I’m excited to be one of the authors taking part in the Indie Author Summer Fayre 2021.
It’s a great opportunity to discover new books by UK Indie authors. Here is the summer fayre line up!
This event is happening over two days on Facebook. Join using the link below ?
Also, these seems like a good time to remind you that Ocean Heart is currently free on Smashwords for July 2021.
[kofi]
My paperback is in libraries and I wanted my eBook to be available too. You see growing up, I really valued the library. I couldn’t afford loads of books but the library gave me access to them.
It felt like Christmas walking through the doors and knowing I could take home any book. Pre- pandemic, I took my kids to the library so they could experience the same joy I had (and still do). My kids are always so excited, I struggle to control them but the lovely staff never judge. It’s given me a greater appreciation of my mum for taking me and my siblings (three under five) to the library so often, and hauling home the heavy bounty of books.
These memories have made the library important to me. And, I know I’m not alone. That’s why it’s been so important to me to have my books in libraries.
But it turns out, Overdrive will not deal with authors directly. So, I had to find an aggregator to be the middle man. They recommend D2D or Smashwords. I chose Smashwords as during my recent review of Aggregators I was impressed by their own store and the deals they do to promote indie books.
Now, Ocean Heart is on Smashwords, I celebrated by enrolled it in their Summer/Winter Sale. This means Ocean Heart is FREE for July 2021!
If you are looking for your next Summer Read go check out the sale. You can download Ocean Heart for FREE. I didn’t need to enter the code but if it asks, it’s: SW100
You can then read the ePub on whatever app is your favourite eBook reader.
If you missed this deal, you should now be able to borrow the paperback and eBook at your library. If it’s not in their catalogue, ask how to request it in. It helps to provide your librarian with the ISBN number.
Below are affiliate links:
Here’s the link to the Summer/Winter sale: https://www.smashwords.com/shelves?ref=Redfae
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What Banned Book Week is About
Learning through art with Arty Mouse
Different self publishing platforms
[kofi]
Yes! I’m pleased to announce that I have finished my first edit of Sky Heart and now need Beta Readers.
Click here for the Beta Readers Sign Up Form.
NB: Sky Heart doesn’t have an official cover yet. The image used is my Work In Progress cover.
You get to read the full story before anyone else, and can help shape the future version with your feedback.
Tell me if you like a character or not. You can say if a scene is too slow or too fast. Suggest what to cut or add to the story. Basically share your thoughts to help me improve it.
This version has only been edited by me. It will have mistakes. It won’t be as polished as a final version that has been professionally edited.
Sky Heart is book 2 in The Soul Heart series but has a new main character, Keily.
You can read Sky Heart (book 2) even if you haven’t read Ocean Heart (book 1). It is a complete story, however, it will have some spoilers for book 1 as it assumes you’ve already read it. In addition, it is part of a series so although the main issue is resolved in the story, there are things that will be unresolved as they are dealt with later in the series.
Sky Heart is a YA Contemporary Fantasy. Here is the blurb:
I want to try out a site called Beta Books.
This site enables me to easily share Sky Heart with my Betas. It will also organises any feedback to make it more manageable for me.
Readers can share their feedback as inline comments, at the end of a chapter, and I can even ask readers questions about specific things.
If you want to help me but prefer not to use Beta Books that’s fine. Please still sign up using my Google Form and I’ll consider another option for you.
If you’ve read this far, thank you. I’m so pleased you’re interested. Please fill in my Google Form so I can send you details on how to access Sky Heart.
Google Form: Sky Heart Beta Readers sign up
If you enjoyed this you will like:
Soul Heart Readers Street Team
My Process – How to Publish a Book
[kofi]
The following links are affiliate…
July 2021 – Ocean Heart is free on Smashwords in the Summer/Winter Sale
From Saturday, 19 June to Saturday, 26 June, it’s Indie Bookshop Week.
This event has been running since 2006 by Books Are My Bag. They also run other bookish events to support Indie Bookshops like the BAMB Awards and Indie Bookshop Day in October.
Stillwater Books is my local bookshop in Felixstowe.
It’s been a tough year for high street shops due to the pandemic. Many spent months closed as they weren’t deemed essential. I know, who said books aren’t essential?
Ocean Heart released on 1 Dec and the country was in lockdown. The book signing event I’d always dreamed of was looking bleak. Boris said no!
I reached out to Stillwater Books with my proposed idea, a work around solution for a book signing during lockdown. I literally happy danced when they said yes.
I promptly got to work on promoting the event. The manager was patient with me as I figured out details, how to order books, write an invoice, and all the other brand new tasks I was doing for the first time.
I signed the ordered books and brought them into the shop. I made a little video for YouTube. Customers who had preordered, then either collected from the store or arranged for local delivery.
I certainly hadn’t imagined a non-contact book signing before, but Stillwater Books worked with me to make it happen. I will always be thankful to them for helping make my dream come true.
It’s really important to shop at your local independent bookshop. In doing so, you are supporting your high street, local jobs, a small business, and treating yourself to a new read.
That’s why I love being an affiliate with Bookshop.org. Redfae Bookshop.org is my affiliate store giving recommendations on books you should buy. It connects you with a local independent bookshop for your purchase. In return you support them with your custom and I get a small commission.
If you enjoyed this, you will like:
What’s a UBL & why your book needs one
Now you can preorder Ocean Heart
[kofi]
Did you miss it?
Ocean Heart was free on #GooglePlay during the first week of May. If you missed the deal, there’s still a chance to get it!
For the rest of May, my followers on Ko-Fi can still get Ocean Heart for FREE! It’s Free to follow me Redfae on Ko-Fi and by following me you can make sure you don’t miss out on future freebies that get posted there. ?
Also, don’t forget to checkout my Giveaway on Instagram. Entry is super easy. Also, FREE to enter!
[kofi]
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During April, for fun, World Indie Warriors did a snippet challenge to encourage people to share their WIP, especially those doing Camp NaNo.
I don’t post to Instagram on Saturdays. I take the weekend off. But, I worked the snippets into my monthly schedule. The only one that didn’t get posted to Instagram was the bonus, but that went out on 1st May in my newsletter.
I couldn’t find any snippets involving chocolate, treats, sweets, eating, etc… I guess Kiely isn’t a foodie.
But, Kiely’s best friend wants to start her own makeup brand and enjoys making products at home. The nail polish from this snippet was created using purple sweet potatoes.
Kiely has a black Labrador. I’ve never owned a dog. I’d like to but don’t think I’d make a great owner, so I’m holding back until I can give a dog all the love it deserves.
Plus, I don’t think my cats would approve. They are not dog people [cats].
Kiely does a lot of sneaking out when she should be sleeping. This naughty habit gets her into big trouble… it’s set in a fantasy world with shifters so you can imagine.
There are no dragons or books in Sky Heart. But, there are two Dragos possessing humans. These creatures can shift into a shadow dragon which I plan to do in Ana’s story, when I write it, one day, one day…
Here is the bonus. This happens in the first chapter and writing it was what made me want to give Kiely her own novel. I will likely repurpose this snippet when I release the book.
The first draft of Sky Heart is now finished. Next up is to self edit. There’s a chance the snippets above will change by the time I have a final draft but I really enjoyed sharing what I’m working on.
Want to learn more about book 2, Sky Heart?
Visit my Sky Heart page for more details about the book.
Do you want to buy book 1, Ocean Heart?
Visit my Ocean Heart page for more details about the book and where to buy, or check out these affiliate links:
[kofi]
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Hello my mermaid loving readers. It’s the month of mermaids and MerMay 2021 is going to be MerMazing!
Author Hannah Read has created a MerMay readathon for May! She has encouraged people to get her novel Tenebrasco and set chapter goals throughout the month, so we can read along together.
As a mermaid fiction author myself, this sounded like so much fun. I’ve downloaded the book to my Kindle and despite being a slow reader I will try my best to keep up.
Follow #MerMayReadalong , #PearlWielders & @hannah.reads on Instagram.
The below are affiliate links. Read Affiliate Disclosure page for more info.
I want to do something special to celebrate MerMay and Ocean Heart’s 6 month birthday is on 1 June.
I invited my newsletter subscribers to enter a giveaway. They’ll also be invited first to read Sky Heart when it is ready for readers.
Later this month, I will extend this invitation to my Instagram followers.
Ocean Heart is now available to buy on Google Play. To celebrate I have made the book FREE worldwide during the first week of May.
If you haven’t yet got a copy of Ocean Heart and you are a Google Books reader, now is your chance to treat yourself.
Check it out here.
I have been developing my technical skills to produce digital products. I decided to share my Book Tracker as a free download from my Ko-Fi Shop.
In addition, I’ve posted a link there that enables Ko-Fi fans to download Ocean Heart for free from Google Play ALL month.
It’s Free to follow me on Ko-Fi, so why not? That way you can enjoy the freebies and won’t miss out on future freebies.
ITunes Connect’s webpage is currently not loading on the page that allows new authors to join. The technical team have apologised for the issues and are working on resolving these.
Update: 30 May, I managed to create an author account but I think I have to wait 24h to add a book. So maybe later this month I’ll be on Apple. ?
I want to donate to an Ocean charity. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for ages and there are so many good ones out there.
I recently watched Seapiracy on Netflix and it reminded me of how crucial the ocean is to all of us.
This month I will pick a charity and donate. Let me know if you have any recommendations.
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What to watch if you love mermaids
Book Review : Sea Witch by Sarah Henning
Here’s my Camp NaNo writers diary for the second half of Camp NaNo.
I wrote the scene I have been struggling with – the big fight scene. It was 1,422 words. It’s not The End yet as I’ve realised there is one more scene needed to join this to the end that I wrote. But, The End is in sight.
This morning, I had a one-to-one chat with Pagan it was an Author Breakthrough Session. I had no idea what to expect but afterwards I felt more focussed and empowered. I’ll be writing a full blog post on the experience.
My 2y old was in a creative mood today. We did painting, we did slime, and puzzles. My mum popped over and I showed her what I’d done with her Cricut Maker I borrowed. Later, my son helped me at the vets and food shopping.
Tonight, I wrote 812 words and finished my first draft of Sky Heart. The End
The final word count is 76,763 words. Usually during my first self edit this number increases as I discover where I need to add more detail.
I managed to escape the kids for a writing sprint on Facebook. As Sky Heart is finished, I worked on a novel I may offer as a readers magnet or sell as a prequel.
I also attempted to make a book trailer for Ocean Heart. As it’s my first attempt at this, I’m still not sure.
Today we went into town to get sandwiches and cake. We then went for a walk in the woodlands and had a picnic. We were so full we saved the cake for home.
I fiddled a little more with the trailer, especially with tweaking the sound affects. It’s very tricky trying to achieve precision on a mobile phone. I’m happy with the outcome. I guess I ought to make Sky Heart one.
Today was meant to be my marketing Monday but Pagan would not been impressed because I didn’t do it. I was really into my secret project and wanted to work on it. I’ll do Marketing tomorrow…
I lied. I didn’t do Marketing today either. I had a little anxiety about tomorrow so had an early night with my husband.
Tonight was my Live with World Indie Warriors. We had so much fun chatting we were on for 2hs.
Today was my long work day. After work I chilled out and had some me time. I ran a bath and read The Rookery.
I published Ocean Heart using Ingram Spark for both the paperback and eBook. It never went live on Google Play, or Apple Books. I was busy with my launch so left it. Once Christmas was out the way I queried what happened with IS.
IS confirmed it should be on Apple and would look into what happened. It turned out my files were too big. But, things got busy at work so I left it.
Today has been a busy day working on how to resolve it. I uploaded it to Google Play – this was pretty straight forward and I now have to wait to be approved. But Apple has been a complete nightmare with their iTunes Connect page displaying an error 401.
I had a busy morning clearing out the garden. It actually looks worse now but it is because I am preparing rubbish that needs to go to the tip.
I played with my kids and didn’t get to write or read. They were excited by treasures I found in the shed like a remote control car & keyboard. I think they ended up there because they are noisy.
iTunes Connect replied to apologise for the current issues and they are working on resolving this as quickly as possible, but there was no indication of how long it’ll take.
In the evening my hubby & I finished watching a film and started the new Shadow & Bone series on Netflix.
Today, is the day I work on my social media. I write blog posts and prepare my Instagram posts. As the end of the month draws near, I also worked on my newsletter.
I uploaded a free digital download to Ko-Fi for people to use to track their books.
I’d like to do a MerMay Giveaway to celebrate Ocean Heart being 6 months old but my ideas keep getting ruined.
I wanted to create a personalised National Book Token but that’s temporarily unavailable. I wanted to offer Ocean Heart for Free to celebrate it now being on Google Play but it takes 12 days to get approved, and Apples website isn’t loading the page for new authors to join so I’m waiting for tech support to resolve it.
I also thought it’d be nice to donate to an Ocean type charity but don’t have a ton of money and worry people will judge me for it not being enough.
I’m still figuring out what to do for MerMay and time is running out as I want to announce it in my newsletter going out on 30 April!
Today, I read Rookery. Ideally I want to finish it before the end of the month because of the MerMay readathon.
I posted a few pics to Litsy, talking about my writing resource books.
I sold my first signed copy of Ocean Heart from my Ko-Fi shop. ?
Once the kids were in bed, I still didn’t do any Marketing. Eek – my check in with Pagan will be embarrassing. Instead I had a bath and watched Shadow & Bone.
Today was my long day working.
In my lunch break I organised the P&P for my Ko-Fi customer and researched KDP. Apple emailed to encourage me to contact their development team about the issue as the technical team can’t resolve it.
After work, and once the kids were in bed, I signed a copy of Ocean Heart, packaged it up, and set it off to my first Ko-Fi customer.
I booked a day off work – yay!
Today, I went into town to get the parcel delivered but I misheard the girl at the desk and paid way more for p&p than I wanted. I was cross, but she’d printed the labels so I just paid it. :(
I tried to confirm the amount Google Play paid into my account to verify and prove its my bank account but Google said I’m wrong and to guess again. I’m going to wait and see if they pay another amount in and try again in a few days.
I also looked at creating my Amazon affiliate account for UK/US. And, started developing a webpage disclosing my affiliate accounts.
I also did a lot of work on my newsletter. I add to it throughout the month but it needs pics and tidying up. I only have the related social media posts left to do now.
In the evening, I caught the WIW Live with guest Julia Scott. She’s author of Mirror Souls and a formatter. In fact, she was my formatter.
Today was my long day at work, and I didn’t sleep well last night. I think I need an early night. That’s if Aria lets me – she’s playing up tonight and refusing to go to bed. Which is odd because she was crying and begging to go to bed before her milk was ready.
I did the finishing touches to my newsletter ready to send tomorrow. Relaxed by reading the Rookery, and then watched some Shadow & Bone.
Today, I sent my newsletter. I hope I’ve made the right choice with my Giveaway.
As you can see I’ve taken a break from writing now Sky Heart is written. But, after this weekend I will start the self editing process.
Discover more about Sky Heart by visiting my Sky Heart page. Sky Heart is book 2 in the Soul Heart series.
Discover more about Ocean Heart by visiting my Ocean Heart page. Ocean Heart is book 1 in the Soul Heart series.
If you enjoyed this you will like:
The Benefits of Having a Formatter
The Process of Publishing: Step 1 – Drafting
My Authorship Breakthrough Session
[kofi]
This is the last post in this series.. If you missed the previous posts they are:
Or check out the collection for all parts.
Here is a handy info graphic of what I’m going to cover in this post.
You can save this to your Pinterest board.
If you are self publishing you will need a blurb for your book. You can write this yourself or hire a professional.
Here’s a post about the making of the blurb for Ocean Heart.
Your book cover will be one of the first official marketing materials for your book. They say “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover!” Except, people do.
You can design it yourself but if you are going to do print copies, it can be tricky to get the spine right if you don’t know what you’re doing. I opted for a professional.
Look at other covers in your genre. These covers are what your ideal reader is expecting. If your cover appeals to the wrong audience it’s going to make it hard to sell.
Here’s a post about how I chose my cover designer.
Once you have the cover, start marketing your book. Don’t wait until it’s published to start marketing.
Fun things to do, are a cover reveal to drum up interest. Here’s a post going into more detail on how I did my cover reveal including tips on creating digital bookstagram pics for promoting your book.
You can also have a preorder period so people don’t have to wait until the release date to buy and can order it right away! These purchases won’t be counted until release day, boosting your release day sales.
I learnt a lot about marketing my book from author Pagan Malcolm and did the Storyseller Academy course that covers a lot of ways to promote your book and how to change your mindset.
Another, fabulous person to check out is Michelle Raab who specialises in Marketing for Indie Creative and is the founder of World Indie Warriors.
Check the links at the end of the post for posts on my book launch. They’re useful to check out if you need some ideas.
This is the person that makes the inside of your book pretty and accessible in different formats for different eBook readers. You can do it yourself, or use tools available online.
Here’s a post about my experience with my formatter.
If you want to do it yourself, you might find it useful to check out Brittany Wang’s YouTube video showing where to get a free template and how to edit it.
Alternatively, you can use the tools provided by your chosen distributor to turn your manuscript into a book. I believe Amazon, D2D, and Ingram Sparks offer these tools for free.
Big mistake I made was skipping this step. I uploaded my files to Ingram and then one of my ARC readers (author Cassidy Reyne) let me know where I’d missed some typos. ?
My formatter was happy to amend my files for free but Ingram charged me for changing the files. ?
Don’t skip this step. The last pair of eyes on your book are necessary. No matter all the edits already, and how perfect you believe it is, get a proof reader to do a final quality check.
If your proof reader spots any issues, you will need to make the changes and inform your formatter exactly what you needs changing!
And you thought you’d finished editing. ?
If you are happy with everything, upload it to the distributor site you are using. Popular choices are:
Send your ARC readers a final copy. Between now and publishing you could make changes but we’d hope that by this point it is done.
The ARC readers need enough time to read it before you publish. This enables you to gather reviews for marketing and gives readers an idea of what others thought.
ARC readers will leave an honest review. Your book cover & blurb should attract the right readers. If your ARC readers are surprised by your book (and not in a good way) you might want to change the cover or blurb to ensure you attract the correct readers.
Check out my post on Betas vs ARC readers.
That’s it! Except now your book is out there, you still need to market it. Don’t be shy – every chance you get, give it a shout out. And, on that note…
Redfae Bookshop is my Affiliate Bookshop.org Shop Link.
[kofi]
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Have you seen that advert of a mum working from home? She is lying on the floor cooing at her baby and typing on her laptop. I bet you know the one I mean.
Well, I’m embarrassed to admit I believed this could be my life. My dream has always been to be a Novelist and I also longed to be a mother, so this image was singing to my heart, ”you can have it all!”
If I’d waited for my ideal writers life, I’d still be waiting.
Ally Aldridge
I’ve been writing stories ever since I could put a sentence together but for many reasons I put off seriously trying to get published until the prospect of children was on the horizon.
As soon as I got engaged in September 2009, I came off the contraceptive pill. I wanted it out of my system so I could get pregnant as fast as possible once married. We married in June 2011 but different factors got in the way of motherhood.
During that time I wrote Hunted, Instinct and Drift (now published as Ocean Heart). I edited Drift, queried it, got some requests… but never an offer.
Late 2013, I had my son. He took over my life in the most glorious way, but it was obvious how unrealistic that image in my head was. My working hours were reduced but it didn’t enable any extra time for writing. If anything, I had less time. I was juggling a job and my parental responsibilities. Most evenings I was too shattered to do anything.
Once my son turned three, we decided we were ready to grow our family. Fortunately, I didn’t fall pregnant quickly because a few months later the company I was employed at went into administration. Expanding our family was put on hold until we got financial stabile again.
To my relief, almost a year later, we decided to try again and I fell pregnant straight away. My daughter joined us in the summer of 2018.
During this time I’d continued to edit and query Drift. I realised that I have to just make my situation work if I wanted my dream. That meant, I often wrote in the evenings when my kids slept. Sometimes they have worn me out in the day and I have to be okay with letting myself take a break.
I focus on celebrating what I have achieved and that I’m still making progress, instead of being frustrated I can’t do it as fast as others. I blog and schedule content on my mobile whilst my kids play. I make my social media posts on my phone often using Canva. In the smallest pocket of time, I can still work towards my goals.
Due to my new can do attitude, I’m now a published author. That’s right, in December 2021, I said yes to myself, and published Ocean Heart, book 1 in The Soul Heart series. If I’d waited for my ideal writers life, I’d still be waiting.
Redfae Bookshop is my Affiliate Bookshop.org Shop Link.
During lockdown, I’ve lost my childcare for my youngest . And, whenever the schools close, I’m homeschooling for my oldest. My employer has been pretty supportive and when I’ve been most impacted by the pandemic, I have been placed on Furlough.
These days I have even less time to write! But, I’m writing. Maybe not everyday, but I am getting there.
My message to you is, do what you can now because every little bit will add up. There’s nothing to lose. Worst case scenario, you have a fabulous novel all to yourself.
[kofi]
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