Technically, It has been a bit longer than a month, but I digress.

There was a time in my life where I thought being a self published indie author was "settling". While I would still like to be traditionally published, I'm pleasantly surprised with my experience so far. I feel like I'm actually enjoying promoting myself (maybe I should have tried it more when I was with a publisher). It's been fun to make social media things. I've also really had fun connecting with fellow writers on Twitter (I've gained hundreds of followers this month! Yay WritersLifts!) While I wish they were readers too, I'm still happy to get exposure and help other writers in the process. Lastly, It's been cool to watch sales slowly come in. I used to have to wait for my end of the month email from my former publisher to find out if I made anything. I'm pleased to say that in this one month of being Indie...I've made more than half of what I made last year with my former publisher. Not the $10,000 dollars a month that an author I've been watching on youtube makes, but I guess you have to start somewhere.

So let's talk updates first and then I'll talk about what's coming. 

ALL of my books are now available as paperbacks in addition to ebooks. Limited Truth's print cover was a pain in my rear, but it's all good thank goodness. I have been playing with the prices to see if it will help sales, and I think it's too early to tell right now if it's helping or not.

I've also been working on getting my books on other sites like Barnes and Noble, Google Play, and iBooks. So far Barnes and Noble has everything Amazon has, I'm still waiting for account verification on Google Play and iBooks.

My cover artist (who is a doll and you should all use her! She does great work and you don't have to break the bank!) http://www.thebookkhaleesi.com/ gave my Squad Treble Series a refresh in honor of being free from my former publisher! They pretty much look the same, but it just looks crisper! Aren't they pretty?

Now for things coming up...

I will be doing a COVER REVEAL for book three in the Squad Treble Series on Monday! I did things a little backwards, and I had the cover made before the book was finished. I thought that it might motivate me now that I have the freedom to work as I wish. It's working because I've been furiously typing away! It's so nice to be back in Settontown. No promises on a release date (I have to go back to school in some capacity in over a month) but I'm hoping no later than the Holidays.

I'm going to continue to keep working on promoting myself and advertising my books. I'm thinking maybe I'll have a monthly budget for this. Worried that I will spend more than I gain, but anything is better than what I was doing before. 

That being said, if you do reviews in exchange for free copies of books, I will HOOK YOU UP. 

Yours in Writing,

​Kay

I feel like a lot has happened since I got the rights back to my books and I wanted to update you on things.

You already know about Semi Sweet, but I have started editing and making notes for my next draft. I have been putting each chapter into a website that reads it aloud and it's been extremely helpful. It finds all those pesky missing words that you would probably gloss over because you know the story so well. It also helps with punctuation and over using words. I can only do so many chapters a day without wanting to go crosseyed though. I think I also finally figured out my timeline so I can finally get that tightened up. 

As for my other books. I made the executive decision to self publish my three previously published books. All the places I submitted passed on them. I get it, and though I'm disappointed that my Squad Treble Books will never be traditionally published, I am still happy that they will finally get finished. Right now all three titles are available as ebooks and Enshrine is available as a paperback as well. The other two should hopefully be not far behind. I don't want to give too much away right now as I want it be a surprise but I've worked on the 3rd Squad Treble book recently and I'm hoping to be able to drop the name (and the cover because I can never wait and do anything the right way) at some point in the distant future.

I've made more money this week with self-publishing than I did most of 2019 for my books with my previous publisher and I've really tried to up my game with promoting myself. I've had to spend a bit of money, but I'm hoping that it will help in the long run. So far I'm having the best results with Twitter but I'm hopeful that it will all work out. Thinking about another blog tour (especially because I can say it's a new 2020 edition hehe)

Also, I may make audiobook versions of my Books? Jon has the equipment so why the hell not? Overall, feeling very positive about things and feeling like a real career writer. (Mostly because it's summer and mostly because reality is a terrifying place right now and this keeps me busy)

So plan to hear from me more (Yes, I know I've said this before). I might have to be annoying now so that every couple of days someone buys my books. LOL.

Yours in writing,

​Kay

So I finished the initial draft of my 4th book. It's a serious accomplishment as I have not completed anything since Fall of 2018. No lie, I've got at least half a dozen partial manuscripts, but between stuff covered in my previous post, day job commitments, and having my son, nothing was really sticking. Hopefully I've got my groove back and the 5th and 6th book and so on can follow.

Not sure if other writers can relate, but I jokingly refer to completed stories as my book children. I made them, they are a piece of me. This particular book is special because I feel like it's proof that I'm getting older. I feel like my writing has improved (Thank you, content editing), but it's the first book that isn't trying to be something it's not. People swear. There are some morally grey choices, All  of my main characters are over 20 years old. 

There was a point in my life that if someone asked me to share what this story was about, I would have told them this tale would never see the light of day. I can't go into all the details why, maybe someday I'll be able to, but this story started out as a bit of a real life alternate universe but changed a lot. It got better (and less cracky) with age. LOL It has some dashes of real life (I worked at a courtesy desk at a grocery store like Olivia), but nearly everything else is original.

So what's next? I'm giving myself the weekend off. (It's so weird. I kind of hate it) and then editing really starts on Monday. I have a couple pen pals that expressed interest and I've been sending them a chapter at a time so the first two thirds have already been revised but the last third needs to be worked and then I'll probably do it all over again. I had someone tell me about a cool editing app that I'm going to try. The short term goal is to have it ready for PitMad on September 3rd as I've never had anything ready or not previously published in time. After that, it's back to querying. I'm hoping that because it's not so niche that maybe I'll have better luck.

So here's to secret admirers, doomed relationships, disco parties, crappy part time jobs, Colorado, estranged families, unconventional adoptions, huge dreams, and of course, cupcakes <3

Your in writing,

​Kay