Category: Threats of Sky and Sea

Turning a profit

Turning a profit

I have waited quite a few moons to be able to make this post– but this month has finally done it. Threats of Sky and Sea is finally earning a profit! (All you need for my emotions here are 0:20-026) Wait, what do you mean it’s earning a profit? You’ve sold books before now, right? Yes, thankfully I have! But between cover design, formatting, editing, and publicity, I tossed a good chunk of change into making Threats of Sky and Sea a success… roughly $2,000 worth. Though I released in May, it’s only now that I’m starting to actually profit, meaning I’ve earned back the money that I’ve invested. I expected that, and knew I was in this for the long haul, but man, it feels good to be officially earning from my writing. I’ve always found posts from fellow self-publishers regarding their […]

The self-publishing cover process: Creating a cover for Threats of Sky and Sea

The self-publishing cover process: Creating a cover for Threats of Sky and Sea

Hello, friends! Long time, no talk. I’m at a new job these days and it’s much busier than the last, leaving less time for authorly things throughout the day. But enough about that! I’m gearing up to begin working next month with my amazing cover artist Nathalia Suellen for the cover of Book 2 in the Threats of Sky and Sea series: Riot of Storm and Smoke, and this made me realize that I never shared the self-publishing cover process for Threats of Sky and Sea. I found Nathalia Suellen through some of her other work, so I knew that she was extremely capable of a beautiful cover– especially one with a person on the cover. And she was a dream to work with. I had only a vague idea of what I wanted for the cover of Threats of Sky and […]

Lady Kat’s Story: Sisters of Wind and Flame Release Day

Lady Kat’s Story: Sisters of Wind and Flame Release Day

Happy Release Day, Lady Kat! While writing/revising Threats of Sky and Sea, I took a step back to try to get inside Lady Kat’s head. I imagined I’d sketch out a brief scene, but once I began writing it, it was clear that Lady Kat had more to say. (I should not have been surprised.) That quickly turned into a short story titled Sisters of Wind and Flame and I’m so excited that, as of today, you guys can see Kat develop into the antagonist we meet in TOSAS. I had so much fun writing Sisters of Wind and Flame and getting Kat, expanding on a couple of other characters that you’ve met before, adding a few others that you haven’t… and I’m very pleased to say that (for less that the price of… well, many things) Sisters of Wind and Flame can be yours […]

Threats of Sky and Sea blog tour!

Threats of Sky and Sea blog tour!

The Threats of Sky and Sea blog tour, hosted by Xpresso Book Tours, kicks off today! I’ll update these links to the actual posts as they go live, but you can find the entire schedule below! Be sure to check the posts out! As part of the tour I’m giving away: -The Elemental Prize Pack: Season 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender, a pair of “water tribe” stud earrings, a signed paperback of Threats of Sky and Sea by Jennifer Ellision, and Threats of Sky and Sea swag -The YA Fantasy Prize Pack: Paperback copies of Graceling by Kristin Cashore, The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson, and a signed copy of Threats of Sky and Sea by Jennifer Ellision, as well as Threats of Sky and Sea swag -2 Signed paperbacks of Threats of Sky and Sea […]

Cover reveal and publication date: Sisters of Wind and Flame (A Threats of Sky and Sea prequel short)

Cover reveal and publication date: Sisters of Wind and Flame (A Threats of Sky and Sea prequel short)

Hello everyone! With BEA over (read my recaps over at The Bevy Bibliotheque: Part 1 | Part 2), I’m hard at work with Book 2 of the Threats of Sky and Sea series (Book 1 is available now). And I’m also hard at work with editing something else… Today, I also wanted to talk to you all about the e-short I’m releasing later this month– on June 30th, 2014 to be precise. Those of you who have already read Threats of Sky and Sea have also met Lady Katerine. Kat got in my head in a way that I didn’t expect during Threats of Sky and Sea. I stepped back from the ToSaS manuscript and wrote what was supposed to be a short scene in Kat’s teenage years in an effort to understand what made the character tick. It quickly became several scenes. And […]

Looking back on release week

Looking back on release week

Threats of Sky and Sea release week was kiiiind of the bomb. I was ecstatic to be releasing Threats of Sky and Sea in general and release day would have been great regardless. But a few things made it stand-out fantastic. Like all of the tweets and Facebook posts supporting me and linking to buy Threats of Sky and Sea. Like an awesome release day Twitter chat, with fun questions from great participants. Like the paperback breaking the top 5K of books on Amazon. Like ranking in THREE categories on Amazon. Like breaking the top 7K of all Kindle books. We also threw a book launch celebration! There was cake, I signed a few books, and we set up a table with swag to grab. There were friends, family, food and drink. MOST excellent. Basically, I couldn’t have asked for much more […]

A love letter to Threats of Sky and Sea on its release day

A love letter to Threats of Sky and Sea on its release day

Dear Threats of Sky and Sea, TOSAS (may I call you TOSAS?), you and I have been through a lot together. Way back from the time when I was consistently getting your name wrong and calling you “Apparent.” (What, oh what, was I thinking?) We’ve been together for years now, ever since that first scene jumped into my head way back in 2011. But I was only flirting with you then, TOSAS. It wouldn’t be until about a year later, in 2012, that I was finally ready to commit to you and only you. To take you seriously. We had our struggles. Sometimes, I just couldn’t understand you. You wanted to go everywhere– you wanted to go nowhere. You were overly dramatic or you fell totally flat. You made no sense! Sometimes, I wanted to break up with you. But […]

You’re invited: #TOSAS Twitter Chat Plans

You’re invited: #TOSAS Twitter Chat Plans

Hello my lovelies! Eek! Can you believe Threats of Sky and Sea comes out in about ONE WEEK now? Didn’t I just announce my publication plans? Let’s talk release day!  When: May 20, 2014 at 8 P.M. Eastern Time Where: On Twitter! Use the hashtag #tosas to follow along! What: This will be a celebration of Threats of Sky and Sea’s publication day! I’ll answer questions about everything from writing to publishing to TOSAS to what I ate for breakfast that morning, give some TOSAS teasers, and there will be PRIZES! Random giveaways of not only TOSAS, but also some ARCs from my shelf! You can also feel free to submit questions ahead of time by leaving me a comment on this post! I hope to see you there!

Newsletter sign-ups and giveaway

Newsletter sign-ups and giveaway

Hey, hey, hey! So, you may not be aware of this, but I have a newsletter! You can sign up for it here. I set it up a while ago, but have been hemming and hawwing over WHAT to do with it! I didn’t want it to be a bunch of redundant content from my blog, plus I know that many of you already subscribe to the blog via e-mail. I think I’ve finally decided on a system! 1. Timing- New releases I definitely don’t want to spam people’s inboxes, so my newsletter will be sent out whenever I have a new release. 2. Extra content- Spotlight read I’ll highlight a self-published book or author that I’ve read recently. This will be an author of my own choosing, one whose work I chose to spend my own money on. I might […]

Writing Tool: Word Count Dashboard

Writing Tool: Word Count Dashboard

I am in looooove with a new app, thanks to Christa Seeley of More Than Just Magic and Inaccurate Realities. Called Word Count Dashboard, it brands itself as “part word count tracker and part vision board,” and it’s TOTALLY helping me in my goal for word counts on book 2. I mocked up my favorite book two inspiration photo (“Enchantress” by Gaudi Buendia on DeviantArt) as a cover, set my goal, and I was off! With Word Count Dashboard, you log your writing sessions and can even make notes on them if you need to be reminded of what a particular session brought out! For writing sessions with enough words, you earn bronze, silver, or gold stars, which are definitely highly motivating! (Yes, you do spy a tentative title for book 2 there. ^_~ ) If you need a change of […]