Every year, Wraithmarked Publishing hosts a “megasale” on the r/fantasy subreddit. All of the books are available either for free or $0.99. What makes it extra special is that all authors in the sale agree to make a donation to Mary Cariola Center, a base minimum of $10 plus a certain percentage of the royalties earned on the days of the sale. There are over 500 books in the sale this year, which can make it a little hard to find the ones that you would enjoy.
Here is my recommendation for the books you MUST check out! Most of them are fantasy books that include LGBTQIA characters, but I couldn't help but include a few standouts in other genres! In no particular order. I've also included links to purchase physical copies on Bookshop.org or the author's direct store; while I can't guarantee that the paperbacks of these books will be discounted, I know some of y'all want those paperbacks no matter what! By shopping at Bookshop.org, you are supporting independent bookshops everywhere.
2024 was an interesting year for me. I had a great start to the year, but chronic illness bit me in the butt for the last quarter of it. But no worries! It meant I had plenty of time to read!
I read a lot more this year than I did last year, where I had spent a lot of the year in a reading slump or unable to read due to migraines. Thank goodness my local library has Libby and carries both ebooks and audiobooks!
I re-read some old favorites like the Demons of the House of Hua (Amazon, Kobo, Itchio) and I always read Howl’s Moving Castle (Amazon, Kobo), The Ghost Bride (Amazon, Kobo), and Uprooted (Amazon, Kobo). It wouldn’t be a year ending in a number if I didn’t re-read at least a few of my favorites.
But I want to take a moment to shout out some of my favorite new-to-me reads!
As I was putting together this list, I realized it’s got a lot of darker fantasy books on it, as well as a lot of vampires (I actually read three other vampire books that didn’t make this list)! Maybe next year, I will try the cozy fantasy speed-run just because the year itself is looking pretty dark, and I might need something a little lighter. Who knows!
I don’t know if this post will go out before or after my post about my favorite reads of the year. I wrote that post and included The Hatchling also by Vyria Durav and I held myself to a promise that I would only include one book per author for the sake of my sanity and word count. But this book also deserves a huge shout out despite coming out after I had done my 2024 Favorite Books list.
The time has come! Voting is now open for a limited time for the Indie Ink Awards! This is your chance to choose your favorite indie books and have them recognized. There are over 400 books nominated. Two of my books, STARS AND SOIL and SMOKE AND STEEL received enough nominations to make it to phase two of the Indie Ink Awards.
Last year, A LAKE OF FEATHERS AND MOONBEAMS and SHADES AND SILVER both made it to the final round. A LAKE OF FEATHERS AND MOONBEAMS was a finalist for the “Writing the Future We Need: Trans and Non-binary Representation” category and SHADES AND SILVER was a finalist in the “Writing the Future We Need: Disability Representation by a Disabled Author” category.
Here are all the nominations with links to the categories so you can vote! You can only vote for one book in each category, and I've highlighted which book of mine I believe deserves the vote the most, but please use your own opinions when casting your vote.
This year, I publish SMOKE AND STEEL as well as taking STARS AND SOIL from being a Campfire exclusive to publishing it widely across all the major retailers and many smaller ones! Thank you to everyone who has supported me this year and picked up these books, and a special thanks to everyone who has left a review!
And an extra, extra thank you to everyone who nominated both books for the 2024 Indie Ink Awards!
This post is dedicated to Ladz, author of one of my newest favorites, Cradle of Eternal Night. They asked over on BlueSky about marketing when there are no big releases on the horizon and while I provided some quick examples, I want to expand on that here.
I know you've written a bunch about marketing for indie authors and I was wondering if you had a thread or a blog post anywhere for how to market in lull years because I don't have anything planned for 2025 and I'm getting the Sunday scaries about it
These tips and suggestions work well for anyone, trad or indie, Amazon Exclusive or Widely Published, but as a widely published indie author, these tips are coming from that perspective.
Here are my suggestions and advice for marketing when you have no new releases coming up.
Not familiar with Itch.io? It's a platform started for and by indie game developers but has recently expanded to welcome artists, musicians, and authors! Indie creators of all kinds are now welcome to use this platform to sell and promote their creative works.
Today is Black Friday, a day when major retailers and small businesses rake in the dollars. But not Itchio. For Itch.io, it's Creator Day. For today, Itch.io gives the full amount paid directly to the creators. They are not taking their own cut of the profit.
If you are looking to support indie creators today, check out Itch.io first to see if you can find their works there.
Specifically, looking for queer science fiction and fantasy books to support? Don't worry; I've rounded up some of my favorites that are discounted or bundled!
While the Plethora of Queer SFF Books bundle is only on sale today, most of the rest of these bundles and sales last through the rest of the weekend!
The Plethora of Queer SFF Books – $35 USD
This bundle was put together by Claudie Arseneault and contains books from 16 creators!
We're back again with another guide for your potential journey to spreading your wings and going wide. In Part I, we discussed the why and the basic mindset you need when being a “wide” author. Part II, we discussed aggregate publishers, the other major retailers, and library services. In Part III, we will go over smaller or niche retailers that might be suitable for certain readerships as well as going over some of my favorite choices for selling directly, and getting really excited about things like VAT and Merchants of Record. Sounds complicated, and it is at first. But once you know what you're looking for, it becomes a lot easier.
Niche or Smaller Option
Aside from the major retailers, there are many smaller ones that cater to specific genres or offer unique features that you won't find elsewhere. Having your books available on these retailers can help you bring in readers who are looking for something a little more unique! This list is by no means exhaustive, but it does include only smaller retailers that I have direct experience with and feel confident commenting on!
If you've read part one, thank you! I hope it was helpful, and I hope that Part II and Part III will help you further in your decision-making process.
I mentioned briefly that going “wide” means taking a different marking approach a is a bit of a mindset shift. A lot of people in KU spend tons of time on PublisherRocket trying to find the perfect keywords for their book in hopes of climbing the Amazon Best Seller Ranks, making it to the top of search results, and getting into the “Also Boughts” of their “competitors.”
Note: I do NOT consider other authors to be my competitors, no matter how closely they align with my niche—sapphic thigh high fantasy. Readers can read my books in 10 hours. I cannot ever hope to write, edit, format and publish a book in 10 hours. Other sapphic thigh high fantasy authors are who I send my readers to so that they can keep getting their fix while I write the next one, but Amazon encourages this “competitor” mindset, and this is a mindset you have to break out of if you are to be a “wide” author!
“Going wide” in industry parlance is a choice that not many indie authors make and one that is often seen as less lucrative that enrolling your book in Kindle Unlimited.
Yes, right now, most readers are on Amazon, and many of them are enrolled in KU and rarely look for books outside of that. But read that sentence again, paying close attention to that dependent clause right at the start. Right now.
What is happening right now, however? Many readers are considering ditching their Kindle Unlimited subscription and taking their business to non-Amazon places. Honestly, I do not blame them. I have never been a KU subscriber myself; I am more likely to get my books via Libby and Hoopla using my free county library card or purchase the book outright.
Yes, I have had readers tell me they are disappointed that my book isn't in KU since they only read KU books. But since I am wide and do not, therefore, have to abide by an exclusivity clause, I can tell that reader, “Would you like a free copy? You can request a review copy from this link.” I get a review, a reader gets a book for the price they are willing to pay. We all win.
But you know what? I've had more readers thank me for having my book available on (retailer of their choice). More readers have thanked me for having my book on Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Fable, Everand, Apple, Google Play, etc, than have expressed disappointment that I am not in KU.
And I have made more money in royalties being “wide” than I ever did when I was in KU.
