Inner Ear Fiasco

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't updated the blog much this week, but on Monday I had to go in to the doctor because I'd been having dizzy spells and feeling super tired. Turns out there was fluid on my inner ear causing some equilibrium issues. Yuck! I'm still feeling a little bit off today, and this week has been mostly about resting and trying to get healthy. I also found out today that the reason I'm so tired is that I'm severely deficient in Vitamin D. Fun! No, no, not fun. At least I know there's a reason behind it, which means it's fixable. I already take Vitamin D supplements, but now I'll be taking a prescription strength Vitamin D for a while to increase my levels more quickly.

Hopefully, this will mean that I will have renewed and amazing energy to spend on writing DEMONS FOREVER and the book will be extra awesome. Haha. I can dream, right?

I hope everyone has an amazing weekend. I plan to rest a lot and work on the final details of my plot/organizing before Monday, when I start the writing process. It's been slightly delayed after not feeling well this week, but I don't think it will make any difference in the actual release of the book, which is still set for sometime this Fall. (early fall preferably!)

Getting Excited!

My work on DEMONS FOREVER has really just begun. I haven't actually written a word of it yet, to be honest, but that doesn't mean I haven't been working on it. Mostly, I've been going over my notes and working on the story-line. I think of all the books I've written so far, this one makes me the most nervous. Knowing the series is coming to an end is difficult. I want to make sure to wrap up all the loose ends. I want to answer all the questions that need to be answered. And I want to give all of the fans of the series an ending they can love. It's extremely important to me that this be one of the best (if not THE best) books in the whole series. That's a lot of pressure to put on myself!

But at the same time, I'm getting crazy excited about this book. So much of the story is finally coming together in a way that will hopefully surprise and delight you, hehe. I've been spending a lot of time in the Shadow World lately. At least in my mind I have. I think about it all the time, really. This is my first time ever writing a fantasy world. I've written several stories that are based in our world, but with a paranormal twist. Ghosts, zombies, witches, etc. But this is my first time actually writing another world all together. Granted, it's still connected to our world in a lot of ways, but it's still foreign and different and very exciting to create.

I had planned to start the actual writing of the rough draft last week, but art takes time, and I don't want to rush this book. I want to make sure I take the time I need with it to make it a fitting ending to the Peachville High Demons series. I will, however, be starting the rough draft this week. I'm definitely ready to start getting the story down in words. If you want to check my progress, you look at the word meter on the right side of this blog or on the right side of my website's home page at www.sarracannon.com. I try to update my word meter every day. I'm anticipating this last book to be a little bit longer than the rest. Book 4 was already close to 60,000 words, and I'm guessing Book 5 will close out at around 70,000. I never totally know until it's written, though.

Anyway, I hope you'll keep up with my progress as I go along. Once the rough draft is complete, I'll start revisions (which for me, usually means nearly completely rewriting the book), then critique, then formatting, and then finally publishing! Getting excited about DEMONS FOREVER!

Fictional Friends

You know those characters you can't get enough of? I'm talking about fictional characters. People in movies and books that you get into so much, you feel like you actually know them. I blogged about Harry Potter earlier this week, and I would definitely include Hermione, Ron and Harry in my list of "fictional friends". These are people I wish I could know in real life. They are so well written, you feel that they must actually exist somewhere.

My favorite TV show of all time is Sex & The City. Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda became my friends over the course of the six years they were on TV. Carrie and Charlotte especially for me. I signed up for HBO and scrimped and saved just to afford it through the hard times simply because I wanted to see my friends on Sunday night. And every week w

hen I would sit down to a new episode, I would just sigh and relish the joy of spending more time with them and catching up on what they were up to these days. When the series ended, it was like losing a friendship. It was like suddenly being cut off from people I had come to consider a part of my life.

Of course, I still had a life outside of the show. I didn't sit around and obsess over it during the week when it wasn't on, but even to this day, when I'm flipping channels and I see an episode, I have to stop and watch it. These women are fictional, but they resonated with me. Harry Potter was the same. Katniss Everdeen, too. I rooted for her in the Hunger Games. Cried for her. Wanted desperately to help her find a way out. Dagny Taggert in Atlas Shrugged was my friend for months as I read that book during a very dark time in my life. Stu Redman and Frances Goldsmith from The Stand are another two characters I rooted for so hard, I loved them. I felt what they felt and experienced the loss and hope of the end of the world through their eyes.

The sad thing about fictional friends is that once their story is over, it's over. Once the author or creator has said what they wanted to say, that character's story has been told. We don't get to see their life past a certain point. We miss them. We saw the world through them for a while and possibly had a piece of their perspective rub off on us. I know Dagny's perspective rubbed off on me big time. It changed my entire world view. I wish I had more of her story. I wish I could sit and talk to her from time to time. But she's already said all she can ever say.

Of course, the flip side to that is that those fictional characters are, in a way, immortal. Ayn Rand wrote Atlas Shrugged more than fifty years ago, but Dagny herself is timeless. She'll be changing people's views and affecting the world until the end of time. She'll never grow old. And anytime I want to be inspired by her again, she'll be there on the pages of that book, exactly the same as she always was. Our fictional friends are forever. We can always count on them. It's part of the magic of fiction and imagination and creation. It's part of the amazing miracle of stories.

What characters in fiction do you consider your friends? Have there been people in books or movies or TV that have shaped your world view? I would love to hear your stories and know that I am not alone!

Harry Potter - Is it Really Over?

I've been so excited about the final movie in the Harry Potter series, but as I was sitting in the theater last Friday night about to actually watch the movie, it suddenly hit me. It's over. I was honestly upset when the final book came out, but with the movies, it was as if the story lived on. There was still this unique way to see the characters and the story come to life visually. But now, what's left?

The ebooks are going to be released on J.K. Rowling's recently announced Pottermore, but the ebooks are just the books in digital format. Don't get me wrong, I fully intend to buy them and devour them again, but it makes me sad that the newness of it is over now that the final movie is out.

The funny thing about the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book in 2007 is that even though I preordered the book and picked it up the day it came out, I didn't actually read the book until October. I just didn't want it to be over. The Harry Potter series is seriously the very best series I have ever read in my life. It's genius. The characters became my friends. I wanted to live in that world (minus Voldemorte, of course) and know those people. I wanted to learn magic and go to Hogwarts. Yes, I was an adult even when it was starting, but it made me want to be a kid again. And just as a funny story, the whole reason I started reading the HP series was because one of my old teachers told me I needed to read them because the girl (Hermione) in the story was just like me, haha.

Anyway, I didn't read the final book for several months because I didn't want to let go. I didn't want to accept that there would be no more new adventures for Harry, Ron and Hermione. Yes, I wanted Voldemorte to die, but I still wanted to know what was happening in their world. When I finally sat down to read the book, I didn't come up for air until it was over. It took me about two days to read the whole thing and when it was over, my eyes were so red from crying, my husband thought someone died. And I guess someone did. Some of my good friends died in that final battle, and I felt their loss deep in my heart. I felt the loss of the series, too. The movies gave me a chance to relive some of that experience.

When I sat down in the movie last Friday night, I wanted that same emotional impact. I wanted to grieve for the final movie and for the end of one of the best series of all time. Unfortunately, even though the cinematics were gorgeous and the story was basically the same as the book, I just didn't get to that same place of emotional depth that I got to with the books. It makes sense when you think about it. The book took me days to read and the characters lived in my mind and my imagination. The movie was just over two hours long and there wasn't time for the same development you get in the book. That's one of the reasons I love books so much. You get so much more into the stories and you get to know the characters and their motivations and their souls so much better. It's part of the magic of reading that just can't be translated to the big screen.

Anyway, all this rambling is basically just me saying that I'm sad the series is officially over with the final movie. I can't wait for the ebooks to come out so I can start the series over and read it all again on my ereader.

What did you think about the movie? Have you had a chance to see it yet? Did you read the books? Did you love them the way I did? Have you ever had a series that touched your life that way?

June Sales Numbers

Life has been so busy with the release of Shadow Demons that I haven't had time yet to post my June Sales Numbers. I had a fan ask me why I was posting my sales numbers, and I wanted to just talk about that for a minute. When I was first thinking about self-publishing, I spent a lot of time reading the blogs of other self-published writers. I was so grateful when they would post their sales numbers so that I could see what was possible. I decided to share my own sales numbers for that specific reason and also as a public record of one self-published author's journey to success.

If posting my sales numbers has helped give you hope or helped you make the decision to self-publish, please let me know so I can know that I'm doing the right thing. I'm working on the idea of splitting my blog into two separate wordpress blogs - one more for fans and readers and one for other authors. For now, though, I guess this blog has to serve as both!

So, June sales! I was expecting my numbers to go way down since I hadn't had a new release since February. However, I think the amazing new book covers Robin Ludwig designed for me really made a huge impact. My sales for June were just over 1500 more than May. I couldn't be happier. As most of you know, my fourth book, Shadow Demons, came out July 3rd, so there aren't any of those sales marked on the June sales report. Here are the sales for June:

BEAUTIFUL DEMONS (Book 1 of the PHD series. 10/31/10)

• Amazon Kindle Store: 1704 US sales + 93 UK sales + 1 DE sales = 1798
• Barnes & Noble: 518
• Smashwords: 4
• Total: 2320

INNER DEMONS (Book 2 of the PHD series. 12/22/10)

• Amazon Kindle Store: 1323 US Sales + 54 UK Sales + 0 DE sales = 1377
• Barnes & Noble: 363
• Smashwords: 2
• Total: 1742

BITTER DEMONS (Book 3 of the PHD series. 2/24/11)

• Amazon Kindle Store: 1180 US sales + 37 UK sales + 0 DE sales = 1217
• Barnes & Noble: 291
• Smashwords: 1
• Total: 1509

Total June Sales: 5571

Overall Sales To Date: 26,538

I am super excited to have had a great month of sales. Thank you so much to everyone who has purchased a Peachville High Demons book and to everyone who supports the series. It really means the world to me. I never thought I would reach 25,000 books sold so quickly. I can also say that with the July release of Shadow Demons, I have already passed 30,000 books sold as well. It feels like a dream. I hope that the growth continues so that I can write books for a living for the rest of my life.

STOP: An Amazing Short Film by Mikel J. Wisler

I have a friend who was telling me about her brother's short film, called STOP. I kept meaning to watch it, but just finally got around to it today, and WOW. I should NOT have put it off, because it totally blew my mind. OMG, this short film is amazing! I wanted to share it here today, because I think it's the type of things fans of the paranormal will like to see. It's only a few minutes long, but it still manages to tell a great story.

When it was over, I so badly wanted there to be more! It seriously gave me chills. I am a huge fan of the horror genre and this is definitely on the edge of horror. I loved it and had to share it here.

I could spend hours trying to think about what exactly is happening in this film. Is he somehow caught in a time-loop? Why is he so beat up at the end? Has he been doing that to himself? The ghost-type image at the beginning is obviously him, but how? I'd love to hear any ideas you guys have about what might be going on in this short film. I have a feeling it's going to be on my mind for days! Well done Mikel J. Wisler!

I'm Back!

Yippee! I'm back from our Vegas vacation and ready to get to work. It was so nice to be able to take a real break with (almost) no work. G and I relaxed, partied, had a great time walking around Vegas and just spending time together. It was our first time back to the city since we got married there in 2009, so it was a fun trip for us. I even got to hang out with my buddy Cameron Diaz (well, okay, the wax statue of her from Madame Tussaud's wax museum)!

Now, I'm back and getting into writing mode again. I thought I would give a quick update on everything that's going on. First of all, SHADOW DEMONS is on Fire!!! It's been holding steady between 400-500 in the Kindle store for the past week, reaching a top so far of 413! I couldn't be more excited! I'm sending out a huge thank you to everyone who supports the Peachville High Demons series and has bought the book. I've gotten such great reviews that several of them have actually brought tears to my eyes. I feel so incredibly grateful for all the support and love and messages from fans.

DEMONS FOREVER, the 5th and final book in the Peachville High Demons series, is now officially underway. I want so much for this book to be an amazing ending to a great series. The thought of saying goodbye to Harper and Jackson and all these amazing characters in my head makes me sad and scared. I want to do the series justice with the right ending. That being said, I am going to dedicate so much of my life over the next couple of months to making sure this book is the best possible ending to the series. I'm not going to give a specific month or date for the release at this point, but I can say that I plan on getting it out at some point this Fall.

For you Indie authors out there who have been following my monthly sales posts, I apologize for not posting June's sales yet. I am in the process of figuring out a way to split my blog into two separate blogs - one for my fellow writers and one for fans of my books. That way, I don't bore readers with sales numbers and bore writers with details of my mundane life, haha. I will post my June sales numbers sometime this weekend, so stay tuned.

For the readers out there who have read Shadow Demons and given such high reviews, I just want to say another thank you! Seriously, you mean the world to me.

Las Vegas!

Taking a quick moment to say hello from Las Vegas!! G and I are having an amazing time together on our vacation. Sorry I haven't been posting much this past week since the book came

out, but I've been relaxing and giving myself a much-needed break.

I thought I would take a moment this afternoon to upload a few pictures I've taken of our trip so far! Here is me eating a mini-baguette at Le Village Buffet in the Paris hotel:

It was delicious! We also went to the Sugar Factory in the Mirage and I bought a Hello Kitty couture lollipop! Can't wait to take it with me into the casino tonight, haha. So cute!

Finally, I will leave you with a photo of the view from our amazing room at the Aria hotel. Isn't it amazing? And this is only one of the 3 giant windows in our suite! I took a video of the room, so hopefully I'll post that when I get home!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. I'm coming home on Wednesday, so you should definitely see more posts from me after that.

I also wanted to say a very heart-felt thank you to everyone who has already purchased Shadow Demons! Your support means the world to me. I've already gotten several good reviews, which makes me so incredibly excited! The book flew all the way up to #615 in the Kindle store in the first couple days it was out and has stayed steady in the 600-700 range. I couldn't be more grateful for all your support! Thank you!

Shadow Demons Available now on Kindle!!

I've been hitting refresh about a million times today! Finally, Shadow Demons is now available on Kindle! When I search the Kindle store, it still doesn't come up in search, but if you follow this link, SHADOW DEMONS, you should be able to find it! So excited!!!

Yes, that's a lot of exclamation points, but I feel that exclamation points are in order. :P Now, I've also got lots of butterflies in my stomach waiting to hear what everyone thinks of the book. I hope you love it!

Shadow Demons is also available now on Nook and on Smashwords. If you enjoy the book or love the series, please take a moment to leave a positive review on any of the websites. Thank you so much to all my loyal fans for your support and excitement. I'm eternally grateful!

Now, I'm going to go downstairs and open some champagne :). Happy 4th of July and Happy release day for the 4th Peachville High Demons Book!

How To Get an Updated Version For Your Nook

It has been brought to my attention that both Books 1 and 4 had formatting errors in the Nook versions that led to pieces of chapters getting chopped out. I've found the problem now and have uploaded new, corrected versions of the books to the Barnes and Noble website. If you have a Nook and have already purchased these books, you can follow the instructions below in order to re-download the freshly corrected copy to your Nook or Nook for PC app.

NOOK:

• Go to "My Library"
• Scroll to the book on the top menu, then on the bottom scrolling menu, select "Item Details and Options"
• Scroll down to find "Archive", then click "OK"
• Wait as the book is archived.
• Once it is, go back to select "Item Details and Options" in your bottom menu.
• This time, choose "Unarchive" and then "Download" the book back onto your device.
• Now you should have the updated version of the book.

Nook for PC App:

• Go to "My Library"
• Under the book, there should be a + sign with the word "Options". Click on the + sign to bring up the menu under the book. Choose "Remove Local Copy".
• Now the world "Download" should appear. Click on Download to download the corrected copy of the book.

If you ever have any issue with one of my books, please do not hesitate to contact me. I want to make sure you have the correct copy of the book and can enjoy your purchase, so I will do everything I can do make it right.

Shadow Demons in Nook Store!

Shadow Demons is now officially on sale in the Barnes & Noble Nook store!!! It just went live a few minutes ago, and I am so excited (and nervous!). If you have a Nook and have been waiting for the book, here is a link to the download page:

SHADOW DEMONS

Thanks for all of the great support. I will post another update as the book becomes available for Kindle and in the Smashwords store.

Shadow Demons is Finally Done!

Oh my God, this is the best feeling in the world! Shadow Demons, Book 4 of the Peachville High Demons series, is finally finished! I feel really good about the final version of the book and am so glad I took the extra time it needed to come together.

I have officially uploaded the book to Kindle, Nook and Smashwords stores. Typically, they can take anywhere from 24-72 hours to list the book for sale on their sites. I will be posting updates here, twitter, and on my facebook page as the book becomes available at each site, so check back often.

I wanted to just say thank you so much to everyone who has been supporting the series. Also, thanks for being patient with this fourth book. I hope you'll find that it was worth the wait!

No Friday Excerpt

Just a quick post in case anyone was waiting for a free chapter from Shadow Demons this week. I won't be posting a chapter this weekend because the book will be coming out in the next couple of days! Yipppeee!

I am currently on page 137 of the final revisions pass. I'm working on the scenes my critique partners felt needed some work, and I'm getting closer and closer to the end!

Anyway, this is just a brief post because I want to get pack to the novel. I wanted to make sure no one was out there wondering where the next chapter was!

Stay tuned the blog here or twitter (sarramaria) or my Facebook page for updates throughout the weekend on the status of SHADOW DEMONS. I'll post as soon as I upload the book to each of the sales sites like Kindle, BN and Smashwords.

Welcome to Crazy Town

This is what my life is like on the eve of a new book release. Crazy Town. Last night, I met with my critique group (until 1 AM, so thank you guys for staying so late!) and there is some serious work to do to whip this book into shape. They all agreed that this book is great, but there are a few scenes that aren't quite working. After they all left, I combed through each of their notes, page by page and transferred all of their comments to my master document. For each scene that needs rewriting/tweaking, I put an orange flag.

Then, around 3:30 AM, I sat back and took inventory of what's working and what needs help. 15 orange flags. Not all of that is major issues, just some things that need to be looked at or made slightly stronger. That's where I am today. I woke up early, met with my personal trainer, went to lunch with my amazing husband, and now I'm in my chair, ready to kick some ass.

For those of you who are waiting on the book and hoping for a quick release, here is what my schedule looks like:

• Fix the 15 pages/scenes that need work.
• Go through the book again from start to finish, polishing and reading through for consistency.
• Format the book for upload.
• Upload the book to Kindle, Smashwords and B&N!!
• Once the book is uploaded, it typically takes 24-72 hours for them to officially list the book for sale. I have no control over this final part of the process, but I promise to post on twitter, facebook and here on my blog as soon as the books are live in each store.

Bottom line is this. I will not rest or stop working from now until the time when this book is ready to be uploaded. The only other commitment I have is going to a play of one of my ex-voice students tomorrow. Hopefully, the book will be finished by then, but all I can do is work work work until it's done! I've had several people email me over the past few days asking for a specific date/time when the book is coming out, but that's impossible to know for absolute certain. What I can tell you, however, is that, at the latest, the book will be uploaded by Sunday. I know that much for sure. When it goes on sale after that is up to the individual stores.

In the meantime, I'll be living in crazy town, working like a fiend to get this book ready for publication! It's so incredibly close now! I will keep you all updated.