So I did a thing last year…. I joined an anthology for paranormal/ fantasy romance and it was amazing! Now for those of you who don't know what this means, an anthology is a book with a collection of stories by a group of writers. In this case the stories were full length romance novels based in a paranormal or fantasy genre with any heat level. Now if you read my books you know I write spicy romance, yep I bring the spice with full M/F sex scenes. I am not a closed door girlie. No shade to those who like a little mystery in their romance but I want the visual…spell that out for me with all the deets!
So, I joined a group of 20+ authors and began writing my very first paranormal romance. Before July of 2023 I had been strictly a contemporary bad boy MC writer. I love the danger, violence and suspense of Motorcycle Club Romances and I think I write them well but sitting down to write in a different genre was a bit nerve wracking. Now I signed a contract with a deadline two months away. Not a deadline for a finished story but a deadline for a completed novel ready for publication. That means I had a little over one month to write a full novel and get it to my beta readers, plot reviewers and finally my editor. And then another month to do all the rewrites and polishing before submitting.
Eeekkkk, what the hell was I thinking. Maybe I was delusional. Or overly ambitious or just plain crazy. I'm fairly certain it was a combination of all of the above but I did it and do you k ow what? It was amazing! The book was damn good. I loved my main characters, Aliyah and Isaiah we're hot and explosive together. He is a darker character than I usually write. I love me some morally gray criminals but this man is a literal demon with anger issues and a millennia of loss and frustration to fuel them. Aliyah is a bad ass fighter and leader and she fought her connection to Isaiah and their fated mates storyline. No one and I mean no one (not even me the author) was going to tell this woman who she was destined to love and bond with. So, it was a struggle for our lovers and for me.
The book released October 17,2023 as part of the Realm of Midnight anthology and was titled Awakening: the Queen of the Damned. I loved it. The book spawned a series entitled the Deveon and Anhelios Saga and will be a collection of four novels a trilogy and a prequel entitled Fallen. Fallen is currently available as a short story available for free.when you sign up for my newsletter Cocktails and Criminals, more about that in my next post.
So how did the anthology do? Well. It went well. The main take away from this experience is that I needed to increase my marketing game and the amazing authors I worked with for six months while we wrote, published and marketed ROM were so helpful and inspiring and pushing me to be a book marketer. I learned so much about marketing a book from newsletter subscribers, promotion, social media pushes, reviews and sharing to whether an author should publish wide or utilize Kindle Unlimited. It was a lot. I am 100 percent better for it and I am now a Contemporary Dark Romance Suspense writer and a Paranormal Dark Romance writer!
Realm of Midnight was a limited ebook release that was available for a few months. ROM came down on January 22, 2024 which allowed Awakening to be released from it's contract. Awakening the Queen of the Damned is now available wide in both ebook and paperback editions anywhere you buy books online. So, please pick up a copy of my debut paranormal romance and join me on this new and exciting ride.
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