February Update
Unenhanced cover on the left, boosted saturation on the right. I’m sorely tempted to boost it just a tiny bit more – I’ll keep you updated.
February Newsletter
Wouldn’t you know it – this morning I came into my office to work on the newsletter, and the C drive on my desktop computer had failed. I spent a frustrating few hours narrowing it down to whether it was just the hard drive (an easy but fiddly fix) or the entire motherboard (a big, expensive, out-of-action-for-a-few-days fix).
Fortunately it was the disk, but of course my backups aren’t working correctly so there’s a good chance I’ll have to re-install everything.
It’s not possible for me to lose writing files, however, because everything important is on the cloud.
So I’m doing the newsletter on my trusty laptop, and we have a lot of news!
‘The Serpent Princess’ is Out!
My little book is out in the world. Digital sales have been good, and the lowest star rating I’ve received is three stars, which is a relief. New readers don’t seem to be having many issues with joining the Dark Heavens universe with this one, so yay!
Muddy Colours on the Print Covers
As you can see from the image above, the printed covers by IngramSpark (both paperback and hardcover) had muddy, unsaturated colours that really didn’t do Ashton’s lovely design justice. I spoke to an expert who reassured me that printers often have this problem with blues, so I boosted the vibrance and saturation of the cover and the result is the much brighter version on the right. I have an order for the hardcover with this enhancement so those who have ordered the standard (non-foiled) hardcover from the shop will be receiving it soon.
I’ve warned the print shop who are doing the special edition about this issue, and they’ve assured me that they’ll be able to fix it. Half of the foiled covers are already sold – not including the ones reserved for high-level patrons!
My Goodreads Author Account
Update: Many thanks to Tez Miller who fixed this! She’s a librarian on Goodreads and updated the blurb for me. Thanks so much Tez!
It’s been an infuriating week for tech letting me down. I have an author account on Goodreads that I created forever ago, and that broke spectacularly when Goodreads was purchased by Amazon. I was immediately locked out (this was about three-four years ago.) I contacted their help and they insisted – despite the fact that I sent them screenshot of me being locked out – that I wasn’t locked out. After two weeks of frustrating nothing, I gave up, because the books were up and I didn’t use Goodreads as an author anyway.
Then Serpent Princess came out, and Goodreads scraped the blurb from another site and mangled it. Words are missing, and because I can’t access the account, I can’t go in and fix it.
I contacted Goodreads again, and they said very sorry, has been escalated, looking into it, will find what is wrong.
They said that two weeks ago and keep saying the same thing.
So yes, the blurb on Goodreads is incorrect and unfortunately there is nothing I can do about it.
World-Building in Helensvale
As part of the program for the Queensland Writers Centre’s Genrecon event, I will be presenting a workshop on ‘Fantasy Worldbuilding’ at Helensvale Library on March 8 at 10.30 am. Click on the link to reserve your place!
Oz Comic-Con
Quick note: I will be doing all Oz Comic-Con cities this year except Canberra. If you would like me to bring you a foiled hardcover of ‘The Serpent Princess’, let me know through my website so I can reserve you one! My carrying capacity is limited when I’m travelling – books are expensive to ship – and there’s a chance they may sell out quickly.
But I’ll be very happy to reserve one for you!
Patrons are already reading the sequel, with much John and Emma.