Category Archives: Guardians of Hades

March was a mixed month for me. I spent most of it working on the edits of Unleash so it will be ready for the May 18th 2013 release date. I also had some time off for good behaviour in Barcelona and Scotland.

During my time off in Barcelona, I devoured the first book in the upcoming Eternal Mates series because I had an urge to read it, even though it’s only first draft right now. I really like this new series and venturing further into the same world as the Vampire Erotic Theatre series is based in. I’m excited about writing the next two books for the series so I can get all three of them released close together.

When I was up in Scotland, I decided to read over the first book in my upcoming Guardians of Hades series. I liked it. It’s a very different feel to the first Eternal Mates book, but I think that’s about the characters. The heroine in the Guardians of Hades book is less spunky than the one in the Eternal Mates series. It’s more like my usual brand of paranormal romance books – less humour, more darkness and drama. I’m also excited about getting more books in the Guardians of Hades series under my belt.

I do feel in a strange place right now with my books. I’m approaching the end of the Vampire Erotic Theatre series with Unleash, even though it’s not the end of those characters as they’ll make appearances in the Eternal Mates series. I’m also getting close to the end of the Her Angel series unless I continue it with another, different story arc. The next book is for Asmodeus and then I might write a book for Nevar. I’ll see how I feel after Asmodeus’s book as that’s a bit of a game changer again. This is one series I write that doesn’t have a defined direction and never has. It sort of grows as I write it and develops its own arc.

I need to write another Vampires Realm series book but I think that series needs a major overhaul in the marketing department at least. It doesn’t sell as well as my Her Angel and Vampire Erotic Theatre series. I think it’s because it’s reached ten books now. It’s more difficult to keep getting good sales figures with the books. I need to think about what to do with it to make it sell better. I do have more books I want to write for that series, so I don’t want to see it die.

Back to positive thoughts…

Unleash is coming along nicely though. I’m feeling the pressure a little with this one, but this is Snow’s book, like it or leave it. It’s what he wanted and it’s his story, and that’s all I can write in the end. I know some readers have very definite ideas of what his story should be, so I hope this doesn’t disappoint. I’m going to have it completed by next week, pending proofreading sessions, and then I can begin working on my next book and put Unleash out of my head until the release day rolls around.

April will hopefully be a better month for me as I’ll get to write again. I hate it when I get stuck in an editing rut and I’m just constantly working on that side of what I do. I like to mix up writing and editing but sometimes it just isn’t possible and I end up spending 8 weeks just editing before I can get writing again. I would hire editors, but to be honest, I don’t think it would save me much time in the end. I would still want to do a full edit as a second draft, and then a second polishing edit, and then rounds of proofreading. I’m obsessed with quality, and don’t feel I’m putting out my best books unless I edit them this many times over so I can catch everything and make it the best it can be.

What I really need is more hours in the day for writing! I’m always desperate to get more books written and have so many on my to write pile… I definitely need more writing time and less time spent on marketing and other things, but that’s the nature of the beast. I have to market my books otherwise they don’t reach readers and sell! I do need to get marketing down to a fine, fast art though, or find a way to get someone else to market for me!

Any suggestions?

I’m back for another month in review post. What did I get up to in February?

Well, I wrote the first draft of the first book in my new series, Eternal Mates. It took me 11 writing days in total to complete the 95000 words in the book. That’s pretty good going even for me! I really enjoyed playing in this world and I have so many more books I want to write for it. The further I got into the book, the more I began debating whether I wanted to use this book to approach NYC for a book contract, and whether I wanted a big publisher at all. I had concerns about non-competition clauses and whether it would negatively impact my indie books, and personally, I have such fantastic fans that I’m making enough money to be a full time writer. The only thing NYC can offer me is better distribution and maybe a little kudos. Not enough to make me risk that non-competition problem though!

Eternal Mates book one is now going to sit around for a while until I’ve been able to edit Unleash, and write the next Her Angel book, and possibly the next Vampires Realm book too. I’m yet to decide the release schedule for 2014, but expect to see the series then, and hopefully it will be a few books in the series too. Ideally, I’d love to release the first three Guardians of Hades books and the first two Eternal Mates books in 2014.

I printed out the first draft of Unleash in preparation for entering the second draft and then read the book over. It’s better than I had expected. Reader anticipation and expectation for this book is really high and I admit I’m feeling the pressure. That’s why writing the Eternal Mates series was so great and refreshing. Absolutely no expectations about that one! I know people are waiting for this one, and have been since January 2012 when Covet came out. I need to make Unleash the best it can be though and that means it will hit shelves when I feel it’s ready, and not before. I’ll be working on the second draft in March. The plan right now is that the book will come out in May 2013.

I also announced that while Unleash will be the final book in the Vampire Erotic Theatre romance series, it won’t be our last visit to the theatre. This is because I’m no longer going to use Eternal Mates to get myself an NYC book contract. I debated the pros and cons of getting a contract with a big publisher, and right now there are more cons than pros. Because I decided to indie publish Eternal Mates, it means I can go ahead with the original plan for the series, which is it being based in the Vampire Erotic Theatre romance series world. I couldn’t have done that if I had decided to approach NYC with the book because they wouldn’t be interested in a series tied to one of my indie series.

I also spent a week trying to get my marketing plan together and all my marketing information into order. I have so much research on this subject and most of it was scribbled on pieces of paper. I had to type it all up and then use that to construct a really solid book marketing plan, as well as a general marketing plan for myself as an author, aka my brand.

As for my time keeping. Even with writing the first draft of the Eternal Mates book, I only managed to get a 55% against writing in Toggl. I seem to spend most of my time dealing with emails and book tours, and blogging. I thought it would be social networking eating up my time, but alas, it’s not. It’s all the admin sort of things I have to do. There has to be a way to get more writing time!

All for now. I’ll be back next month to look back at my progress in March.