Hi everyone! I'm thrilled to announce that STARSWEPT is officially out today! I really can't believe it... mostly because I've been working on it so long. I wrote the first draft way back in 2013... Which wasn't that long ago in the grand scheme of things, but feels like a different life (that was two apartments and two jobs ago!) The poor thing has been through a LOT, from hopeful highs to so-depressed-I-might-never-write-again lows, but now, its journey has finally ended. And whatever happens next, I'm proud of the little book I made.Since going indie with it, I've done literally EVERYTHING in terms of production. No stock photos or templates or print-on-demand this time around... not that there's anything wrong with those (and I'll likely be returning to those for future projects... doing all the things was fun, but draining both mentally and financially). That meant coordinating a photo shoot, designing the interior (and picking out and editing every single one of those 39 chapter spreads), looking up printers, coordinating between the cover designer and the printer, packing 'em into boxes to ship to Amazon's warehouse or running to the post office every other day to fulfill orders myself... when I say I made this book, I mean, I feel like I made this book.
Anyway, the making part is done now. And here comes the hard part: selling the damn thing. Chances are, it's never going to make a lick of money (especially since I put prices as low as I could afford to... as much as possible, I wanted to remove price as a barrier to readers). But I don't care. Some will love it, some will hate it, and some will just go "meh"... it's out of my hands. Maybe it'll sink to the bottom of the rankings sea. Maybe I'll land a BookBub for it and get it into the hands of hundreds. Honestly, I really don't care. Of course I'll market like heck (mostly to get these goddamn boxes out of my apartment), but I'm not looking at sales figures as a measure of success.
In my mind, it's already a success. My book is AWESOME. And totally gorgeous (What? I worked hard on it, so I'm allowed to preen :-P). And most reviewers agree! Like Kirkus. And Foreword Clarion. And Blue Ink. (*preen preen preen*)
And now, to do it all again for the sequel...
ABOUT THE BOOK
Some melodies reach across the stars.
In 2157, the Adryil—an advanced race of telepathic humanoids—contacted Earth. A century later, 15-year-old violist Iris Lei considers herself lucky to attend Papilio, a prestigious performing arts school powered by their technology. Born penniless, Iris’s one shot at a better life is to attract an Adryil patron. But only the best get hired, and competition is fierce.
A sudden encounter with an Adryil boy upends her world. Iris longs to learn about him and his faraway realm, but after the authorities arrest him for trespassing, the only evidence she has of his existence is the mysterious alien device he slipped to her.
When she starts hearing his voice in her head, she wonders if her world of backstabbing artists and pressure for perfection is driving her insane. Then, she discovers that her visions of him are real—by way of telepathy—and soon finds herself lost in the kind of impossible love she depicts in her music.
But even as their bond deepens, Iris realizes that he’s hiding something from her—and it’s dangerous. Her quest for answers leads her past her sheltered world to a strange planet lightyears away, where she uncovers secrets about Earth’s alien allies that shatter everything she knows.
Now available from Snowy Wings Publishing! Find it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and more.
