Tag: urban fantasy

USA Today Bestselling Shades of Fae

 

For those who didn’t see the news on my social media feeds last week, the Shades of Fae boxset hit the USA Today Bestsellers list at #107. After months of hard work and dedication, this fantastic group of authors ticked a box on their bucket list and I feel lucky to have had the privilege of working with such a funny and talented  lot. They were amazeballs.

If you haven’t picked up your copy of Shades of Fae, you still can. It’s available at all major book outlets online although the price has gone up to $2.99 since release week. My new series, The Shaded Veil debuts in this box set and won’t be available as a stand alone until 2019. So if you’re at all interested, now’s the time to pick it up before it’s gone.

So now it’s back onto Destroyer for me as we get closer to Dragon Con at the end of August.

Enjoy the rest of July, peeps, and as always see you on the other side.

 

xo

shawnee

Watcher #1 on Amazon

It finally happened. Unbelievable. Holy wow, Batman.

Watcher is #1 in Urban Fantasy, #1 in Paranormal Suspense, #36 in Kindle books

amazon_1

Aaaand it’s charting across the categories:

  • Mystery, Thriller, & Suspense #6
  • Suspense #2
  • Paranormal Suspense #1
  • Science Fiction & Fantasy #10
  • Fantasy #5
  • Metaphysical & Visionary Fantasy #2
  • New Adult & College Fantasy #2

Betrayer – 1st draft down

 

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000032_00046]

Today was the day. I finished the first draft of Betrayer. All 90,391 words of it. Trust me, it won’t stay at the number for long once Bev and Amanda get a hold of it, but it feels good. Really good. I was sweating it out on this one, tremendously worried that it would be as brutal as it’d been writing Protector, but oddly enough, it was way quicker and less painful, which came as a surprise. A good surprise.

So I’ve been asking myself the essential question, “What was different this time around?”

Honestly, writing each book in this series has been a distinct and diverse experience. Not once in writing all three books have I come away thinking, “Huh. That was just like last time.” Some of that is because the content is different as the plot moves forward, some is because my style is evolving as the series progresses, hell, it could be that I’m often influenced by whatever I happen to be doing during that time period. It’s hard to say one way or another, and in all likelihood, it’s an amalgamation of all of that and more.

But there are some distinctions that I’d like to outline here:

Watcher cover1) Watcher was like getting on a roller coaster that you’ve never ridden before, and enjoying the hell out of the crank of the chain as you crest the hill and then screaming your head off when you go over the edge.

2) Having said said, Watcher, even having been re-written twice, could be re-written again, but at some point, you have to say enough is enough.

3) Writing your first book means that the only pressure is self-inflicted. It’s never like that again, especially if people like your books. There is ALWAYS someone waiting for the next one.

protector_kindle_fb4) Protector was a right ol’ bastard because I was 60% of the way through the first draft when I submitted Watcher to my now permanent editing team and then realized quite quickly that a big re-write of Watcher was in order. That meant Protector was dead, a complete redo – it just about kicked my ass, and had a profound effect on my psychological state. I came very close to chucking the towel in. It was total hell. Terry, my CP, and Amanda, my copy editor, were the only two forces that kept me going. I’m still grateful for their encouragement in keeping to the path. P.S. – never again.

5) Betrayer was a book that I was looking forward to writing since inception. It’s likely to be the darkest of the four books, and I’m not kidding when I say there are going to be some pissed readers. I’m no George RR Martin, but sometimes, bad things happen, and as an author, you let them. When you get close to the end of a series, the doors shut, the bridges get burnt. It’s scary, and with this book, there are no second takes. Once it releases, there’s no going back. So. If you are one of the readers who wants to send me hate mail – I get it. And it’s okay. Some days, I wanna hate me, too.

6) Destroyer scares me the most. It’s the end of a series that has come to mean so much to me. While the pragmatic, exhausted part of me can’t wait to finish the ride that I started with Watcher, I love Poesy, Adam, Birdie, Haylee, the whole gang at Paddy’s so much that saying good bye to them is hard and emotional. There will be a lingering uneasiness for me as to whether or not I made the right decision. If I gave them the endings they all deserved. But after Destroyer, it will be time to open myself up to a new set of characters who are screaming for my attention. I look forward to meeting them and I hope when the time comes, you’ll look forward to meeting them, too.

Anyhow, a couple of days off before the real work begins. Editing.

Tired but happy,

 

xo shawnee

Watcher Hits Amazon Bestseller List

You know how I said I was going underground to finish Betrayer? Well, that was mostly true, but I couldn’t resist coming up for air for this one.

Watcher has made the Amazon Bestseller List for Kindle in several categories including:

  • #5 in Paranormal Angel Romance
  • #19 in Urban Fantasy
  • #395 in Kindle Books overall

 

amazon_20

Thanks so much, you guys!

xo

shawnee

Shhh…

top-secret

I’m currently drowning in the color purple. And while that may seem nice if you’re a unicorn or a pack of Skittles, my eyes are like “Screw this, we’re going to the Bahamas. Where’s the spare suitcase?”

Purple dust jacket. Purple header. Purple namey thingy. Purple books all over the freakin’ blog.

God, so much purple.

That aside. Guess what? We’re almost there. Little tiny yay. In a whispery voice. Because I don’t want to jinx myself, and I don’t want a stampede on my Amazon page. Hahahaha. No, really. So close. Soooooo almost there that I can feel it.

As usual, ibooks is a pain in my ass, Amazon is doing a great job, my formatter, Guido, is on top of things, my copy editor, Amanda, is helping with the final back cover copy, and we’re just about ready to order proofs of the paperbacks.

Holy cow. It’s really happening.

Right now, you can pre-order Protector (ebook format) from Amazon here. Release date is Valentine’s Day. Yep, cheese-o-rama.

Watcher is back up as well, although it’s currently listed at 99 cents. It will be FREE as soon as I can get ibooks to sort itself out. It will also be available on iTunes if you really have to use Apple.

Paperbacks of both books will be available sometime around February 21st for everyone who goes old-school.

As a side note: ibooks really is horrible and Apple’s lack of support for indie authors is really irritating, therefore, Protector will only be available on Amazon for now.