It is officially less than four months away from the release of my debut novel, The Night’s Chosen. You can already add it on Goodreads to your “want to read” list!”
Can we all collectively squeal while also freak out? When my book deal announcement was made the release was set to be in 2021. A couple of weeks ago my publisher informed me that in fact my book was going to come out October 6, 2020.
My initial reaction was excitement and joy and just.. .WOW! I’m going to be a published author THIS YEAR! Then, I texted my writer friends with this GIF.
There is SO MUCH TO DO. I have to do all of the rewrites/edits/and revisions still to prep them for the Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs) to be distributed. Then even book prep aside, there’s all of the work on the marketing side with cover reveals, blog tours, lining up reviewers, reaching out to local bookstores and libraries…
Okay, now I’m getting overwhelmed again.
My editor isn’t worried at all and says we have plenty of time to get it all done, and we started discussions on how to go about marketing. After those conversations I felt much better. It’s so awesome to have someone who’s so confident in my writing and knows how this business works to help me navigate all of this. Then the other authors with my publisher have also been a huge help and are always willing to offer advice and insight. I’m really lucky to have such an author-focused publisher.
What’s also exciting? They’re working on the cover. Nothing is finished yet so I can’t show you anything. But there will be a big official cover reveal when we get closer to the release date. (As always, newsletter subscribers will get to see it first so be sure to sign up!) From what I’ve seen so far… WOW. It. Is. So. Pretty. You all are going to love it! It’s surreal to see my name and the book title on a book cover. It’s one of those moments where I’m like “wow… this is actually happening.”
As we discussed the cover, we also discussed the name of the book series. Yes, the series, and not just this one book! The Night’s Chosen is the first in my Cursed Queens series. My plan is for there to be four books- but we’ll see how things go. I was so happy when they asked me for the series title because I’ve been thinking about the future books and have some synopsis rough drafts done for them. I cant wait to dig into them more!
A couple of other updates…
I gave my website a facelift and updated it with a Cursed Queens page and the banner on my homepage features my book release date. Feel free to poke around!
I’ve gotten started on a new short story which I’m planning to make as a freebie for my newsletter subscribers and it’s so fun! It has a vampire and a thieving werewolf.
Some goals and things to look out for this month…
I’m currently researching other authors in my genre (fantasy mostly - but more specifically those who’ve written retellings) who may be interested in helping with some promotion. Also just to get inspiration to see how other authors have promoted their books. If you have any favorite fantasy authors whose website and social media you LOVE, please let me know.
I want to put together a “street team” of bloggers, booktubers, bookstagramers, and friends who may be interested in helping out as well with sharing about my book on their platforms. More info will be coming soon, but if you already know you’re interested contact me so I can put you on my list of people to reach out to first!
Sorry this was mostly an “info dump” post but I want to be sure you all are updated on what’s going on! I feel like I’ve been talking about this book for so long yet with no news - when there is actually things happening I want you all to know about it! Everyone has been so supportive and I can’t wait to get my book into your hands. The countdown is on!
Things are going to be happening fast and soon. So be sure to keep an eye on this space as well as my Instagram as news comes. My Facebook and Twitter I’ll be updating as well, but I’m most active on Instagram these days.