Still Playing In the Sandbox

You can tell I'm getting pretty hyped about my upcoming WiPs because I'm playing with cover art and coming up with alternates. 

So this is the same image from yesterday, only kept in its unedited format and also shifted to the right. I want to emphasize the halo behind the head since it's part of the mental trap the MC will be getting sucked into. Also you can at least see my name in this case, so that helps.

And this is the alternate cover:

This works effectively in establishing the mood and atmosphere of the book, and every element suggests something important about Valérian. It's not as subtle as the first image, which is meant to work like a ruse, but either cover art will work. I'll be making my final decision down the line, of course, as it'll be a while before I get going on this.

I'm down to the final five chapters of Doppelgänger revisions, which I'll complete next weekend. Then it'll be another round of lighter edits. THEN it'll be The Shadow Groom, which will be another nice change of pace since it's going to be another comedy-horror based on the Grimm Brothers fairy tale. If I play my cards right, it'll be in the same vein as The Twilight Lover. 

As for my Payhip store, I do intend to offer sales each quarter, and that includes BOGO (Buy One, Get One [either free or half off]) sales that'll last two months. I'm still sorting through how best to stir interest in my books in between releases, especially since my backlist is not only extensive, but old. And getting even older by the month. 

I'll certainly talk about it here as the ideas come. And they do. I can't shut my brain off.

And We Have a New One!

And this is absolutely doable at this point. It's a long story, but I'll be enjoying more time here and there for my writing, which is really, REALLY doing a massive number on my brain and how it's working around calendar updates and stuff. Anyway, here we have a new book added:

I know, my name at the top tends to disappear depending on the image I use for the cover art. But the title is what matters more, and since I self-publish, I can do whatever I want. 

This story was inspired by several images I saved from Pinterest -- my go-to space for image inspiration. Specifically, this one, which I've been holding on to for God knows how long:

Oh, and not to mention this one as well: 

 

This is NOT, by the way, the Cupid and Psyche retelling I've been playing with in my head. It isn't a ghost story, either, but more gothic horror with a heavy dose of atmosphere. To an extent, I'd say it's closer in literary influence to Rebecca than mythology. 

 

Of course, I'm still working on my revisions for Doppelganger, so I might be slightly influenced by the whole double-walker element (though in the case of the new book, there aren't any hauntings save for psychological ones).  

 

So, yeah -- I'm really excited about this. It's been a while since I last got inspired with a new book idea, so this is amazing. At any rate, it'll be added to my queue, and it'll likely be coming after A House of Profane Gods. I'm still figuring out where to plant the overhauled Eidolon book, but that's kind of low on my priority list right now. 

Just Flapping Ye Olde Gums

It's a pretty disturbing idiom, isn't it: "flapping gums"? It's like -- YIKES, I can't unsee it! But it means to talk idly, so I'll hang on to that. Damn idiom. Can't get it out of my head now.

Anyway, like the gross post title says, this is just me blabbity-blabbing away in lieu of, you know, solid updates.

So firstly -- revisions for Doppelgänger are going disturbingly well. I should be done with the first round by the end of this month. Even a weekend before, come to think of it, but a lot of the work happened during the holiday weekend, when I was forced -- yes, FORCED -- to stay home for a four-day weekend. I wanted to go to work, people, but post-Christmas work is always light, and I had to redirect my energy. At least I got that done, and I'm happy with the results so far.

And that segues into another publishing calendar update.

I'll now have the chance to work an extra day here and there on my WiP (whatever it might be), which means another adjustment on my calendar. If things continue to go down this road indefinitely, I might be back to a more frequent release schedule -- like every 4 months instead of the target 6. The sweet spot would be every 5 months for the more frequent releases, to be honest, so I'll need to re-calibrate my brain into following that slightly tweaked rhythm.

I mean, there's a big difference between 4 and 6 but not so between 4 and 5. It's common sense, so why the hell am I overthinking stuff again? 

Secondly -- I've updated this site with the appropriate links to my Payhip store but didn't take out the old ones for Books2Read. My Book List page, in particular, have individual book links to their Books2Read pages, but the general link is now for Payhip. My site's navigation bar has been updated as well, and I'll leave it like that for now. 

Essentially my Books2Read store is still up and running, and I won't be pulling my books from any of the listings there; however, I'll no longer be using that for my primary store site whenever I advertise a new release. I understand that many folks prefer to buy books from their favorite online stores, and I'm not going to force their hands, but the focus will shift elsewhere. 

Thirdly -- I tried, but I gave up on the Dresden Files novel series. I read Storm Front and enjoyed it enough to want to read the rest of the books that are available at the library, but the next book I picked up was disappointing. I guess I'm not the audience for the series even though the premise sounds fun. But having the hero spend the entire book getting his ass handed to him while lusting after every woman he sees frustrated the ever-loving hell out of me. 

I did check out a couple of ghost story novels which I look forward to reading (The Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill and This House is Haunted by John Boyne). We'll see how those pan out. The great thing about the public library (one of the great things, I mean) is that there are thematic lists put together by library staff from different public libraries, and I get to check out the more obscure titles to enjoy. I bookmarked the page of recommended titles in the same vein as those two I mentioned.

There's the rub, I think. Super popular books like the Dresden Files (and I've read a good number over the years) end up disappointing me while books overlooked by the most vocal readers stick the landing. So it takes me longer to find the books I end up enjoying, hence my refusal to use Goodreads for that. Well, I deleted my account there ages ago, and I can't say I miss it.

And I guess that's it for now. I'm still tweaking my Payhip store, appearance-wise, so there may be small changes happening whenever you visit. At the moment it's simple and functional, and that's all I need for the time being.     

New Store Now Up (with 60% Coupon)

I finally have my Payhip store set up! 

It's going to be my main store front from this point on, and it takes both Paypal and credit cards via Stripe. There are no sign ups to purchase directly from me, and the benefit here is, of course, special sales available only through this store.

click the logo to go to my store

I've noted in my previous blog post that Draft2Digital is changing not only payment thresholds, but also royalty rates from their Smashwords store front. Plus their print book partner is raising their prices as well, but I'm not raising mine as a result since Print on Demand is way more expensive to begin with for customers compared to bulk printing, which I don't have.

So if you'd like to support me and cut out the middle man, buying my books directly from my Payhip store will significantly help. 

And for the rest of January through the end of February, I have coupons set up for my Curiosities, Arcana Europa, Masks, and Miscellaneous collections. All books in those collections are 60% off with specific coupon codes. You can buy as many books as you'd like, of course. I ain't stopping you. 😊

As another perk of buying direct, this store will be the only one where I'll be offering future discounts, which involves the rest of my collections save for Grotesqueries since those books are already steeply discounted at a flat 99 cents. In fact, all of my 99 cent books from all collections won't be on sale for that reason.

FOR KINDLE USERS: Please note I'm only selling DRM-free Epub files. You can still purchase my books, download them (you own them, after all), and send them via email to your Kindle email account. When Amazon receives the files, it'll convert them to their proprietary format so you can read them from your Kindle device or app on your phone. Easy peasy. 

I no longer offer Mobi files since Amazon's discontinuing that format (unless they've already done so), and Epub is the best format to use for any device. 

For print books, I added a link to Bookshop Org on the navigation section of the store. That'll take you to a general page for me where you can look for stores where you can purchase print books. Whenever you can, please do support smaller indie stores though my books are also available through Barnes and Noble, etc., if you prefer. 

I'll be adding my store links to this site this weekend, but for now, feel free to peruse the store. And as always, thank you so much for your support!

Looking Into 2026 and Beyond

I've been self-publishing since 2016 (and with a small press from 2008 - 2016), and while I've been pretty satisfied with where I am currently with Draft2Digital, I am considering going back to selling direct via Payhip, which I tried to do a few years ago. While it's true that I'm more likely to enjoy success selling direct if I were a more popular writer with a massive and loyal fanbase (I'm not), I still would like to offer that as an option to readers.

The main reason for this move is my royalties, which are very, very small. Draft2Digital also takes a percentage of my net sales, which leaves me with pennies at the end of the day, especially with my preferred prices for my long novellas being only 99 cents. They also recently added a threshold to their payments, which will delay what little I already earn by a month or two months or whenever my sales cross their new threshold. 

Recently their royalty rates via Smashwords shrank, and it affects authors across the board. Then their print platform also raised prices on printing each unit, further shrinking another income source (for what it's worth) for me. I rarely sell print books, really, and the argument for just ditching it as something that isn't worth the trouble is compelling, but I still would like to keep that option available.  

Draft2Digital is a business first and foremost, and I don't begrudge them this. They have the right to make these changes even if those don't benefit writers on the lowest end of the sales spectrum like me. 

So if I'm only going to be making a couple of dollars here and there, it's best if I were to keep as much of the sales as possible. One great thing about selling direct is that customers don't need to sign up for an account in order to access the books. I can also offer sales exclusively through that platform, and there's no need for sign ups or anything. 

It's going to take a while for me to get my store up and running, and when it's done, I'll post about it here. Maybe I'll end up pulling my books from all bookstores while keeping them available to check out from library services and simply selling them directly through Payhip. I've toyed with the idea again and again, and arguments can be made either way, but I suppose I'll cross that bridge when I get there.