Hi , welcome back to my author newsletter with alien peens, monsters, magic, and the readers who love them!

As an indie author, finding readers who love your work is a process, and without a newsletter, those readers are technically "property" of the distribution channels an indie author uses to give the books to those readers. When you buy something from Amazon, only Amazon has your information.

Meaning, when you join an author's newsletter, you are putting control back in the hands of the creatives that work to put a smile on your face.

Before I had a newsletter, I would only see a boost in my sales at launch and when I paid to put my book on other newsletters like Fussy Librarian and others. But that meant every time I had a new book, I had to pay to access readers who love my books over and over again. And that made it even more difficult to break even on launch costs to bring a book to life.

And there was no guarantee that readers who loved one of my books would know that I launched another book, so I was trekking up hill, only to slide back down it again every book. I felt like a Greek Mythology punishment of pushing the boulder up hill and having to do it over and over again with no progress.

When I focused on bringing readers to me and encouraging them to be part of my newsletter to stay in touch, get to know me better, and be informed when new books are launched, that changed everything!

Okay, yes, I'm still a small fry, but each launch feels a little easier. And you, being on my newsletter, makes you a book hero to an indie author like me!

I started with NO email list in 2022, to having over 9,000 readers on my alien romance newsletter today!

Of course, not everyone reads every single one of my emails. On Average only 25% open an email, and 2% click on something in that email.

BUUUUUT, I don't have to pay over and over again to say hi to you through someone else's bookish newsletter.

I had my book Jewel of the Alien Bandit accepted for a BookBub Deal.

I spent $290 for one single email, and it did NOT pay for itself in book reviews, buy throughs, or increase in followers. It was a huge expense, and it was the cheaper BookBub option. I honestly don't know how they can justify such a large sum when they do not send it out to their full listing, and they do not have enough clickthrough to warrant the price. I had 10 new readers from their email. And Fussy Librarian is a more affordable $42 per email and got me 10 new readers from their listing.

What I'm saying is that having my own newsletter and talking to you on my own terms is such a weight off my shoulders to not be reliant on paying someone else for every book launch.

My first Alien romance launch of 2025 was Her Alien Starbreaker, which isn't really comparable for finding out how well I'm doing from the last launch, because it was originally released in an anthology, so many readers had already read the book.

So, for data comparison's sake, my last "official launch" was Her Alien Insurgent in May 2024 before launching Her Alien Delegate in Aug 2025.

Her Alien Insurgent launched with 99 preorders on Kindle.

Her Alien Delegate launched with 37 preorders on Kindle and 34 preorders direct on my author store totaling 71.

That's 28 less readers by launch day.

One might believe based on preorders that Her Alien Insurgent had a better launch and therefore, I was declining in readership, but this just goes to show that preorders are not a good indicator of a book's success.

As soon as Her Alien Delegate launched, it surpassed my last launch by a landslide. It has already made more than Her Alien Insurgent has in over a year of being released within one month of launch.

Her Alien Insurgent may be my highest rated at 4.8 stars, but it is still struggling to get enough readership to breakeven on launch costs. Still only halfway towards its goal of breaking even.

While Her Alien Delegate has officially paid back its investment and is now working towards helping pay down my author platform costs!

That is a wonderful sign that I'm on the right path towards one day being a full-time author. It would be lovely to one day have all launch costs paid for by preorders and know that my books will one day pay for my living costs. I'm one more milestone closer towards that goal!

What Readers are Saying about Her Alien Delegate!

"OMG. I finished this book within a couple hours!! It was glorious, had the spice and a HEA!! And 3 hot alien men to boot!! You will not be disappointed!" 5-star Reviewer Desiree

"The guys have TENTACLES!!!And how they use them to worship Evie!" 5-star reviewer Sandra

"Sky Robert is never—NEVER—boring! Her aliens are TRULY alien, and these stories are as much about immersing us in the weirdness as they are about the sex." 4-star reviewer Jeanne

If you like tentacles, an absurd amount of alien seed, and caring aliens that worship their human mate then this is the book for you!

https://books.steviemarie.com/aliendelegate