the situation turns out to be even worse when Cedric, the appointed heir, refuses to come home and marry for a political alliance. If Cedric doesn’t show, the king’s going to make Amelrik take his place, meaning Virginia will lose him forever.

 

Determined not to have their lives decided for them, Virginia and Amelrik set out to find Cedric and convince him to come home. But when a group of paladins takes over the city Cedric’s been living in, on the grounds that there have been recent dragon attacks, they put the town on lockdown. No one’s getting in or out, dragon or human. Sooner or later, any dragons stuck inside the town will have to transform and reveal themselves, and Virginia, Amelrik, and Cedric find themselves trapped.

 

Things only get worse when Virginia’s dragon-hunter sister, Celeste, shows up to aid the paladins. And as the dragon attacks increase, so does the town’s paranoia. Time is running out, and soon Virginia and Amelrik are fighting just for survival. If they can’t figure out what’s really going on, and soon, it won’t just be their love that’s in danger—it’ll be their lives.

COVER COMING SOON!!! Add it on Goodreads!

Someday It Will Happen for You

Yesterday was the 10th anniversary of when I got the offer for Renegade X! I can’t believe it’s been 10 years, or all the crazy stuff that’s happened in between. Nothing’s gone how I thought it would, lol.

I believed the book was going to be a huge success and that I’d always be under contract and have a great career as a traditionally published author (except I didn’t think the “traditionally” part because indie wasn’t a thing then). Ha! Didn’t happen.

Years later, after it had gone out of print and I re-published it, along with the sequel, I believed I’d only sell a few copies. My grand hope was to sell 20 copies of book 2 a month. That also didn’t happen, but in a good way, because sales WAY exceeded that.

Both these stories make me laugh now.

And I remember before I was published how BADLY I wanted it and how sometimes–most of the time–it felt like I would never get there. And now that seems ridiculous.

I also remember the years when it felt like my career was over before it had really even started and how it felt like nothing was ever going to change. And now that feels ridiculous, too.

And in a few more years, I’ll probably look back at all the things I’m worrying about and struggling with right now and think lol, what was I worried about? Of course it all worked out!

But if someone had told me back in the day not to worry about getting published, that of course I was going to get there, of course I was going to be good enough and get noticed enough someday… I don’t think I could have gotten past my anxiety enough to listen. I would have thought that published authors always say that, because it’s easy for them, now that they’re not struggling. (Lol.) Maybe that’s true, and maybe that worry is important, to some extent.

But to all the aspiring writers out there, I’d like to say this: someday it will happen for you. Someday you’ll get that contract or that bump in sales that snowballs and changes everything.

And someday something else will go wrong, and you’ll think you screwed up your one chance at success, and it’s over.

But it’s not.