The Sweetie Chronicles

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~William Wordsworth

Slacking

I have seriously been slacking when it comes to blogging and social networking. I've barely been posting on twitter or facebook recently. Bad Sarra. I promise it hasn't been all happiness and roses here, though. I've been having some major morning sickness (something I have learned is grossly misnamed since it lasts 24/7), which is making it difficult to get a lot of work done. I have never been one to handle nausea well. I'm a wimp about it actually. And my life has been nausea city these days, haha.

Yes, I know, excuses excuses. Where's the next book? LOL. I know a lot of you are waiting for news on RIVAL DEMONS. I get messages every day asking about the book to see how it's coming. I can't tell you how much it means to me to get so many messages of support and so much interest about Book 5. And I know so many of you have been waiting patiently for more news, so here is the latest update:

Book 5 is so close to being done! I have been working as hard as I can to finish the book and get it out to my critique group. I get so hesitant to announce specific release dates, because I've had so many delays lately. The last thing I want to do is disappoint anyone. On the other hand, I feel confident enough that RIVAL DEMONS will be out in December. I'm hoping for a pre-Christmas release, but I will try my best to keep updating you here and on FB and twitter as we get closer to a release.

I know I also said I would show you guys the new book cover for RIVAL DEMONS! I promise I haven't forgotten. I will be revealing the cover art for Book 5 this Friday here on my blog, so stay tuned! I really hope you'll like it!  I'm excited to show it to you and excited to get RIVAL DEMONS up on the virtual bookshelves.

The Newest News from Amazon - Kindle Owner's Lending Library

I got an interesting email today from Amazon. They announced that Amazon Prime members, in addition to already receiving free shipping and getting some streaming media, will now also be able to borrow books for free from the Kindle Owner's Lending Library. There are limits, of course. You can only check out one book a month. There are no late fees or anything like that, but you do have to return your previous book in order to get a new book. Also, there are a limited number of books currently available in the lending library. From what I've heard, it's somewhere around 5000 books to choose from.

I think it's an exciting development. Actually, it kind of makes me want to sign up for Amazon Prime, haha. I used to have a membership several years back, but back then, all that the membership gave you was free shipping. I didn't order enough merchandise to make it worth it. Now, however, there are a lot of perks that come along with an Amazon Prime membership. Free two-day shipping. Unlimited streaming of TV shows, movies, etc, similar to Netflix. And now a free book a month. Considering that some of these NYT bestseller books are $10.00 or more each, it's really a good deal. The Amazon Prime Membership is only $79 a year.

I have a feeling this new announcement will actually spur some people who are already members of Prime to go ahead and spring for a new Kindle. I mean, with the low price point now of only $79 for a brand new Kindle, why not? Especially when you have access to so many free books?

It's interesting to me that some authors already have their defenses up about this lending library. They are worried that they will not get paid for books that are lent through this new library. But to me, that's really narrow thinking. Free books have always been available, whether through borrowing from friends or borrowing from a physical library or from stealing or whatever. Authors still have always been able to make a living writing books. Readers still buy books, even when there are free ones to be had. I personally think it's a great announcement. I don't think it will have a huge impact on books sales except that it will be another way to connect readers with books and authors they love.

My only question is how do I get Beautiful Demons into the lending library? So far, I don't think they are letting a lot of Indie authors into the lending library. All I know is that if given a chance, I would definitely put the Peachville High Demons books into the lending library. Any chance I have of introducing my series to more readers is a huge opportunity. I have a feeling that right now, Amazon is sort of hand-picking books and authors, which currently doesn't include that many Indie authors (if any), but I would be incredibly excited if my books were to be included in any way.

What do you think of the new Kindle Owner's Lending Library? Are you an Amazon Prime Member? Would this new perk make you want to sign up for Amazon Prime? I'm interested to hear what you think.

My BIG Personal News!

This is going to be another personal post, along with a brief update on RIVAL DEMONS. First of all, I wanted to say thank you to everyone who left comments and sent me messages when I opened up in this post about my personal journey with PCOS and infertility. As I said before, I have wanted to have a baby for a very long time and even though my husband and I had been trying for quite a while, we had not been successful. I told you that we were preparing for our first round of IVF (in vitro fertilization) in October. I know many of you have been checking up on me to see how everything was going, and I appreciate the support with all of my heart.


Today, I have some very happy news to share with you! My husband and I are expecting our first baby on June 16th, 2012!!!!!!!! No, there are not enough exclamation marks in the world to express how excited and happy I am about this baby. And part of the true miracle of it all is that we found out I was pregnant just two days before we were supposed to begin IVF. How amazing is that?? Our baby was conceived naturally, and I am so grateful to have been able to bypass all of the medicine and shots and emotions involved with such an intense procedure. Believe me, I completely know how incredibly lucky we are.

On Saturday, we were blessed to be able to see our little one on an ultrasound for the first time. The baby's heartbeat fluttering on the screen was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life! I am almost 8 weeks along, so it is still early, but I was never one for keeping secrets, haha. And since so many of you continue to send me encouraging messages, I wanted to share this amazing news with you all.

Now, for the RIVAL DEMONS update! Since it's NaNo WriMo, I am back on track working on Book 5. I know the technical rules are that you are supposed to write a brand new novel during NaNo, but I'm breaking the rules a bit to work on my revisions for this book that I know so many of you are patiently waiting to read. I won't lie to you - I'm struggling a lot with morning sickness and fatigue during this first trimester. It's been extremely difficult to focus when I'm not feeling well, but I'm doing the best I can! My hope at this point is to finish the revisions by the middle of November, then pass the book off to my critique group as soon as possible. What this means for you is another slight delay in the release. However, I can promise you this - RIVAL DEMONS will be out in December. I am going to make it happen no matter what! I'm pushing myself for a very early December release, but things are slightly unpredictable right now, so I don't have a date set yet.

IF (and that's a really BIG IF), everything goes well with the revisions, I am hoping to actually pass the book off to my critique group by the middle of the month and then start working on Book 6's rough draft right away. After such a long break between books 4 and 5, I think it would be awesome if I could get Books 5 and 6 out one right after the other in December and January. I'll keep you updated!! Meanwhile, I'm going to be making a brand new word count meter for the sidebar here on the right so you can follow my progress with the revisions. Hopefully, the count will fly!!

So that's my BIG news!! Thank you so much again to everyone for all the support and advice and encouragement throughout this process. It truly means the world to me.

Happy One Year Anniversary, Beautiful Demons!!

I'm a little late with this happy birthday celebration, but as of October 29th, it's been exactly one year since I first published BEAUTIFUL DEMONS!!! The decision to become an Indie author and self-publish my books in ebook format was a huge decision for me. Like most writers, I had always wanted the validation of seeing my book in a physical bookstore and having an agent or editor tell me they loved and believed in my work. It took a lot of time and hair-pulling to finally move beyond that false idea of validation and realize that my future was staring me right in the face.

When I first self-published Beautiful Demons, I was scared, but excited. I had no idea if anyone would want to read it. The idea of bad reviews made me insane, haha. Luckily, a year later, the results are way beyond what I ever expected. Since last year, I have published the first four novels in my Peachville High Demons series and have sold a total of 45,641 copies between them. Beautiful Demons leads the group with 16,404 copies sold so far, and I couldn't be happier or more grateful.

I honestly feel that my decision to become an Indie author and take my career into my own hands was one of the best decisions I could have made. I love the creative freedom I have. I love feeling closer to my readers. I love being able to make the final decisions about the plot and characters without someone in New York telling me what I have to cut. Now, I'm not saying my books are the most amazing in the world or that I couldn't benefit from an editor or agent in some way, but in the end, I know this was the best route for me. I'm loving every minute of being an Indie author, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I wanted to say thank you so much to everyone who has supported the Peachville High Demons series, either by writing reviews, buying the books, or telling a friend about the series. I appreciate you all so much. It's been an amazing year, and I'm looking forward to hopefully many more years of success!

Sarra Cannon

Young Adult Indie Author

I always secretly wanted to be a cheerleader. And a witch. Now, I write about both. The first five novels in my Peachville High Demons Young Adult Paranormal series are available now in ebook!
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Beautiful DemonsThe Time Traveler's WifeLoveroot: PoemsFear of FlyingWe the LivingAnthem

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