Tag: indie author

Onto Something Big Here*

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Let’s start with the good news:

  1. I’m not dead! Always worth reminding.
  2. I’ve (obviously) made this week’s post AND I’ll have next week’s newsletter ready to go. On track so far.
  3. I ordered business cards. BUSINESS CARDS. It’s becoming real, y’all.
  4. I worked on Canva for marketing (and made progress!)
  5. I resolved the paperback issue for Better Than You on Amazon – go ahead and grab your updated copy!
  6. I’m nearly a third of the way through writing In The Moment After and am looooovvvvviiinnnggg iiiittttt.

And for the bad news:

Since I’ve yet to locate my hordes of ravenous fans, I don’t think it will be *too* terrible to announce the shift to my publishing schedule. Whereas I was hopeful—nay I say naïve?—in producing four works a year, the money (and time) simply isn’t there. Sadly, Batman and I are still “the Poors” and can only move so far so fast. In fact, I emptied my savings to publish A Royal Pairing in Perish & In The Moment During. Self-publishing may be free to do but it ain’t cheap 😉

With that said, I’m moving to a two-a-year book release schedule because:

  1. I can afford that. Currently. Let’s see where the world goes…
  2. It will give me more time to focus on each release and advertise without feeling rushed.
  3. I’m poor.
  4. I need a social life.

Some of these repeat, but you get the point. I’m planning on making June and December my official release months soooooo that means after In The Moment During comes out this month (woo-hoo!) my next release will be in December for A Return of Ghosts. Don’t look at my website yet because it’s not updated. Still on my to-do list, but I wanted to announce this as early as possible because, I dunno. Seems important.

You feel it, guys? The shift? We’re onto something big here*.

Oh, yeah…

~LC

*That’s what she said

I Must Do All The Things

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Well, I’ve hit a dry spell.

With selling books. For a little bit there, I was moving one to two units a day! (Although they were usually free. But still. Movement is movement and hopefully leads to more movement…) But now that’s stopped and I’m staring at my phone wondering if it’s broken because the same ugly zero has been staring aggressively at me for the last few days.

Mean, angry zero.

Okay, yes—I’ve taken a break with tiktock, and with marketing in general. I know. I know. But I’m tired and really need to focus on editing ITMD and working the next draft of AROG. I mean, product is just as important as advertising product, right? No? I don’t know.

ALSO, I HAVE A BOX OF IN THE MOMENT BEFORE BOOKS SITTING IN MY OFFICE.

I got them Friday. I really want to open the box and see my books but opening them is a “thing” now apparently. You read that right. Unboxing personal indie author books is a “thing” so I need to do this “thing” and I keep forgetting because the house needed ridiculous amounts of cleaning and I got the edits for ITMD and the doggies needed playing. So…the box is still sitting there. Waiting to get unboxed. Because that’s a thing. And I’m an author and I must do all the things.

Guess what I’m saying is…keep an eye out for that spectacular video 😉

Think that’s all for now. If not, I’m sure I’ll be popping into the FB group for an update. That, or it will wait until next week. Either way, still be on the lookout for my unboxing video.

~ LC

Lemme Direct Your Attention – BETA READERS NEEDED

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I know I say this every week, but I’m keeping today’s post short. Well, shorter. There are several reasons for this:

  • I write my blogs at work and my boss is almost back from lunch
  • Not a lot happened since last week (the whole no news is good news thing)
  • I’m still deep in the writing cavern which fills up all my free time
  • Four reasons sound better than three

I did think about skipping today’s post (as I don’t have much to share) but I’ve been stood up TWICE in my life, and I just won’t do that to you, kind folks. Also, there is one thing I have to talk about:

BETA READERS NEEDED for In The Moment During

Did you read In The Moment Before and simply *must* continue the journey with Robin & Grayson? If so, lemme direct your attention here:

BETA form for ITMD

I’m doing a final sweep through the manuscript, but I’ll have it ready by this Friday, 2/10. If you’re interested in giving feedback, please let me know! (I need it to make the story better 😊) And if you’re interested but haven’t read In The Moment Before (and want to!) I’ll throw you a free copy to get you up to speed. Just need feedback by March 3rd in order to get to the editor in time.

Working blurb:

After an unexpected hookup, I end up dating Grayson Knight—my former mortal enemy. We still argue constantly, and I’m sure we’ll break up at some point, but after a family dinner goes well with Dad—the city’s Police Sergeant—I have hope.

Then I start noticing things. Like how Grayson gets called away at odd times, or how skilled he is with gymnastics. Then there was the fight at school—the one where he dominated his opponent. None of it seems relevant until we’re attacked by a monstrous creature—and Grayson springs into action. It’s almost like he knows what to do…like he’s done it before.

Knowing something is off, I confront him about his odd departures and accurate physical skills, but he brushes it off. Not satisfied, I decide to discover the truth for myself. Because Grayson has a secret—and I’m going to find out what.

Lastly, I’ll have the ARC available for A Royal Pairing in Perish on 2/24. If you want to be one of the VIPers who receives their Batman/Catwoman inspired adventure-romance early, lemme direct your attention here:

ARC form for ARPIP

That’s all folks. Keep rocking it!

~ LC

I’m Already Off Schedule

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I’m already off schedule. (Go figure)

Am I surprised? Nah. I think the word is expected. I should’ve expected to get bumped off my own schedule. It was only a matter of time. So what happened? Well, the goal is to have the ARC of A Royal Pairing in Perish done in time for its February 17th date. Of course, that date is arbitrary (no one is banging down my door asking for it) so I can push it back if need be. But stiiillllllll. I wanted to keep to my schedule. And no, it’s not Yellowstone this time. It’s the actual writing.

I’d just finished going through In The Moment During, and can’t decide if I’m missing the last chapter/a bonus chapter/something. So, I started writing it…which led to outlining In The Moment After which NEEDS TO HAPPEN, but I’d designated this time (officially the start of this week) to focusing on A Royal Pairing in Perish since it’s releasing right around the corner. I still need to:

  • Implement final edits
  • Work on backmatter (info at the end of book)
  • Finish up my Reader Magnet (part of backmatter)
  • Set up pre-order for In The Moment During (part of back matter)

Things. There are so many things to be done. And this is just the writing part. Not to mention any kind of advertising for any of the series/learning to do Facebook ads which I’M STILL GOING TO LEARN.

All I need is more time. Anywhere we can buy that? (Please let me know if you know).

…Maybe I will push the ARC date back to 2.24. That would be a solid month prior to the book’s actual release, and again, no one is holding me to it. I’m holding myself to these deadlines, but I also don’t want to rush and provide a subpar product. That simply won’t do either.

There. I feel better having talked it out. Thank you guys – you’re the best! 😊

Other than writing-stuff, life is good. Appa is still acting weird. He’s had a few accidents in the house, and is now starting to shake like he’s got Parkinson’s. I have no idea what’s going on with him, but hopefully it corrects itself. Or the drugs we’re buying him corrects it. Something has to give.

Batman is doing well. He’s working on his own stuff and it seems to be making him happy. Which makes me happy.

Alright…seems to be everything I’ve got. Recap: I’m:

  • Already behind schedule
  • Will update schedule
  • Still going to crush this year

At the end of the day, I’m still going to write you stories. Top priority. Feel safe and loved knowing that.

Second newsletter goes out on Monday (still need to write that…) and then I’m back here next Wednesday. Have a lovely, lovely day, guys.

Make that week.

Actually, make it month.

Ah, screw it. Life.

Have a lovely, lovely life, guys.

😊

~LC

The Final Countdown

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Here we are again, folks. I’m writing this at the last minute, so please forgive any missing words or typos or any stranger than usual content because I haven’t gone through it like, 1,000,000 times before posting like usual. Probably only two look-throughs and that’s it. Let’s see what we get.

For those lucky newsletter subscribers, and even the more select out of that narrow group that actually reads them…what did you think?? Did you choose a cover you like more? Which was it? TELL ME.

As mentioned previously, I haven’t revealed my cover yet because I’m down to two options, one with the original purple I’d requested, and another with a tint or something cool done to it. I don’t know. But, I don’t want to show you either until I’m a BILLION percent sure that’s the one I’m going with, so I’m only including a small section of each. A snippet. And here these mofos are:

Option 1
Option 2

It’s just a peek, but I’m sure you get the picture. So…which one do you like? Which one catches your eye more and would maybe make you want to buy based off that little bit of an image? I have one I’m slightly leaning toward, but apparently, I can’t make decisions on my own. So, I need your help again. The goal is to have this picked by next week. NEXT WEEK. I’ve got to commit because the longer I stall, the less time I have to advertise. Or pay other people to advertise. Something. I’ll figure out something about advertising later but I need a book cover to do that. So…

Other than this, I got my edits back! Woot! Now I’m putting a hold on writing book two and switching back to the first. With a great cover needs to come a great book, and editing probably helps with that.

Alright, can’t wait to hear which tiny piece of a possible book cover image you like more. Let’s call this the final countdown, shall we? By next week, it’ll be one of these two, so do your part:

Let’s do this.

~ Lady Caitlin

Newsletter Island

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So…the plan—the PLAN—is to send out this year’s first newsletter on Saturday. Woot! Are you ready? I should probably be ready. I should probably work on it this week since I’ll be sending it out on 1/15 so… with that in mind, I’m keeping this post short. As in super-short. As in, barely a post at all. Since last week was the *big* announcement, we’ll call this one a bridge to next week with an awesome newsletter island in the middle.

Are you signed up? Would you like to be? In addition to my not-as-annoying pop up as before, you can sign up on my sign-up form, which should* be working. But again, it’s me, so we’ll see.

Alright guys, I’ve got nothing much for you right now. I’m on the cusp of getting my beta reader edits back, so every part of me is consumed with that—and realizing I will be even more poor (how is that possible?!) when this book is finally done because damn it takes money to make money. But at least I have my editor booked, and that sweet relief is enough.

Hope to see you in my newsletter on Saturday! Or not. Again, I’ll have no idea unless you sign up and actually open it (we have ways to know…muahahaha…) but you still might not even read it. It’s all good. (Probably just much more of me rambling anyway…) But still – yay for things happening and boo for being poor! I’m feeling all the emotions, guys.

2022 is off to a great start.

~ Lady Caitlin

*If the signup form isn’t working…please let me know. Thanks!

A Big Year

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To think I almost missed this post because I put it off to do other important writerly things. Guys – it’s the first blog of the year. OF THE YEAR. Can’t miss this one.

I’ve got big plans for this year, and the plan is to stick to them. Releasing book one, writing book two, being a somebody on the indie-author scene instead of the creepy lurker I’ve grown accustomed to. All the things. I’m even breathing life into my newsletter WHICH I WILL BE CONSISTENT WITH. I have to yell at myself because no one else will and I need disciple.

TCATC is out to a handful of beta readers, and I’m only slightly nauseated in getting the feedback. I’m also throwing around the idea of how I want to title the book. The *series* is The Coyote and The Claw, but book one is A Royal Pairing in Perish. But do I want to highlight the series title, or use the individual book’s name? And how should I put them on the cover? Which one should be larger? Series title or book title? These are the CEO decisions I get to make. Just wish I would’ve paid more attention in art class.

Other big, huge, impossibly AWESOME news: my books are available in paperback! WHAT? RIGHT? YESSS. *Santa waved his magic wand/blew his fairy dust (whatever he does) and now I have physical copies of all those insane words. Proof:

Ignore the weird expression/background/adorable dogs (actually you can look at them. How could you not?)

I can literally hold my art. This is just…beyond awesome.

See? Things are changing. They’re improving. Just like my website…which will be worked on since I glanced at it yesterday and…no. BWHAHAHA no. It’s not terrible, but a bit of a revamp is needed, which has been added to my 2022 Kick Ass Writer list of things to do. But when to get to all these things? Your guess is as good as mine seeing as I have a fulltime job, a hubby who craves attention, and two dogs that think I’m only here to play fetch and give the ear-rubbies and neck-scratchies (which, let’s be honest, *probably* is my true calling). There’s so very little time in the day, and I guess I’ll have to start foregoing my sleep to get everything done. Who cares if I have huge, ugly bags under my eyes? Not me. I barely glance at myself in the mirror. Hubs has to look at me, and that fool already married me, so joke is on him.

There will always be new things to report/advertise/celebrate, but for right now, I think the paperbacks and the fact that I will be foregoing sleep to get all this done is newsworthy enough for this post—the FIRST post of 2022.

This is going to be a big year, guys. Can you feel it? You should. Feel the shift because it is COMING.

Dude—it’s already here.

Happy 2022!

~ Lady Caitlin

*Thanks for being the most awesome Santa, Mamabear

Aaaannnnddd for further proof of the awesomeness:

Too Excited To Be Scared

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I’ve been keeping a giant Tupperware container in the fridge at work for over a week and I’m afraid to take it home. They’ll know it was me. That I’ve been taking up all the space (during the holiday week…) when it could’ve been used for all the other goodies. But I keep forgetting it’s there. Every day I leave, and every morning when I put my new lunch in there, I see the giant plastic bin of grossness with food and I think eww.

I think I’m just going to throw it away. It’s been in there for over a week and I really don’t want to smell it. I just don’t want to be seen throwing it away because they’ll FOR SURE know it was me and I’m still trying to make friends. Also, it’s the last of the original Tupperwares, so it’s probably time to toss the thing. Just can’t be caught when it goes down…

How was your holiday? Enjoyable? Stressful? Somewhere in the middle? Mine was great! Batman won Christmas this year because look at this:

Like, seriously. The candle alone proves he won. He could’ve gotten me this one thing and he still would’ve come out the victor. I’d never tell him this because then I’d literally only get the candle every year, and since he stopped reading this *amazing* blog years ago, he’ll never know. BWHAHAHA.

Writing News:

In my journey to actually do something with my writing, I applied for and got accepted to Radish – woot! What is Radish besides some small red vegetable? (Or is it a fruit? I don’t know…) Radish is a serialized platform that caters mostly to the romance genre, and readers pay per chapter. Kind of like sampling the book little by little instead of reading the whole thing. You can stop at any point and not continue…or you can keep going to the end. Some writers release a chapter a day, some every few days, and apparently, serialized platforms are *very* popular right now, so, I threw my name in the hat and actually got accepted. What?!  Seriously?!?

Yesssss.

I applied with my Better Than This Series, and the first chapter of the first book goes up today. Double woot! You can check it out, or check out Radish in general: here.

Other big news: beta reader copies are being distributed next week. NEXT WEEK GUYS. OMG. People—besides me and my laptop—are going to be aware of the story I’ve been writing for well over a year. I started May 2020 and here we are December 2021 with a *completely* different story, but one I love 1000 times more. I’m stoked, guys. I really am. All the nerves and terror are there (and I don’t think they’ll ever leave) but I’m pushing through. I’m too excited to be scared this time.

Next thing to work on is my newsletter because I’m realllllllly going to make it work this year. I need to. And I want to. It’s all about cultivating a fan base, right? Because if you have one of those, it helps to sell more books (which is the end game, folks.)

So, we’ve got Radish, beta readers, and a newsletter I will be Frankenstein-ing back to life. All the things, people. I’m doing all the things.

Well, this is our last chat in 2021. I hope you stick around for all the excitement in 2022, and I hope you have a fabulous time bringing in the new year!

~ Lady Caitlin

P.S. I finally threw the Tupperware out. There was no other way

Doing This At My Pace

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It’s getting serious. It has to, right?

I could write and write and keep everything all to myself and my laptop (which I should name since I name most things and we’ve been through a lot together) and it could be a secret between only us. Pretty much what I’ve been doing with every other book I’ve published. It’s been me, the nameless laptop, and a handful of people (to whom I’ve mentioned its release) who know the story and that’s it. Hence zero sales. Hence limited *cough* no *cough* success.

NO MORE.

I’ve officially booked a date in early January for beta readers. This is through a service, and I feel better about letting them connect me with willing beta readers rather than politely tap on a friend’s shoulder and sorta kinda maybe see if they’d *possibly* be interested in reading this 110K book I wrote which could be complete garbage and is, by the way, super long. Course, if you’re out there in cyberspace and do want to beta read for me (and I know you in some way/know you won’t steal my work) then let me know. I’d love more feedback.

I ALSO BOOKED AN ARC DATE.

*mind exploding*

What does that mean and why is my mind exploding? Great questions. Well, basically, (sort of officially) it cements the fact that I’ll be publishing TCATC next year (woot!) because I’m asking people (again, through a service) to be an Advanced Reader and supplying them with a Copy of my book before it’s officially published. Basically, I’m asking people to review my book prior to its publication date, so it has reviews and isn’t sitting out there all lonely and cold and lame. Based on the ARC date that I selected, I’m publishing a week later which means, ladies and gentlemen, we’re looking at June 27th 2022 for this gal’s release of The Coyote and The Claw – A Royal Pairing in Perish.

*Tosses confetti*

*Carefully pops champagne bottle*

*Does adorable but very awkward dance moves*

Yes, I am still leaps and bounds behind where I should be (authors are advertising their second book in the backmatter of their first and I haven’t even written the second book…) but it’s all good. I’m doing this at my pace, and want to put out quality work so, I’m not rushing. But, it’s been the fear of doing it wrong that’s kept me from even trying. To quote a great woman despite the nonsensicalness I’ve seen around the interwebs lately:

“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case, you fail by default.” ~ JK Rowling

Microphone drop.

Gotta do what I can, in the best way I can. And right now, that means releasing the first book in my next series in June, and hoping to have the second book out by the end of the year if not early 2023. Seems like a reasonable and attainable goal, and I am on board for both of those things.

Hoping you are having a fabulous week (and month and year and life cycle…) and that you’ve murdered zero people in response to any holiday stress. Go you!

Until our next date,

~ Lady Caitlin

Stay Tuned

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I ended up telling a bunch of people about my poor experience at FDC, one of them being a coworker. I don’t like confrontation (as has been previously voiced) so my response to being ignored at a rich, fancy restaurant is to steam silently, tell everyone I know, and do absolutely nothing. A few people said I should write a review, but I like to put unfavorable experiences behind me. No use dwelling because I’ll only end up spoiling the present moment.

My coworker wasn’t having it. She went onto their site, completed a comment form, and wrote down exactly what happened. I didn’t ask her to, but she was infuriated on my behalf, and it was fun to waste twenty minutes at work talking crap about FDC. (I do love my job).

Guess what came in the mail the other day?

A gift card for two free dinners.

Batman and I swore we’d never go back, never give them anymore of our money.

But…

These are free delicious dinners with people carrying around slabs of steak and there’s a station of CANDIED BACON. CANDIED BACON, guys. Come on. Not sure I can ignore free candied bacon. That seems almost…sacrilegious. So, the question is, do we return in the new year and take advantage of our two free delicious dinners with the off-chance they remember us (probably not) and will therefore spit in our food (probably not) because an honest review was left of their crappy service? (Probably not). Or do we go eat candied bacon for free and enjoy it?

*scratches chin*

Yes, I’m an overthinker. Yes, I’m anxious when it comes to these kinds of things. And YES, not only have I seen Waiting with Ryan Reynolds (so I know servers mess with food) but I’ve worked in a restaurant and I KNOW SERVERS MESS WITH FOOD. But if we go in February/March, maybe they won’t remember us/know we’re there because of what happened? Maybe the bitterness of a less-than-stellar anniversary dinner won’t taunt a pleasant spring supper?

I don’t know, guys. Thinking I’m too poor to give up a station of free candied bacon.

Also, in my journey to become a *legit* indie author, I’m researching, like, everything, including my newsletter. You remember that, right? Haha, me too. Memories. Think I mentioned wanting to do one earlier this year, sent out a few and then…nothing…because I didn’t know what I was doing. First, sorry to the handful of you that got my first attempt. MUAHAHA. Apparently, I’ve been doing everything wrong—no surprise there—so I will be trying this again. Not sure how it will affect you, but wanted to give you a heads up that I AM working on it, it WILL one day be absolutely magnificent and you should see some more from me in the new year. So stay tuned for that.

I’ve made other impressive indie-author strides too, but I’ll fill you in on that next week since the free dinner card from FDC is obviously of top priority. Again, free candied bacon. I mean…it’s soooo good…

I’ve taken up too much of your time. Go do something with your life. Be somebody. Make today great and you’ll hear from me next Wednesday.

~ Lady Caitlin