Greetings and salutations! It’s been a while since I have blogged here, or anywhere, for that matter. That’s very much on purpose. I made a conscious decision to slow down this year, stop pushing myself. Why? Because I seem to be experiencing a serious case of burnout. And it’s not so much from writing, or publishing, but all the rest of it. The constant pressure to promotepromotepromote, market a bit, then promote some more. That’s not why I became a writer. It’s a necessary part of the publishing process, but it poisons the joy I get from creating new stories and sharing them with the world, and the more I have to do it, the less I want to write.
So I stopped. I gave myself permission to take a break from all the stuff I hate, to recharge my creative soul, and get back to what I love: writing for the love of writing. I’m not all the way there yet. I’m still battling with some inner demons on that score which are making it difficult to enjoy books in general at the moment. But I’m not ready to give up. There are still things I can, and want to do, and that’s what today’s post is all about.
The news today is two-fold. As you probably surmised from the image up top, Prince of Deceit is finally getting produced into an audiobook! I am so excited to announce that the amazing Charlotte Sanderson who narrated Dragonblood is back to lend her magical voice to the series finale as well. Production is scheduled to complete by end of June and so far, everything I’m hearing sounds incredible and I am so grateful to Charlotte for taking on this project. I can’t wait for you all to hear it.
And, staying in the realm of this series, the second announcement is something I’ve been dreaming about since The Royal Wizard came out. A bit of back story here. Book 1 of the Dawn of Ragnarok series was the first full-length novel I self-published. At the time, it was only available as an eBook, but I wanted something more special to commemorate the occasion. So The Royal Wizard, with its original cover, became the first book I set up in print, just for myself. It was a case laminate hardcover, and I only ever printed one copy, which I then took back to the home country to give to my hardcore reader grandfather. He doesn’t speak or read English, but it was a point of pride for him to have something on his bookshelf that his granddaughter had written.
It wasn’t much later that I went fully Indie and published all of my novels in paperback, but that hardcover kept nagging me throughout the years. I wanted one. And not just any one, a really gorgeous one that would be worth the time and money not just to set up, but to buy and have displayed on a bookshelf.
When the final edits came back for Prince of Deceit, I was in need of a series cover for the series pages on store websites. It was pure serendipity that I would happen upon a free trial of Adobe Stock, and then happen upon some images of gorgeous leather-bound books, that would lead to a spark of inspiration. I had everything I needed to create something unique and, to my knowledge, never before done.
So I got to work. A few trials and errors later, a few emails back and forth with my print distributor, and the most glorious self-published hardcover ever (if I do say so myself) was born. You have to watch the video to get the full effect, but yes, it is exactly as gorgeous as it looks on the 3D rendering. It’s massive, and heavy, and looks beautiful with and without the dust jacket. Probably moreso without it.
If you love the Dawn of Ragnarok series as much as I do, if you want something beautiful and unique on your bookshelves, the complete series is now available for purchase in this hardcover edition. You can find it at your favorite online bookstore: Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and Amazon. If you prefer your books separate, all three books of the series are also available as individual paperbacks, as well. 🙂
That’s all the news I have to share today. Hope you’re all staying safe and keeping healthy.
Until next time!