The Amaranthine by Murees Dupe Release Day! ...Kind of...

Hey everyone!

It's been quite a while since I was last on here! I do apologise for my absence, but I have to admit, I loved every minute of it ;). I'm not going to ramble on too much today, because I have a special announcement for you all instead - the lovely Murees Dupe has self-published her first book - yay!! It was actually released yesterday, but my laptop went weird and wouldn't let me schedule any posts...so I'm posting it today instead.

I had the great privilege of reading this book before it was released, and I can honestly say that I loved it. Although I don't write paranormal novels, I do like to read it and I thought this book was great! I'm not very good at reviews, but if you like paranormal romance, you should definitely give this a go. Plus - isn't that cover just gorgeous?? I think I'll have to have a word with Murees about her cover designer ;)!

Congratulations to Murees! I can't wait to read the next one :)

Title: The Amaranthine (Thelum Series)

Author: Murees Dupé

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Release Date: 8 September 2015

Blurb

Claire is sassy, human, and an outcast of society―who only wants to know where she belongs.

Alex is arrogant, selfish, and an immortal warrior―who thinks he’s prepared for everything.

Claire knows the world of immortals is where she belongs. As her guide and guardian, Alex finds it hard to resist Claire’s subtle charm. Can the two overcome their differences and embrace their passion for each other, or will the possibility of true love be lost to both forever?

Find your copy here:

E-book: Kindle * Nook * Ibooks * Kobo

Paperback: Amazon

About the Author

Murees Dupé was born and still lives in South Africa. When she is not thinking up new stories, she is spending time with her family, playing with her three dogs and cat, watching TV, or overindulging on desserts. To learn more about Murees, visit her website www.mureesdupe.com.

Guest post with Misha Gerrick: Why I Went the Self-Publishing Route

Today, I'm handing my blog over to the awesome Misha Gerrick, which is convenient as I still don't quite trust myself with technology after my ear operation on Thursday. So while I try not to stumble over at work, and get to used to actually being able to HEAR what children are saying to me (is this a good thing? I'm not entirely sure yet), I'll leave you in Misha's more than capable hands.

Take it away, Misha!

Why I Went the Self-Publishing Route

When I started out writing, I never thought that I would ever self-publish. It wasn’t really about
the traditional reasons for me. (You know, all the usual myths about self-publishing, like how
people buy into the publisher’s brand, or how self-published books have lower quality etc.)

To me, it was always about the money. See, I live in a place where one US Dollar equals thirteen
units of my country’s currency. Which means that the usual rates for a good freelance editor to
edit one of my books equal three months’ salaries to me.

So when I started out, the cost of self-publishing something up to standard was prohibitive. In
my mind, I had to find a publisher who’d help to defray the costs.

But then I got a publisher, and things went spectacularly wrong. The whole experience made me
take a long and hard look at royalties and what they really are, and today, I’m sharing how I
think about it.

When signing with a publishing house, we agree to trade in a portion of the value (or net price)
of our books in return for services for which we would otherwise have had to pay upfront.
The thing is that these days, those services just aren’t what they used to be. Don’t get me wrong,
I loved working with my former editor and I’d possibly jump at a chance to do so again. But.
I’m someone whose critiques have been credited by multiple writers to be the thing that landed
them publishing deals. And I have a good eye for people who make me good critique partners.
So why, if I have every confidence in my skills as editor for other people, would I not be
confident enough to edit my own work? Especially when I’ve been able to put together an
awesome team of people to help me find my own errors, all in return for me helping them in the
same way.

What else does a publishing house offer?

The cover?

I take pictures and edit them myself. I knew what I would be going for in the cover. After
investing in Photoshop, it wasn’t all that hard to get what I wanted. You’d laugh if I told you the
total cost. Most of it was actually measured in time and effort.

Formatting?

This was actually the one I was scared of, but I got an awesome how-to self-publish guide that
was gold when it came to tips pointing me in the right direction. (Like where to get cover
templates and how to format a paperback so it looks nice.)
E-book formatting turned out to be laughably easy, after another self-publishing friend told me
where to get the right how-to guide.

This leaves…

Marketing.

Which anyone who isn’t Lee Child or JK Rowling or someone along the same lines of
famousness knows to be laughable in any publishing deal anyway.

We’re expected to do all our own marketing. (Never mind that it doesn’t really seem to work all
that well all the time, but that’s a subject for another story.) So what’s the difference between
doing my marketing for my book with a publisher and doing the same marketing for the book I
self-published?

You’ve got it.

There is no difference.

Of course, money isn’t the only thing that made me strike out on the self-publishing path. Far
from it, but it’d probably take a small book for me to explain them all. But out of the many
reasons I have, the (tiny) value of services rendered to me in return for a substantial portion of
income derived from my book (and MY hard work), is the big one.

Anyone thinking about self-publishing? What’s the big deciding factor for you when it 
comes to self-publishing or not?


The Vanished Knight

The entity living inside Callan’s soul orphaned her at age eleven. By the time she’s sixteen, it’s
ensured her being shunted from one foster family to another.
Her thirteenth foster assignment should be routine. Except... it's not. A psycho in medieval armor
kidnaps her and she ends up in a magical world. There, she accidentally discovers a secret her
parents had kept until the day they died.
Both actually came from this magical world, but left before Callan was born. To cover their
tracks, they’d lied about everything. Even who they really were.
Driven to find out where she comes from, Callan’s trapped in a race for life and death. Walking
away isn’t an option, but if she stays too long, the entity will find its next victim.
In this world where secrets are sacrosanct and grudges are remembered, finding the truth will be
near impossible. Especially when Callan has her own homicidal little secret to deal with.
One with a taste for destroying her life.

Goodreads | Amazon | Amazon Universal Link | Apple | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Heir’s Choice

After discovering her parents had kept a whole world secret, Callan races to discover her past.
Not easy to do with an increasingly agitated entity living in her soul.
Going to her long-lost elvish roots should answer all her questions. Instead, she ends up in the
middle of a nightmare.
The elves are on the verge of an apocalyptic war. Their enemy, King Aurek of Icaimerith, will
only be appeased if Callan marries his heir. It’s either her life getting messed up, or an entire
country’s lives lost. Simple enough, right?
Wrong.
Because when the entity wants the elves blotted out of existence, saving them gets taken to a
whole new level of complicated.

Goodreads | Amazon | Amazon Universal Link | Apple | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Bio

Misha Gerrick has been creating stories long before she could write and is currently going after
her dream of making a living as a writer.
If you’d like to see how that’s going, you can visit her on her blog, where she also discusses all things related to writing and publishing.
Or, if you’d just like to know what she’s reading and get updates on what she’ll be publishing
next (Sorry, no newsletter just yet):
You can follow her Tumblr
You can follow her on Twitter: @MGerrick1
And you can circle her on Google Plus: +MGerrick

Inspiration Station...

In honour of Synthetica being released next month (three weeks to go, people...I think I'm going to throw up from nerves...), I thought I'd share with you all the inspiration behind the novel.

Originally when I thought of this post, I remembered a few bits and pieces from conversations I'd had with the Engineer, and the original scene from the Matrix that inspired me to jot down the idea for Synthetica. But then one day last week, I was looking back through the folder I have on my laptop which contains all of my work for the book. It has pages of random notes, a spreadsheet containing the rough layout of the book's scenes, a detailed synopsis, random photos of my beat sheet and cake I posted on Twitter, first drafts, second drafts (all saved in different formats, depending on the computer I was using at the time) and another subfolder for my final drafts.

I decided to have a nosy at my original 'Ideas and Notes' file, just to see what I'd come up with and to see if I could work any of it into this blog post - and I was genuinely shocked.

Whenever I hear about other writers saying that their novel went on a 'journey' and it didn't end up how they imagined etc etc, there is always a part of me that is a tiny bit sceptical. 'But surely,' I cry, 'your book can't have been THAT much of a learning curve? You had the idea for it, surely it's still the same book??'

My god, have I been wrong.

You want to see a snippet of my original notes and ideas for Synthetica? Here it is:

(The original document is six pages long by the way, this isn't everything)

It's only looking back over these notes now, that I can fully appreciate how far my novel has come. I've even cringed slightly reading them back - in them, I can see snippets I've 'borrowed' from other YA books that I'd recently read, or themes in other YA books which I thought I had to have in mine in order for it to be a success. 

I am so grateful that my novel outgrew these notes, and turned into something totally different. I can remember having one conversation with the Engineer while we were out walking in the Lake District - I was telling him my ideas for this novel, and we were throwing around ideas of the rich buying programs they could download directly into their brains, and thinking what the less well-off citizens of the city think/do in this situation. What if the rich kept the programs from the poor? Why would they do this? What would the poor do to retaliate?

But even back then, when I got home and wrote up those notes from our walk, I wasn't really feeling it. I don't mind reading books about characters who overthrow oppressive regimes, but let's face it - it's been done to death in YA. I knew what I didn't want from my book - I only had to figure out what I did want.

I don't remember exactly where the idea for the Hacker came from, but I have a feeling it was while I was watching Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Wherever the idea came from, as soon as I thought about him, that's when I knew - my book wasn't going to be about an evil government, or a regime - Synthetica was going to be about the fight between Anais and the Hacker, and the consequences of both their actions. To me, having an actual villain in a novel or a film makes the whole story more...relatable. It's a strange concept, I know, but I'll be explaining more about my thoughts on this in an upcoming blog post.

Anyway, so that's a small snapshot into the inspiration that Synthetica came from. I guess it just goes to show that you can find inspiration from anywhere and everywhere, if you're willing to look for it.

Until next time! Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday, everyone!

I am so unbelievably glad it's the weekend. This week has been tough - what with it being the first week back at school after half term, and having 101 things to try and get my head around in preparation for publishing Synthetica, I've just about managed to drag myself through to today.

But the fun doesn't stop here! This weekend, I'm planning on writing up my promo posts for Synthetica, as I'm planning on promoting my book properly from next week! Eek! I still can't believe it! I've outlined a lot of posts, so hopefully I just need to write them up properly now, and then schedule them in. I would apologise for promoting my book so much, but let's face it - as an indie author - if I don't do it, who will ;)? Also, as compensation for the amount of time that I'll be talking about Synthetica over the next month, keep your eyes peeled for a little giveaway I'm planning :)!

I'd also like to write a majority of my A-Z blogging challenge posts if I get the chance, so I don't have to worry about it closer to the time. If I don't start to do it now, I'll probably run out of time to do it altogether, and it would be a shame for me to give up on this challenge without really giving it a good go.

So that's my Friday night/whole weekend/all of next week/most of March sorted! I'm currently sitting here, eating pizza and outlining my Synthetica posts in more detail, before I write them up properly.

It's a glamorous life being a writer.

Have a great weekend, folks!

Look...LOOK, IT'S MY SOON-TO-BE BOOK!

Forgive me for being slightly over-the-top, but I have some news to share with you all!

I say news - I actually set the whole thing up myself, but it's still exciting to me!

Look at this:

Yup, that's right, I've just entered my book on Goodreads :D!! AND listed myself as a Goodreads author!! Me! A proper author! Who would've thought?!

I was initially in two minds about whether to post my book up on Goodreads or not, but then I thought, y'know what? I have nothing to lose. If people don't search for it, or don't review it then that's okay, but at least it's there if someone wants to find it. 

Don't worry by the way - I know there's no cover there at the moment, but there will be hopefully by the start of next week when my designer sends the final cover over to me - eek!

I think I'm just freaking out, because as someone who's an introvert by nature, it's difficult for me to shout about my book. But no one is ever going to read it, if I don't at least try and get it out there. And I can't help smiling when I see that MY book is on Goodreads - it looks just like all the other 'proper' YA books on there :) (minus the cover, obviously)!

So, that's my news! Here's to the first small step of becoming a self-published author!

Happy Monday!

Happy 100th post!

Yup, that's right, this post marks my 100th post on this blog!

I never thought I'd manage to keep this blog up for this long, but I'm finding that the more times goes on, the more I enjoy writing on my blog and connecting with other writers :). But its down to YOU, all my lovely readers, that have made it possible for me to continue for so long - thank you so much for believing in me, and coming back again and again to read my little posts :).

I just wanted to give you all a quick update and to say thank you so much to everyone who visited my blog and commented on my IWSG post :). I've been sick since Thursday and I couldn't even face my laptop until yesterday, so I haven't commented back yet - but I'm going to catch up now!

I was actually rather annoyed at myself for being sick - I thought that for the two days I was off work I could maybe cross one or two little things off my rapidly growing to-do list, given all the work I have left to do before April. But I genuinely wasn't up to the task. I literally slept all day Friday! But by yesterday, I was feeling almost back to normal and I managed to power through some more edits on my novel - I was actually quite proud of what I managed to do, considering I normally don't like writing in the afternoons, and I didn't get started until 1pm! So I'm happy I'm slightly more caught up now :).

Also, it's half term next week, which means I'll be starting to really up the pace - not only have I got to make sure my novel is ship-shape, I've also got to start contacting reviewers, book in my blog tour (if I decide to do one - still in two minds about that one), and start my posts for April's A-Z Challenge, because if I don't get started on it now, I know I'll run out of time! As well as catch up on normal everyday things, that are unrelated to writing. I know I've got a lot of hard work ahead of me, but you know what? I'm genuinely so excited :), I can't wait to get started!

After all....

Happy Monday, everyone!

IWSG February: Am I crazy...?

Welcome to February's IWSG post! You can check out the official IWSG website here!

This week I made an announcement about my novel Synthetica – I've decided to self-publish it. My proposed publication date is 1^st April, which is less than 2 months away now. I am so so excited about the prospect of self-publishing. And yet I can't help asking myself: am I completely crazy??

There's a part of me that feels like a huge fake. What on earth do I think I'm doing? There's no way I can organise everything in two months! I've got to do the final tiny edits to the book, I've got to finalise the cover design, I need to email other bloggers to see if they'd be interested in reviewing it, if I'm having a blog tour, I need to book it in ASAP for April. Don't get me wrong, I do love being busy, but there are moments when the panic descends and I completely freeze.

But there's also a bigger issue. Whenever I read about other people self-publishing their novels, I think, that's great, good for you! And yet, the idea of me self-publishing a novel seems absurd. Who am I to think that my novel is good enough for the world? This time last year I didn't even have a novel to publish – what makes me think it's even any good to be published now?? I feel like I'm missing out on some huge secret in self-publishing, or that I'm missing a step and I don't know what it is. Essentially, I think this comes down to the question I seem to ask myself everyday, no matter what I'm doing: Am I doing this right??

There's a lot more leeway in self-publishing that traditional publishing (found a major mistake in your manuscript? Cover not working for you anymore? Simply take it down and re-work it til you're happy!), but even so, I've always been someone who strives to get it right first time. I'm so scared of being a failure before I've even begun. I guess at the end of the day, if I let these doubts overwhelm me, I'll never have the confidence to publish my novel.

It's like anything in life - you don't know until you've tried. But it would be nice to know that I'm not just stumbling my way through everything for once ;).

Just a tiny update...

So I have some super exciting - and super terrifying - news for y'all...



I have set a publication date for Synthetica.



The thought makes me want to simultaneously jump for joy and throw up out of nerves.

How? How on earth am I going to fit everything in before my proposed date?? Will the novel actually be ready (i.e. will I wake up the day before and realise the whole thing needs to be trashed and completely rewritten)?? Am I actually capable enough to do all my own promo?? Will anyone even WANT to feature/review my book?? Have I made a serious error and I'm not actually cut out to be a writer at all??

Does this mean that I finally have to admit to the world that I've written a book??


I can't even believe the amount of fears and anxieties I'm experiencing right now - it's about 100 times worse than anything I've felt during an IWSG post....and I haven't even published my book yet.

And yet...it's also strangely exhilarating. I finally have a timeline to complete everything in. I can finally put a plan together for marketing my book. It's finally snapping me into action.

And that is, if I'm completely honest, the real reason why I made the decision to publish my book. Without this deadline, I could go through revision after revision and keep putting off doing the deed with excuse after excuse. But I don't want to do that. I don't want to be a writer who writes, but never has the nerve to publish anything. I want to write, and I want people to read what I've written.

People might hate it. People might (hopefully) love it.

But I'm never going to know what I'm capable of until I actually publish it. It's time for me to stop messing around and get serious about my writing.

So (providing there are no major major catastrophes) pop the date in your diary, folks...

1st April 2015...Synthetica is coming.