 Meow is free this week for the first time ever!
A cat shifter assassin, lots of dead bodies and a slight addiction to catnip... plus some potential mates, secrets from the past and more kittens than you can count. Start the Catnip Assassins series today! The final book will release next month, so it's the purrfect timing to begin and read them all in one go ;)
0 Comments
 Two years ago, I quit my job and became a full-time author. With no other income than my books, I’ve been working crazy hours ever since to realise my dreams. I make a good living and have built enough savings to get me through emergencies or bad months, but there’s always the worry that it’s not enough. And so I work. A lot. Every day, all day. Even when I still had my job, I’d use every lunch break, evening and of course the weekend to write and work on my author career.
Hobbies? Gone. Free time? What’s that? Holidays? Only with my laptop by my side. Then, last winter, I came close to burnout. I could barely write. Getting out of bed felt as exhausting as running a marathon (not that I’ve ever done one of those). My emotions were all over the place. I found it hard to gather the creativity I need to write my books. That was a wake-up call. I decided I needed to calm down, reduce my output, focus more on my backlist and repurpose my existing books through audiobooks and translations. Then came the coronavirus and erased all my plans. The pandemic plus some events in my personal life meant I didn’t write much. This wasn’t the time to change my way of working; my routine was all that kept it together. Now though, I finally decided to make a change. After reading an excellent report by Skye Warren (subscribe to her author newsletter, she's full of amazing advice) about how working only four hours a day can be just as effective as working long hours, I set myself that very challenge: a week of four hours a day or less. Not a minute more. I split my four hours in half: two hours for writing, two hours for admin, marketing and whatever else needed doing. I printed off a time sheet to keep track of what I was doing in that limited time to hopefully learn if I did things that were unnecessary or repetitive. I used a stopwatch to track the total time I spent working, pausing the timer whenever I got distracted or took a break.  From now on you can get your audiobooks directly from me - and for much cheaper than at retailers. For example, Meow is only $2.99 compared to $17.99 at Audible. That's because I have no control over Audible prices whatsoever - I'd never make it that expensive on purpose. Anyway, all of my solo books are available already and the Seven Wardens audiobooks will be in my little store soon too.
At the moment my shop is only available in the US, EU/UK, Canada, and Australia. I'm so sorry if you're somewhere else. The second cheapest place to find my audiobooks is usually Kobo - or check at your local library.  I love writing about aliens. In fact, I’m working on three different sci-fi romance series at once just now. But do I believe in them? I’m not sure. I definitely believe there’s life out there – the universe is too big for there not to be – but green men with antennae? Maybe not.
(Although I’d love to be abducted – aliens, if you’re reading this, message me to get my address and I’ll be sure to pack my things.) Anyway, on the search for an alien chibi (see above!), I came across an offer on the service marketplace Fiverr to have alien implants removed. Wait, what? Alien implants? Inside of me? Apparently. Obviously, there was no way I could resist. So I bought it and dutifully sent my new ‘spirit healer’ a photo of myself. I didn’t see any alien implants on it, but maybe she could, right? 
Fall in love with this paw-some collection of 12 shifter romances.
From spell-binding romances to heart pounding adventures, there's something for everyone in this collection of paranormal and urban fantasy romances. Whether you want to challenge the alpha, fall for the bear, or fly with the dragon, you can find it all within these pages. This set includes full-length books by:
To celebrate the release of Song of Souls, I'm giving away a signed paperback copy of the books as well as a large swag pack.
 Authors are always on the hunt to find more readers, but to do so, we sometimes have to look beyond the end of our own nose and expand our horizon. While there are many ways to discover those elusive readers who've just been waiting to read your book, one of the most important aspects of being an indie author is to think global. Ebooks enable us to reach people from all over the world, so we need to make sure that we're ready for those international readers.
First of all, “international” is relative. For me as a Scottish author, it means every country besides the UK. For an author in Australia, it will be every country and continent except for Australia. Your aim as an author should be to target all readers, no matter where they are. It may seem harder to reach audiences who aren’t in your own country, but with a few simple methods, you’ll be able to increase your international readership. 1. Use universal links Universal links, you say, aren’t they just for people who’re wide? I only sell on Amazon, I don’t need them. As someone living in the UK, this attitude is a particular pet peeve of mine. Many authors only post Amazon.com links when they recommend their books. When I follow that link, I can’t just click the ‘buy’ button to get the book. When I’m at my laptop, it’s fairly easy, there’s a redirect option and the the Amazon UK page is just one more click away. If I’m using my phone, however, it’s an entirely different matter. The only way I can then get your book is change the URL from amazon.com/yourbook to amazon.co.uk/yourbook or open the Amazon app (or open Amazon.co.uk in a new tab) to search for your book. Both of that uses time. If I wasn’t quite sure whether I’d like your book or not, I might not go through all that effort and forget about it. I've given my Defiance series a bit of a makeover - new covers as well as new titles. I'd planned to do this for some time, but a wee spout of writer's block gave me the opportunity to finally do so. Abandoned Heart is now Frozen Heart, Broken Princess has turned into Broken Spirit and Beloved Heart has changed to Loving Heart. Funnily enough, the only book that kept its title is the one not published yet  The new covers/titles have been changed everywhere except for Audible - that one might take a while yet, it's a lot more complicated than I thought. However, the audiobooks are now available at other retailers too, including Kobo, Nook and Google Play, as well as at libraries.
The first book in the Catnip Assassins urban fantasy series is now available as audiobook! Dive into a gritty world full of murders, mysteries and cats, brought to life by the very talented narrator Melody Muzljakovich.
Now available at Audible, Amazon, iTunes, Kobo, Nook and many others!
Guest post by Melissa Snark  What does it take to qualify as a kickass heroine? Tough question. Curating this bundle has taken me on a journey of discovery into nuances—everyone has their own definition. Often while talking to a prospective author, they would say, "I'm not sure my heroine kicks ass, BUT…"
She does in her own way. Every woman is the heroine of her own heroic journey, and that doesn't always mean what we might assume. Heroism is about helping others; acts of heroism can be great or small. I would like to give a shout-out to the real-life heroine-volunteers of Knitted Knockers who make special handmade breast prostheses for women who have undergone mastectomies or other procedures. A portion of the proceeds of this bundle will go to benefit the Knitted Knockers charity. So back to the question… What turns a female lead character into a kickass heroine? TV Tropes characterizes Action Girl as "a female badass who is tough and kicks butt." (This definition must have been written by a man.) If you're a feminist (men and women and all others inclusive), right now you're making a sour pucker mouth. Fans want more. Kickass heroines are not just girls. While we can be girls, we are women of all ages and ethnicities and origins who have endured hardships and adversity. We want strong and diverse women protagonists that embody admirable traits. Kickass heroines are smart. They achieve their goals through intelligence and education. In Ann Gimpel's Feral Ice, Dr. Erin Ryan is a doctor and biochemist at a floating research station in Antarctica. Stephanie Burgis's heroine in Thornbound is the first female magician and the founder of a school for girls. The steampunk heroines of Shelley Adina's and Gail Carriger's books solve their problems with smarts and savvy. Having praised intellect, my personal favorite heroines tend to be more action oriented. Kickass heroines are tough. I love heroines who are literally capable of kicking ass and taking names. That scene in Aliens when Ripley declares, "I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure." I get chills. Every. Single. Time. My gender-swapped Captain Hook is a hardened buccaneer and brilliant naval commander. Thankfully, my pirate captain is in good company. Pauline Baird Jones has heroines who are a professional solider and an interstellar spy in turn. Nicole Zoltack delivers a detective champion with a badge and you can bet that Skye MacKinnon's panther-shifter has wicked sharp claws. Kickass heroines are clever. Wait. What about the heroine who has street smarts and survives by guile? Never fear. We do love lady rogues as well. J.C. McKenzie's raven-shifter heroine embodies the cunning of a trickster and Michelle Fox's private investigator is a psychic with punch. So, what does it take to qualify as a kickass heroine? She's smart, tough, and clever—someone readers can care for and cheer for. Most importantly, she's a champion to those in need. We, the authors of the collection, hope you fall head over heels for our Kickass Heroine StoryBundle. – Melissa Snark For StoryBundle, you decide what price you want to pay. For $5 (or more, if you're feeling generous), you'll get the basic bundle of four books in any ebook format—WORLDWIDE.
If you pay at least the bonus price of just $15, you get all four of the regular books, plus NINE more books!
This bundle is available only for a limited time via http://www.storybundle.com. It allows easy reading on computers, smartphones, and tablets as well as Kindle and other ereaders via file transfer, email, and other methods. You get multiple DRM-free formats (.epub and .mobi) for all books! It's also super easy to give the gift of reading with StoryBundle, thanks to our gift cards – which allow you to send someone a code that they can redeem for any future StoryBundle bundle – and timed delivery, which allows you to control exactly when your recipient will get the gift of StoryBundle. Why StoryBundle? Here are just a few benefits StoryBundle provides.
For more information, visit our website at storybundle.com, tweet us at @storybundle and like us on Facebook. |
Skye MacKinnon
Storyteller. Tea drinker. Bunny cuddler. Highland walker. Scottish by choice. Archives
November 2020
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed