A Confession About My Books

There's something I've been meaning to tell you guys about, but I've been holding off till the last possible moment because well, I'm scared of what people might think.

I've revised the first part of my series, The One-Sided Coin, and am releasing a new edition.

While little of the main plot changes, many scenes have been rewritten to reflect my improved writing style. I learned a lot in-between writing The One-Sided Coin, The Damned Ones, and now The Metal Flower so much so that my first book seems to be lacking. And for the beginning of a nine-part series, I don't want my opener to put people off.

Also some decisions that I had made in The One-Sided Coin were negatively effecting The Metal Flower. The two big ones were:

1. My initial decision to break The One and the Other Books in Episodes.

2. Monoria and Jeriph's relationship in the first book

As I've worked on The Metal Flower, I've struggled to put the book into episodes like The One-Sided Coin. It's a long story, but when I first began writing The One-Sided Coin, I wanted it to be a TV show and even wrote it in script-form. I didn't care about it ever seeing the light of day until I discovered self-publishing. I transformed the script back into a novel but kept the episodes, and for The One-Sided Coin, especially with the flashbacks, it worked. But The Metal Flower is not wanting to cooperate. It understands that it's a novel and didn't have the identity crisis its older sister had.

With Monoria and Jeriph, I've always intended for there to be romantic/sexual tension between them in The Metal Flower, but what I realized was that I didn't lay a good foundation for them in The One-Sided Coin. I needed to go back in order to do their story justice.

I feel bad to my readers who have supported me by already buying the first edition. I don't want them to feel cheated that now their edition is out of date and may affect their reading of the rest of the series.

I'm going to include the new scenes of Monoria and Jeriph so those who have already read The One-Sided Coin and don't want to buy another copy can be caught up. This is the only major plot change that I feel will affect your reading of The Metal Flower since these new scenes will be referenced. The rest of the plot stays mostly the same with only minor details being altered.

The 2nd edition will be released one month from now, February 6th. Until then, the original One-Sided Coin will be for sale for $5 plus another $5 for shipping for a total of $10. I have several copies already printed and would like to get rid of them before the new edition is out. You can buy those remaining copies here.

Thanks again for joining me on this journey. I am still hard at work on The Metal Flower to bring you the best version of this book as I can.

Thank you!

Embracing Independence: Why I've Taken My Books Off Amazon

I can't help but to feel that becoming a full-time author is a pipe dream. So few authors make a living off of their work, and the starving artist persona is very much alive today.

But more and more artists are breaking the mold on what's possible. They're becoming content creators, entrepreneurs, publishers as well as authors. For the past several months, I've listened to podcasts, watched YouTube videos, and paid close attention to the market, and I see a movement happening that I want to be a part of. It's scary, but I got to shoot my shot.

I've taken the print versions of all my books off Amazon and am moving towards selling my books directly through my website only.

I've already sold some books through the my square site here, but now that will be the only place to get print copies. I plan to move everything to this wix site and also include ebook versions in the future, but the timeline for that is yet to be determined.

There are many reasons behind this decision, though a big one is that I hate Amazon like the next person. Amazon has become so dominant in the book market that I'm sure many people are thinking I'm shooting myself in the foot by leaving the platform. But with Amazon's dominance comes certain risks. They have the power to change their terms and conditions to the detriment of authors, and I want to reduce this risk by controlling the distribution process (and I get more money per book that way).

Many of the most successful indie authors are slaves to the Amazon algorithm, writing and releasing books every three months so they stay relevant. I can't sustain that pace nor do I want to because it would surely be to the detriment of my books. I need to pursue other business models, and I believe selling only direct is one part of that chain.

As I embark on this new chapter, I want to express my gratitude for your continued support. My decision to remove the print versions of my books from Amazon and move towards direct sales is driven by a desire to maintain creative and financial control over my work so I continue sharing the stories you and I both love. While the transition may take some time and will be new for both of us, I believe it will ultimately be worth it.

Stay tuned for updates on the future of my ebook availability, and in the meantime, I look forward to this exciting new journey where we can share in the passion of storytelling together. Thank you for being a part of my literary adventure, and I can't wait to see where this path leads us.

2023 Writing Update

Hey guys! I wanted to come on here and give a quick writing update for you all.

Earlier this year, the prequel for The One and the Other Series titled The Damned Ones came out!

Thank you to everyone who bought a copy and has read it! I hope you enjoy Labeth's story; it is one that is very close to my heart. May you see beauty in its darkness.

If you haven't gotten your copy yet, it's available on Amazon.

Since The Damned Ones' release, I've been back at work on the next book in series, which I am calling for now The Metal Flower.

I finished the first draft back in early April, took a break, and am now re-outlining the book. I LOVE this book! It's much more action-packed than The One-Sided Coin, and I just love where the characters are headed this book. There's also some new characters who have been a blast to write. Now that I'm re-outlining, the book is coming together more so than the mess of the first draft (though I do still think this was my best first draft).

Until then, you can catch up the first two book of the series or read my poetry collections.

Thank you!