Hop on over to smashwords to get my first two books free, and the rest for only 6 bucks! For more information, visit my book listing!
Personal note: I’m not going to go into detail here, but I do have news on Tempting Eternity (which is currently in the hands of my beta readers), and I’m going to drop by soon to post on how things are going :) Thanks guys! Hope you enjoy the book sale! :D
So, before I get into the actual fun stuff, I have a report to give, and a confession to make. Actually, the report is about the confession, which is pretty simple: I’m durpy–and here’s why:
I’ve been going over some of my book notes recently, and in turn, scanning through certain scenes to fact check. In doing so, I came across a glaring error in Fated Fortunes that I think needs to be called out. For that reason, I’m going to give a SPOILER ALERT! because I’ll be digging into a few things from both Fated Fortunes and Strange Brew here. So let me share the scene in Fated Fortunes where the error is contained.
The captain, an older man with long, stringy white hair and a bushy beard, stepped inside, holding the door for a middle aged brunette passenger following him.
“I know it’s an inconvenience,” the human stated, “but Lydia’s condition is delicate, and I can offer a higher payment.”
“It’s going to take a much higher payment, Mr. Rowden,” the captain returned, never once spying the elf standing next to the open door because her pendant had rendered her invisible.
And there you have it. I’m pretty sure people reading this are scratching their heads wondering what gives, but let’s just say the name “Lydia” is the one that’s inaccurate, and there’s a longwinded reason for it. But first, I’d like to mention that those of you who’ve read Strange Brew might recognize the name of “Mr. Rowden”, and wonder whether the person in question is Derrick Rowden, Aislinn’s estranged father.
I’ll confirm it here and now; it is, in fact, Derrick, and the name Lydia should actually be Sylva–as in, Sylva Abbott, the ghostly specter who possessed Aislinn in Strange Brew to open a magically sealed doorway into an old alchemy lab where a powerful tome was stored away.
I fixed the problem as soon as I found it, which was thankfully pretty easy to do considering her name is only mentioned once throughout the entire story. Still, I thought it would be a good idea to post a lengthy description of the issue if only because I know quite a few people have read Fated Fortunes now, in addition to Strange Brew, and would probably appreciate the clarification.
But why, oh why, did I call her Lydia from the start? And why did it take me so long to catch the error? Well that, my friends, stems from my development of Sylva Abbott and her backstory. My readers already know that Sylva was one of The Abbott Sisters, three witches in the 17th century who formed a coven called The Trine to protect others like themselves. What the story doesn’t mention is all three sisters’ names, being Sylva, Myra, and Lydia.
The reason gets a little more complex in terms of editing Strange Brew, but let’s just say, for brevity’s sakes, that I’m constantly getting Sylva and Lydia mixed up, to the point that even though I read that passage at least a million times while editing Fated Fortunes, I still didn’t catch the problem. Even when my beta readers went through it, it wasn’t noticed probably because I was referring to Sylva as Lydia aloud. UGH!
So! There’s a little clarification on this scene which I now realize must’ve seemed out of place to anyone who’s read the entire series. But yes, we’re getting closer to finding out what happened to Derrick and Estelle after they escaped at the end of Strange Brew, and I’m reeeeeeally sorry for all of the confusion (and my durpiness!).
With that said, I have one other thing to make an announcement on. For the past several weeks, I’ve been having Flash Friday’s over on my tumblr blog, which is a pretty simple thing, but also pretty cool for anyone looking to take a risk on a “new” book! So here goes:
Every Friday, I pick a book in my series at random, and offer a coupon to get it for free from Smashwords! The coupon is only good for 5 redemptions, however, so it’s first come, first serve! At some point in the future, I may increase the number of redemptions, but that all depends on how much interest is generated!
So feel free to follow my tumblr blog if you’re currently using it!
Thanks so much everyone! Cheers! :)
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We all know Halloween is a time for ghosts, goblins, ghouls, and other things that go bump in the night. But it’s also a good time to curl up with a good book, and since I have a whole list of Paranormal Romances to offer, I thought I’d put ’em on sale for everyone! It’s not exactly candy, but hey, Trick or Treat! :P
So from now until Halloween, each book in The Crucible Series is only $1.00! This sale is available through Smashwords, and you can check the book list for more information on each title! :)
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Okay! Let me start off by giving a massive thanks to Fangirl Musings (you can subscribe to her youtube channel here) for her many kind words and making my head explode! I certainly wasn’t expecting this when she said she’d purchased Strange Brew a few months ago, but I’m definitely glad she enjoyed it enough to feel it warranted one of her spiffy, awesomesauce video reviews! (No, really, you guys have no idea how hard my mind was blown by this!).
I also wanted to take the time to comment on something she suggests because it almost feels as if she was reading my friggin’ mind! Glowing praise aside, she mentions in her critique that the romance between Troy and Aislinn didn’t actually seem entirely well developed and suggests it may be due to the 5 day time jump after their first meet up. I found this extremely intriguing because! During the process of writing Strange Brew, I’d contemplated that time jump more than once. I recall thinking specifically, “Okay, you’re kind of glossing over the period in which this couple sings, “Getting to know you, getting to know all about you. Getting to like you, getting to hope you like me!”
I’d agonized over this and tried to think of any way I might be able to add some story there that would flesh things out a little more thoroughly without bogging the rest of the book down. That time period is described as Troy and Aislinn bickering a lot because, well, he won’t leave her alone! Werewolf wants his woman and doesn’t understand what she’s going through at that point! In any case, the word count for all of my books is 100k words (typically industry standard) and as I proceeded to write the rest of the book, I reached this word limit, and also couldn’t think of much to add that wouldn’t bog the story flow down anyway. (Whenever writer’s say the story has a life of its own and takes them wherever it goes, they’re not just whistling dixie!).
So ultimately, it stayed the way it is now (though I did find amusement in the fact that Troy decided it would take two-three days tops to convince Aislinn, and then it’s like a week later). Anyway, I wanted to mention this because it’s just really weird that I had that insight and then she mentioned it in this video! GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE! <3
In any case, I'm so, so glad the book was enjoyable overall! If for no other reason, you guys should watch this because it's LOLtastic! But if you're into romance, I'd suggest subscribing to her channel because she reviews a LOT of romances that you might wanna read!
And, if this video interests you in Strange Brew, click here for more information!
Cheers! :D
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Heeeeeeeeeeey guys! Got something fun here for everyone! You see, I’d been kicking around the idea of doing some character interviews, but I’d never managed to get around to it for two reasons, though one of them is a little bigger than the other–I had no idea what kinds of questions they needed to be asked. Combine that with a lack of time, and whoa … it wasn’t coming along easily.
That’s when I had the thought; why not let readers ask them questions? So that’s precisely what I’m going to do! :)
Would you like to ask Cade why he keeps a beard? Or maybe ask Isaac for dating advice? All characters are available for questioning, so don’t hold back!
Now, with that said, there are just a few caveats!;
1. This is (obviously) for entertainment purposes only!
2. I reserve the right to ignore any question(s) I feel are unacceptable, or may provide “spoilery” information.
3. Feel free to ask as many questions as you’d like! However, they may not all be answered at once. Depending upon the volume of questions asked, I may have to split them up into sessions!
4. When asking your question, PLEASE SPECIFY which character is being asked!
5. Have fun! :D
If having a little fun isn’t incentive enough, then I should also add this; I’ll be keeping an eye out for my favorite questions, and offering a free book of choice to the questionnaires via coupon code on Smashwords!
So send those questions in by commenting on this post, or, if you don’t have an account, fill out the form below!
Thanks guys! I hope you have fun! :D
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So, some of you know about the trouble I’ve been having with KDP’s new paperback option and trying to get my third book, Strange Brew, added to it. But some of you don’t, and instead of simply providing a link to the previous post I made concerning this issue, I’m going to do an entire summary right here because I’ll admit, I’m not entirely certain where to go from here.
So basically, I need help! If anyone’s so inclined to offer suggestions that is.
At the end of November, I started preparing the files for Strange Brew’s paperback to be converted from Createspace and added to KDP. I’d done this with both Blue Moon and Light of Dawn with no troubles; it was a simple matter of providing the ISBN and allowing the program to pull the information for each title through and adding it to KDP and voila! Here’s a nice shiny paperback version!
But when I got to Strange Brew, things weren’t so simple.
I have my books set to a particular trim size and print color for the pages, and naturally, with these books belonging to the same series, I’d like to have some uniformity between the paperbacks; they should all be the same size and have the same page colors. However, when I pulled Strange Brew from Createspace, the size and print color options on KDP didn’t match. The book was a few inches smaller and the print was set to cream paper instead of white.
So why not change the settings, you may ask. Well, KDP doesn’t allow you to once a book has been pulled through from Createspace. All of the print settings on converted books are locked in, meaning I was stuck and had to contact their support teams.
How did that go? I won’t lie; not so well.
The first message I received pretty much ignored my problem altogether. I’d explained that the options were not what Createspace listed for the book, yet this guy suggested, “You can either leave the trim size and paper type as is to match the setting which were pulled through from CreateSpace … ”
Oh, pardon me, because you know, I can’t read the options I picked for my own book and compare them to KDP to see that the actually weren’t pulled through correctly, nor did I actually detail this as being the problem when I emailed you. *Sigh*
So I sent another message, and thankfully, the lady who responded was much more helpful. She escalated the problem and over the course of two weeks (while sending me an update in between), informed me of the progress of fixing the book’s errors. Finally, in the middle of December, I got a message stating that the problems had been fixed, and I should check my account for review and make certain everything was in order.
So I did, but only half the problem had been corrected.
The book was now set to the proper size, yet the page color was still set to cream instead of white. Trust me, at this point, my hair was lying on the floor because I’d pulled it all out.
Before I continue with this huge mess of a problem, allow me to note that the biggest problem with these emails is there’s no option to reply directly to the support member who’d been working on the case. The only option you have is to report on how they did (an option I haven’t taken yet because I’ve been so frustrated with this whole thing and also, the holidays were around, leaving me with little time to properly articulate a review).
So I ignored that option, and finally sent another inquiry stating that only half the problem had been fixed. What response did I get?
This; “Regarding the email you’ve sent us I did some research and asked our technical team and unfortunately that option cannot be changed since it is locked. The option I can offer you if you really would like to change the paper color is to re-publish your paperback again with a new KDP free ISBN. And after you do it you can let us know so we can link the reviews from the old paperback to the new one, so you still will keep the reviews.”
……………
So, a couple questions here;
A. If the options are locked and you’re unable to change them, then how, oh how, did the previous tech support member manage to change the book’s trim size, which was also locked?
B. Again, I can’t reply directly to this guy, so even if I wanted to republish and keep my reviews, how the hell would I do that?
At this point, I’m so fed up with the run around that I’m contemplating doing one of three things;
1. I leave Strange Brew on Createspace, which means keeping it at $17.00 instead of bringing it down to a much more reasonable $13.99.
2. I sacrifice uniformity and bring it through to KDP with cream colored paper and knock the price down.
3. I unpublish the book, lose the reviews I’ve accumulated (at this point, I don’t trust KDP’s support teams to properly link the reviews), and put the paperback on KDP with the proper size and print settings and at a lower price.
4. I submit a new ticket pointing out how the paperback’s trim size was locked and changed, so the print color shouldn’t be beyond their control to edit either.
5. I take all my books off of KDP and spite them by getting traditionally published.
#5 is the extreme, impractical option obviously lol! :)
Anyway, option #3 might be the best bet. Strange Brew has only accumulated 4 reviews on Amazon overall, so it’s not as if I’d be axing a huge number. Yet even those 4 reviews are helpful in getting my book the type of promotion it needs if anyone’s going to see it (although I’ll admit, it’s nowhere near enough to get Amazon’s algorithms to suggest the book to readers in searches) and I’m reluctant to axe what my readers have said about my book.
Anyway, that’s what’s going on right now (among numerous other things I haven’t updated and need to but just haven’t quite found the time for it yet). So if anyone has any suggestions, let me know! I’d be glad to entertain them! Thanks so much!
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• Blue Moon – UL72Z
• Light of Dawn – HV59M
• Strange Brew – ST94U
• Fallen Hearts – XC89T
• The Final Calling – MA53X
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So, I’ve gotten some questions from a few readers recently that basically involve “how do you story?”, which I think was meant to be a compliment. My series now spans 6 books, and there are a lot of intricacies and plot threads branching out across them, some of which have caused readers to glare at me unforgivingly (i.e. “How could you do that to Edith you monster!?”) while others have yet to be explained. So I thought I’d make a few comments over these aspects of my books to answer the question, and deliver the answer in the for of thoughts from yours truly! :)
After all, what better way to glean insight, or drive readers even more crazy, than by posting my own personal (and sometimes silly) notes on each of my books? So, let’s get started!
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Blue Moon
Author’s Thoughts: |
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Light of Dawn
Author’s Thoughts: |
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Strange Brew
Author’s Thoughts: |
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Fallen Hearts
Author’s Thoughts: |
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The Final Calling
Author’s Thoughts: |
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Hunter’s Moon
Author’s Thoughts: |
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I think I enjoyed writing that title a little too much … ! But before I explain myself and the horrible thing I’ve done, allow me to show something off that will lead up to what I’m talking about!
My first five books are all available in paperback now, and I do have plans to add Hunter’s Moon to the list soon! Yet, with that said, one of my books is currently stuck in a unique situation, and what it’s led up to amuses me. So! Let me explain that “Starting at $13.99” thing …
Amazon’s KDP program recently added the option to put your books out in paperback, and I decided to take advantage of it. My two most recent books, Fallen Hearts and The Final Calling, were easy enough to set up. But my first three books? Those had been on Amazon’s Createspace, meaning the process had change slightly with those titles. How so? Basically, it was a simple matter of getting KDP to pull the book’s information from Createspace, and voila! You’ve got a shiny new paperback on KDP with minimal setup to accomplish.
So, one by one, I pulled the book information from Blue Moon and Light of Dawn, both of them coming through with no problem. Now it was Strange Brew’s turn. I repeated the process, entered the book’s information needed to pull it from createspace, aaaaand …
Somehow, the book’s trim size and color options weren’t accurate, and I couldn’t change them to reflect the options I’d picked on createspace. If you’d like to see what I mean, here’s Strange Brew on Createspace now (opens in a new tab). The Trim Size is 5.5″ x 8.5″ and the Color is Black and White.
KDP was listing a 6×9 in. trim size and black print on cream paper.
There’s a few reasons I didn’t just settle on leaving these options as is. First of all, my other books are all set to the trim and color Createspace shows for Strange Brew linked above, and I want them to be uniform (I could only imagine someone ordering all five books and having them sit on a shelf with Strange Brew being just slightly bigger than the rest, and it drives me crazy, as I’m sure it would several other people).
Secondly, yeah, it drives me crazy! So I emailed technical support about the issue–and might I mention, the first response I got ignored the problem entirely.
I detailed the issue, providing all the information I just gave here, and the first representative came back and said, “Since our system detected that you’ve selected the option “previously published on CreateSpace,” you won’t be able to change the trim size or the Interior & paper type.”
Okay, I understand that part, so what do I do to fix the matter? I read on and … “You can either leave the trim size and paper type as is to match the setting which were pulled through from CreateSpace and proceed, or you can submit the book as a new submission by creating a new book file, as this will allow for all options to be editable.”
Please note the part in red. This was completely ignoring that the information pulled through was not what Createspace listed, and I was pretty annoyed that the actual problem was being ignored. (Additionally, I tried the second option they listed to create a new book file, but ISBN conflicts didn’t allow that).
So I sent another message, stating that the response I’d received hadn’t addressed the issues, and I detailed the problem once more. Thankfully, the second representative has been much more helpful, responding that she was going to escalate the matter to their technical team to have it fixed.
I received this response last Wednesday (Nov. 30th), and just today, I got another message with an apology stating that the technical team needs more time to solve the issue.
So apparently, I broke KDP! Or Strange Brew did. I’ll just take that as a sign that my story is too hot for any press to handle :D
Anyway, and long story short, all of my paperbacks are currently $13.99, except Strange Brew, which will be $17.00 for just a while longer.
Cheers! :D
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With Hunter’s Moon coming out this Friday, December 2nd, it’s definitely time we had a sale! So from now until Hunter’s Moon’s release, you can get all five books in The Crucible Series for 0.99¢ each!
Simply use the coupon code provided at checkout on Smashwords!
• Blue Moon – YZ29B
• Light of Dawn – CX53J
• Strange Brew – YB56B
• Fallen Hearts – VR29Z
• The Final Calling – WR36R
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Angela Colsin 