The Sweetie Chronicles

Starting Demons Forever!

2012-01-29T02:21:00.000-05:00

Today is the day that I officially start work on the final book in the Peachville High Demons series, Demons Forever. I'm so excited I can hardly see straight!!! I already have a rough outline of the book, and I am pretty confident I know how the series ends, but to be honest, things always turn out different when I begin to write. The story always goes in its own direction, and I just have to go with it. If you looked at the original outline for Rival Demons, you wouldn't even recognize the story! But in the end, the story came out exactly as it was meant to, in spite of me :P.

My plan is to spend the next three days finishing my outline - filling in all the details that I see in my head. Here's a quick pic of my outlining tools for the next few days, hehe. I kind of have a passion for stationary and post-its and stickers, lol.

Since this is the final book in the series, I'm going to spend some serious time thinking about the previous books. What questions have been left unanswered? What story threads need to be tied up? Like I said, my rough draft never ends up being the full story. Writing a book for me is sort of like putting together a puzzle. Except I don't always start with all the right pieces. During my rough draft, I put together the pieces that fit and throw out the pieces that just don't work. Then, I rewrite the story until it's right. It's a feeling inside that just knows when something fits together the way it was meant to.

So tomorrow I start the hard (but fun) work of starting to piece together the puzzle for the first time. On Wednesday, Feb. 1st, I will start the actual rough draft. I am hoping the words come easy, hehe. I know I'm definitely excited about writing the final piece of Harper's story.

So far, I've received a lot of messages from fans of the series wondering when the final book will be out. Right now, I don't have an answer. I'm hesitant to give an expected date, because I know that pregnancy is somewhat unpredictable. I don't want anyone to be disappointed if I miss the deadline this time around. All I can do right now is assure you that I will be working on the book every day, and I will get it out as soon as I possibly can. Again, take the time to sign up for my mailing list or follow my blog if you want to stay up to date on my progress with the rough draft.

I hope you are as excited as I am about Demons Forever!!!

Brief Update and a Thank You

2012-01-27T10:52:00.000-05:00

First and foremost, thank you to everyone who has been so supportive over the last week. Rival Demons has been out for exactly one week, and the reviews are starting to come in. All 5 stars so far on B&N and Amazon, which is so exciting I can hardly see straight! Thank you to everyone who has purchased the book and to those of you who have left reviews. I sincerely appreciate your support of the series!!!

I also wanted to give a brief update on Demons Forever. I've been getting a ton of messages from people who have just finished book 5 and are dying to know when Book 6 is coming out. Eek! I haven't actually started writing the book yet, but I do have an outline. Next week, I will officially start the rough draft, and I promise I'm going to work hard to get this book out faster than the last one. I definitely want to get it out a good amount of time before my baby comes, but I'm hesitant to actually make a guess on a release date until I've at least finished the rough draft. I promise I'll keep you updated here on my blog and through my mailing list. If you haven't signed up yet, you can find the sign-up form here on the right side of this blog at the top of the green section. I don't mail out often, but I'll definitely be sending out a mail when I have a release date set for Demons Forever, so stay tuned!

Today on the web, Beautiful Demons is the featured book over at Kindle YA Authors. This is a great new site that features bargain YA books for your Kindle, so check it out! Also, as you all know by now, I've joined a group of Indie YA and MG authors called the Indelibles. We're all taking turns posting on the blog (a post goes up every Monday, Wed., Friday) and today is my day!!! Stop over at the Indelibles blog if you have time and leave a comment so I don't feel lonely hanging out over there, hehe.

Again, thanks to everyone for your support. I know those of you who have read Rival Demons are already anxiously awaiting Demons Forever, so I'm going to be hard at work finalizing my outline and getting ready to start writing next week! Yay!

RIVAL DEMONS Now Available!!

2012-01-20T07:07:00.004-05:00

Yay!! Rival Demons, Book 5 in the Peachville High Demons series, is finally available! Let me tell you, writing this book was no easy task. With everything that's been going on in my life, it was difficult to forge ahead. Still, all of your sweet comments, notes, and support kept me moving forward. It felt so amazing to hit the 'publish' button!!!

Now, after all the wait, Rival Demons is here. You can purchase it on:

I always feel like I'm on pins and needles when a new book comes out, so nervous about whether the fans will like the book. I can tell you that I put my heart into writing this book, and I hope that you love it as much as I do. Thanks for all of your support and for always believing in me, even when times are tough.

Now, let's celebrate!!! Have a great weekend everyone! And if you do pick up the book and you enjoy it, feel free to leave a review on Amazon, Goodreads, B&N or wherever you like to go to talk about books. Thanks for everything.

XOXO,

Sarra

Only 2 Days!

2012-01-18T09:18:00.000-05:00

Just two days before the release of RIVAL DEMONS!!! I am so excited, and as usual, very nervous. Releasing a new book into the world is always such a crazy experience. After working so hard on a book, I just want everyone to love it, hehe. Rival Demons is by far the longest book so far in the series, coming in at just over 72,000 words. (For comparison, Shadow Demons was about 62,000.) The entire book takes place in the shadow world, where we find out so much about Harper and about Jackson! Their journey is dangerous and filled with emotional ups and downs, but hopefully you'll find it as fun and exciting as I have.

Right now, the book has been read by my husband and my critique group. We worked together to clean up most of the typos and any problems with the plot or story. Now, I'm working on all of the fun formatting that goes into publishing an Indie ebook. Tomorrow, I will load the finished book onto my Nook and Kindle devices to double check the formatting and make sure everything looks great. If all goes according to plan, I will be able to upload the books to Amazon, Smashwords and Barnes and Noble late Thursday night. At that point, it usually takes them anywhere from 3-12 hours to get the book listed for sale on their site. My ultimate wish is that the book will be on sale when everyone wakes up Friday morning!!

Check back here on my blog for buy links and news as it comes in! Also, if you just want to get an email notification about this and any new release of my books, please sign up for my mailing list. All you have to do is enter your email into the small box here on the top of the green sidebar to the right. I'll be sending out an email as soon as the links to buy are up and ready to go. I hope you're as excited as I am about the upcoming release of Book 5. I know it's been a longer wait than normal, but I appreciate your patience and support. The day is almost here (finally) !

FREE ebooks from the Indelibles Blog Hop Stop

2012-01-15T13:25:00.000-05:00

Just a quick update!

I have just sent out smashwords coupon codes for FREE downloads of the first two books in my series. As I mentioned earlier in the week, EVERYONE who entered my contest will get free books! I guess I'm just in a really super good mood since Rival Demons comes out next week, yippee!!!!

However, there are a handful of people who commented on the blog but didn't leave an email address. I tried my best to pair your name with the emails in my mailing list, but for a few of you, I just couldn't figure it out. If you believe you entered the contest or left a comment on my blog last week during the blog hop, please send me an email at sarracannon(at)gmail.com or leave another comment here with your email address, and I will send you the free smashwords coupons!!

Thanks again to everyone who stopped by. That was fun wasn't it?? And don't forget that RIVAL DEMONS, Book 5 in my Peachville High Demons series, comes out this upcoming FRIDAY!

Thank you!!! And A Special Surprise!

2012-01-12T12:55:00.000-05:00

Thank you so much to everyone who entered my contest and for all who signed up for the mailing list or left comments or just stopped by on the blog hop! It was such a fun event and was so exciting for me to see the comments rolling in. I really appreciate every one of you who took the time to stop by my blog during the Indelibles on Fire blog hop.

As a special surprise, instead of choosing just one single winner for the free ebook copies of Beautiful Demons and Inner Demons (or Rival Demons for my die-hard fans!), I have decided to go ahead and give free copies to each and every one of you who entered my contest!!! Remember that in order to qualify, you had to have done TWO things - 1) Signed up for my mailing list and 2) Left a comment on the blog to say that you entered or stopped by.

Tonight and tomorrow, I will be tallying up all the email addresses and names of those of you who did both things and will be sending out a winner's letter to you through email. It may take a couple of days since I'm also in deadline mode with Rival Demons coming out next week. In this email, I will send you a Smashwords coupon code for the two free ebooks, which you can download in any format you prefer (anything from EPUB to Mobi to PDF!).

For those of you who have already read the series and are looking forward to a free copy of Rival Demons, I will send out an email letting you know you when and when you can expect to get your free download code! The book should be out next Friday, so keep your eye on your email!!!

Thanks again to everyone who entered. I can't tell you how much fun it was for me to have such a great response. Thanks for supporting Indie authors and for coming out to cheer on the Indelibles.

Introducing the Indelibles

2012-01-08T17:02:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the Indelibles Blog Hop!

In celebration of our official launch, we are giving away a KINDLE FIRE! If you’d like to start at the beginning of the INDELIBLES ON FIRE GIVEAWAY BLOG HOP, then please start here: http://indeliblewriters.blogspot.com/

If you are already mid-hop, then welcome to your next stop! By following the link at the bottom of this post, you can proceed to the next author (and check out the awesome, individual giveaways we are doing along the way!). If you are entering to win the KINDLE FIRE, don’t forget to make a note of the keyword at the end of every blog post - the words spell out a phrase you will need to enter the contest on the last stop.

Marketing guru Shelli Johannes Wells has teamed up with twenty-four other indie and small press authors to bring you the Indelibles.

“We are indie authors who write middle grade and young adult fiction.

We are dedicated to leaving a permanent mark on the world with our stories and words.

We are the Indelibles.”

Hi! I am Indie Author Sarra Cannon.

I am so excited to be a part of the Indelibles! I have always loved reading YA fiction, and once I started writing it, I felt like a fire had been ignited inside of me. In 2010, I made the decision to self-publish my first Young Adult Paranormal series, The Peachville High Demons series, and I have never looked back. Self-publishing is awesome because it allows me to write and publish books faster without having to follow traditional rules. I can step outside the box and be true to my own stories. It's an honor to be a part of a group of YA authors who also made the choice to either self-publish or publish with an Independent Press.

As for what I write, my stories always have a paranormal element and a bit of romance. I love reading and writing about witches and magic, so you'll find a lot of that in my novels as well. This week on my blog, I'm giving away ebook copies of the first two books in my Peachville High Demons series. Here is a short teaser about the first book, BEAUTIFUL DEMONS:

In Peachville, even the cheerleaders have a dark side...

Harper Madison isn't like other girls. She has extraordinary powers, but her inability to control them has gotten her kicked from so many foster homes she's lost count. Shadowford Home for Girls is her last chance, and she hopes Peachville High will be the fresh start she needs.

But when evidence ties her to the gruesome murder of a Demons cheerleader, Harper discovers this small town has a big secret.

In order to enter the giveaway for ecopies of the first two books in my series, simply sign up for my mailing list at the top of the green sidebar ------>, then leave a comment below with your name**. It's that easy! Oh, and for anyone who has already read the first four books in my series, I will give you a free copy of Book 5, Rival Demons, instead! (to be released January 20th)

Feel free to also find me on Twitter and Facebook!

My Blog Hop Keyword: OF

Visit the next Indelibles author, Rashelle Workman, HERE.

*Contest runs from 12:01 AM Monday, January 9th to 12:01 AM Thursday, January 12th (or in simpler terms, midnight Sunday night to midnight Wednesday night). If you've stumbled upon this post early, keep in mind that all of the links may not work and the final contest entry form will not be active until Sunday night at midnight when the contest officially begins.
**Must be 13 to enter or have parent's permission. Winner will be chosen through Random.com. Contest ends Thursday, January 12 at 9pm EST. No substitutions. Void where prohibited.

MILESTONE: 50,000 Books Sold!

2012-01-02T18:32:00.003-05:00

Is this really happening? That's the question I ask myself every day. Am I really making a living doing what I love to do? It's the most amazing dream come true, and none of it would be possible if it wasn't for all of you out there who took a chance by picking up BEAUTIFUL DEMONS and giving the Peachville High Demons series a try.

Yesterday, I hit the huge milestone of selling my 50,000th book. It took just a hair over 15 months to reach that sales goal, and I'm really proud of that. I was looking back at the other milestones I've posted here on my blog and here is a quick breakdown of what and when:

1,000 books sold - January 2011. I only had the first two books in the series out at that point, but it was a big accomplishment for me. When I first decided to self-publish my books, I knew I was taking a big risk. Would I make any money? Would anyone like my books? Would I ever sell a thousand books? Thankfully, the answer was yes to all of those questions!!
10,000 books sold - Mid-March 2011. This is when my books really started to take off. After book three, BITTER DEMONS, released in late February, I had a huge boost in all sales of my books with Beautiful Demons reaching an all-time high ranking in the Kindle store of #363.
25,000 books sold - Late June 2011. Just about a week before Book 4, SHADOW DEMONS, was released, I hit the 25k milestone mark and set my sights on the 50k. Well, if you read the post, you'll see I actually started day-dreaming about hitting the million book mark, but that's still years away, hehe. Someday...
50,000 books sold - January 2, 2012!! So you can see that I sold exactly 49,000 books in a year. What a dream come true!!!
100,000 books sold??? This is the next big goal I have in my head. I can't even begin to predict when I might hit that. Maybe by this time next year? I hope so!! I have some lofty goals set for 2012, especially considering the fact that I'll be welcoming a sweet baby boy in June. But I have so many stories I want to tell and I love to write, so I will keep working even if my writing does slow down a little bit.

Thank you to everyone who has read the Peachville High Demons series and continues to support the books and tell your friends about the series. I appreciate it with all of my heart! Less than 18 days now until RIVAL DEMONS comes out, and I hope you're as excited about it as I am. Just to tease you a bit, here is the description for the book: (Add it to your Goodreads To-read list!)

After narrowly escaping death at the hands of the Order of Shadows, Harper finds herself thrust into the strange and beautiful world of the shadow demons. But crossing through the portal doesn't mean she is safe. The Order of Shadows is determined to bring her home and transfer the Prima line to the Harris family. They send their most vicious hunters after Harper. Hunters who will not stop until they have found their prey.

Determined to keep her safe, Jackson takes her deep into an underground world filled with dangers of its own. Here, Harper will begin a journey that will teach her more about herself and her own path than she ever imagined possible.

Also, if you have a moment, take just a second to sign up for my brand new mailing list. You will find the sign up on the right sidebar just below the Rival Demons countdown ticker. I promise I won't send out any spam or share your email addresses with anyone. Mostly, the newsletter will be used for announcing release dates and important information about my upcoming books or contests.

Indie Book Fair 2012!

2012-01-01T14:53:00.000-05:00

Did you find a new Kindle, Nook, or iPad under the Christmas tree? Browse the Indie Book Fair and find a new ebook to break in that reader! These great new books were released Nov 2011-Feb 2012 by Indie authors, priced right so that taking a chance on a new author doesn’t have to break your wallet. (Check out my previous Internet Book Fair for other great Indie finds.)

[Indie = self-published or small-publisher, for the purposes of this post, because no matter how we’re published, we’re all in this together, trying to get the word out about our books]

Note: Links are given for Amazon, but most authors publish across all e-book formats. Click on the author’s name for additional purchasing options, including paper copies.

For Your Browsing Pleasure

Contemporary (Adult)

Build a Man by Talli Roland (Chick Lit)

Slave to the rich, rude and deluded, cosmetic surgery receptionist Serenity Holland longs for the day she's a high-flying tabloid reporter. Unfortunately, every pitch she sends out disappears like her clients' liposuctioned fat, never to be seen again. Then she meets Jeremy Ritchie -- the hang-dog man determined to be Britain's Most Eligible Bachelor by making himself over from head to toe and everything in between -- giving Serenity a story no editor could resist. With London's biggest tabloid on board and her very own column tracking Jeremy's progress from dud to dude, Serenity is determined to be a success, even going undercover to gain intimate access to Jeremy's life. But when Jeremy's surgery goes drastically wrong and Serenity is ordered to cover all the car-crash goriness, she must decide how far she really will go for her dream job. $0.99 on Amazon

The Golden Sky by ElisaHirsch (Memoir)

The night I met Cade I never would’ve thought that two years later, after we were homeless street musicians in Hawaii, we would have a little girl and another baby on the way. Our son was born with the type of birth defects that make televangelists cringe. The “death home” gave him a really nice funeral, the kind I’d never wished to attend. We lost it after that, totally cemented in our grief. Cade got into drugs, joined a rock and roll band, and I kicked him out of the house. That was how I met: Earl (an old man and unlikely best friend), the “big sag” (a middle aged woman who still flashed folks), Todda (the stripper next door), and Chris (a cowboy who fell in love with me). It wasn’t until I killed a rogue skunk, and my daughter nearly choked on a fry, that I gave my husband another chance. But could our marriage recover from the death of our son? $2.99 onAmazon

Someone Else’s Fairytale by E.M. Tippetts (Contemporary Romance)

Jason Vanderholt is the hottest actor under thirty with legions of screaming fans. Chloe Winters is a college student who hasn't gotten around to watching most of his movies. When they meet by chance, he is smitten, but it just isn't her fairytale. In fact, it could be her worst nightmare as her past, attracted by the bright lights of the media, comes back to haunt her. $0.99 on Amazon

Historical Romance(Adult)

The Duke’s Divorce by Anne Gallagher Available late January 2012

A simple trip to the Scottish Highlands finds the Duke of Cantin with a bride he does not want. With her impeccable beauty and fiery disposition, Fiona takes Society by storm. As their prearranged divorce proceedings draw near, can Fiona change his mind? Check author's website.

Literary Fiction

String Bridge by Jessica Bell

Greek cuisine, smog and domestic drudgery was not the life Australian musician, Melody, was expecting when she married a Greek music promoter and settled in Athens, Greece. Keen to play in her new shoes, though, Melody trades her guitar for a 'proper' career and her music for motherhood. That is, until she can bear it no longer and plots a return to the stage—and the person she used to be. However, the obstacles she faces along the way are nothing compared to the tragedy that awaits ... $6.99 on Amazon ALSO: Music Sample!

Mystery

Sherwood Ltd. by Anne R. Allen

Sherwood. The name immediately conjures up images of Richard Greene, Michael Praed and Russell Crowe. Or maybe that sly fox in the Disney version. Only, in Anne R. Allen's latest rom-com mystery the fox is a coyote and there's no Robin Hood. Or is there? In her usual inimitable fashion Allen peels back the layers, one hilarious subplot after another, until you just never know what's real and what's not. Rather like the Robin Hood legend. When the Manners Doctor, Camilla Randall, flies into Robin Hood airport with a suitcase in one hand and a book contract in the other she thinks she's leaving all her problems behind and is about to start a new life. If you look very carefully you may just spot the Sheriff of Nottingham, Maid Marian and even Little John hidden away. But as for Robin Hood himself... You'll just have to read it and find out. $2.99 on Amazon

Short Stories and Anthologies

The Initiate (Cloud Prophet Trilogy) by Megg Jensen (YA Fantasy)

Over a thousand years ago, the gods left Eloh's people and took their magic with them. To win back their favor, her people sacrifice ten female initiates every ten years. No has ever survived. There has never been a Chosen One. Forced into becoming an initiate, Eloh will try to find a way to beat the odds, stay with her boyfriend, and survive the fires that threaten to consume her. But will her lack of faith in the gods and her disbelief in their magic doom her to a painful death? $0.99 on Amazon

Eight by Karly Kirkpatrick (YA Paranormal Short Story Collection)

Prepare to be thrilled and chilled by Kirkpatrick's eight short tales in EIGHT. These eight stories, while short, pack a big punch. There are demon spirits, zombies, and even some human baddies. Each story comes complete with author's commentary. It also includes the previously unreleased short Grenades. $0.99 on Amazon

{CoverComingSoon} In His Eyes by The Indelibles (YA Anthology) - Available February 14th

Just in time for Valentines Day, The Indelibles bring you a one-of-a-kind young adult anthology! Twenty original short stories, all from the point of view of our favorite male characters - some are old flames from our novels and some were dreamed up especially for this anthology. Let these imminently crushable, swoon-worthy guys show you what romance looks like – in his eyes. Add to Goodreads TBR

The contributors to IN HIS EYES include award winners, frequent “Top 100” placers, and hot 2011 debut authors: S.R. Wells, C.K. Bryant, Elle Strauss, Susan Kaye Quinn, Jessie Harrell, Magan Vernon, Lisa Nowak, Heather McCorkle, RaShelle Workman, Ali Cross, Karen Amanda Hooper, Cory Putman Oakes, Laura Pauling, Stacey Wallace Benefiel, Sarra Cannon, Katie Klein, Cheri Lasota

Transcendent: Tales of the Paranormal byLani Woodland, Melonie Piper, Rita Webb, Wendy Swore, Melanie Marks, Heather McCubbin and Evan Joseph (YA Anthology)

Discover the secrets of a siren, fly with a hawk girl over the mountains of Montana, and flee supernatural party-crashers as the décor comes to life in this magical journey through paranormal stories. Along the way, watch for ghosts in a haunted house, or ride through the moonlight with a stranger. Save a comatose boy who has lost his soul, and don’t forget to bring your garlic and wolfsbane—you never know when the shadows will snag you. Transcendent includes eight stories of magic, love, death, and choice by some of the newest names in young adult fiction. $0.99 on Amazon

Young Adult

Open Minds by Susan Kaye Quinn (Paranormal/Science Fiction)

When everyone reads minds, a secret is a dangerous thing to keep. Sixteen-year-old Kira Moore is a zero, someone who can’t read thoughts or be read by others. Zeros are outcasts who can’t be trusted, leaving her no chance with Raf, a regular mindreader and the best friend she secretly loves. When she accidentally controls Raf’s mind and nearly kills him, Kira tries to hide her frightening new ability from her family and an increasingly suspicious Raf. But lies tangle around her, and she’s dragged deep into a hidden world of mindjackers, where having to mind control everyone she loves is just the beginning of the deadly choices before her. $2.99 on Amazon

Bound by C.K. Bryant (Paranormal Romance)

When a photo shoot ends in tragedy, Kira discovers her best friend, Lydia,has been keeping a secret. Knowing the truth, and accepting it, will change Kira’s life forever and thrust her into a world of ancient curses, magical objects, and savage enemies. What happens next will challenge everything Kira knows about her world, herself and the shape-shifting warrior she’s falling in love with. No longer the timid mouse her mother accused her of being, but a woman who finds the mental and physical strength to endure and survive. $3.99 on Amazon

Become by Ali Cross (YA Urban Fantasy)

Sixteen-year old Desolation Black wants nothing more than to stay in Hell where it’s cold and lonely and totally predictable. Instead, she’s sent back to Earth where she Becomes the evil she despises and the good she always feared. When Desi is forced to embrace her inner demon, she assumes her Choice has been made—that she has no hope of being anything other than what her father, Lucifer, has created her to be. What she doesn’t count on, is a reason to want to change—something she’s never had before—a friend. $3.99 on Amazon

Exiled by RaShelle Workman (YA SF Romance)

Worlds divided them. Chance brought them together. Only love will save them. An alien princess exiled to Earth. An arrogant boy. One week to get back to her planet or she'll die. And, her only chance for survival? She must help the boy find his soul mate. Piece of cake! $0.99 on Kindle

The Secret of SpruceKnoll by Heather McCorkle (Urban Fantasy)

Following the tragic death of her parents, Eren Donovan moves to Spruce Knoll to live with an aunt she’s never met. Little does Eren know the entire town of Spruce Knoll is filled with “channelers”—a magical group of people who immigrated to the small Colorado town when they were driven out of their own lands. Channelers are tied to the fate of the world. As the world slowly dies, so do they—and they alone have the power to stop the destruction of Earth. Soon, Eren learns she not only lives among them, but she is one. When she meets local boy Aiden, his charm convinces her that being a channeler may not be all bad though. $4.99 on Amazon

Destined by Jessie Harrell (Retelling)

When Psyche receives a prophecy gone horribly wrong, she learns that even the most beautiful girl in Greece can have a hideous future. Her fate? Fall in love with the one creature even the gods fear. As she feels herself slipping closer into the arms of the prophecy, Psyche must choose between the terrifyingly tender touch she feels almost powerless to resist and the one constant she's come to expect out of life: you cannot escape what is destined. $0.99 on Amazon

Darkspell by Elizabeth Mueller (Paranormal Romance)

Winter Sky believes she is everything ordinary . . . until she is kissed by Alex Stormhold. As seer of Stormhold Coven, Alex is sworn to be Winter’s protector against the darkness that hunts her. Violently thrust into a magickal realm she always thought impossible, she stumbles upon a disturbing secret of her own. Will love prove thicker than magick? $3.99 on Amazon

Untraceable by S. R. Johannes (Thriller)

Grace has lived in the Smokies all her life, patrolling with her forest ranger father who taught her about wildlife, tracking, and wilderness survival. When her dad goes missing on a routine patrol, Grace refuses to believe he’s dead and fights the town authorities, tribal officials, and nature to find him. One day, while out tracking clues, Grace is rescued from danger by Mo, a hot guy with an intoxicating accent and a secret. As her feelings between him and her ex-boyfriend get muddled, Grace travels deep into the wilderness to escape and find her father. Along the way, Grace learns terrible secrets that sever relationships and lives. Soon she’s enmeshed in a web of conspiracy, deception, and murder. Andit’s going to take a lot more than a compass and a motorcycle (named Lucifer) for this kick-butting heroine to save everything she loves. $2.99 on Amazon

Rival Demons (Book 5 of the Peachville High Demons Series) by Sarra Cannon (Paranormal Romance) Available January 20th

The Legend of Victor Standish: Under a Voodoo Moon by Roland D. Yeomans (Urban Fantasy/Romance)

Can love kill? Yes ... if you love a ghoul who hungers for your flesh only slightly less than she does your heart. Yet to the lonely street orphan Victor Standish, who has risked his life for a meal, to find love (even for one magical French Quarter night) is worth dying in the morning. $2.99 on Amazon All profits go to the Salvation Army.

Getting Sideways (Book 2 in the Full Throttle Series) by Lisa Nowak (Contemporary)

Getting shipped off to live with his uncle Race was the best thing that ever happened to fifteen-year-old Cody. Then a wreck at the speedway nearly ruined everything. Cody’s making every effort to get his life back on track—writing for the school paper, searching for the perfect girlfriend, and counting the days until he gets his drivers’ license—but there’s no escaping the nightmares that haunt him. A chance to build his own car seems like the perfect distraction. Until Cody realizes he’ll have to live up to Race’s legendary status. But that’s the least of his worries, considering he doesn’t have his dad’s permission. All he has to do is the impossible: keep Race from discovering his lie until he can convince his dad that racing’s safe. Yeah, sure. That’ll be easy. $3.99 on Amazon

Tangled Tides by Karen Hooper (Sea Monster Memoirs)

Yara Jones doesn’t believe in sea monsters—until she becomes one. When a hurricane hits her island home and she wakes up with fins, Yara finds herself tangled up in an underwater world of mysterious merfolk and secretive selkies. Both sides believe Yara can save them by fulfilling a broken promise and opening the sealed gateway to their realm, but they are battling over how it should be done. The selkies want to take her life. The merfolk want something far more precious. Treygan, the stormy-eyed merman who turned Yara mer, will stop at nothing and sacrifice everything to protect his people—until he falls for Yara.The tides turn as Yara fights to save herself, hundreds of sea creatures, and the merman who has her heart. She could lose her soul in the process—or she might open the gateway to a love that’s deeper than the oceans. $4.99 on Amazon

Here by Denise Grover Swank (SF Romance)

Sixteen year old Julia Phillips buries herself in guilt after killing her best friend Monica in a car accident. Julia awoke in the hospital with a broken leg, a new talent for drawing and false memories of the accident, in which she dies and Monica lives. The doctors attribute this to her head injury, but no one can explain how a bracelet engraved with her name ended up at the scene of the accident. A bracelet no one has ever seen before. Classmate Evan Whittaker paid Julia no attention before the accident, let alone after. Now suddenly he’s volunteering to tutor her and offering to drive her home. She can't ignore that his new obsession started after his two-day disappearance last week and that he wears a pendant she’s been drawing for months. When the police show up one night looking for Evan, he begs Julia to run with him, convincing her that Monica is still alive. Julia agrees to go, never guessing where he’s really from. $2.99 on Amazon

The Veil by CoryPutman Oakes (Paranormal Romance)

Seventeen-year-old Addison Russell is in for a shock when she discovers that she can see the invisible world of the Annorasi. Suddenly, nothing is as it appears to be—the house she lives in, the woman who raised her, even the most beautiful boy in town all turn out to be more than what they seem. And when this strange new world forces Addy to answer for a crime that was committed long ago, by parents she has never known, she has no choice but to trust Luc, the mysterious Annorasi who has been sent to protect her. Or so he says . . . $7.99 on Amazon

Embrace by Cherie Colyer (Paranormal Romance)

Madison is familiar enough with change, and she hates everything about it. Change took her long-term boyfriend away from her. It caused one of her friends to suddenly hate her. It’s responsible for the death of a local along with a host of other mysterious happenings. But when Madison meets a hot new guy, she thinks her luck is about to improve. Madison is instantly drawn to the handsome and intriguing Isaac Addington. She quickly realizes he’s a guy harboring a secret, but she’s willing to risk the unknown to be with him. Her world really spins out of control, however, when her best friend becomes delusional, seeing things that aren’t there and desperately trying to escape their evil. When the doctors can’t find the answers, Madison seeks her own. Nothing can prepare her for what she is about to discover. $6.99 on Amazon

Onyx Talisman by Brenda Pandos (Paranormal Romance)

Unrest stirs deep in Scotts Valley. Filled with uncertainty, Julia anxiously awaits Nicholas’ return. Phil, holds the pieces of Julia’s fragile psyche together, secretly hoping Nicholas stays away forever. But Alora secretly conspires to reclaim her talisman and strip Julia of everything she holds dear. Little do they know, a war is coming and more than one vampire would like to see the Prince of Vampires overthrown. Can Julia bargain with fate? Find out how it all ends in this explosive grand finale of The Talisman Trilogy. $3.99 on Amazon

How to Date an Alien by Magan Vernon (Science Fiction)

High school senior Alex Bianchi's estranged father gets her an internship at Circe Operations Center to pad her college applications. But Circe isn't your typical military base. It's an alien-run operation center and not all of the aliens are friendly, especially the one that tries to kill Alex on her first day. When Ace, a dark-eyed Caltian, enters and saves the day, she can't help but be drawn to him. Can these star-crossed lovers survive when they're on the brink of intergalactic war? $2.99 on Amazon

Fireseed One by Catherine Stine (Science Fiction/Thriller)

Fireseed One is a journey into a tricked-out near-future earth where 18 year-old Varik has inherited a vast ocean farm, following the suspicious drowning of his Marine biologist father. When Marisa, a beautiful and devious terrorist, destroys the world's food source, Varik is forced to travel to a lethal hotzone, teeming with dangerous nomads and a strange cult to search for a magical hybrid plant that may not even exist. The catch? He must take Marisa along, the only person who seems to know way, way too much key information. $2.99 on Amazon

The Missing by M.A. Leslie (Paranormal)

Eight-year-old, Ethan Doyle is just a normal kid whose biggest problem in life was to fight for the attention of his busy parents from his older twin siblings. But, after his aunt and uncle tragically die, his family takes in his teenage cousin, Kelsey, and moves to a spooky old, manor house in a new town. At first, everything seems fine, but when he begins to see and speak to a spirit named Lucas, his biggest problem becomes, just staying alive. Lucas was ten years old when the spirits of the house came to him and asked him for help setting their spirits free. Unfortunately, he never made the deadline and as a result the spirits took him and made him a part of the house as well. As he soon finds out, the only way he can save his own soul is to save the souls of the missing boys in the house. With his own deadline in place, Ethan enlists the help of his cousin Kelsey to solve the twenty-year-old mystery of THE MISSING. $0.99 on Amazon

Princess Kandake by Stephanie Jefferson (Fantasy) Available February 1, 2012

In Nubia a woman can be whatever she chooses. At 14, Kandake knows exactly what she chooses...Prime Warrior of Nubia. But her grandmother has said that she will follow her father on the throne. Refusing to abandon her warrior dreams she continues to train. When her brother is kidnapped, Kandake learns she must be both queen and warrior to win his release! See Author's Website

Middle Grade

Blink of a Dragon by Eisley Jacobs (Fantasy)

Discovering she’s connected to dragons is one thing, but when another dragon is caught hanging out in the fifth grade, Meia thinks things couldn’t get any worse. Is she ever wrong! Trouble is brewing in the cosmos and Deglan believes this new dragon holds the answers, but his hopes are crushed when the leader of the exiled dark dragons ambushes them. The fate of the dragons and possibly the whole world falls to Deglan and Meia as theysearch for the only creature powerful enough to send the dark dragons back into the abyss. What they encounter along the way makes the adventure worth fighting for. $6.99

Paperback preorder

Featured Post on Bargain Books for your Nook!

2011-12-26T10:50:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you had an amazing holiday with your family and continue to enjoy some vacation time or relaxing time as the new year approaches. I am on vacation, but wanted to mention that BEAUTIFUL DEMONS is being featured today on Bargain Books for your Nook! This is a great new site that features good bargains for Nook that are $4.99 or less. Perfect just in time for the holidays when I'm sure so many people received their first ereaders. Please hop over and check it out and if you haven't read the first book in my Peachville High Demons series yet, be sure to pick it up for just $0.99!!!

Rival Demons Release Date

2011-12-17T01:16:00.002-05:00

Last week, I had a long talk with my critique group about the timeline for RIVAL DEMONS. We set up dates for when I need to get the completed book to them, and then when we are going to meet to go through the book with their comments. I'm so excited that there has finally been some movement on this book and that I can finally give you a release date!!!

January 20, 2012

Rival Demons will be published by January 20, 2012!! I know it's a lot later than I originally planned, but life happens and time slips away from you sometimes. I probably could have put out a lesser quality book a lot faster, but that wouldn't be right for me or for you. I owe it to everyone (even Harper!) to write the very best book I can write. And though there have been some bumps in the road (baby bumps, that is), I am really happy with the way this book is turning out.

I hope you'll all be excited that we finally have a target date to look forward to. I put a countdown here on the right side of the blog to keep me motivated and to let you all keep track of how long until the book comes out. Just barely over a month now! I'm very excited to have you all read this book. In some ways, it's very different from the previous books in that it takes place entirely in the Shadow World. You will meet a lot of new characters and find out some very interesting things about the people you already know and love. I won't give away anything more than that for now, but as we get closer, I might release a sneak peek of the beginning of the book here on my blog.

What do you think? Are you excited to read the fifth book in the Peachville High Demons series?

More Updates!

2011-12-11T22:36:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone! I think I have finally hit a much better place in my pregnancy. My energy is coming back, and so is my motivation with writing. Whew, that was certainly a tough first few months! A lot of people told me that I would start to feel better in the second trimester, and now that I've hit the 13 week mark, I really am feeling so much better. I hate to think about the fact that I've left so many of my fans waiting for the next book. I never intended to take so long to get Book 5 out, and I'm so sorry if I've disappointed you guys.

On a happy note, though, for the past week I've been working on the book as if it were old times. 3,000-5,000 words a day of revisions and new scenes, which is super exciting. And I know the question on everyone's mind is: When is the book coming out??

I figured after all this waiting, you deserved to be kept in the loop about how things are progressing and when the book should be coming out. Also, I think it will help keep me motivated if I keep running updates going here on my blog. So here's what is next for Rival Demons:

First, I need to finish all of the revisions and rewrites. I already have an expected timeline on this, but am not quite ready to share yet.
Once the book is finished, I will pass it off to my critique group. Because of things going on in their lives, along with the holidays coming up and family time, I am expecting it to take them about 2 weeks to read through the entire book and write out their comments.
After the critique group goes through the book, we will schedule a long meeting to go through the book page-by-page, talking about any errors, any problems with the plot or things that don't make sense. My critique group is possibly the most amazing group in the world. They are very thorough and help me so much, so this is one of the most important steps.
As long as there are no major problems with the book, I usually just take about three or four days to go through everyone's comments and make all the changes I agree with. Then, I read through the book a few more times, putting the final touches in.
Once the book is completely done, then comes the formatting. This also takes a couple of days.
Finally, release day!!

While there are still a lot of steps left in the process before we get to release day, the biggest obstacle is really just finishing the book. Of course, that always sounds easier than it really is. :P But with my energy coming back, I think this will go quickly. The rough draft was completed several months ago, so it's the revisions and rewrites I am working on now, and I'm very happy with how the story is coming together. My truest hope is that when the book finally comes out, all of you will be happy with the results too!

On Friday, I am planning to officially announce the release date for Rival Demons, so I hope you'll come back to the blog this week to check up on the progress and see when you can expect Rival Demons to (finally) be released!!

Cover Reveal!! RIVAL DEMONS

2011-12-02T12:35:00.001-05:00

While I still don't know a final release date for the book, I did want to go ahead and give you a look at the cover for Book 5 of the Peachville High Demons series. I have to tell you, this is one of my favorite covers of the series because it's the first one where the girl is looking straight on to the camera. To me, it fits this book perfectly because as you'll see, in a lot of ways, Harper's eyes are being opened to the ways of the Order and to her own destiny.

I hope you like the cover as much as I do!! Thanks for all the messages over the past few days about your excitement for book 5 to come out. I really can't believe it's December already, but time is flying by as we get closer and closer to the holidays.

Have a great weekend everyone. More updates and blog posts to come next week.

Book Review: Once Dead, Twice Shy by Kim Harrison

2011-12-01T09:18:00.001-05:00

I know I already try to keep track of the books I'm reading through Goodreads, but I thought I would also put some thoughts on these books up on my blog. Especially when what I read is mostly Young Adult fiction anyway. Since I've been feeling a bit less than ideal lately, my husband suggested I spend more time reading. His goal, of course, is to try to get rid of some of the mountain of YA books I have stacked around the house, haha! Our rule is that when I finish a book, I have to give it away or sell it at the used bookstore unless it's one of my favorites, in which case I get to keep it. With that said, I'm hoping to be reading more in the upcoming months.

My latest pick from my shelves was "Once Dead, Twice Shy" by Kim Harrison. This is a relatively short YA and is Kim Harrison's debut YA book.

I originally picked up this book because I was really drawn to the cover. It's got a punk kind of look to it, so I thought the heroine might be kind of bad-ass. Plus, this is another example of a NYT bestselling author throwing her hat into the ring of YA, so I figured it would be worth checking out.

I will do my best to keep the spoilers out of this, but still let you know what I thought of the book. I did finish the book, which is saying something for me lately. It seems like I'm constantly in search of the type of book that will draw me in from the start and just not let go. For me, those types of books are few and far between, and unfortunately, Once Dead was not one of those grabber kind of books.

Here's the blurb from the inside cover jacket:

Madison's prom was killer - literally. For some reason, she's been targeted by a dark reaper - yeah, that kind of reaper - intent on getting rid of her, body and soul. But before the reaper could finish the job, Madison was able to snag his strange, glowing amulet and get away.

Now she's stuck on Earth - dead but not gone. Somehow the amulet gives her the illusion of a body, allowing her to toe the line between life and death. She still doesn't know why the dark reaper is after her, but she's not about to just sit around and let fate take its course.

With a little ingenuity, some light-bending, and the help of a light reaper (one of the good guys! Maybe...), her cute crush, and oh yeah, her guardian angel, Madison's ready to take control of her own destiny once and for all, before it takes control of her.

Well, if she believed in that stuff.

Great premise, right? I mean, angels, reapers, a hint of some kind of magic. Sounds great. Unfortunately, the beginning was super slow for me. It wasn't quite slow enough to make me put it down and stop reading, but then again, it was probably not until after page 100 of an only 232 page book that I started getting interested enough to want to stay up past my bedtime to read. Part of it for me was that the beginning was confusing. Wait, she's dead? And what exactly is Barnabas, this light-reaper, trying to teach her to do? I didn't get it at first and had to do a lot of re-reading to figure it out.

Also, I think sometimes the fact that Kim Harrison is used to writing adult novels showed itself pretty glaringly. The language these teens use in a lot of the dialogue (especially for a teen like Madison who is supposed to be kind of punk and off-beat) is very stilted. Other times, she uses teen-speak like freaking, which does sound punk, but then also phrases like 'puppy presents', which sounds more like it belongs on the mouth of a do-gooder Christian girl who couldn't bear to swear. I guess for me, it just seemed inconsistent at times. Sometimes, though, the writing was so beautiful. "Looking up, I was blinded by the sun reflecting upon a moving blade, and I gasped as it sliced cleanly through me with the sensation of dry feathers against my soul." (p. 17 in the hardcover) Beautiful writing, right? Yes, but since it's supposed to be Madison's voice here, why does she use the word 'upon'? That doesn't sound very naturally teen to me. It sounds like the author's voice instead. See what I mean?

Or am I being super picky? Lol. Probabaly too picky, I know, but sometimes that's the problem with adult authors writing YA - I'm not sure I believe the voice. And little words like 'upon' instead of just 'on' throw me out of the teen's head just a little bit.

But like I said, somewhere after about page 100, I started really getting into the story. The conflict suddenly seemed real and I was rooting for Madison to figure it all out and learn to use the amulet she'd stolen from the dark reaper. The last few chapters were by far the best part of the book and kept me reading late into the night. Bottom line? If you can make it through the slower first part of the book, I think you'll really enjoy this read. This is also just the first book in a series. I recently purchased book 2, "Early to Death, Early to Rise", and plan to start it right away. There is third book also, titled "Something Deadly This Way Comes".

Have you read this book? Have you read any of Kim Harrison's adult novels? How do they compare? What did you think of 'Once Dead'?

Slacking

2011-11-29T14:18:00.001-05:00

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

2011-11-04T16:56:00.001-04:00

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!

2011-11-02T16:23:00.000-04:00

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!!

2011-11-01T14:22:00.001-04:00

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!

Catching Up

2011-10-17T23:10:00.000-04:00

Wow, I'm so sorry I've been annoyingly absent from the interwebs for a few weeks. If you read my earlier post, Pouring My Heart Out, you know I've been taking some time to deal with a very personal issue. After some self-reflection, I feel that I am ready to rejoin the writing world and start blogging again! For anyone who is interested, I will hopefully have an update about my personal life and my journey toward having a baby sometime in early November.

In the meantime, I thought I would post a few updates about what's been going on with my books. I'll make it in bullet points, because hey, bullet points are fun.

First of all, I'm working on RIVAL DEMONS again. I had a flash of a new idea and I think I've figured out something that was missing from the rough draft that will pull this whole thing together. I've been feeling much more creative lately and excited about the series. Even though the book was slightly delayed, I am still hoping to have it out by mid-November!!! So only about 1 month left!
I have book covers for both RIVAL DEMONS and DEMONS FOREVER!!!! Robin Ludwig did an amazing job on the covers and I can't wait to show them to you. You'll have to wait until December for the reveal of Demons Forever, but I am planning to reveal the cover for Rival Demons next Friday. I might do a fun giveaway in honor of the new cover. I have to say, it's one of my favorite so far, and I hope you'll like it!
Today, BEAUTIFUL DEMONS hit its highest ever sales rank for the Amazon UK store. It jumped all the way up to 626. Even though my sales have sadly been slipping in the US store lately, it's exciting to see my books taking off in the UK.
I am currently working on a complete revamp of my main website. Right now, my site is completely designed by my husband from scratch, using HTML 5. I like it, but to me, it does look a little bit homemade. I am working with my cover designer to put together a cool banner that will match my PHD series. I'm going to be converting both my site and my blog to wordpress, but it's taking me some time to learn how to do it. Hoping to have a new site up and running by the time Rival Demons is released!

That's most of the news I have right now. Oh, wait! An excerpt of Beautiful Demons is in the back of J.L. Bryan's newest book, Fairy Metal Thunder. I was so excited that he wanted to include me in his book!! In return, there will also be an excerpt of Fairy Metal Thunder in the back of Rival Demons if you're interested in checking it out for a free preview! The book is really well done and a lot of fun. I think most of my readers would really enjoy it, and at only $0.99, it's hard to resist!!! I highly recommend it.

In other news, I know I am late in posting my sales for September. Believe me when I say they are nothing to get excited about. For some reason, I've seen a terrible slump in my sales all the way across the board both in September and October. I know that it's just part of the process of publishing, so I'm not worried about it, just anxious to get Rival Demons out. For anyone interested, I will hopefully post Sept. sales sometime later this week.

Amazon's Big News!

2011-09-28T11:33:00.002-04:00

If any of you have been on the fence about whether to buy an ereader or a new tablet, now is the best time ever to jump into the ebook revolution. Amazon announced a while back that they were going to do a press conference this morning and everyone was anticipating their unveiling of a new tablet, but Amazon actually announced 3 new offerings today.

An ad-supported Kindle at only $79. What?! Yes, I'm serious about this. For less than eighty bucks, you can have a Kindle. And don't worry, the ads aren't scrolling while you read your books or anything. The ads are just the screensavers when your Kindle goes to sleep. Trust me when I say the cheesy pictures of dead authors they use for the regular Kindle screensavers aren't all that exciting, haha. I might actually prefer the ads!
New Kindle Touch! This touch-screen ereader is only going to be $99, with a 3G version at just $149. (Just to compare, the Barnes & Noble touch is $139 just for the wi-fi version, so that's a huge $40 price difference.) The Kindle Touch is going to be much slimmer and will have no external controls - only touch screen controls.
Kindle Fire Tablet - Cnet calls it a "color ereader on steroids". Lol. It looks similar to the Nook Color and will retail at only $199! (Again the nook color is currently $249, which is showing how much Amazon wants to be on top of the ereader market.) You can play games on it, watch movies, read books, nearly everything you can do on an ipad. The tablet also comes with a 30 day Amazon Prime membership, and with Prime adding tons of streaming video this fall, I think this will be a huge advantage to the Fire Tablet. Exciting news! Now I want one!

So if you've been thinking of asking for an ereader or a tablet for Christmas, or thinking of getting one for yourself or someone special, the time has never been better. I think it's going to be a very exciting time for those of us who love to read and love to buy ebooks. I'm thinking the Fire Tablet just jumped to my new #1 must-have for Christmas!

Pick Your Purse!

2011-09-25T19:26:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the delay in blogging. I've been taking some time off to focus on my family and getting ready for IVF. First off, I want to just say thank you to everyone who read my previous post and has supported me. I got such an outpouring of love and hugs from comments, email, twitter, facebook, everywhere. Thank you so much everyone, you have no idea how much that means to me!

I have been taking the time I need to just relax and de-stress, so I've been staying away from my blog and from my novel for a bit. However, I just couldn't resist talking about the G105 Pick Your Purse! I feel like I have been waiting for them to do this again forever! This is definitely something that makes me very happy, so it's awesome that they are doing it starting October 3rd. I've blogged about this before, but the way the contest works is that they have 20 designer purses up for grabs. Every day at 7:50 am and 5:40 pm, they will announce that it's time to call. The 105th caller gets to pick any purse from the list that hasn't already been taken. The contest lasts M-F for 2 weeks.

I have lived here in the Raleigh area for four years now, and every single time G105 does Pick Your Purse, I am like a calling-in maniac. I want one of those purses so bad! We're talking Prada, Gucci, Chloe, Jimmy Choo, Valentino, all the most beautiful bags. And I'm such a purse person. I have never had a designer purse, but I love them. I love to look at them and drool over them. When we were Vegas earlier this summer, I think I spent more than three or four hours perusing the designer stores looking for the perfect bag. Unfortunately, most of the ones I fell in love with cost over $1000, lol. So no bag for Sarra.

Anyway, it feels like forever since the radio station did this contest, so I couldn't be happier that they are running this during one of these very tough times in my life when I'm super stressed and emotional. It would be AMAZING if I got to pick a purse!

Here's the grid of 20 purses from the G105 website:

If you follow the link above, they have a printable PDF version if you live in the Raleigh area and want to call in. My top 5 choices, in order, are:

#2 - Chloe - I love this bag! It's big and beautiful and very me. I like to carry bigger bags because I've always got a ton of stuff with me. This is definitely my first choice.
#8 - Valentino - Their patent bags with the bows are so beautiful. Valentino has this same bag in red, but I actually like the black even better. I looked at this bag when we were in Vegas and it's to die for!
#6 - Jimmy Choo - Even though I love big bags, this small Jimmy Choo clutch would be perfect for a night out.
#12 - Rebecca Minkoff - I'm actually not familiar with this designer, but I love this blue leather bag. I like the tassle and the chain and the zippers. It's modern and perfect for fall.
#11 - Diane Von Furstenberg - This bag is called the Harper. How could it not be on my list?

Truthfully, I would gladly choose ANY of the bags on their list. I always get so excited when they do Pick Your Purse, but so sad as the bags disappear. Maybe this time will be different!

Thanks for letting me indulge by talking a bit about G105's Pick Your Purse. I think this is by far the single best radio station giveaway in the history of radio. :P. Now, if I could just figure out a way to get past the busy signals...

Pouring My Heart Out

2011-09-16T17:54:00.000-04:00

Ah, faithful blog readers, I have been keeping things from you. I have been trying to act like things are normal and that I am one hundred percent focused on writing. I have been trying to pretend that even though I'm going through some tough personal things, I can still be superwoman when it comes to churning books out. Unfortunately, it all caught up with me this week at the beach.

The week I thought would be a huge breakthrough week for me, one where I would write 40,000 words and get ahead on my book deadline, actually turned out to be one of the most emotional weeks I've had in a very long time. (and trust me when I say, that's really saying something). Since technically this is my 'writing' blog, I haven't spent much time lately talking about my personal life. I used to do that more here before I had self-published. You know, back when no one was really reading, hehe. But I have been feeling like maybe it's not right to dump my personal issues on my readers and fans. After all, you come here to learn about my books, right? Not to hear about my problems...

On the other hand, I feel like my fans are my friends. You guys are always there to support me and hear me out. You celebrate with me and you understand when I'm upset about something. So why would this be any different? So, I have decided to share something with you. I promise I won't be talking about it a lot or whining about it on here on a regular basis. I just feel that since I went out there saying I would have a huge writing week - and have so obviously failed - maybe you deserved an explanation.

So, with all that being said, here is where I pour my heart out. For a long while now, my husband and I have been trying to have a baby. There aren't even words to express how very much I would love to be a mother. Unfortunately, I have a condition called PCOS that has caused infertility and made it a very difficult journey. For the past year, I have been going through various fertility treatments, doctor appointments, medications, acupuncture, you name it. After many failed cycles, we are now preparing to start IVF (in vitro fertilization). I won't go into all the fun details there, but I'll just say that if you aren't already familiar with what this entails, it isn't the most glamorous and fun thing a woman can go through. There have been a lot of tests and appointments leading up to this and now we are just 3 short weeks away from starting injections.

For me, this will mean 3 shots a day in my upper arms, which my nurse is saying may make it difficult to type for long periods of time. Almost daily appointments. Lots of hormones and other fun stuff. I'm ready for all of this, but if you know me at all, you know I'm an extremely emotional person. I wear my heart on my sleeve pretty much all the time. For me, infertility has been one of the most devastating and emotionally draining experiences of my life. And my writing is, of course, very closely tied to my emotions. Lately, because I'm having so much anxiety and worry and spending so much emotional energy on IVF, I haven't had as much to dedicate to my writing.

This is where the beach trip was supposed to come in. I had planned to leave my worries at home and come to a beautiful place to just write, write, write! I've used beach trips before with great success, so I expected this to be the same. Unfortunately, this emotional rollercoaster I'm on just wasn't something I could turn off and leave behind. I would love to say that I'm superwoman and can write through anything, but it's just not the case. This is a time where I really need to be nice to myself and do my best to take my time and write when I can. I hope you, dearest readers, will understand this.

So where does this leave Rival Demons? Hopefully, nothing will change as far as my schedule. I hope to still have the book out by the end of October if I can. The rough draft is really solid and I'm truly loving this story. And believe me, I can't WAIT for you to learn some big things about Harper in this next book. I promise that I will do my best to stay on schedule and to keep writing. At the same time, though, I'm going to ask for your prayers and your support as I go through this very difficult and emotional time in my life. I wish I could keep my writing and my personal life separate, but I honestly think that if I could do that, it wouldn't make me a very good writer. I have to feel whatever it is I feel. I have to live through it and deal with it in order to come out on the other side. This isn't something everyone understands, but I'm sharing it with you, hoping that you will.

Thanks for listening to me today. I'm actually leaving the beach early. My husband is currently on his way to come get me so we can be together. He is my rock and my heart and he just gets it and grounds me and makes me better. So, the beach trip ended with just under 8,000 words. A far cry from my goal of 40,000 words, but I'm going to pat myself on the back anyway and just keep chugging along over the next few weeks until the book is finished. In a way, my books and my characters are almost like my children, hehe, and during this time, I'm so grateful to know that no matter what, I'll always have them.

Wednesday Update from the Beach

2011-09-14T22:38:00.000-04:00

I spent the day today reading back through Book 4 and living in Harper's head for a while, trying desperately to get out of my own. I finally sat down this evening to start some word sprints with my friends and quickly got to just under 3,000 words, which is definitely an improvement. At this point, however, with only 3 days left in the trip (one of them being only a half-day), I'm pretty much certain I won't be able to reach my initial goal of 40,000 words. Still, I am hoping the rest of the week is all about words, words, words. I'm going to leave my word meter goal at 40,000, but in my mind, I'm now shooting for more like 25,000. That's the crazy thing about writing - you can plan all you want, but the book seems to take as much time as it's going to take. All I can do is try my best to be available when the muse is ready for me.

It's definitely beautiful here. I've never been to the beach in September, but I think I'm in love. There are no huge crowds or screaming children on the beach. It's quiet and serene. It isn't cold yet, but it's not nearly as hot as it would have been a month ago. The water is still warm and nice to swim in and there are lots of shells here on this beach, which I always love. It's supposed to rain some tomorrow and Friday, so my beach time might be coming to an end, but I love the sound of the ocean, so I might sit on the porch and write even if the rain comes.

To be honest, it's been a struggle to get into the groove so far this week, but I feel a change coming from deep inside. I have a feeling the next few days are going to be exactly what I was looking for.

Beach Update

2011-09-13T15:06:00.001-04:00

Anyone who has been checking back to view my progress has probably been sorely disappointed by the lack of movement on my word meter, ha! I promise, I am working! Just right now, I'm still in the whole looking-over-my-rough-draft-and-trying-to-decide-what-sucks-most stage. I'm working through the plot, doing some soul searching - both mine and Harper's - and organizing my thoughts so I can write the best possible book I can write. There are some pretty huge answers coming in this book (at least I think they're huge), so I want to make sure I write them into the story in the most organic, natural way. And, of course, I always want to make sure to stay true to Harper's character, even if she is in another world at the moment. She's still the same Harper.

So, that's my update. No words yet in the 40,000 goal, which is scaring me just a tad, but I'm working hard! Words WILL be updated tonight. I feel like I'm close to finishing this first stage of the revision process and am hopefully about to move on to the next part.

And, on another note, here's the view from my front porch.

Beach Week Progress

2011-09-11T00:28:00.000-04:00

I thought it would be fun to keep everyone updated on my progress at the beach this upcoming week! I created a word meter where I can update how many words I've written on the revised version of Rival Demons. I've set a humongous goal for myself this next week! 40,000 words! It's not going to be easy, but I know I can do it if I work really hard. Please check back throughout the week to see my progress. I'll be updating it a few times per day. Feel free to leave encouraging messages for me, as I know this is going to be a tough week of writing. My hope is to get so much done that I can push up the release of RIVAL DEMONS to early October!

(Oh, and just as a side note, I created this free word meter on my own website at www.sarracannon.com/wordmeter. My amazing husband designed this word meter for me so that I could keep my fans up to date on my progress. The word meter is free for anyone to use. You can go to my website, create and design your own word meter, then stick the image onto your blog or website. Then, instead of having to re-create the word meter each time, you can simply visit the website and update your word count. The word meter will automatically update on any websites where you have it posted.)

Rival Demons News and The Beach

2011-09-09T15:26:00.000-04:00

Woohoo! I'm doing a dance over here, because I just finished my rough draft for RIVAL DEMONS! Yay!!! I can't believe it's finished! It feels so amazing to have the rough draft of my fifth book completed just shy of one year since I started the first book in the series! Wow, it's amazing how much things have changed for me in this past year.

So what's next? Ah, the rewrites begin! For me, a rough draft is more of an exploration of where the story wants to go. I rarely use very much of it in the final book, which I know sounds weird, but it's true. Now begins the true version of the book now that I've (hopefully) gotten most of the kinks out and am ready to write. For now, I'm heading to the gym with my plot cards and I'm going to jump on the treadmill for about an hour listening to music and thinking about what I want to change in the next draft. I love this part! It's where the story really starts to come together for me!

Then, on Monday, I am lucky enough to have the entire week at Kure Beach with two of my good friends. We are all three writers and are planning to get so much done! We'll be there until Saturday with nothing to do but walk on the beach and WRITE!!! I have set some huge goals for myself, so in order to keep myself motivated, I am going to keep posting my progress here on the blog. I hope to lose myself in Harper's world - or actually more like Jackson's world, come to think of it!

My goal for the beach week: 40,000 words. That would mean about 8,000 words a day on average, so a very lofty goal. It might not be possible, but I'm going to give it 100%. I always feel so inspired by the ocean, so when I feel burned out, I can just go for a long walk on the beach and get rejuvenated! I'm excited about the trip and excited to be done with the rough draft for Book 5. It's definitely looking more and more like an October release date for RIVAL DEMONS!

August Sales Numbers

2011-09-07T20:51:00.002-04:00

Wow, so they weren't kidding about a summer slump. My sales definitely slowed down in the month of August, and it was scary! Overall, I had a good monthly total simply because I now have four books out instead of 3. On the other hand, each book's individual sales were the lowest they've been since February, which is disappointing. That's one of the hardest parts about self-publishing. It's a lot of ups and downs and you never truly know what to expect from month to month. The only true way to guarantee growth is to keep writing books.

August Sales Numbers:

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

Amazon Kindle Store: 855 US + 234 UK + 2 DE = 1091
Barnes & Noble: 296
Smashwords: 2
Total: 1389

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

Amazon Kindle Store: 702 US + 157 UK + 1 DE = 860
Barnes & Noble: 244
Smashwords: 2
Total: 1106

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

Amazon Kindle Store: 671 US + 118 UK + 1 DE = 790
Barnes & Noble: 219
Smashwords: 1
Total: 1010

SHADOW DEMONS (Book 4 of the PHD series. 7/3/11)

Amazon Kindle Store: 1146 US + 111 UK + 1 DE = 1258
Barnes & Noble: 284
Smashwords: 3
Total: 1545

Total August Sales: 5050

Overall Sales To Date: 40698

There are two very exciting things about my August sales, despite the slowing numbers. 1. My UK sales got a huge boost this month. It's the first time I've sold over 600 books in the UK, so that was super exciting. 2. I passed the 40,000 books sold mark! I never dreamed I would be able to sell that many books in less than a year! And I still have until the last day of October to try my best to hit 50K in a year. Of course, with the huge slow down, that's definitely not a guarantee. Already in September, the numbers have continued to seriously drop. For example, Beautiful Demons hovered between 1000 and 1500 sales rank for months, but lately has been seen closer to 4000 and 5000 in the kindle store. I ended last month with an average of 162 books sold per day. Yesterday, I only sold 84 books. To be honest, it's scaring me. And since I started this sales number report in order to be honest and give a true picture of what an Indie author's sales look like, I have to tell you how I feel.

I have thoughts that go through my head about what if I've reached the maximum numbers for this series? What if it's all downhill from here? There are a million scary thoughts in my head. Still, I do understand logically that if I continue to put out new books, there will be spikes and then things will begin to drop again. It's a pattern. It's natural. It happens to everyone. I think it's scary because it makes me feel a little bit out of control. I'm not sure what to do to boost my sales back up - other than writing more books. I plan to release the 5th book in my series, RIVAL DEMONS, in October. Then, if all goes well, the 6th book, DEMONS FOREVER, will come out just before Christmas. Perfect timing to end the series just before the biggest boost of ebook sales, right? I hope so. For me, that's the only marketing strategy I can come up with, and I think it's a good one. I'm a writer. So I'll write. As for sales, we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Have you seen a lag in your summer sales? What have you done to boost them? How do you get over the fear of seeing sales drop? If you're an Indie author, please let me know how you handle these lags if you've seen them.

Exciting News!

2011-09-05T18:32:00.001-04:00

There are several things I wanted to announce today.First of all, I am almost finished with the rough draft of Book 5! This is, actually, why I've come to a very big decision about the series that I sincerely hope you will be excited about.

When I first started writing the Peachville High Demons series, I thought it would be a trilogy. Possibly four books at most. Then, in the middle of writing the rough draft for Book 3, I realized the story was much bigger than I ever imagined. The series grew to 5 books. Now that I'm almost finished with the rough draft of Book 5, however, I have realized that Harper's story isn't over just yet. There's still more to tell.

Book 5 is NOT going to be the final book in the Peachville High Demons series. In fact, most of the book takes place in the shadow world and there is still at least one more book needed to finish Harper and Jackson's story. Book 5 is also getting a new name. I really feel that the LAST book in the series needs to be DEMONS FOREVER, so I'm saving that title for when I'm completely sure the book I'm writing really is the last book. I know everyone has been waiting for DEMONS FOREVER and thinking that was the next book, but as a self-published author, my main goal is to be true to the story and let it unfold that way it needs to. If that means another book, I'm going to go with it. That's one of the biggest advantages to being an Indie author, actually. I don't have an editor telling me the series has to end with Book 5 or telling me what the title of the book has to be. I can let my imagination take over. And I have the power to let the story go where it wants to go.

About halfway through this rough draft, I realized there was so much more story to tell. There is a HUGE surprise in this new book and it sent the story in a direction even I wasn't expecting. Because of that, I started to realize I would need for this to either be a very long book (ha!) or it would have to be broken into two separate books. In the interest of getting the book published quickly and not making fans of the series wait several more months to get the story, I decided on the second option. I'm going to just write more books!

Book 5's new name is RIVAL DEMONS and it is going to be the story of Harper and Jackson's time in the shadow world. What they learn there will change them both forever.

I'm still not ready to give an exact release date for the book yet, but I can tell you that I plan to have it published before the end of October at the latest. I will post an official release date as soon as I have one for you! And for fans of the series, I'm going to need your help in spreading the word about the new title and the new direction of the series! As far as I see it now, DEMONS FOREVER will now become Book 6 and will be the end of the story, but I'm somewhat at the mercy of the story, to be honest. I'm willing to write what I feel is true to the story and let it go where it wants to go. Still, I'm sure there will be some confusion because people will be looking for DEMONS FOREVER to come out in October, not a book called RIVAL DEMONS, so help spread the word about the new title and the extra book now in the series!

I sincerely hope you are as excited as I am about the addition of another book to the series. I have to admit, I've been a little nervous about announcing it! I'm hoping fans of the series will be happy there is another book in the works and they won't have to say goodbye to Harper and Jackson just yet.

Back of the Book Reviews September Extravaganza

2011-09-01T15:50:00.000-04:00

Today starts the month-long read-a-thon and September Extravaganza over at Back of the Book Reviews!! This month will be full of exciting author interviews and amazing giveaways! They are having daily giveaways as well as one big grand prize giveaway at the end of the month that will include one of the very first free signed print copies of my book, BEAUTIFUL DEMONS. They also have put together an amazing September Extravaganza Programme that has all kinds of awesome discounts, coupons and free book download codes. The programme is 49 pages long and includes exclusive interviews, featured authors, a full list of featured books, lots of discount coupons, and an exclusive offer from Dorchester Books. Go to the Back of the Book Reviews website and look for the programme 'buy now' button on the right side.

Inside the program, there is a coupon for a FREE smashwords download of the first book in my Peachville High Demons series, BEAUTIFUL DEMONS. If you've been wanting to check out my writing or the Peachville series, this is a great way to try it while also getting lots of other great information and discounts!! The programme is only $2.99 so I highly encourage you to check it out!

I'm excited to be a part of the September Extravaganza and I hope everyone will stop by their website and participate this month! It should be lots of fun!

The Word Count Issue

2011-08-29T22:32:00.004-04:00

In the traditional publishing world, word count for young adult novels is all over the place. The Twilight Saga books are each over 100,000 words. Books like Kate Brian's Private series are more around the 65,000-75,000 word count. Most websites and agents place a typical YA manuscript between 45,000-80,000 words. Here is what Agent Colleen Lindsay says about YA:

YA fiction = For mainstream YA, anywhere from about 45k to 80k; paranormal YA or YA fantasy can occasionally run as high as 120k but editors would prefer to see them stay below 100k. The second or third in a particularly bestselling series can go even higher. But it shouldn't be word count for the sake of word count.

According to wikipedia, a novelette is between 7,500 and 17,499 words. A novella is generally anything between 17,500 and 40,000 words. Anything over 40,000 words is technically a novel. However, it seems like internet opinions on the different types of novels is all over the place. Some people think that anything below 70,000 words is not a novel. The first book in my Peachville High Demons series, Beautiful Demons, comes in just under 47,000 words, so technically, it should be considered a novel, just on the low end of a typical YA novel. Each subsequent novel in the PHD series is slightly longer with Book 2 just over 50,000, Book 3 just over 54,000, and Book 4 around 60,000 words.

In my opinion, none of my PHD books are novelettes or novellas. Most sites and organizations out there consider anything over 40,000 a novel and my books all qualify. On the other hand, since there's really no standard out there that's accepted and understood for everyone, it's not always my opinion that gets voiced. Especially when it comes to reviews. For the most part, a reviewer calling my book a novelette doesn't bother me too much. I understand that some people have longer expectations for novels and that's fine.

Where it begins to get complicated is that without standard accepted definitions among readers, sometimes reader expectations are compromised. For example, I got a 3-star review on Amazon recently that knocked my books for being novelettes instead of full-length novels and that they should have been one book instead of a series. To be honest, I found this review frustrating. I know as authors we are not supposed to complain about reviews or respond to them. I want to make it clear that I'm not dogging this reader for their opinion. What frustrates me is that I had a reader who was disappointed in the product because in their opinion, it wasn't a novel.

I have been trying to figure out what I should maybe add to my description of the book in order to let people know exactly what to expect. I certainly don't want to call it a novella or a novelette because there are a lot of people who know that those delineations mean less than 40,000 words or short story length. I could simply just list the total word count. On the other hand, I wonder if most readers understand word count? Or if that is just sort of an out-there description for a book's length? Any opinions on this from either readers or authors would be greatly appreciated and welcomed in the comments!

Traditionally, it's been the publishers acting as gate-keepers. They have their own standards on word count. Also, they publish more print books that readers can walk into a store and physically see the pages and the thickness of the book. My books only exist online. Even if I had print copies for sale, readers still couldn't tell the thickness since they can only order them online. It's more difficult as an indie ebook author to set the proper expectations for my readers as far as length. But what's the best way to do that? Should I list a word count on my book description? Or should we work together to try to come up with a different standard?

Video games have an "hours of play time" standard. Sometimes video games, especially RPG's, will say "over 100 hours of play time". For gamers, this makes sense and it is generally understood that everyone plays at different rates, so it might not literally take everyone 100 hours to play through the game. On the other hand, some people are slower and might take 200 hours to play. But it's still a numerical indication of how much content is available. I sometimes wonder if it would be valuable to do the same thing for books? For example, I could say Beautiful Demons has three hours of straight reading time. The questions would be how to determine how fast the average reader reads and whether or not this would make sense to readers.

My purpose in writing shorter novels is that I can write them faster and price them cheaper. If I was writing 90,000 word books, I would only be able to release a book every 4 or 5 months at best. Then, since I invested so much more time and would have less books on my virtual shelves, I would have a hard time listing that book at $0.99. With a 50,000-60,000 word book, I can come out with a new book every 2-3 months and give my readers more content more quickly and can price the books low and still make money. For me, it's a win-win. I just don't like the thought of some people buying the book and being disappointed to find it shorter than they expected.

So writers and readers, what is the best way for an Indie author to set up the right expectations for their readers so that readers aren't disappointed and can find the right length content for their needs? With self-publishing becoming more and more popular, you can find downloads that are anywhere from 10,000 word short stories all the way up to 200,000 word epic dramas. The question is how to properly tell the reader where my book falls. Page count seems a bit archaic since there are not technically pages in an ebook. So what would you suggest? I would love to hear any comments and opinions on this matter so please let me know!

My Write-a-palooza Rewards!

2011-08-25T16:13:00.004-04:00

I had a fun shopping day today at the Sanrio store in the Crabtree Valley Mall here in Raleigh! I spent almost exactly $84, lol, so there will be no HK collectipaks for me, but that's okay. I'm super excited about what I bought!! Here's a pic of my swag:

I bought one of the new Hello Kitty canvas tote bags. It's big enough to put my netbook in and some folders and pens, but it also fits over my shoulder, which is nice. I also got that cute HK t-shirt, three buttons (that I'll probably put on my shoulder straps on the new bag), a mini-notepad collection and a large spiral-bound notebook. Oh, and the little hello kitty head there in the middle next to the notepad is a glitter ring, haha. So cute! It's funny how much a little HK gear can put a smile on my face!!

I have to give a shout-out to my amazing husband. You always support me and push me to keep writing. I don't know how I got so lucky.

Meanwhile, more writing tonight with J.D. Robinson and Alexandria Jade! Can't wait! Can I make it another 5,000 words tonight??

I did it!!

2011-08-25T01:58:00.003-04:00

It's just shy of 2:00 AM and I'm calling it. Write-a-palooza is officially over! Originally, I stared with a word count yesterday afternoon of 10,593 words. I was feeling down about how far behind I was on my rough draft, but now, I can say that I'm right back on track.

Yesterday, I ended with a total word count of 15,644, meaning I wrote just over 5,000 words yesterday.

Today, I ended with a grand total of 25,658 words!!! That means I wrote a total of 10,013 words today, with a 2 day total of 15,065 words. Wow! I don't think I've ever written so much so fast, but the words were just flowing out of me. It was the best feeling in the world! I would say that I'm officially just under halfway through the rough draft and well on my way toward getting the story-line hammered out. I'm exhausted, but I feel great.

Overall, that means I just earned 28 Hello Kitty packets (or $84 to spend in the Hello Kitty store). I'm definitely going to be taking him shopping this weekend, haha. It's the little things sometimes that can motivate me toward success, but in the end, the real excitement comes from knowing that I'm doing a good job with the novel and I'm back on track for a Fall release.

Now, I'm going to go pass out.

Pre-Palooza

2011-08-24T02:19:00.004-04:00

My pre-write-a-palooza is officially over since I'm heading to bed. I wrote exactly 5021 words tonight! That's actually quite impressive since I also took time to work out. I'm definitely happy with that number!

So, according to my husband's rules for write-a-palooza, that gives me an

added 5 packs to the 5,000 word reward tomorrow, bringing it up to 8 packs of the HK trading cards (or $24). The 10K reward now goes up an additional 10 packs for a whopping total of 20 packs (or $60) plus the 5k reward since I win both if I make it to 10,000 words. I really hope I can do it. Not only would it put me back on track for the rough draft deadline, but it would also be a huge boost to my motivation right now.

There are some personal things going on for us right now that I don't really want to share with the general public, but which are definitely affecting my writing focus. It's great to be able to immerse myself in Harper and Jackson's story for a couple of days and forget about an

y other worries or things coming up. Writing is a life saver, really. So my one person write-a-paloo

za is off to a great start with a 5k bonus.

As an extra special reward, my husband told me tonight that if I can break 20,000 words written by the time I go to bed tomorrow night (today + tomorrow's words), he'll give me $200

even. I'm already mentally spending that money, haha. Still, writing 15,000 words in on

e day is something I have never done before, so I'm not sure it's possible for me. All I can do is my best. I'll keep you updated!

Oh, and like I mentioned earlier, there were some balloons purchased in honor of the event. G bought them for me, as if I needed further proof that he's the perfect man for me.

WRITE-A-PALOOZA

2011-08-23T15:42:00.003-04:00

I am now officially embarking on a me only write-a-palooza. I'm way behind on my rough draft work for DEMONS FOREVER. Don't get me wrong, I've been thinking about it ALL the time, but the thinking has only translated so far into about 11,000 words. My self-imposed deadline now to finish the rough draft is September 5th, which is only 13 days away. I've got to get crackin!

So over lunch today, my husband suggested a fun challenge for me. Since he is, after all, my muse, he likes to find ways to encourage and motivate me

. And since he knows me as well as he does, he decided to bribe me with Hello Kitty. Thus, write-a-palooza 2011 was formed. I'm the only participant and word count is my only goal. Here are the official rules as stated by my husband:

Tomorrow is the official event.
Goal #1: 5,000 words. Prize: 3 Hello Kitty World adventures Collictipaks (or the equivalent monetary value for the pack, currently $3.00). I LOVE these packs! They have these super cute little tiny hello kitties dressed up in different country-specific attire. Also, they have stickers and lots of trading cards with pictures of her dressed in the outfits. I have all the kitties except India. So basically either 3 packs or $9.00 for 5,000 words.

Goal Level #2: 10,000 words. Prize: 10 HK Collectipaks (or $30 to spend at the sanrio store in Crabtree Valley Mall)

Now, to make things more exciting, we are also doing a pre-palooza event today. The word count I manage to get to today before I go to bed will directly affect the prizes tomorrow. Here are the pre-event rules:

For every 1,000 words written today, I get +1 pack added to my 5k reward tomorrow or +2 packs added to my 10k reward. So, if I get 2,000 words written today, my rewards tomorrow go up to 5 packs for the 5k reward and 14 for the 10k reward. Get it? (or monetary value still, of course)
If I get 10,000 words, I get BOTH the 10k reward AND the 5k reward. For example, if I get 5,000 words today at pre-palooza, that's +5 packs to the 5k reward for a total of 8 packs (or $24). THat's +10 packs to the 10k reward for a total of 20 packs (or $60). Add both of those rewards together, so I get either 28 packs or $84 or some combination of the two.

Yes, it's a bit mathematical, lol. Especially for something so silly as a me only writing event! But I need creative ways to get myself to produce a lot of words and to work hard for the next two days! This is one of the reasons I love my husband so much! Of course, in the end, the real reward is that I would have possibly 15,000 words or more written by the time I go to bed tomorrow night, which would mean my rough draft would be halfway finished! I like the sound of that!!!

Oh, and also - there may be hats. And balloons.

Guest Interview at Cabinet of Curiosities

2011-08-19T13:14:00.002-04:00

Hi everyone! I'm coming out of deep writing mode to say hello and let you know that I have was interviewed by the fabulous writers at Cabinet of Curiosities today. My guest interview is up, so please stop by, ask questions, say hello and learn more about me! Their questions were really fun and I got to say a lot about myself and my writing, so I hope you'll join us on their blog today!

Interview with Indie Author Extraordinaire Sarra Cannon!

July Sales Numbers

2011-08-08T23:07:00.002-04:00

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been slack on posting. I also still haven't managed to separate my self-publishing blog from my regular writing blog, so I apologize to fans who don't really care about this stuff, haha. Hopefully there are some of you writers out there still finding value in seeing what my numbers have done each step of the way. I feel like as self-published authors we should stick together and help each other however we can. This is just one small way I hope to help.

That being said, July was one of those amazingly, almost-can't-believe-it, omg-I-might-faint kind of months for me. I still look back at the sales numbers and want to cry! The biggest news for July was that my fourth book in the Peachville High Demons series finally came out. It was sort of a strangely staggered release because B&N got the book up really quickly but Amazon dragged for almost a week. My book didn't show up properly in Amazon searches for almost a week after it got listed, which was somewhat frustrating, and in the end, I think hurt my sales rank to some degree because it split my initial burst of sales up too much to give me the boost I was hoping for. Still, Shadow Demons did make it all the way up to #413 in the Kindle store and that's very close to my best rank ever (Beautiful Demons was 365 in February, which is my all-time best ever.) Not too shabby.

Anyone who has been following my sales numbers knows that last month I hit a huge milestone by selling my 25,000th book. In July, I made it all the way up back 35,000 books sold, so this was a HUGE month for me. It's so exciting to see the sales continue to grow. Of course, any month with a brand new release is going to be bigger than previous months, but I'm still amazed at the success so far of the series, so thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who has purchased the PHD books and loved them. I heart you.

July Sales Numbers:

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

Amazon Kindle Store: 1698 US + 134 UK = 1832
Barnes & Noble: 398
Smashwords: 1
Total: 2231

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

Amazon Kindle Store: 1373 US + 92 UK + 1 DE = 1466
Barnes & Noble: 333
Smashwords: 3
Total: 1802

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

Amazon Kindle Store: 1243 US + 72 UK = 1315
Barnes & Noble: 278
Smashwords: 3
Total: 1596

SHADOW DEMONS (Book 4 of the PHD series. 7/3/11)

Amazon Kindle Store: 2824 US + 87 UK = 2911
Barnes & Noble: 600
Smashwords: 10
Total: 3521

Total July Sales: 9150

Overall Sales To Date: 35,688

I am still blown away and so humbled by the numbers. I know it's nothing compared to the Amanda Hockings and John Lockes of the Kindle world, but to me, it's really something. I still get scared that one day all my books will just stop selling and this wild will be over, but the fear gets less and less with each book that comes out. I am truly loving writing and loving this career. Self-publishing was definitely the right choice for me.

So now I am fast at work writing Book 5, DEMONS FOREVER. This will, sadly, be the last book in the Peachville High Demons series. I'm so scared to move on to another series, but at the same time, I'm really excited about the next series coming up. It's the series I've been working on for a really long time and I'm anxious to see what it turns into now that I'm not worried about what an agent or editor will think and I can just write it the way I want to write it. The first book in the series is already finished, but I know it will take some rewriting. I sincerely hope this next series strikes as much of a chord as PHD did, if not more.

But for now, DEMONS FOREVER is on my mind 24/7. I'm hoping to have it completed and published faster than Book 4. It will be out sometime this fall, but I'm not ready to give an exact date yet. Anyway, there's the rundown on my July sales numbers. And thanks to all the writers who sent me encouraging messages last month about me posting sales. It means a lot to me to know I'm helping other indie writers, even if it's just in some small way. Thanks for the support!!

Inner Ear Fiasco

2011-07-29T13:05:00.002-04:00

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!

2011-07-25T14:12:00.003-04:00

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

2011-07-22T14:43:00.003-04:00

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?

2011-07-20T15:29:00.002-04:00

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

2011-07-19T15:03:00.006-04:00

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

2011-07-18T12:29:00.005-04:00

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!

2011-07-15T14:22:00.005-04:00

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!

2011-07-09T16:05:00.005-04:00

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!!

2011-07-04T23:52:00.005-04:00

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

2011-07-04T14:22:00.002-04:00

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!

2011-07-03T22:43:00.002-04:00

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!

2011-07-03T19:17:00.002-04:00

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

2011-07-01T23:45:00.002-04:00

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

2011-07-01T13:52:00.002-04:00

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.

Official Update on Shadow Demons

2011-06-27T01:47:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. I, for one, worked my little buns off trying to get SHADOW DEMONS ready to publish. As you know, book 4 of my Peachville High Demons series has been the toughest book I've ever written. For the longest time, it simply wasn't coming together. I wrote the entire first draft and still never felt that the real story was coming out. For the first month of revisions, I wanted to tear my hair out. Luckily (whew!), the novel finally revealed itself to me and I was able to rewrite the ending (and a lot of the middle, lol) to get it finished. Yippeee!

I never intended to delay the book this long, but I also didn't want to publish something that didn't feel right. Writing is not about money for me (or for most writers either, I would imagine). It's about the joy of story-telling. It's about discovering something within myself that (hopefully) speaks to hundreds, if not thousands, of other people. To date, over 10,000 people have downloaded BEAUTIFUL DEMONS and almost 7,000 of those people have continued the series all the way through to book 3. I can't even tell you how much it means to me that so many people have connected with Harper's story and enjoyed the books so far. I wanted to make sure Book 4 was every bit as good as the first 3 books. Unfortunately, that meant it took a little longer to get the job done.

But there's good news for those of you who have been waiting so patiently! SHADOW DEMONS is complete! I finished it yesterday and am feeling really good about the story. I uploaded it to my critique group and for now, it's in their capable hands. We'll get together to discuss the novel in detail on Thursday night. Right now, my plan is to work through the night on Thursday to fix any scenes and issues with the book. Hopefully (fingers crossed), the book will be polished, formatted, and ready to upload by late Friday night or early Saturday morning. For the buying public, that means it should go on sale in the Kindle and Nook stores sometime either Saturday afternoon or Sunday.

Now that we're getting to the end of the road with this one, I'll try to post updates toward the end of the week to let you know exactly when to expect the book to go live. Thanks to everyone so much for your patience and support! I will warn you that this book ends on a bit of a cliff-hanger (yikes!), but Book 5 is already in the works. I hope to get this book late summer/early fall. Book 5, DEMONS FOREVER, is the final book in the PHD series.

SHADOW DEMONS: Chapter 3 - A Pair That Looked Just Like This

2011-06-24T21:27:00.027-04:00

I'm posting a little bit late today, but I have a good reason. I was up until 5 AM this morning finishing the second round of edits for Shadow Demons! It felt so incredible to finally hit that final moment in the book and know that it has finally all come together. As you know, this fourth book has been a struggle for me, but I feel like it's really close to being ready now. I am working tonight to go through with one last polish before I hand it over to my critique group for their opinions.

We have a group meeting planned for next Thursday night, and I am so nervous to hear what they have to say. As long as the book doesn't need major changes after they get through with it, I plan to spend most of next weekend working 24 hours a day if I have to in order to get Shadow Demons published before the 4th of July.

With that update, I leave you with Chapter 3. This is a super short chapter and is just more of Harper reflecting on what happened in the village and whose diamond earring she found in that secret library. Enjoy!

(*If you missed them, here are links to Chapter 1 and Chapter 2.)

A Pair That Looked Just Like This

The peroxide fizzed as it hit the tiny wound on my hand. I sucked a breath through my teeth as pain shot through my hand, then finally melted away. There was a good amount of blood for such a small hole.

I eyed the diamond earring in the soap dish. I wondered if the diamond was real. I wondered who it belonged to.

There was nothing special about the earring. It was the type of round diamond earring a hundred women in this town probably owned. Heck, Drake Ashworth had even tried to give me a pair that looked just like this on the night of my confirmation.

I paused.

What if he had given the earrings to his mom after I turned him down? It sounded like the kind of thing Drake might do. Forget her birthday or something and present the diamonds to her as if he were a thoughtful, loving son.

Maybe.

Or maybe these were cubic zirconia someone bought at the drug store down the road. I didn't exactly have a diamond tester in the house with me. Besides, the odds that this was the same diamond earring Drake had tried to give me were low. All I felt sure of in my gut was that whoever had taken those spell books had been wearing this earring. Mary Anne said no one in her family even had pierced ears or wore any kind of jewels or diamonds. No, whoever dropped that earring was there uninvited.

I wiped the peroxide off my hand with a towel and slapped on a band-aid. This wasn't a mystery I was going to solve at five in the morning. I had to be up for school in just a few hours, and tomorrow was going to be a long day.

The disappointment of not finding the spell books weighed me down as I took one last look at the orphaned diamond earring. I shut off the light and crawled into my bed, exhausted.

MILESTONE: 25,000 Books Sold!!

2011-06-23T02:20:00.004-04:00

I am so excited to post that I have officially sold 25,000 total copies of my ebooks since I first self-published BEAUTIFUL DEMONS back at the end of October, 2010. In less than 8 months, I have become an author with a small but growing and dedicated fanbase. It's truly a dream come true!

Back in March when I hit the 10K milestone, I made a prediction that if I was lucky, I would hit 25K sold in June or July. Here I am, right on time, and so excited I can't see straight.

This week, Amazon announced that self-published author John Locke was the eighth author ever to join the Kindle Million club. In order to get in, you have to have sold one million copies of your ebooks in the Kindle store. The names on the list were sales giants like Nora Roberts and James Patterson. Now, the list includes an Indie author (with, I might add, no intention of signing a contract with a legacy publisher). I would love to someday be a member of the Kindle million club. Hey, I figure I've only got 975,000 copies to go!

I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who has bought the books and supported me throughout the past eight months. Your messages of support through my website, blog, twitter, goodreads, and facebook have kept me going even when I didn't feel like writing or when I doubted myself. Thank you to everyone who has read the books, then told a friend about them. A very special thank you also goes out to reviewers and book bloggers who have taken time out of their busy schedules to read a book by an unknown Indie author like me. Your reviews have helped me get where I am today, and it means the world to me.

There is still a long way to go to get to that Million sales mark, but the path there is paved with one sale at a time. As for the future, SHADOW DEMONS, Book 4 of the Peachville High Demons series, is very close to being ready for publication. I am turning in my edited manuscript to my critique group tonight and we will discuss it and critique the entire thing next week. As soon as I have those final edits complete, I'll upload right away. I'm guessing an estimated upload date of July 1st, then give it at least 24 hours to actually go on sale in stores. After that, DEMONS FOREVER, the fifth and final book in the series, will be released sometime this fall. But I promise that won't be the last of me! My second series, PANDEMIC, should also begin in the fall (I'm shooting for an October release date right now).

As long as you keep reading my books, I'll keep writing them. I have never been so happy or felt so blessed as I do right now. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

SHADOW DEMONS, Chapter Two: Then Who?

2011-06-17T01:11:00.009-04:00

It's Friday again, and I have another teaser chapter of SHADOW DEMONS to give to you! Like I mentioned last week, this isn't by any means the final edit of the chapter, but it's very close to what you'll find in the book once it is published. I am already more than halfway through this round of edits and feeling good about the direction of this book. I'm definitely getting closer and closer to a release date, so stay tuned for more news!

If you haven't read chapter one, you can find it here.

Then Who?

Mary Anne led us to the center of the small village. We stepped into the pavilion and walked straight up to the smooth stone altar. “It's here,” she said.

I looked around, unsure of what she meant. There were no books here. Only stone benches arranged in perfect rows before the altar.

She placed her tiny pale hands on the smooth stone and pulled up. The altar opened like a child's toybox.

I peered inside, expecting to find a small compartment inside filled with books or daggers or potions. Instead, there was a set of narrow stone stairs that led down into a deep dark hole below. I gasped.

Hope welled up in me for the first time since we'd seen the damaged village. It was definitely possible that the witches of the Order had completely overlooked this secret room. I know I never would have guessed there was a library hidden beneath the shrine.

"Do you think the Order might have missed this spot?" I asked.

“It's possible,” Mary Anne said. “Our family was very secretive about its rituals, and this room in particular was always heavily guarded.”

Jackson came around behind me and peered down into the darkness. “Is it safe to go down there?” he asked. “Or are there spells to protect this place?"

“There are a few traps,” she said. “But as long as I go first, they shouldn't trigger.”

Jackson's mouth thinned out into a straight line. "Maybe Harper should stay here."

I leaned into him, pressing my leg against his. Ever since I'd almost died in that ritual, he'd been so protective of me. So worried.

“It's going to be okay,” I said. “Just this one last thing, and we'll get out of here.”

He ran a hand through his hair and grunted. “Fine, but this is it,” he said. “We grab any spell books that look important and get the hell out of here.”

“Deal,” I said. I nodded to Mary Anne. “You ready?”

Her blue eyes were clear and confident. “I'm ready.”

Mary Anne set her doll on the ground, then pulled herself up over the edge of the altar. She hesitated at the top of the stairs. “No light,” she warned. “It will set off another trap. Wait until we've gotten safely to the bottom of the stairs and I'll light a candle.”

She took the stairs slowly and after just a few steps, she was cloaked in darkness.

“You go next,” Jackson said, helping me up over the edge of the altar. "But be careful."

I followed Mary Anne down into the shadows. A light breeze floated down from above. It was a cold Georgia night, but it seemed even colder the deeper we went into the ground. Of course, this wasn't really ground was it? I shook my head. I still didn't understand how all this magic worked. Even if this was just an illusion, it seemed awfully real. If we weren't underground, where were we? Still above the trees? It didn't seem possible.

I heard Jackson's footsteps behind me, then soon after, a grinding of stone as the top of the altar sealed shut, leaving us in a darkness so complete, I couldn't see my own hand in front of my face.

I wanted to scream, but I somehow stopped myself, remembering that any small thing might set off a trap down here. It felt as though we had been locked inside a tomb. I suddenly wondered if we'd been wrong to trust Mary Anne. Had I done something completely stupid by coming here?

Fear gripped my heart and squeezed. I couldn't breathe. What if she'd only brought us here as a sacrifice to get back in good graces with her family? I couldn't face those witches again. I was lucky to have survived it the first time.

“Mary Anne?” I croaked out. I couldn't see her in the darkness. Was she still in front of me? Were we alone down here?

“It's okay,” she said. “I should have warned you about the door closing. It will reopen when we're ready to leave.”

Her voice was so calm. I wanted to trust her, but how many times in my life had I really been able to trust anyone? After all, this was a girl who had spied on me and led her family to me. Maybe Jackson had been right and this was a stupid idea. I wanted to turn around and go straight home.

“Any news on that light?” I asked, trying to laugh it off.

Jackson's hand touched my shoulder. I reached out and gave his hand a squeeze, feeling instantly better and so very glad that I wasn't here alone. “She's very close to the candle," he said.

"And just how do you know that?" I whispered.

He paused, his mouth coming close to my ear as he said, "I can see in the dark."

If there had been more room on the narrow stairway, I would have twirled around and given him the evil-eye. “You don't think you could have told me about this super power before I almost peed my pants?”

He laughed and the sound echoed through the dark room.

"Shhh." A chill ran up my spine. Laughter felt all wrong in this place.

“I'm here,” Mary Anne said. She struck a match and a cool red glow lit up the dark space.

The room was smaller than I expected. Barely the size of my bedroom at Shadowford. Several wooden bookcases lined the walls. My heart rose up. Whoever wrecked the village hadn't touched this room after all. Maybe there was a still a chance we could find a way out of this mess. A way to be free.

"Are we safe to come down and take a look?" Jackson asked.

"Yes," Mary Anne said, running her fingertip along the carved picture of a bird on the side of the table. "By lighting the candle, I've disabled the traps."

"Do you know what all these books are?" I asked. I came down into the depths of the room and walked along the rows of ancient tomes. "Like which ones hold the really old or forbidden magic?"

Mary Anne frowned. I followed her gaze toward a black, shiny bookcase along the far wall. This bookcase was different from all the others. A glass door covered the front, strange carvings etched into it.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Someone's been in here," she said. She walked to the case and with a trembling hand, opened the door wide. "This is usually sealed, and look. No books inside."

I crossed the room, not wanting to believe her. But she was right. There were no books in the cabinet at all. "Please tell me this isn't the cabinet where all the really important books were kept," I said, but I already knew the answer.

Mary Anne's shoulders slumped. "I don't understand," she said. "Why burn everything above, then come in here and only take those nine books. Why not take everything? Or burn it all? Why leave this room intact?"

"I think the Order would have taken all of these books for their library. Some of them are rare," Jackson said. He pulled a book off the shelf nearest to him. "Like this book on shape-shifting. It's very valuable. I can't imagine they would have just left it here."

"So what are you saying?" I asked.

"I'm saying that maybe it wasn't the Order who was down here," Jackson said. He turned to question Mary Anne. "Maybe your family took the books with them before they left town?"

"I don't think so," Mary Anne said. "They wouldn't have had time to come back here. I felt them leave the area as soon as the fighting was over. I would have known if they'd been back."

"Then who?" I said. "If not the Order?"

My shoulders tensed. In the wrong hands, those books could be extremely dangerous. We already knew they contained spells about black roses and instructions on how to kill the Prima and transfer the line to a new family. Who knew what other terrible magic there was inside? If anyone had them, I hoped it was the Order. At least then, the books might be safe. After all, the Order had rules about dark magic like that. Right?

"I don't know," he said. "But we're not going to figure it out by standing here talking about it. We should get home before someone finds out we're here."

I turned around in the small room. "Is there anything here we should take with us?"

"What do you mean?" Mary Anne asked.

"Any chance some of these other books might have a secret ritual that could break the spell that makes me the Prima?" I asked. "Without killing me, I mean."

Jackson crouched down by a row of books. He shook his head. "I know these books," he said. "Mostly standard magic books. Potions. Basic spells. Most of these books are in the library at Shadowford."

"Library?" Mary Anne asked.

I threw Jackson a look and he shrugged. "There's a secret library," I said. "I'll show you some other time, but for now, let's finish looking through these books and get the hell out of this village."

"Good idea," Jackson said.

After a brief run through all the shelves, we had a stack of six books to take home with us. The book on shape-shifting. A book on powerful potions. And a few others written in a foreign language. None of the books held dark magic and none of them would free me from this curse of being Prima. Whatever important and dangerous magic had been housed here, it wasn't here now. All I could hope was that it was now in the hands of people who would never use magic to hurt me. If there was one good thing about the Order of Shadows, it was that they wanted both me and Jackson alive.

"Let's go," Jackson said. "We're not going to find anything else here tonight."

"Stay behind me," Mary Anne said. She blew out the candle and I followed the sound of her footsteps. My boot hit the bottom stair and I stumbled, throwing my hands out in the darkness to try to regain my balance.

I scraped my palm against the rough stone of the stairs and cried out. A warm trickle of blood ran down the side of my hand. "Crap."

"You okay?" Jackson said, his hand on my back.

"Fine." I gritted my teeth against the pain. A small rock had gotten pushed into my skin, but when I tried to brush it away, it wouldn't budge. Great. It was really jammed in there and hurt like hell.

I cradled my injured hand close to my chest and made my way up the stairs. Once outside in the light of the moon, I held my palm up to my face and gasped. It wasn't a rock stuck in my palm. It was a diamond earring.

21 Days to Vegas

2011-06-14T17:01:00.003-04:00

My husband and I are going to Las Vegas in exactly 21 days! I am so excited I can barely see straight. The only other time I have been to Vegas was for our wedding in December of 2009. We had been hoping to go back for our 1 year anniversary, but between family obligations and my new career getting started, we weren't able to make it. Instead, we decided to go for G's bday.

Right now, I am working hours and hours a day to make sure SHADOW DEMONS comes out before we leave. I have no doubt that I'll make that goal. Once Book 4 is officially released, that will just give us another great reason to celebrate while we are there. And when we do Vegas, we don't go for just a weekend trip. No, we do it right, haha. We're staying 7 nights at the Aria Resort and Casino in City Center. It's one of the newest resorts on the strip, so it should be very nice. I read online that the first time you enter the room, the room "greets" you by turning on the lights and opening the drapes. How cool is that? And you can set preferences on how you want to wake up in the morning. For example, you can program the lights to slowly come on, the windows to open, the temperature to change slowly or certain music to play when you want to gradually wake up. See why I'm so excited?? Haha. My husband thinks I'm nuts for being so impressed by stuff like that, but I can't help it. It's freakin' cool!

We are still trying to decide which shows to go see while we are there. And I'm already thinking about which outfits to take. It's going to be extremely hot, I'm sure! Anyway, the countdown is ON. The number one item on my list of things to-do before we go? Finish SHADOW DEMONS!

Self-Publishing Resources

2011-06-13T20:37:00.003-04:00

On Saturday, I gave a talk on self-publishing at my local Romance Writers of America meeting. Our local chapter is the Heart of Carolina Romance Writers, and I have been a member of the group since 2007. If you are a writer in the Raleigh/Durham area, I highly recommend joining or at least coming for a visit. I had such a great time talking about my experiences so far as an Indie author.

For the talk, I decided to put together a series of handouts and walk-throughs people could refer to if they were interested in learning more about self-publishing. Since I took the time to create those resources for the RWA group, I figured I might as well put them up on my website for everyone to use.

If you are interested in learning more about self-publishing or you have been considering publishing a book of your own, please feel free to check out some of the free resources I put up on my website. You can find them here. So far, there are step-by-step walk-throughs about how to publish your novel on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Also, there's a list of the different pages you need in the front and back of your eBook, answers to frequently asked questions, and an explanation of everything you need to have prepared before you're ready to publish. In the future, I hope to add more resources, such as info on how to create a book cover, and a cheat sheet for how to format your novel according to the Smashwords style guide.

I certainly don't know everything, but I've been working hard to learn as much about self-publishing as I can so far. I am hoping my small success so far can help others to create their own career as an Indie author. Check out the resources there if you're interested and continue to check back for more pages soon.

SHADOW DEMONS, Chapter One: Vengeance

2011-06-10T16:43:00.003-04:00

As I announced earlier this week, I have decided to release one chapter a week until the release of SHADOW DEMONS, Book 4 of the Peachville High Demons series. Most of you who read my books already know that my chapters are pretty short, but hopefully this little teaser about the start of the book will give you some insight into the path this story is going to take. I'm excited to release Chapter One: Vengeance today on my blog!

NOTE: This isn't the absolute, final edited version of the chapter. It's just what I have right now as I'm still working on the book. If there are any errors or some parts aren't as smooth as they could be, don't fear! It's still a work in progress. I just wanted to get some content out there for all of my fans who have been patiently waiting for SHADOW DEMONS to come out. In all likelihood, some of the content posted on my blog throughout the next few Fridays will change slightly before the book is actually released.

Vengeance

Windows stared out at us like dead eyes.

The houses in the small village were burned and blackened, their roofs collapsing.

Beside me, Mary Anne sank to the ground, her silent sobs making my heart ache. I kneeled next to her.

“I'm so sorry,” I whispered, putting my arm around her shoulders.

I couldn't completely understand how she was feeling. I'd never had a home I felt particularly attached to in any real way. I'd moved around so much, it had been pointless to get emotionally invested in a house or even a neighborhood. But Mary Anne had spent her childhood here in this secret village.

In the past week, she'd become an outcast and a traitor in the eyes of everyone she'd ever loved. Now this. I held her tighter.

Glass crunched under Jackson's boots as he walked to the nearest house. The sound echoed through the silence.

"What happened here?" I asked.

"The Order of Shadows happened," he said. He kicked at a broken fence.

“How can you be sure it was the Order?”

“I've seen this before,” he said. A darkness spread across his features. It was such a painful expression, it twisted my insides.

“Where?” I almost didn't ask. I almost didn't want to know.

“It doesn't matter,” he said. “All that matters is that they've been here. They probably took anything of value they could find and then torched the place. I doubt we'll be able to find any of the old spell books.”

“Why would they do this?” I asked. “What's the point?”

Jackson turned around, surveying the area. “Vengeance," he said, his voice calm for such a passionate word. "And to make sure the crows can never come back."

Mary Anne's sobs turned to deep breaths. She lifted her head and wiped the tears from her pale face. “I'm going to look around.” Her voice was soft. Injured.

“Okay,” I said. "Do you want me to come with you?"

She turned to me, her blue eyes glassy with tears. "No thanks," she said.

I watched her walk up through the middle of the village, her steps slow and deliberate. She glanced at the houses on either side of her, then stopped in front of the next-to-last house on the left side. After a moment, she walked up the stairs of the ruined house and disappeared inside. My heart ached for her. She would have been the Prima Futura right now if she hadn't stood up to her family. She saved my life. I hated to see her hurting.

"I don't know if this was such a good idea," Jackson said to me. "What if the Order placed traps around the village to keep the crows out?"

I touched his arm. “It's her childhood home, Jackson," I said. "Give her a few minutes to deal with all this."

He sighed and placed his hand over mine. "I know," he said. "But something doesn't feel right. It feels like we're being watched. It's not safe here."

“I'm still not entirely sure I know where 'here' is,” I said. “I mean, one second we're levitating above the trees, and then boom, we're in this town? I don't get it. Where are we really? Did we go through some kind of portal?”

Mary Anne's family had taken great care to make sure they remained hidden for all these years. Hiding an entire town and a whole community of people couldn't have been easy.

“It's an illusion,” he said. “A very powerful illusion that probably took decades to perfect and grow."

“So you're saying we're still above the trees?”

“Exactly,” he said. “Did you feel that small electrical shock when we passed into the village?"

I nodded. When I thought about it, I realized it had been a slightly more powerful version of the shock I felt every time I passed through the wall in the girl's locker room at school. A magical force-field of sorts. The same way the Order kept the training room hidden, the crows were keeping this village hidden all this time.

“The old witch and her daughters must have spent years building this place with magic and concealing it from the rest of the town,” he said. “There is great power here. Can't you feel it?”

I shivered. I could feel it. There was a buzz running just under my feet. It was a particular sort of power. Evil. Definitely full of darkness and greed and jealousy.

Bitterness.

How had Mary Anne grown up here and still turned into the kind of person who cared enough to save my life?

“So why didn't the Order just destroy it?” I asked. “Instead of burning the houses?"

“I don't know,” he said. “Maybe they wanted to set it up as a warning if anyone ever came back. Or like I said, maybe they're watching this place very carefully. I don't think we should stick around much longer. It's already after two."

I had to admit, I kind of agreed with him. This place was getting creepier by the second.

“Let's see if Mary Anne knows where they kept their spell books and ritual items,” I said. “Then we can get the hell out of here.”

Jackson followed me into the center of the small town. The houses were set up in a circle. In the town center, there was an outdoor pavilion with several rows of stone benches and what might have been an altar in the front. I didn't even want to think about the kinds of things that went on in this town. It all felt very cult-ish. The witches had been so secluded up here, rarely ever coming in to town or having any kind of contact with the outside world. Mary Anne told us she'd never once left this place until the day they sent her to Shadowford. I couldn't even imagine how hard that must have been for her.

She was obviously having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that her old home was in ruins. When we found her, she was standing in the middle of a large open room, her eyes staring straight ahead and her shoulders slumped.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

She shook her head slowly, not speaking.

“Was this your house?”

She closed her eyes and a tear rolled down her cheek. In her hand, she gripped a small doll. It looked like a rag doll of sorts with black yarn for hair. Its blue dress was blackened and torn.

“Mary Anne, we need to find the room where they kept any important spell books or ritual items that might help us,” I said. I hated to bring it up when she was obviously hurting, but the books were the whole reason we'd come here. The crows had access to forgotten magic. Dark magic. Books and spells that no one in the Order had even known existed.

If there was any chance one of those old books might be able to help us break the spell between me and Aerden, we had to at least try to find them.

Mary Anne made no move to answer. She just kept staring straight ahead, her eyes dark and unfocused. Jackson and I exchanged worried glances. What if we'd made a huge mistake by bringing her here? What if she'd changed her mind about helping us?

"Please, Mary Anne," I said. Knots of fear coiled in my stomach.

Mary Anne looked down at the small doll in her hand, then hugged it close to her chest. With the back of her hand, she wiped away her tears. “Okay,” she said. “I'll show you.”

Best-seller Sandwich

2011-06-09T10:46:00.004-04:00

This morning I was happily checking my Amazon page to see if I had any new reviews and to check my sales rank. It's part of my morning routine and it always makes me happy just to see my book online and realize that one of my greatest dreams in life has come true. I'm an author!

But this morning held a sweet little surprise of chance. When I checked the sales ranking for BEAUTIFUL DEMONS, I saw that I was back in the top 1000 ebooks on Kindle. Usually when that happens, my book goes into the Top 100 Children's book list, which is always fun to see. I clicked over to the Children's book list and found my book sitting at number 84 on the list. The best part though, was which books were just above and below me. Take a look.

It feels so incredible to see my book right there between The Hunger Games Trilogy and Breaking Dawn. Both of those books/series are astronomical bestsellers. Achieving that kind of success is something I can only dream about. Yet there I am. My humble little book. Sitting right between two major bestsellers. Is it a sign? Hehe. I certainly hope so!

Shadow Demons Update

2011-06-07T16:18:00.002-04:00

I know there are a lot of people waiting for updates on Book 4 of the Peachville High Demons series. Last night, I met with my critique group. They critiqued the first half of the book and reassured me that the story is on the right track. I have some revisions to work on after talking to them last night, but more importantly, I am still working on edits for the second half of the book.

I hate to announce another delay. I don't want anyone to think that I am flaking out or not reliable in any way. On the other hand, the book isn't ready. I don't want to publish something that's not up to the same quality as the first three books. Art is such a funny thing. It can't really be rushed, so if it's not coming together as fast as I hoped, all I can do is keep plugging away and keep focusing on the story.

This is something that highlights a difference between Indie authors and traditionally published authors. In the traditional print world, a book is finished and turned in to an editor months and months before it is actually scheduled to come out. Sometimes an author will turn in a book up to a year before the publication date. With self-publishing, most authors finish a book and publish it as soon as possible. That's what I've been doing ever since October. As soon as my critique group and my husband have read the book, I work furiously on edits and revisions, then post the book within a week. The process has been working for me so far, but for some reason, Book 4 has been the most difficult book I've ever written.

The challenge is that there are only five books scheduled in this series. I know that everything in Book 4 has to begin pulling all these threads together so that Book 5 can have the huge impact that I want it to have. The end of Harper's story is very powerful, and I want to make sure I set it up just right. I think that's why this next-to-last book has been such a challenge.

Basically what I'm saying is that even though the book is progressing and is going well, it's still not finished. I am not confident enough to give an expected release date at this point except to say that it will be out this summer. I've been so nervous to announce this because I really don't want any fans of the series to be disappointed in me. All I can do at this point is be honest and keep working hard to get the book ready. As an apology for the book being released late, I have decided to post one chapter every Friday from Shadow Demons, starting with Chapter 1. This will be a free read and sort of like short teaser chapters while you are waiting for the book to come out. Chapter 1 will go up this Friday on my blog, so stay tuned!

May Sales Numbers

2011-06-06T14:30:00.004-04:00

May was a rough month for me. Don't get me wrong - it was still a great month. Every month that goes by since I first decided to self-publish has been like a dream come true. I love the freedom that self-publishing gives to me. I love creating the stories I want to write and never having to worry that an agent or editor won't like them. I only have to think about the reader. It's awesome.

On the other hand, writing books this fast isn't easy. I fully intended to get Book 4 out before the end of May, but here it is June 6 and the book still isn't finished. More about that later. Today is about sales numbers. A few very exciting things happened in May. First of all, I got new book covers!! The new covers definitely invigorated my sales numbers. What was looking like a rough month turned around in the last week to be a decent month without a lot of drop in sales despite the fact that I didn't get a new book out yet. The covers were designed by Robin Ludwig Design, Inc. She did an amazing job, and I think the new look has had a great impact on the way people view the series.

The second exciting thing that happened is that I passed 20,000 books sold! That's spread between all three books, but it's still super exciting. I am hoping once Book 4 comes out, I will pass 25,000 books total pretty quickly. So, here are my sales numbers for the month of May:

BEAUTIFUL DEMONS - Book 1 of the PHD series - $0.99 (10/31/10)

Amazon's Kindle Store: 1306 US sales + 35 UK + 0 DE = 1341
Barnes & Noble: 254
Smashwords: 3
Total: 1598

INNER DEMONS - Book 2 of the PHD series - $0.99 (12/22/10)

Amazon's Kindle Store: 1071 US sales + 24 UK + 1 DE = 1096
Barnes & Noble: 128
Smashwords: 5
Total: 1229

BITTER DEMONS - Book 3 of the PHD series - $2.99 (2/24/11)

Amazon's Kindle Store: 986 US sales + 17 UK sales + 1 DE = 1004
Barnes & Noble: 108
Smashwords: 5
Total: 1117

Total May Sales: 3944

Total Self-Publishing Sales Over 7 months: 20,967

The month ended up being only a couple hundred less than April, which I think is great since I haven't had a new release since February. Book 4 in my series will definitely be out in June, so hopefully I should see a burst of sales from that book's release. Then, I am still hoping to release Book 5 by the end of August. I am so anxious to get started with my next series as well. I love writing and the more I write, the more I love what I do. Creating stories is so much fun when you have freedom.

Side Note: I'll be speaking on self-publishing at the local RWA chapter meeting, Heart of Carolina Romance Writers, this upcoming Saturday. For more information, visit the HCRW website. If you are local to the Raleigh, NC area, anyone is welcome to attend!

Georgia Trip!

2011-05-27T02:28:00.003-04:00

I am driving home to Georgia in the morning to visit my family and friends. Since Shadow Demons is STILL not finished and uploaded to my critique group, it looks like I'll be working more than I will be vacationing, haha. I am going to do my best to stick to my delayed date of June 10th for publishing, but it's definitely going to be tight.

I'll be gone until next Friday, at which time, hopefully, the book will be finished! I'll be at the beach this upcoming weekend, so I can only hope that the beach acts like a muse and allows all the little pieces to come together. I just really feel so invested in this series and want it to be perfect. At the same time, though, I don't want to disappoint everyone who is waiting for the book to come out. I get emails and messages about it everyday, and I know some of you are ready for release. I promise you, I'm working as hard as I can!!

I've already warned my family that I'll be working the whole time I'm home. I'm sure they won't be thrilled about this, but hey, they'll just have to deal. At least I'm coming home at all. My trips home to visit my family have been very few and far between since I started my Indie publishing career. It's been well worth it, but my mom reminds me how much she misses me. I hope this is a great, easy trip home with no drama and lots and lots of time to write!

How to get Updated Book Covers on Your Nook

2011-05-24T18:11:00.003-04:00

In light of the new covers I just released for my Peachville High Demons series, I thought I would talk about how to get these new versions onto your ereaders. Anyone who buys the series new will automatically get the updated version and the new covers, but for a fan who already owns the series, the process is a little more complicated. It's not super difficult, though, so I'm going to write about what I've learned so far.

With the Barnes & Noble Nook, getting the new covers is super simple. All you have to do is go to the B&N website, sign in, then along the top, you will see a "My Account" drop down menu. Select the option "My Nook Library". Scroll through your library and find the PHD series books you have purchased. Just under the DOWNLOAD button, you will see the option to "move to archive". Archive the book, then turn around and Unarchive it again.

The way I did this was by turning on my nook, finding the archived book (which at this point was grayed out), selecting the book and choosing to option to unarchive the book. The second I did this, the nook came up with the new color cover.

Now, the bad news is that even with the cover updated, the actual document is not the updated version of the book. I asked around on a few forums about how to get the new version downloaded to my Nook and the consensus seems to be that at this time, there is no way to get the new version onto your Nook. I am going to try contacting customer service to see if they will update my novel to the new version the same way the Kindle customer service did. I will update this blog post as soon as I have an answer from them.

If you have more information on how to get an updated version of an ebook to your Nook, please feel free to comment and let me know what your experience has been.

Getting An Updated Version of An Ebook On Your Kindle

2011-05-23T23:10:00.005-04:00

My new versions of the first three Peachville High Demons series are live! I have had a few people ask whether they would have to buy the books again in order to get the new versions. Luckily, the answer is no. The bad news is that it is a little more difficult to get the new/updated version than I would like for it to be.

Apparently, at this time, once you purchase an ebook through the Kindle store, that's the version you own. Even if you delete the ebook from your Kindle and have it re-sent, it will continue to send you the older version instead of the updated version. This is a bit of a pain in the you-know-what, but all hope is not lost.

If you contact Kindle Customer Support, you can request that the updated version be sent to your Kindle. As I understand it, you will probably get a message that says something like this:

Currently, customers who have purchased a Kindle book cannot automatically download the revised content. Our technical team is aware of this issue, and are working towards automating this process.

In the meantime, we can manually send the updated content to your device. Before we send it, you should be aware that once the new content is received, features such as Highlights, Last Page Read and Bookmarks will be removed and the locations of notes may not match in the updated copy of your book.

As long as you let them know that you are willing to lose your highlights and notes on the book, they should send you a new version with the revised content and new cover. It sucks that you have to go through these extra steps. I hope they are working fast to automate the process and offer the new version as an automatic download. If that does happen, I will let you know.

Anyone who purchases the book new from now on will automatically get the new version, but if you had already purchased the books and want to get a new updated copy, for now the only option is to contact Kindle Customer Support. I have actually just done this myself to see what type of response I get and how quickly I get it. I contacted them by going to the Kindle Support page, then clicking on "Contact Us". I selected the option to email them and mentioned the names of the ebooks I wanted updated. I also told them up front that I was aware I would lose my highlights and such, but that I want the updated version sent to my device. Now, it's a waiting game to see how long it take them to respond and how long to send me the new copy. I'll keep you updated!

UPDATE: I got a response from Customer service within five minutes of sending my request. They activated the new version for me and it was instantly downloaded to my Kindle via Whispernet. It was super simple after I contacted them! I am very glad to hear this was an easy process. If anyone is having trouble getting their new version/new cover activated on your Kindle, please feel free to contact me through my blog or website and I will help you get the issue resolved.

Updated Versions and New Covers

2011-05-22T20:16:00.003-04:00

Just a quick note to let you know that I have finally uploaded new versions of all three books in the Peachville High Demons series. This is something that I've been meaning to do for a long time, but the process was a little more involved than I originally anticipated. In order to make the formatting process easier, my amazing husband has been writing his own programs to help automate the formatting. It's been a work-in-progress since the first book came out in October.

The original BEAUTIFUL DEMONS manuscript had a minor formatting error where some of the paragraph returns didn't show up on the ereaders. What that basically did was run some of the dialogue together instead of separating it like it was meant to be. Over the weekend, we fixed all of those little issues. I also spent some time over the past few weeks going back through all three books and editing them for errors. Luckily, other than the formatting thing in book 1, I didn't find a lot of errors. Hopefully, I caught any remaining spelling errors or inconsistencies that I didn't catch before.

All three books have a fresh new look too! As you saw, I have brand new covers for all of my Peachville High Demons books. Those new covers are now uploaded into the Kindle and B&N stores as well as the Smashwords store. The new cover and versions are available right away in the Smashwords store, but if you want to buy or replace your original download of the books on Kindle of B&N, you'll just have to wait a little longer until they actually go live. This can take them anywhere from now until probably Tuesday. Hopefully sooner rather than later! I'm excited to see if the fresh new covers increase interest in the series at all.

Tomorrow I'll be blogging about how to redownload a book onto your Kindle or Nook if you want to update the cover. I had several people asking if they'd need to rebuy the book in order to get the new cover to show up on their device and the answer is no. There is an easy way to replace the old version and get the updated one, so come back tomorrow to find out how!

Book Cover Reveal! Book 4: SHADOW DEMONS!

2011-05-20T12:59:00.004-04:00

I know there are a lot of people waiting for Book 4. I hate to keep you waiting, but at least I can now give you the fabulous new cover for the fourth installment of the Peachville High Demons series.

In Peachville, there's a fine line between good and evil.

That line is about to be crossed.

I am so excited about this book. One of the main reasons is that it's the next to last book in the series, so things are finally starting to become clear. So far in the series, it's been difficult to tell who is really good and who is really bad. In Book 4, people start to choose sides, so to speak. I think in some ways, that's also why this book has taken me longer to write. I have a very clear idea of how the series will end. Since there is only that one final book remaining after this one, it's important that I set up the action of that fifth book perfectly here. It's testing my skills as a writer, and I'm loving every minute of it!

Only a few more weeks until I can share this book with you. I hope you're as excited as I am! Thanks again to Robin Ludwig Design, Inc. for your amazing book cover art. I couldn't be happier with the results.

Book 3: BITTER DEMONS - The New Cover!

2011-05-19T14:19:00.002-04:00

Day 3 of the big cover redesign brings us to Book 3 in the Peachville High Demons series - BITTER DEMONS. There were so many great symbols to use here, it was hard to choose just one. I considered the image of a crow, but then decided against it. Finally, I picked the black rose. In the interest of making it look a bit more like the other covers, we went with a silvery rose instead of a straight out black one, but I'm happy with how it turned out.

So, any thoughts? Are you loving the theme? All five of the covers will have this same theme with the black line and the blue stones with a silvery item, but there are also some differences that set each cover apart.

Oh, and some people were asking when you can expect to see these beautiful covers appear in the stores. Hopefully I will have them out into the Amazon and BN stores by the weekend. The delay is that I am currently fixing a few formatting and spelling errors in the original manuscripts. There weren't a ton to fix, but my husband is also going through reformatting everything with a new system he's developed, so we're really working to come up with a standard for our formatting process. I don't think it will take more than another day or two to get them up, but I wanted to upload the new covers along with the newly edited versions of the books.

Thanks for all the great, positive feedback so far! Only one cover left to reveal this week and that's for book 4! Yes, there will be a fifth cover - for the final book in the PHD series (DEMONS FOREVER), but you'll just have to wait until August to see that one!

New Cover for Book 2: INNER DEMONS

2011-05-18T13:22:00.002-04:00

Thank you so much for all of the encouraging words yesterday when I revealed the new cover for BEAUTIFUL DEMONS! I was so nervous to hear what everyone would think of the redesigned covers, but I've had nothing but positive feedback. Thanks to everyone who chimed in with your words of support.

Today's cover reveal is Book 2: INNER DEMONS.

I love the dagger on this cover! It looks so much like what I picture the ritual dagger in the books to actually be. I also love that the cover model is more polished. Since Harper has just learned to use glamours and has just become a Peachville High cheerleader, I think it's perfect! As you can see, the four covers (actually, eventually five covers!) all have the same general look and theme. However, the model's pose will change from cover to cover and so will the significant item featured on the front.

Tomorrow's cover will be book 3, and then on Friday I'll reveal the new, never-before-seen cover for Book 4: SHADOW DEMONS. In the meantime, I'm working hard on getting the book finished and ready for a June 10th release.

New Covers!!!

2011-05-17T20:34:00.005-04:00

I am so excited to announce that my new covers for the Peachville High Demons series are ready! I got the final approved files today, and I couldn't wait to show them to everyone. I have decided to show one cover per day since it's Tuesday and I have four covers and four days left in the week.

Today's cover is BEAUTIFUL DEMONS, Book 1 of the Peachville High Demons series. This one is my favorite of all four! I absolutely love the photo and the contrast. To me, the cover portrays the mystery/paranormal element of the book really well. I love the color scheme so much. Book 1 features the sapphire necklace Harper wears throughout the series. For those of you who have read the books, you know the significance of this necklace, so I thought it would be great to have it right on the first cover. Here's the cover!

What do you think? I love it! While I really did love my first covers, it was great to work with a professional cover artist and get a face on the cover of the books. They really pop and I think they will draw the eye in so well. I'm so nervous to find out what everyone thinks! These new covers were designed by Robin Ludwig Designs, and I think she did a brilliant job. I definitely hope to work with her again for future covers. Thanks Robin!

Please leave a comment and chime in on what you think of the new cover for book one (but only if you like it, haha!)

Shadow Demons Update: Unexpected Delays

2011-05-16T12:51:00.002-04:00

I have some sad news to announce today. While I completely intended to release Book 4: Shadow Demons in May, the book simply isn't ready. After a very stressful weekend of worrying about it, I finally made the decision to hold off and publish the book in June. Overall, the delay is only going to be about 2 weeks. Right now, I'm officially pushing back the release until June 10th.

I am so sorry to push it back! I get messages every single day from people asking when the book is coming out, so I know some of you are anxiously waiting for it. I can't tell you how much I appreciate all the excitement and encouragement. That's why I hate to publish the book late. I don't want to disappoint the people who support me and support the Peachville High Demons series. At the same time, I don't want to rush the book and publish something that is less than what I feel is my best.

So where am I in the writing / editing stages? I finished the original rough draft in April and started revisions and rewrites at the end of April. I expected to have the book uploaded to my critique group by the 12th, but the beginning of the book just doesn't seem right. Something about it isn't coming together. With writing, it sometimes feels like a magical process. Like the story already exists somewhere and all I have to do is find it. Usually with a story, when I do find the right words, this feeling comes over me. A feeling of rightness like everything just falls into place. So far, I haven't gotten that feeling, and I know that I can't publish this book until I get that feeling. Does that make any sense?

My revamped plan is to now upload the book to my critique group on the 26th of May. Then, I need to give them a week or so to read the book and comment on it. On June 6th, we're planning to get together and talk through what works and what doesn't work. For the next few days after that, I'll work like a mad woman to finalize all the changes and put the finishing touches on the manuscript before I hand it over to my husband for formatting. Looking at the calendar, I'm pretty sure that would put me ready to publish around June 10th, give or take a few days for the various sites to upload the book.

The exciting news is that I have been working with a new cover artist to design completely new covers for all of Peachville High series! I should have those covers to reveal within the next week or so, and I'm so excited about how they look.

Thanks for being patient with me. Being an Indie author isn't easy, and neither is writing and publishing a book every two-three months. This time, since the series is getting toward the end and the relationships are deepening, it's been even more difficult to follow such a strict time line. The good news is that this book will probably be a little bit longer and hopefully even better than the last three.

April Sales Numbers

2011-05-05T11:26:00.004-04:00

What a rollercoaster! After such an amazing month of sales last month, I had no idea what to expect during the month of April. I was pretty sure that my huge jump in sales during March was due to the release of my third book toward the end of February. Without another new release in April to bolster sales, I had a feeling they would slow down. And I was right.

Since I first starting publishing in October, I have tried to set a standard for myself of writing and publishing a new book every two months. No easy task, let me tell you! I succeeded in getting a book out in December, then again in February, but after that, I was definitely feeling a bit burned out. According to the pattern, I should have had Book 4 out by the end of April. Unfortunately, I just couldn't keep working at that pace and had to push the release out to May. Likewise, Book 5 probably will be out in August, giving myself a little bit more time per book.

The downside to taking an extra month is that during that in-between time with no new release, my sales definitely seem to drop off. Last month, I had a whopping jump up to 6441 sales. (That was up from 3711 in February.) In the month of April, I saw a drop back down more toward my February numbers. If you look back at last month's sales numbers blog, you'll see that this is exactly what I predicted. More about my thoughts on this after the numbers. One exciting new development in April is the opening of a Kindle store in Germany! I haven't sold very many copies there yet, but it's great to have a new possible audience of readers.

Here are my April Sales Numbers:

BEAUTIFUL DEMONS - Book 1 of the PHD Series - $0.99 (10/30/10)

Amazon's Kindle Store: 1452 US sales + 16 UK sales + 2 DE sales (yay!) = 1470
Barnes & Noble: 97
Smashwords: 2
Total: 1569

INNER DEMONS - Book 2 of the PHD series - $0.99 (12/22/10)

Amazon's Kindle Store: 1196 US sales + 12 UK sales + 1 DE sale = 1209
Barnes & Noble: 89
Smashwords: 2
Total: 1300

BITTER DEMONS - Book 3 of the PHD series - $2.99 (2/24/11)

Amazon's Kindle Store: 1148 US sales + 10 UK sales + 1 DE sale = 1159
Barnes & Noble: 120
Smashwords: 2
Total: 1281

Total April Sales: 4150
Total Self-Publishing Sales: 12,877 previous sales + 4150 April sales = 17027

I'm super excited about that number. Sure, my sales dipped some this month, but with no new release, I think that's to be expected. I have a bit of a theory about this, and I'd love to get some feedback or opinions about it. What I've found so far is that people who release a lot of books in a short amount of time have a burst of sales. The more books and the faster they come out, the bigger the burst and the longer it lasts. For example, if an author releases 6 books in 3 months, they might see a huge boost in sales numbers. This boost might last for 3 or more months. I think this happens because the books begin to ride their own wave of success, so to speak. When an author releases 1 book every 3 months, they will probably see a boost in sales for about a month and a half to two months after each new release, then there will be a dip for that last month or so before the next book comes out. Has anyone else seen this to be true? I would love to see other author's numbers based on their release dates and how often their books come out.

According to that theory, I might have been better off in the long run if I had waited until all five books in my series were written so that I could have released them all in short succession. I might have gotten a bigger boost from that quick release. On the other hand, I would have lost months of sales while I was writing the other books. I have to believe that the path I've chosen is the right path for me. While I may see a dip in sales in between books, I am still seeing steady growth and that's what matters. Of course it would be a dream come true to see my books go all the way up to the Top 500 Kindle books, but I'm still hoping that might happen soon.

Book 4: SHADOW DEMONS is currently in the editing process. I am really hoping for a release date of May 23rd. In the meantime, I expect my sales numbers to stay about the same as they were last month overall, with a boost toward the end of the month when the new book comes out. I hope to have some exciting news about the book cover soon!

Thanks for visiting my blog and checking out my sales numbers. I would love to hear from other Indie authors who also have had some experience with dipping sales numbers.

The Royal Wedding!

2011-04-29T16:24:00.003-04:00

I stayed up all night last night watching coverage of the royal wedding. It's not everyday that you get to witness a true fairy tale! With all the news focused on things like murder and death and gas prices and war and everything bad and tragic happening in the world, it was such a beautiful experience to see hours on end of joyful celebration and happiness.

Catherine Middleton grew up as just a normal girl. She never knew she would be in the public eye, and she probably never dreamed she would someday become a Duchess and a Queen-in-waiting. Yet, there she was today, looking absolutely stunning. She looked so calm and collected, as if she always knew she was born for this life. Her dress, designed by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen, was absolutely gorgeous. I loved the lace and beautiful flowing train. I thought the Queen's tiara looked amazing on her, and I was so happy she wore her hair down with soft curls. She truly looked like a Princess!

I couldn't help but think of Princess Diana as I watched the event unfolding. She would have been so incredibly happy to see her son marrying such a beautiful woman. Diana was an amazing woman with a big heart, and I was sad she couldn't be there today. I'm sure she was there in spirit! I think that Catherine will be every bit as much of a fashion icon and a champion for causes close to her heart.

And didn't the couple look like they just adore each other? Prince William took one look at her and said, "You look beautiful." They shared glances throughout the ceremony and smiled each time they looked at each other. Then, on the balcony, they kissed twice in front of crowd, and Prince William blushed! It was so romantic. Like a true modern fairy tale. In this world of chaos and poverty and ugliness, something truly beautiful happened today, and I'm so happy I was able to watch it and be a part of the global crowd looking on and wishing them every happiness.

Amazon.de!

2011-04-26T13:19:00.002-04:00

Last week, Amazon opened a Kindle store in Germany! It was so exciting to log in to my Kindle sales report and see a new tab added for amazon.de. Amazon has had a Kindle store in the UK for a long while now, and while I have sold some copies there, it's been minimal. So far this month, I've sold about 30 copies of my books in the UK, but hey, 30 copies is still better than none! And to suddenly have another venue to sell in makes me very excited!

On Sunday night, I had my very first sale in Germany, and it put such a huge smile on my face. Just to know that someone halfway across the world bought MY book and put it on their Kindle is just amazing! I wonder if they've started reading it yet? I wonder what they think? I keep checking to see if there's a review up, but since it will probably be in German, I'll have to rely on google translator to figure out what they said, haha. It will definitely be an exciting day if I get a good review from Germany.

And with Kindle stores open in the US, UK, and Germany, how far behind can France, Italy and Japan really be? Right now, I have no idea how to best market my books to overseas English-speaking Kindle users, but it's nice to know the opportunity exists. There are so many exciting things happening in the world of publishing and books right now, and I can't wait to see what the future holds.

Meanwhile, if you're in Germany and reading this blog, go pick up BEAUTIFUL DEMONS in your amazon.de kindle store. :)

Amazon's new "Top Rated" Ranking and A Giveaway

2011-04-19T14:23:00.007-04:00

Today when I was obsessing over my Amazon sales rank, as I tend to do daily, I noticed a new feature! In the product details area where the general sales rank is listed, it now also lists the average customer review as well as what categories your book is "top rated" in.

From what I understand, there has been a Top Rated tab for a while now, but the information has been somewhat buried. A user had to go to the Bestseller lists for a category first, then click on the Top Rated tab. Now, Amazon is including these rankings right there on the book page along with the Bestsellers rank. Basically, what this does is give a boost of recognition to those books that are well-liked by readers.

For example, a book might be #150 in a certain category and therefore not actually making it into the Top 100 list of Bestsellers for that category. However, if there are enough good reviews behind that book, it's possible that it could get boosted up into the Top Rated list for that category. I'm sure it will take some time to figure out how the list actually works.

The Bestsellers Rank, for instance, isn't just a flat listing of the top books in sales for all time in a category. Amazon has some algorithm for determining ranking based on the number of most recent sales. A book has to be selling lots of copies NOW, not just ever in its existence. The same is probably true for the Top Rated ranking. I might have a five-star ranking, but if I only have 15 reviews, I might still be listed below someone who has 100 reviews and a four and a half star ranking. Recent sales might also come into play here. It will take some time to figure it out, but I think it's a great feature. It gives readers a chance to see what books are the most well-liked by others - not just the books that are selling the best right now. Sometimes, that list will be the same, but other times it won't. I'm hoping it gives a boost to good books that might have been getting less attention.

Okay, so with all that said, I have a plea to make! Please, please please, if you have read the Peachville High Demons series, I would sincerely appreciate it if you would take the time to leave a review for at least one of the books on Amazon. Right now, I have 19 reviews for Book 1, only 7 for Book 2, and 10 for Book 3. The overall ranking is great, but if I want to hit more of these Top Rated lists, I need more reviews! (Preferably high stars, haha, but you have to be honest about what you thought of the books!)

I'll even throw in a giveaway! If you leave a review on any of the 3 Peachville High Demons books, send me an email at sarracannon (at) gmail.com with your name and address, and I will mail you a signed Demons bookmark and a temporary demon tattoo, just like the one Harper wears in the books! Heck, just for fun, for those of you who write a review for 2 or more of the Peachville High books, I will even throw in a sneak-peak page from Book 4 - never before seen writing!! This giveaway opportunity is open to anyone who leaves a review on Amazon for my three books by May 1st.

Ereaders Just Keep Getting Cheaper

2011-04-17T19:43:00.004-04:00

It amazes me that some people are still in denial about the future of books. People who continue to cling to the idea that paper books will dominate publishing for many years to come should open their eyes and take a quick look around them. Evidence of the ebook revolution is everywhere. And it's happening even faster than I ever dreamed.

Today, for example, I was perusing the Sunday fliers from the paper. I was looking at the CVS flier and thinking about possibly going to buy some Easter candy when I noticed an ad for an ereader called the LookBook for only $49. The LookBook comes with a 7 inch full color LCD screen, has wireless capability, and comes with 150 free books. I couldn't believe it! Only $49??

Okay, so it might not be the best ereader on the planet, but it's CHEAP. When I looked up reviews online, the LookBook doesn't come out a winner. It has a small battery life and doesn't seem to be user friendly when it comes to adding your own books unless you use their wireless online store. On the other hand, it's only $50. And for that price, I'm betting a lot of people will casually pick one up and give it a try.

Another announcement this week says that Staples will begin carrying the Nook Color starting May 1. They already carry the Kindle at Staples now, and BestBuy carries several different ereader types. Oh, and also the Kindle just announced a $114 ad-supported version. My husband picked up a Kobo reader at a closing Borders store for only $59 on sale. Ereaders are everywhere. And if they are already at places like CVS, it's only a matter of time before they are on the shelves at the grocery store and convenience stores. Dollar General. Everywhere.

The ereaders are just sitting there with their low price tags. Begging people to pick them up and try them. Eventually, their persistence will wear down even the most devoted paperback fan.

With the prices of ereaders getting lower and lower, I have to ask - how long will people really be willing to pay $10 or more for each ebook? I mean, if you can get an ereader with 150 free books for only $49, shouldn't you be able to buy at least 10 books for that same price? I believe readers will become less tolerant of the high prices legacy publishers put on their books. But a $.99 book? That's easy. A reader will happily pick up a book for $.99 if it looks interesting. And if it's an author they already like and trust? Paying $3-5 won't be a problem. $10 books, on the other hand, are harder to afford and I believe readers will become hesitant to spend that much on a single book unless it's by their very favorite author.

If it's this easy for me to see what is happening, why is it so difficult for legacy publishers to see it? And if they are seeing it, why aren't they making some changes? It's an interesting question. As ereaders become more ubiquitous, ebooks will naturally become the dominant format for reading. The bottom line here is that I feel I published in ebook at just the right time. I'm excited about the future, and I can't wait to see what happens moving forward.

Peachville High Demons Promo Items!

2011-04-15T17:08:00.003-04:00

I have some exciting news! I've been working on some prize packs for a "spirit week" in the days leading up to Book 4 of the Peachville High Demons series. I am planning 7 days of giveaways, and have started ordering all the items that I'll be giving away.

For starters, I designed some bookmarks with the following tagline: In Peachville, even the cheerleaders have a dark side. On the back, it lists the names of all five books in the series, along with the months they either were released or will be released. I also signed all the bookmarks. Yes, I realize the irony in giving away bookmarks for ebooks, but hopefully by the time SHADOW DEMONS comes out, there will be a print book out for all of the books as well!

The second item so far is a blue demon temporary tattoo, similar to the ones the cheerleaders in Peachville wear when they are getting ready for game night. The third item is a demon blue nail polish. I also have some blue ribbon like the ribbon Harper ties around her wrist sometimes.

By the time the contest/giveaways begin, I hope to add more things like some personalized Peachville High pom poms and possibly some signed print copies of BEAUTIFUL DEMONS. I plan to also give away some random YA books and some gift cards to Barnes & Noble and Amazon. So stay tuned for some great giveaways in May just before the release of SHADOW DEMONS!

If you have some good ideas of something else that would be cool to give away for promoting the Peachville High Demons series, just comment and let me know! I'll definitely take anything into consideration. Also, let me know what you think of the items so far! Do you like the bookmarks (in the picture, I've got one showing the front and one showing the back)?

20 Minutes At A Time

2011-04-11T18:13:00.002-04:00

I've been sitting at my local Panera most of the day writing. I wanted to take a little break from SHADOW DEMONS for a few, so I'm hiding out on my blog.

When I first started writing full time (about three years ago), I had a really hard time motivating myself to work all day. I never realized how hard time management could be. I always thought that people who worked for themselves were just so lucky and they had it so easy. God, was I wrong! Working for yourself and setting your own hours is HARD. It definitely has its rewards, but in order to make it work, you have to truly learn some self-discipline.

I am not the most disciplined girl in the world. My bathroom is always messy. My computer desk is crazy unorganized. Hell, even the desktop on my computer is cluttered. I like to stay up late and sleep in. I spend hours a week gaming. And I love to shop. Before I found my motivation, I used to waste most of my days. I could hardly get 500 words a day written, and most of the time I just threw out whatever I was writing.

Fast forward three years and I'm writing 2,000 words a day on average. I've written and published three full books since September, and I'm already halfway through Book 4. So how did I do it?

In 20 minute spurts. I started with a little kitchen timer and now have started using my cell phone timer. I set it for 20-30 minutes depending on how I'm feeling, and just go go go. When my 20 minutes is up, I take a break. I pamper myself and do something fun. I watch an episode of something fun like Arrested Development (I heart Netflix) while I do my nails. Then, I set my timer again and get back to work. Somehow, I manage to fit in 2,000 words, two long walks a day, meals, chatting time with my husband and friends, and I still have time for social networking, blogging and yes, gaming.

Instead of sitting down to write this very daunting daily word count, I break it into small, manageable chunks. It makes the day seem do-able. I just write out my to-do list in the mornings (okay, some days it's 11:00 when I crawl out of bed, but for now, we'll just call that "morning"), then go about completing the list 20 minutes at a time. I'm not perfect by any means. My desk is still a mess and I probably have dirty dishes waiting for me at home, but I'm writing and besides spending time with husband, that's the most important part of my day.

And now my 20 minutes is up, so I'm going to wrap up this blog post and get back to SHADOW DEMONS.

Call Me Indie

2011-04-08T16:38:00.003-04:00

On his blog this week, Nathan Bransford brought up the question: Who should have the Indie Label: Self-Publishers or Small Presses?

It's a good question. As a self-proclaimed Indie author, I thought I would throw in my two cents. I think in order to really look at the term, you have to look at how it's used in other venues. Like Indie Rock for example. The funny thing is that when I started googling 'Indie', I realized that there is some level of controversy surrounding that term in both music and films. No one is sure whether it should be given to bands with a certain sound or if it simply refers to anyone who makes music with a certain set of Indie record labels. Apparently people have their own vigorous opinions on the matter.

How could we expect the term to be any different in the publishing business? /shrug. According to wikipedia, Indie is simply a shortform of the word "independent". The Free Dicitonary online defines indie as "1. One, such as a studio or producer, that is unafilliated with a larger or more commercial organization. 2. An artistic work produced by an independent company or group." Dictionary.com says it is "1. an independently owned business. 2. self-employed; privately owned."

I understand that some small presses have been using the term Indie to describe themselves and their authors for years. Self-published authors, for the most part, didn't really register. The problem of no distribution meant most self-pubs weren't selling enough to even make a difference on a grander scale. Then there are the 'vanity publishers' that charge enormous fees to 'publish' an author's books. Some people still hear self-published and automatically think vanity. But times have changed. According to the definitions above, I think those Indie presses are going to have to scoot over and give self-published authors some room.

With the negative stigma placed on the term 'self-published' over the years, authors who are self-publishing will naturally want to come up with some other term to describe ourselves. We want to push away from that stigma that says we can't write for crap or that we are only self-publishing because we couldn't get a publishing contract. Things are different now, so the terms should also evolve. And 'Indie' already has a much more positive connotation. I say that if you have a problem with self-published authors calling themselves independent, you're a little bit crazy. And probably a little behind the times. Or at least in denial about how fast the publishing world is changing.

To say I'm Indie means also saying I'm free from corporate pressure or obligation. I'm brave enough to take my future into my own hands. It means I am willing to let the readers be my gatekeepers. Being Indie means I am taking full responsibility for what happens in my own writing career. It means that I am publishing my own artistic and creative works independent of any corporation or larger commercial organization's investments.

It would be cool if I could come up with some brand-new fresh word to describe what it is authors like me are doing. I mean, I have an easy time coming up with words to describe us. Brave. Free. Awesome. :P Words like that. But since people have already started using the term 'Indie' and since the definition seems to fit, I think that's what we're probably going to be called. And I'm okay with that.

Anyone who isn't is just going to have to get over it.

Writing Through the Rough Spots

2011-04-07T15:46:00.003-04:00

Rough drafts are always difficult for me. I constantly worry that the story isn't going the way it should or that things aren't ever going to come together. The more books I write, however, the easier it becomes to trust my process. SHADOW DEMONS is my fourth book in the Peachville High Demons series, but overall, it will be my sixth completed novel. I feel like after several years and all those manuscripts, I'm finally starting to get the hang of it.

But every day isn't sunshine and puffy clouds. I set a plan to write 2,000 words a day, but there are some definite rough spots. Today, for example, I had planned to write like crazy. I even set a goal on Twitter to write 8,000 words. It's now 4:30 in the afternoon. Guess how many words I've written today. ZERO. Well, not counting this blog and all the emails and chat I've sent today. It's been a rough day.

Sometimes I hit days where the writing is rough simply because I have no good feel of what the next scene is going to be. I sit down in front of a blank screen and start to freak out. No fresh ideas come to me, and I panic. Other days, it's personal and emotional issues that keep me from writing like I should. Today is one of those emotional days. I won't go into the personal stuff, but I will say that I found out some very upsetting news today x 3. Three completely separate things, all of which made me cry like a little baby. It's so tough to step away from that emotional side of myself and push aside the personal concerns in order to write about what's going on in Harper's world. You would think it would provide a much-needed escape, but for me, it doesn't really work like that. I've never been good at reaching a point of detachment between my writing and my personal life.

So how do I push through and keep writing? I think the most important thing is to just go easy on myself on days like this. Instead of beating myself up for not reaching my goals, I should give myself a little bit of a break. If I want to indulge in a little TV watching or something, I should go for it. No guilt. But the second part of that is to pick myself up and keep pushing forward. A break is good, but wallowing in self-pity or beating myself up over the little things isn't going to help me get this book written.

In a way, I guess it all comes down to balance. I have to learn to give myself the time I need to heal or deal with whatever's upsetting me or keeping me from my writing, but I also have to recognize when that time is up and the writing is ready to flow again. I'm not perfect, but that doesn't mean I can't reach my goals and strive to be a better person and a better writer. I'm going to give myself a couple of hours to read and relax, and then I plan to get back to my writing full force tonight. I still might make at least my 2,000/day goal. As for the 8,000 I was hoping for? There's always tomorrow.

And as Scarlet O'Hara would say, tomorrow is another day.

Shadow Demons Update

2011-04-05T15:05:00.002-04:00

Book 4 is starting to get interesting! I'm a little less than halfway through the rough draft, and this is the part where I really start to know what the story is about. I always start with some idea of what's going to happen in the book, but somewhere along the way, everything changes. When I start a new book, even if it's part of a series like this one, I spend the first few weeks being absolutely certain that I have no talent and that this book is going to suck. The story doesn't seem to be coming together at all. I don't feel good about the things the characters are saying or doing. It just seems like a mess.

But somewhere in the middle of writing the draft, ideas just start to come to me. Things start to fall into place. Nothing is perfect, but I can finally start to see the potential in the novel. That's the part I just hit last night when I was sitting at Panera writing with friends. I was in the middle of writing a scene and BAM, I just knew what was going to happen. Don't ask me where the ideas come from. They just come. I sometimes wonder if the stories are already formed somewhere else. Like just floating somewhere in the ether. And they're just waiting for writers to trust the process and just reach for the ideas that have been brewing up there all along.

Do I sound completely crazy? Maybe I am in some ways. But I'll tell you one thing. I'm loving every minute of it.

A Simple Graph To Show The Logic

2011-04-04T00:41:00.005-04:00

If you haven't been following Joe Konrath and Barry Eisler's epic dialog on Ebooks and Self-Publishing, you're missing out. Go read it. Now. I seriously feel like they just put into words exactly what I've been talking to my husband and my friends about for months now. You can find the conversation in 2 parts (so far): Here and Here.

In part 2, Barry talks about how he crunched the numbers. He says it much better than I can, so I'm going to post a direct quote from Joe's blog, which is also from an interview Barry did with Daily Beast:

Being so accustomed to, and dependent on, the legacy model, it took a fair amount of work for what I knew intellectually to start to penetrate at a gut level. The timelines, for example. I’m used to thinking in terms of publishing contracts, so let’s take a hypothetical two-book, $100,000 offer... or, okay, let’s make it real: a two-book, $500,000 offer. My tendency has been to focus too much on that big, seductive number. But to understand what the number really represents, you have to break it down. Start by taking out your agent’s commission: your $500,000 is now $425,000. Then divide that $425,000 over the anticipated life of the contract, which is three years (execution, first hardback publication, second hardback publication, second paperback publication). That’s about $142,000 a year. This is a more realistic way of looking at that $500,000.

But there’s more. Some people have mistakenly argued that, for my move to make financial sense, I’ll have to earn $142,000 a year for three years. But this is one time when you don’t want to be comparing apples to apples. Because the question isn’t whether I can make $425,000 in three years in self-publishing; the question is what happens regardless of when I hit that number. What happens whenever I hit that point is that I’ll have “beaten” the contract, and then I’ll go on beating it for the rest of my life. If I don’t earn out the legacy contract, the only money I’ll ever see from it is $142,000 per year for three years. Even if I do earn out, I’ll only see 14.9% of each digital sale thereafter. But once I beat the contract in digital, even if it takes longer than three years, I go on earning 70% of each digital sale forever thereafter. And, as my friend Joe Konrath likes to point out, forever is a long time.

He mentioned that he'd like to see a basic graph showing how these numbers compare. My husband quickly put together this graph so anyone can see just how much more money Barry can make long-term with self-publishing than he ever would have with a legacy contract. It's super simple, but the message is clear. Here's the difference in earnings over the course of the next 10 years. This image assumes Barry wouldn't have earned out his original advance:

Of course, if Barry did earn out his advance at SMP, the blue legacy line would have gone up instead of staying static. Still, as he points out, he would only be making 14.9% of each digital sale after that. I doubt the royalties earned from that small percentage would be anywhere near what Barry will earn self-publishing with a 70% royalty.

The numbers here are definitely interesting. It might be fun to put together a webpage where authors could plug in various number scenarios to figure out possible earnings comparisons. G said he's going to work on putting that together.

For now, I just want to go on record as saying a HUGE thank you to people like Joe Konrath and Barry Eisler who are willing to speak honestly about the choices authors have to make right now. So much of what Joe says on his blog truly resonates with me. It took me a while to decide not to look for an agent. (Okay, I sent out ONE query letter.) But once I made the decision to self-publish, I knew I'd never look back.

More power to Amanda Hocking for making the decision that she felt was right for her. Like Joe says, I hope she succeeds and wish her the best. For me, however, I doubt I will ever take a legacy publishing deal if it were offered to me. Regardless of the money aspect, I just don't think I could ever give up creative control. I love being the one with the final say on my covers and titles. I love being able to break the so-called "rules" and write what I want to write without worrying if an editor or agent will like it. I love being an indie author. Besides, I love getting my books out as soon as they're published. I like the instant feedback I get instead of waiting a year after I finished the book to finally see it in print and have someone finally review it. I could go on and on, but I'll spare you the talk.

For now, check out Joe's blog. It's epic.

March Sales Numbers

2011-04-02T00:00:00.007-04:00

March was the most AMAZING month for me! I am still in shock at how much sales blossomed last month. I think for most of the month, I was riding high on the release of Book 3. Plus, I had a lot of book reviews come out on various book blog sites, and I know that had a positive impact. I owe a lot to all the book bloggers who took the time to read my books and review them.

Most of the sales growth was in the Kindle store. For most of the month, all three of my books were in the Top 1000 sales ranking of the Kindle store, which was super exciting. Beautiful Demons even went up to the mid-300's a couple of times. Unfortunately, over the past few days, the books have slipped all the way to around 1500 sales rank. It's still good, but definitely falling off just a little bit. For example, I sold 171 books March 1st. April 1st, I only sold 121. I'm expecting to see a pretty big dip in April since there won't be a new book coming out this month. I'm trying not to freak out about it. It's only natural that sales numbers will go up and down. I just hope that I see another great month in May when Book 4 comes out. Only time will tell.

Here are my official sales number for the month of March. Definitely my biggest month so far!

BEAUTIFUL DEMONS - Book 1 of Peachville High Demons series - $0.99 (10/31/10)

Amazon's Kindle Store - 2064 US sales + 10 UK sales = 2074
Barnes & Noble - 223
Smashwords - 6
Total: 2303

INNER DEMONS - Book 2 of the Peachville High Demons series - $0.99 (12/22/10)

Amazon's Kindle Store - 1648 US sales + 9 UK sales = 1657
Barnes & Noble - 214
Smashwords - 2
Total: 1873

BITTER DEMONS - Book 3 of the Peachville High Demons series - $2.99 (2/24/11)

Amazon's Kindle Store - 1883 US sales + 9 UK sales = 1892
Barnes & Noble - 371
Smashwords - 2
Total: 2265

March Total Sales: 6441

That number is almost double my number from February. Before March, I had sold a total of 6436 books. That means that in March alone, I sold more books than I had in all four previous months combined! My total books sold right now stands at 12,877!! I look at the number and have to double check just to make sure it's real. I feel so incredibly blessed to have found this kind of success so quickly.

Like I said, my prediction for April is that sales numbers will continue to drop down just a bit. I am guessing my sales total for this month will be similar to Feb.'s 3000 books. Then, hopefully in May with Book 4 coming out, I will see another upswing into the 6000's. If any other Indie authors are checking this blog, do you see constant growth in numbers from month to month? Or have you had a few months where numbers dropped down, then came back up again later? I'm curious to see what other authors are experiencing.

As many of my followers know, for three years, my husband and I have been living off of his salary alone. I quit my job as a music teacher in an elementary school when I moved to North Carolina to live with the love of my life. He was awesome enough to allow me to write full time and spend my days working toward my dream of becoming an author. For the first time in those three years, his sacrifice paid off. I made more money this month than he did, and that's a huge first for us. I hope this is just the first of many successful months as I work toward my dreams.

A Walk on the Pink Side

2011-04-01T14:20:00.004-04:00

It's Friday, yay! I've been working hard on Book 4, and am almost 1/4 of the way finished with the rough draft. Right now, I'm easily on schedule for a mid-May release! I also have some exciting news waiting in the wings about my next series! Stay tuned.

For fun, I decided to color my hair again. As you know, it was purple, then I went teal, and now, I've gone PINK! Here's a pic I took right after I finished this morning:

Sometimes, you just need a change. I love that I have the freedom to change my looks whenever I want to. Just another perk of being a writer without a full-time office job or desk job or teaching job or whatever. It makes me happy :)

Also, we have a house full of poodles. A friend of ours went to Vegas this weekend with his wife and parents, and his parents have three poodles. They don't do so well at the kennel, so they asked us if we could keep them for a few days. How could I resist? They are super cute! I love their little waddly bodies and their super curly hair. Here is a pic I took of them a few minutes ago, all tuckered out from playing with me for a little while.

I'm excited to have them here for a little while. Snickerdoodle, my pom, doesn't really know what to make of them. She's decided to stay in her own room upstairs most of the time, but she's being sweet when she says hello to them. No doggie fights or anything yet, which is good.

In other news, G and I are playing Everquest II again. <3 As anyone who's been following my blog for a while knows, G and I first met playing that game. It's an MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role playing game) sort of like World of Warcraft. Only better. When we first met, G and I spent a lot of time playing together. Doing quests. Helping each other. Raiding and grouping. Etc. Then, we moved to a station exchange server where you can buy and sell money and characters for real world cash, and we kind of switched our focus to making money for a while. It helped us pay for our wedding big time! The downside there was that we were spending less time just playing together for fun.

Last fall, we stopped playing all together. Canceled our accounts and everything. Then, over Christmas break, we bought World of Warcraft and decided to give it a go. Well, G maxed out his character in less than a month. Due to me writing a lot and not having much time to play, I was still stuck in the 40's. That game doesn't make it really possible to group and quest together in low levels that way EQ2 does, so we weren't spending any time together playing, which sucked. Sooo, long story short, last weekend we decided to go back to Everquest II! This time we're playing on a regular, non-exchange server, and we're leveling up together. He's playing a tank, and I'm playing a healer. It's been fun. We're back to doing the things we used to do together when we first were long-distance dating. Only this time we're sitting next to each other. :) It's awesome.

I'm looking forward to a good weekend of poodles, gaming, and writing!