New Book Announcement: Starship Blunder: A Shareverse Anthology

I am so excited to announce my next book release: Starship Blunder. This book has been a new type of endeavor for me. It’s an anthology full of stories set in the Starship Blunder world. I had the pleasure of working with eleven other writers in order to put this collection together, and I’m absolutely thrilled with the result.

All of the best talent, most promising soldiers, and highly competent individuals were picked for the elite Starship Prime. Together, they will travel to faraway galaxies and make connections with new alien species currently unknown.

Unfortunately for Sarah Hawkins, she didn’t make the cut and instead pilots the Starship Blunder. With her team of misfits, has-beens, and generally underqualified crewmates, she does her best to explore not-too-far away planets and check in with the alien species that humanity would prefer to forget. But their biggest challenge is to keep the hunk of junk Blunder in good enough repair to prevent crash landing at every single stop.

The book will release on October 1st, and I have a lot of fun things planned to celebrate, including a virtual launch party on October 5th at 2 PM EST. A few of the authors included in the collection will join to talk about their stories, and we’ll partake in sci-fi silliness. Also, everyone who attends will receive a special giveaway, so don’t miss out!

RSVP for the Starship Blunder Virtual Launch Party

If you’re subscribed to my newsletter, I’ve kept you updated along this whole journey and even included a sneak peek at one of the stories. (Do subscribe if you’d like!) Also, I’ll be sharing fun tidbits and art related to the book all month on social media, so check that out as well.

I can’t wait to share this fun collection of stories, and look forward to seeing you all at the launch party!

Book Review: A Secret History of Witches by Louisa Morgan

I had to impulse buy a few novels before taking our family vacation since I knew I would have lots of downtime to read while traveling, and also because vacations are the perfect time to catch up on reading. I bought this book based on the description: “A sweeping historical saga that traces five generations of fiercely powerful mothers and daughters…” I LOVE Edward Rutherford and Ken Follet, who both write multigenerational epics, so I figured this book would be right up my alley. I could give or take the witchyness.

Enough preamble and onto the review.

I found this book very “meh.” The writing is fine, but the story really lacked the deep historical involvement that this style of sweeping tale should feature. Each woman’s tale followed a remarkably similar trajectory: discovery of powers, inevitable romance with a socially inappropriate man, and the eventual relegation of her powers as disillusionment sets in. This repetition made the book feel monotonous.

The witchcraft details were similarly repetitive. Every woman crafts a love potion—the only type of potion described in the book—and always uses the same rites. Additionally, the phrase “three times three times” appears in the novel TWENTY-SIX times. Yes, I counted. This oversight by the editing team was particularly jarring.

The storyline during WWII, which receives more focus, could have been so much stronger. Veronica, summoned by Queen Elizabeth, joins a coven that allegedly alters the course of the war. Instead of interacting with the war directly or putting themselves in harm’s way, the four women safely hide in the basement of Buckingham Palace and recite their spells three times three times (see how awkward that phase is??).

On the positive side, the narrative was clear, and the characters were distinct enough to keep me reading through all 459 pages.

This reading experience taught me that I'm just not into witchcraft and magic. Looking at Louisa Morgan’s other works, I should have picked one of her later novels. For those deeply interested in witchlore rather than historical depth, this might be a fitting read. However, if you're looking for a richer historical tale, check out anything by Edward Rutherford.

Check out more of my book reviews

Board Game Review: Bureau of Investigation

I wasn’t sure of the title of this game since it’s part of the Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective Series, but it's set in “The Cthulu Mythos,” where you play as a Bureau of Investigation Detective in Arkham and other places. Whatever the name is, you can find it on Amazon here: Bureau of Investigation Board Game

Let me back up…

I really enjoyed playing the Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective games. In these, you play as a team of street kids who help Sherlock solve mysteries. Each set includes a number of cases the players solve cooperatively.

The gameplay for the Sherlock games includes “visiting” locations and reading their entry in a case booklet to gather information. Typically you only need to visit a few places to solve the case, and the more places you visit, the lower your final score will be.

I found many of the cases infuriating because the solutions contained logical leaps. Even when we visited all the required locations and a few more, we still didn’t come to a conclusion as definitively as Sherlock would. We would occasionally reread everything to see what we missed and still couldn’t see how the case was supposed to be solved.

But gripes aside, the game mechanics are really clever, and I think more board game publishers should make games like this. Heck, I could probably write one. (Maybe I should… but back to the topic!)

Even though I’m not the biggest fan of horror, I love Lovecraftian-style stories and have played several Lovecraft video games and board games. You know everything’s going to go to shit in the end, and it’s fun to sit back and watch the insanity slowly unfold. Also, cool monsters.

I’ve played through four of the five cases in the Bureau of Investigation set. The first two cases followed fairly closely to the mechanics used in the Sherlock games. I enjoyed the ambiguous nature of the cases, and fully expected not to come up with a solid answer at the end since I never really did in the Sherlock sets either.

The third and fourth cases, however, rejected all the established mechanics and did their own thing.

The third case included a time loop mechanic, which was pretty fun, except that we didn’t realize initially that the case had three booklets instead of the standard one, and we couldn’t figure out what to do for the longest time. This case ended up taking quite a lot of time to solve, and you had to keep erasing and rewriting figures on a map to keep track of details. It was a cool idea, but it would have worked better as an app or computer game where you have a device to keep track of the details for you.

The fourth case very much reminded me of those Unsolved Case Files, in that you are given a bunch of documents and evidence for a cold case and are asked to solve it. That’s fine, except that I don’t particularly like solving those cases since you’re looking through a large stack of information for the ONE contradiction that solves the entire case. This case should not have been included.

I wanted so much more from this set. I had hoped the developers had learned from the thoughtful critiques of the Sherlock games from the board game enthusiast community and would have put out cases that were fun and solvable. I really want to support this inventive way of making board games, where players experience a story together. I hope more board game developers hop on this niche and produce some quality cases that are solvable and give players the satisfaction of puzzling together something truly unique.

Career Advice from a Seasoned Indie Author

Before I published my first book, I sought out advice on becoming an author by calling a friend of a friend who had self-published some books. On the call, the author told me he had been around the block and kicked all the tires. At that point, I didn’t even know what to ask, but his guidance put me in the right direction and helped me take my first few steps toward publishing with confidence.

Now I’ve been around the block and kicked a hell of a lot of tires. I’m at a point where I feel like I can confidently share not only advice I’ve heard and used but also strategies I’ve learned on my own along the way.

Not everything works for everyone, so I’ve whittled this list down to the absolute core advice that I believe will apply to most writers. I could expand quite a bit on each of these topics, but for this post, I’ll try to keep things brief and moving along.

You Need a Critique Group

If you only take one point from this post, let it be this one. You NEED a writing critique group.

Writing is a mostly solitary endeavor, so I encourage new writers to connect with other writers and authors. This recommendation isn’t only to prevent loneliness but also to help hone your craft as a writer and produce the best books you can.

All of us have blind spots that we’re unaware of, and our stories are no different. Another set of eyes will help you spot plot holes, inconsistencies in your setting, weak or offensive character descriptions, and so much more.

In addition to helping refine your manuscript, your writing critique group will likely include members at different places in their publishing journeys, and they may be able to share their experiences and expertise with you.

Keep seeking out writing groups until you find one that’s a good fit for you and your writing style.

Set up a website and newsletter

A web presence is a must for marketing, with a newsletter as a close second. Every time you talk to someone and your writing comes up, you want to provide them with a second point of contact where they can learn more about you and your books and follow your writing journey. Your website is the perfect place to act as that contact point.

Go ahead and set up a domain name that’s easy to remember. I usually recommend your pen name along with a word like “writer,” “books,” or “author” if the domain of just your pen name is already taken.

You might say that you could direct people to your social media account or Amazon page, but you have more control over the information presented on a website and can really tailor it to match what you want to say about your writing. Sharing a social media account also relies on that other person also being on that social media platform, which isn’t a given. Also, asking someone to look you up on Amazon or Google introduces more steps, more possible confusion, and more points of failure.

I’ve taken this one step further to include setting up a newsletter. An email newsletter will be the best way to contact your fans, and this will be invaluable when you have a new release. Yes, you can announce things like this on social media and your website, but that’s relying on all your followers finding you in their feed or reaching out to your website at just the right time. Again, it’s too many possible points of failure. Just set up the newsletter and check in with your fans occasionally.

Social Media isn’t for what you think it’s for

I’ve already dissed social media a little bit, and now it’s time for me to sully it even more. So many people will tell you that you need to post regularly on social media if you want any chance of becoming a successful author. I’m here to tell you, “No, that’s not the case.”

Yes having lots of followers on Social Media does give you an ego boost, and some people may find you through a funny post you’ve made. However, social media isn’t set up to introduce you to new accounts you may enjoy, it’s set up for the platform to make as much money as possible. You won’t get much reach on social media unless you pay the platform to boost your posts, and even then, the returns on your investment aren’t great.

Social media is more of a way to stay connected with your community on a day-to-day basis. It reminds your followers and fans that you exist. It does not sell books. It’s much more likely that someone will Google reviews for a popular book, find your website because you posted a book review, and sign up for your newsletter because they like what you have to say then they’ll buy your books after finding you on Instagram.

Put Out a Great Product (book)

I’ve had this same conversation several times with aspiring authors:

Writer: I’ve written a book and just want to get it out there so other people can read it.

Me: Then you should post it on Wattpad.

Typically, the writer gets visibly upset at this suggestion. They haven’t admitted to me, or perhaps even themselves, that they want to make money out of this writing endeavor.

Although I agree that artists should be paid for their work, we also live in a day when tons of content is freely available. If you are asking people to pay for content, it needs to be a good and professional piece and not a rough draft you simply want to share.

At the very least, every book should get:

• Thorough editing using feedback from early readers
• A thorough line edit by an experienced editor (I choose to hire a pro)
• Nice enough formatting so the layout isn’t distracting
• A well-designed cover
• An engaging description that lets readers who would enjoy the book know that this book is for them

What if you can’t do all of these on your own? Well, that leads me to the next point.

You’ll probably need to pay someone at some point

I look at it this way: I am asking people to pay for my book, so I should expect to pay something to put it together. As much as I’d like to be a one woman show, I know that I have a few blind areas I could use some help in.

As you grow as an indie author, you’ll likely learn to do a lot of tasks for yourself. However, there’s nothing wrong with admitting that you don’t have a great eye for cover design, need a little help with grammar, or are totally lost when it comes to marketing (or all three!).

Now, there are a lot of author service providers with their hands out, asking for your money to help with this task and that. I won’t say a lot of them are scams, but I will say that there are a number of businesses out there that are only looking to make money. This is one of those avenues where your writing group will help out. They’ll be able to recommend services that were worth the money they spent.

When I first talked to my friend-of-a-friend, he recommended contacting Bublish.com to learn about book marketing, and I’m so glad I did! I learned so much through them on how to present myself as an author, build my writing brand, create consistent content for my website, and structure my social media.

Even with fancy grammar software, I still pay for a human editor. I buy stock photos and use paid newsletters to help market my books. As you get further into your career, you’ll get more comfortable investing more money in areas that really see a return. It just takes time to learn what works for you and the books you write.

Book Reviews aren’t for you, but you should still read them

I always feel bad when writers read the first one-star book review left on their debut novel, and some authors recommend never reading your book reviews because the feeling sucks so much. That, and book reviews are meant to inform other potential readers what to expect in a book, not give helpful feedback to the author.

This is all true, however, I do believe that writers should be aware of the general content of their book reviews. If a book receives bad reviews, although it’s possible the book is a bad book, it’s also likely that the book has been marketed to the wrong readers. A romance book with light sci-fi themes that has a big spaceship and planets on the cover will get ripped to shreds by hard-core sci-fi fans in the reviews. Similarly, a contemporary family drama with a romance subplot that doesn’t have a happy ending will be poo-pooed by romance readers.

Beyond making sure you’re marketing to the correct type of readers, reviews will let you know what people like about your books and allow you to write more of that in the future. Similarly, you’ll see what really turns readers off. Reader reactions to your work if valuable feedback to grow your story-telling skills.

Even if you do everything right, you still might fail

I hate how much luck plays into things, but it absolutely does. Like, mathematically, it does. (Here’s a great video on the topic) No matter how hard you try and how ‘right’ you do everything, your writing career still might fail.

I consider it luck that I came up with the idea for an escape room puzzle book when I did, luck that I figured out Amazon ads just in time for lockdown when people would be buying lots of books, and luck that someone who works at a publishing house came across The Terrifying Haunted House on Mystery Lane and loved it so much, the publisher decided to reach out to me (OMG this is so exciting and I can’t wait to tell you more!!!)

Don’t Quit

I don’t want my thoughts on luck to dishearten you. If anything, I point out the role of luck in success to encourage you to keep at it. Keep working hard and producing great books until you do catch your lucky break, and your book’s popularity explodes on TikTok, gets picked up by a popular movie producer, or gets featured at just the right time by an online retailer.

The seemingly random events that have led to the success of my puzzle book series wouldn’t mean much if I hadn’t already really honed my craft, put together a tight and well-working puzzle book structure, and produced the absolute best puzzle book possible on my own.

Keep working and putting out amazing books for as long as it takes. I encourage you to stick with it as long as you're enjoying the ride and writing is fun.

I also encourage you to stick with your day job. Don’t rely on your author career really taking off until it actually does take off. Because sometimes it takes a little longer to catch that lucky break, and that’s okay.