Author: Joely

I’m still plugging along on my new fantasy romance.  I wrote about 5K words in April.  Not much at all – but it is progress.

I’ve been following along with #ListifyLife and posting to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. It’s been fun – and I’m practicing my handwriting!  I still mess up in my journal and have to skip a few pages, but I’m getting less uptight about making it look “perfect.”

The news from Samhain is… no news.  Just some possible news she can’t talk about yet.  It’s making me twitchy and of course my writer brain is going off on all KINDS of scenarios.  All of which end up screwing over my books.  I hope not.  I’d rather start over on these covers and re-release myself than let someone else (that I don’t know, and never actually submitted to voluntarily) control them.  I’ll keep you posted.  As of now, all Samhain titles are still available everywhere, but I did notice some of the print editions getting pulled from Amazon Prime.  If you want a print tradesize, you’d better order one sooner than later.

And disappointing news for A Killer Need series too.  Carina won’t be pursuing a third book.  Sales don’t justify it at this time.  That doesn’t mean there won’t be one – it just means I’ll have to self-pub it.  That’s a possibility and I already have the title and suspense plot.  I do *not* have the romantic/erotic plot figured out yet.  So that’s on the back burner for now.

This all got me pretty depressed today and I was whining/bitching to my Beloved Sis.  We got to joking around and… I might have a really hilarious story idea in progress.  It’s campy, tongue-in-cheek, and completely, totally over the top.  But it was FUN and I need some fun right now.  So I’m jotting all my notes.

I’m trying to get my mojo back. I’ve been taking more time for me, like playing some of my old favorite time management games. I’ve also started taking baths.  I’ve been a shower girl for decades, but when we started making bath bombs, it was fun to take a bath again.  I’ve gotten addicted to Epsom salts, some nice essential oils, a glass of wine, and a book on my Kindle app.  I’ve found that I’m reading much more – which is a good thing.

I need to keep filling that Well.

It’s a weird feeling. I’m completely free. Uncontracted.  No promised works anywhere. It’s disconcerting to say the least, and yes, at times, paralyzing. There are too many choices and decisions.  But I’m working through my stages of frustration, fury, terror, despair, giddy relief, shaky hope, and back to frustration.

So that’s why I’m going for the fun idea right now.  It makes me laugh out loud and I really need that right now!  Branding/sales/publishing be damned.

Two-three weeks ago, I was seriously wondering if I was “all wrote out.”  I haven’t written significant words all year and that sly little voice started whispering deep in the back of my mind that maybe I was broken. I’d pushed too hard in 2015 and I was burnt out.  Done. Finiti.

Then the Samhain news hit.

And yeah, that did take some wind out of my sails.  But when that happens, it’s easier to change directions than when you’re full steam ahead.  I’ve known for a long time that I could probably be making more if I’d self published, but my sense of loyalty is strong.  Plus I had/have a great relationship with my editor, Tera, and it’s nice not to have to foot the expenses up front for cover art, editing, and formatting.  The lure of 70% royalties is strong though.  And now with Samhain closing their doors sometime this year, I have to make the jump.

I’m still going to pursue traditional/small press publications, e.g. with Carina, with the right books.  I love my editor, Alissa, there too, and they can do way more with distribution than I know how to take care of myself right now.  But it is harder to get certain books published there because they’re picky, which is a good thing.  They’re only going to take on books that meet their needs, that they know they can sell.  Doesn’t mean a book is bad or shouldn’t be published — it just doesn’t meet their niche they’re targeting.  So not everything I write will be right for them, but look for future Carina releases as I can.

I’m building some brand new ideas right now with the hope of getting some new things released, that can be making some money before I start getting Samhain titles back.  That way I’ll hopefully have enough in the tank to pay for new covers.  As those rights come back to me, I’ll be hopefully writing the last book in the series and repackaging everything for hopefully new/better sales.

I’m expecting the Lady Wyre series to come back to me first because it earns the poorest sales.  If so, I’ll be writing the last Lady Wyre book.  I have a short story/prequel I wrote for that series, so I’ll either get it packaged and out on sites separately as a permanent freebie, or I’ll include that material into Lady Doctor Wyre.  I’ll have to make that decision once I get everything back.

When I get the Connaghers back, I’ll write Mal’s story and finish that series.

I don’t have any further planned Billionaire books.  But if I get an idea for it, I’ll consider adding another.  However, I’m expecting these to be the last books I get back, since they’re the newest.

I had to use this time for some soul searching.  I’ve been writing so hard, concentrating on my brand and sales and business – that my artist withered a bit.  That’s why I’ve had a hard time getting back into just writing new words.  So the next new project is going to be all for ME.  Things that make me smile.  That make me happy.  That feed my artist.  If it ends up BDSM, fine, but I’m not going to force it.

I need something a bit lighter right now to bring back some of the magic.  So I’m returning to my first love:

Fantasy Romance!

I’ve been down this path before when Drollerie closed, but this hurts way more. Endings are sad so I’ll concentrate on the possibilities ahead.

News broke this weekend that Samhain Publishing has decided to slowly wind down and close this year. The good news is that they’re doing this smartly–up front, above board, everybody paid, rights returned.  This isn’t going to be long silences, worry, and wondering if I’ve lost my books for good.  So don’t be afraid that your favorite authors won’t get their money if you buy books, even knowing Samhain is closing.  They’ve always treated me very well, and I’ve always been paid on time.

All my Samhain titles are still available and will continue to be for sale, until my rights revert to me.  I don’t know when that will be, but likely not for many months yet.  Unfortunately, they might be unavailable for awhile after that because I’ll have to pay for new covers and formatting.  That will take time.  Possibly a long time.  But I’ll cross that bridge when I must.

In the meantime, I’ll be re-evaluating my plan for the year.  I’d already been facing some tough decisions based on sales. It makes me feel a little better that low sales weren’t just troubling me, but across the board at Samhain.  I couldn’t see investing months into the third Lady Wyre book when Lord Regret’s Price hasn’t even sold 200 copies after being published in Dec. 2013. Yeah. Pretty depressing.  Crawl under the bed and die depressing. The numbers in the Connaghers series haven’t been much better.  I’d already decided not to write another Billionaire book.  The numbers just haven’t been there.

I worked really hard in 2015 but felt further behind than ever.  I’ve been bogged down in numbers, branding, stressing, trying to figure out what I could do to turn things around.  Now…  I need to come up with a new plan.

I’ve barely written since November.  I’d already decided to take off through the holidays, but it’s been hard to get back into it this year.  Here it is almost March and I’ve barely written a few thousand words on a story that just isn’t working.

So, it’s back to the drawing board.  I’m going to use this opportunity to really think about what I want to write for the foreseeable future.

I’m sure Gregar, Charlie, and Vincent will have some interesting ideas.