Monthly Archives: July 2018

Countdown: One Week To Go!!

July 31, 2018Books, Coming Soon, Misc, Newsamerican civil war, book launch, book release, books, civil war, historical fiction, historical romance, In Plain Sight, party, romantic fiction, Sephira Allen, strong womenSephira

It’s hard to believe it, but In Plain Sight will released into the wild this time next week. From concept to completion, the telling Ry’s story has been a long time coming – over 10 years. For those of you who have stuck with me along the way, there aren’t words enough to express how thankful I am for your support and feedback. I couldn’t have done it without you.

Anyway, to celebrate, I’m having a little release party over on Facebook on August 7th from 7p to 11p EST. Drop on by anytime during that time to hang out and party! Lots of fun and maybe even a few giveaways!! Can’t wait!!!

PS… Don’t forget that I’m donating 50% of all presale royalties to help a friend in need (you can read all about it here). So it’s a good time to get a great book to read and help someone out of a rough situation. ❤

Don’t Mind Me… Just Fangirl-ing a Bit

July 28, 2018Misc, Off-TopicArrow, Doctor Who, fangirl, John Barrowman, Legends of Tomorrow, Michael Cudlitz, Raleigh Supercon, Southland, The Walking Dead, TorchwoodSephira

Not remotely book related but, Raleigh Supercon is this weekend and I got to head up there to meet a few of my favorite peeps. And yes… they are just as awesome in person!!

Best Laid Plans…

July 17, 2018Books, Coming Soon, Misc, Publishedadventures in publishing, books, historical fiction, historical romance, In Plain Sight, publishing, romantic fiction, self-publishingSephira

So… apparently (even though it said it would take 6-8 weeks), there are print copies of IPS available in various places. I’m waiting on an email to see what can be done to reverse this (if anything) – because I really, really wanted the release date to be August 7th. For REASONS!!

If not, I’ll eventually get over it, but either way, you may want to wait a bit before buying a physical copy. I mean, as much as I would LOVE for you buy my lovely little book (GO RIGHT NOW>>> BUY IT!!!), I don’t want any of you to pay the $14.75 sticker price that is currently listed. Eww!

On release day (August 7th) or shortly there after, the Amazon price for the paperback will be just under $10. It’s still a bit higher than I want it to be, but that’s just the way the cookie crumbles. I had to split distribution (hence the early release hiccup), because if I did it all in one place, I would have been stuck with just the higher price and honestly – I wouldn’t pay that much for a book (I mean… potentially I would… but it would really depend on the book). And I know I’m awesome, but $15 is a lot to ask for an unknown author’s first book. So yeah, just hang tight a little longer!

Obviously, the Kindle version, which is currently up for pre-sale*, is the best deal (I have so much more leeway with that pricing). But I also know that some people really, really like having a physical book in their hands. In the meantime, I just want to make sure that you aren’t overpaying.

🙂

* Don’t forget – 50% of all pre-sale royalties are being donated. (read more about it here)

A Little Fundraiser

July 13, 2018Misc, Off-Topicbooks, breast cancer, cancer, Coming Soon, death, fundraiser, gofundme, grief, historical fiction, historical romance, In Plain Sight, loss, memorials, new releases, Sephira AllenSephira

L and V — Credit: Shot in the Dark Photography

I recently had a friend who passed away after a long battle with stage IV breast cancer. She was an amazing woman and a true fighter, and though she was very much not ready to go (nor were any of us ready to lose her), sometimes cancer just doesn’t care about our own desires.

My primary way of dealing with grief has always been to just keep as busy as possible, all while not talking much about it – and this is pretty much what I’ve been doing. However, I have also been wanting to do something to help raise funds for her fiance because I know he’s still got a lot to take care of even while struggling with his own grief. So I got to thinking, since my debut novel In Plain Sight is coming out on August 7th, and with the Kindle version currently available for presale on Amazon, I am going to donate 50% of all presale royalties raised between now and August 7th to her fiance’s GoFund Me campaign.

I invite you all to help me make this an epic gift in Larissa’s honor!

Simple Musings Gets An Update

July 12, 2018Books, Misc, Publishedangst, books, cover art, death, freebies, grief, kindle, life, loss, love, nature, poems, poetry, publishing, spiritualitySephira

While we all wait with baited breath for the August 7th release of In Plain Sight, I have taken this opportunity to do a little update for Simple Musings (an eclectic collection of poetic thoughts on love and loss, life and death, nature, spirituality and so much more) as well.

To celebrate the gorgeous new cover art, I’ve released a Kindle version and this week only – it’s available for FREE!!

I’m not going to lie, in addition to poetry dealing with the grief and loss I experienced when my mother died, there is a lot of angsty love poems from the days before I was married. What? It was 25+ years ago… don’t judge me!! XD

Release Date for In Plain Sight

July 7, 2018Books, Coming Soon, Misc, News, Publishedamerican civil war, books, civil war, Coming Soon, fiction, historical, historical fiction, historical romance, In Plain Sight, new releases, novels, romance, Sephira Allen, strong female protagonistSephira

My debut novel, In Plain Sight, will be released on August 7, 2018!! The Kindle version is currently available for pre-order on Amazon. Print copies will also be available by that date (not sure about pre-order yet).

For those of you who have been working with me on this project over the years, you may recall that particular day is a significant one in the book. Once I realized how close I was to getting everything together and ready for publishing , it quickly became clear that was the perfect day to launch Ry and Eli’s story into the universe.

I’m still working on pricing for the print copies – that’s my main hold up at the moment, now that I’ve finished all the last minute editing. My original set up is pricing a lot higher than I want it to (due to some of the distribution options I’ve picked), so I’m going to fiddle around with it some more to see if I can’t get the price down some. Either way, the Kindle version will be $3.99 when it’s released, and for those that don’t have a Kindle, there is a free Kindle reader app that is available for almost any device. But if you are like me, having a physical book in-hand is a lovely thing, so I will definitely continue to look for a solution that allow that happen in the best possible way.

I’m so happy the way this all worked out and I really can’t wait to share my book with you all.

An Editor’s Work Is Never Done

July 7, 2018Books, Coming Soon, Misc, The Writing Process, Writingbooks, Coming Soon, editing, historical fiction, historical romance, In Plain Sight, romance, writingSephira

Take notice… this is why we always order a proof copy first!!

corrections

I really thought I was done editing, but as I was reading through, I found a lot more issues than I was expecting. Thankfully, most of it was minor stuff – spacing, a few random typos, duplicated words in short proximity, etc… I mean, it was probably fine as it was, but if I noticed them, I’m sure someone else would have too.

I expect that there are still things I’ve missed (and once it’s released, if you find something please let me know), but at this point I really think I’ve done just about as much as I can to it. Of course, I thought that before too.

What? I’m a perfectionist. I can’t help it. XD