Alien Lovers UNITE, ,
If you ever wondered what goes into making a book reality for an indie author, read the Author Updates section in today's newsletter! I'm a data nerd myself, and I love this kind of stuff! I also finished reading an ARC that I wanted to share my thoughts with you on, and of course my excitement for the launch of Her Alien Prince!
We are in the top 100 of the Action and Adventure Category for Her Alien Prince, if we get those KU pages read, perhaps we can get the #225 in Sci-fi Romance to jump up to the top 100 as well! Let's read!
Her Alien Prince is launched in Kindle Unlimited and part of the launch party on Sky's Smut Between the Pages on Facebook is sharing some quotes and I'm dying because as some of you may know... I do not remember most of what I write. I literally have to re-read my stuff all the time and have a style guide that I have to follow to keep my shit straight, so when I read some of these quotes, I was legit like... I wrote that? That's cool, other me is pretty awesome.
"Allow me to prepare your throne, My Queen." A hand secured me behind my back as I sat on his face... - Trent and Mabel in Her Alien Prince
"It was chaos that I didn't wish to have curtailed. It was fire I didn't want extinguished, and it was light that illuminated every dark desire from the depths of my soul. I was so filled and he hit a button inside of me that kept forcing wave after wave of sensations that I thought I could die happily from until he whispered against my lips with a groan, "Forever."
Check out Her Alien Prince on the zon, available in Kindle Unlimited!
https://books.steviemarie.com/heralienprince
For one queen to rise, another must fall, and keeping her is the highest cost of all... his soul.
Rejected from the mating ceremony, Mabel finds a unique way of making her dreams of a family come true, though she may have to defy the leader of her planet to do so, and work with a species that isn't known for playing fair to have everything she desires.
Trent is the prince of his planet Krelis, and his mother, the queen, is on the verge of issuing a hostile takeover of yet another planet. The only way to stop a war and stop the hemorrhaging of his warriors is to seek a political mate bond with the future leader of Estreldez, but the one that stirs his mating glands is an advisor outcast from her clan.
You can join the quote game by reading and adding your own quotes to the Facebook Group and you could win some swag! https://www.facebook.com/groups/541334578200113
My LATEST ARC READ- NEW RELEASE OUT TODAY!!
He might be the hottest guy in the galaxy, but I don’t need his help. Me and my alien cat are managing just fine.
MY REVIEW:
Drask is a mercenary crash landed on an abandoned outpost ran by outlaw gangs. He stumbles upon the oddity of a bookstore ran by an intriguing human named Megan and her feisty alien cat with wings. She's just trying to survive and earn enough credits to get passage out of there only to realize leaving wasn't at all what she wanted. She's made a home on this backwater dump and this new gang war threatened her business and her life. Can this hunky alien warrior save the station and the human who stole his heart?
This story is well written and a fun little escape, I finished in one day. There are two spicy scenes, and if you're looking for something fun and quick it's a great little stand-alone romance with a bit of book nerdery since we have a human who runs a bookshop on an outlaw station.
INDIE KINDLE UNLIMITED TUESDAY TEMPTATIONS
Mik
When I first opened my eyes and saw her, I thought she was my savior. Now that I’ve recovered, I think she’s something else: trouble. When my lab was destroyed, I thought I was done for, but Diana appeared like a miracle to save me. Now, I’m more committed than ever to finding the answers I seek. But rather than helping me, Diana is peppering me with questions and sometimes kisses. I should be running experiments and tracking results, not devising ways to tear her clothes off. Will it be easier to keep my distance if I make her my apprentice?
Diana
When I found Mik, he was on the brink of death. But now he’s getting stronger, and more magnetic, every day. I know he’s committed to his experiments, but I keep getting distracted by the fire I see in his eyes. What if he focused that intensity towards pleasure rather than work? Let’s be real. I wish he would throw me down on his lab table and make his own. I’ve agreed to be his apprentice, but I won’t rest until I’m his lover as well.
The legends were wrong. King Arthur and his knights were never the good guys...
Realm of Sin is a steamy retelling of Arthurian myths. This dark fantasy romance features multiple morally gray love interests, tons of touch-her-and-perish vibes, swordplay (of all kinds), and a heroine who refuses to be chained… unless she’s into it.
Author updates - What goes into creating a book?
Sometimes my anxiety gets the best of me, and during launches I tend to be pretty frazzled in the mind. I overthink things, and I stress out when technically there is nothing that I can do but distract myself with doing something else.
I have a lot of my hopes and dreams riding on turning my author career into a profitable business that pays for itself and isn't a financial worm hole that I end up paying other people to read my work. Essentially, that is what most indie authors are doing.
It costs a certain amount of investment to bring a book to life, and I don't just mean time and energy into writing and creating the book, but even after that, the editing, the book cover design, the maintenance of a website, cost of a newsletter platform, photo editing software for creating promo images, time and energy into marketing, money spent on having the book seen by new readers, joining email promos to host book giveaways, even the cost of the platforms used to network with other authors in the same genre, as well as services like Bookfunnel.
It all adds up. And an author's hope is that we get a return on the investment to bring a book to life for readers to enjoy. Hell, most indies would even be satisfied with breaking even if this isn't a job prospect for them.
That is why it's super important for readers, if they like an author's work, to support them. I read most of my books through Kindle Unlimited, even if I grab the book through BookSprout, I usually look to see if it's on KU and if it isn't an ARC, then I join the BookSprout team and I read the book through KU so that they get their pages read, and I leave a review. I even highlight any errors that pulled me out of the story and I email the author, or add a comment in BookSprout Message to the author so that they can make the adjustments and the next reader will have an even more enjoyable experience.
Then I spread the joy by letting you guys know what I've read and my thoughts. I even like to share what I'm reading with Facebook reader groups, and if I see a book pop up in my Insta feed, I'll comment to say that I read it and it was awesome to help boost the book.
On average, it costs a minimum of 1,000 to bring a book to life and usually more for the first book in a series.
This is why most indies opt for a series versus one offs.
The cost to produce the "next" book for an author is significantly less than producing that first debut book. Why? Because a lot goes into building up the platform and finding readers that are interested in what we have to offer.
For instance, one of my favorite alien romance authors Jennifer has all of her books set at 99 pennies per book, and she has said she is going to be increasing the prices this month because having everything at 99 pennies even with her THOUSANDS of reviews on her books is not sustainable for her to make enough to fund the next book.
Usually, indies accept that the first book is a net loss and try to make up for it with the rest of the books.
Amazon plays a big part in how much we set pricing for too, because anything under 2.99 only gets 35% royalty versus anything 2.99 and above gets 70% royalty.
Sooooo, that's why you see so many books at 2.99, 3.99, and 4.99.
With book one, usually being a loss for indies, and book two usually being the one we hope to help break even, it's book three where we actually might start making a profit to pay for our own time into writing the books.
That's what I mean when I say most indies are paying for readers to read their book. Not that they are literally giving money to people to read and review, but that they are investing their time, money, and heart into their stories, and according to statistics a majority of indies will never see their money back, nor will they break even, and more than likely most indies will stop putting out books when they see their sales flatline. It's hard to bring back a platform stagnant interest.
If you love what indies are giving you, and you want to support the next book, here are some easy ways to do that from free and beyond:
1) become a beta reader for them (help them polish their books and save money on editing costs)
2) be part of their ARC team (help support their launch by reading and reviewing their work, and perhaps catch a few typos they can fix before the official launch)
3) be part of their street team (What's the difference? - a street team doesn't necessarily have to read and review by a certain time, they are the shaking asses that spread the word. Share the book in all the places! Add the book to their Goodreads shelf so other people who follow them will see the book. Like, share and comment on the launch posts to help spread the good indie word.
4) click on links in their newsletters to discover other indies, you win because you get to check out fun books, but also if you love it, at no extra cost to you, you are possibly supporting both authors if they used an affiliate link as a small bit of pennies may go back to them from your purchase of the book they shared with you. Occasionally, I use affiliate links myself when I share books I've read, and on average I make around $20 a month that helps pay for the cost of maintaining my newsletter!
5) If you have KU - read the book through your KU to give the author pages read (Side note: re-reading in KU does not give the author more money, it only works for first read pages.) Even if I see a book for free, I'm already paying for the subscription of KU, so when I can, I read the book that way and make sure the author is getting their pages read earnings.
6) Read the book? Review/rate/Share this helps with boosting the book's visibility.
7) Become a verified purchaser so that your review won't be arbitrarily removed by some wonky zon bots.
8) If you cannot afford a book, MOST indies will gladly give you a copy if you ask, but please help them out by leaving a review and spreading the word about the book. If you love the book, consider purchasing it at a later date when you can afford it.
8) Support direct from the author (most indies have their own store front either on Etsy, or some other service like it (I use PayHip) where they can provide things like swag stickers and totes or t-shirts, etc. Check them out and grab some swag. Most of the time, they rely on the profits from these swags to fund future swags, so really you're helping to bring more fun stuff to the store because we reinvest.)
Those are my 8 tips for how to support indie authors! I hope you enjoyed this newsletter. And I'm excited to share more stats and author journey info in the future! Chat later!
Check out some reviews that have come for Her Alien Prince!
"I love a good alien romance and this was right up there. I loved how the characters came together and the way the store played out was great! I loved how the ending played out too. Alien romances are my favorite genre or romance as of recently and this is going to be added to my “favorites” list. Good work!" - 5-star review from Veronica
"Love this series. This story has all the feels. All the interactions between the main characters kept me turning the pages. I want more in this world." 5-star review from Gale
The ARC team of Her Alien Prince has spoken! And created a whooping amount of reviews to blast off launch week with and the book just launched!!
43/50 Reviews on the ZON
for Launch DAY!
Check out the reviews on the zon here: https://books.steviemarie.com/heralienprince
You can add Her Alien Prince to your Goodreads here:
Her Alien Prince (Treasures of Trillume, #2) by Sky Robert | Goodreads
Share Her Alien Prince and tag me on socials ^_^
Stevie McCoy (@authorsteviemarie) • Instagram photos and videos
(2) Sky Robert is writing spicy alien peen (@SkyRobertAuthor) / Twitter
I appreciate your help in shaking our asses as one large mass of alien excitement! It means a lot to indie authors like me simply to share the book around!
Thank you for being part of my launch team! And don't forget to drop on by the Launch party over on the Facebook group: Sky's Smut Between the Pages: Sky's Smut Between The Pages | Facebook Win some cool swag!
In other news: The stickers are available in the author store: https://payhip.com/BrokenBooksPublishing
If you would like to support the Trillume universe and get a smancy die-cut NSFW sticker of Trent and Mabel you can grab that below and support not only future books, but also future indie art commissions, and get an extra bonus sticker!
The full colored NSFW die-cut stickers, as well as signed paperbacks are available through the author store:
Broken Books Publishing - Payhip
There are two kinds of circle stickers the "Aliens do it best" and "I read my p0rn like a f*ing lady" though uncensored. If you have a preference on which one you get as your bonus sticker, just add a comment/note to your order.
All purchases for the NSFW die-cut sticker will help fund future art commissions of the Trillume Universe.
Every signed copy of Her Alien Prince will receive one circle sticker from the art, don't forget to add the die-cut if you want the alien peen stickered to your book journals! <3
If you choose to purchase the die-cut, you will get an extra bonus sticker, meaning you'll get both versions of the circle sticker, and a full-color die-cut. You can grab more than one, and I will include an extra set of stickers.
Grab two die-cuts get a third to give to someone else ^_^ plus the bonus circle stickers
There is a special circle sticker reserved for people who pick up a signed paperback. Appreciate you being part of my launch team and let's get this launch blasted off!
Chat soon!
~Sky (Author of stuff and things, mom of humans in training, including my husband.)
https://linktr.ee/skyrobertromances
PS: Did you enjoy this email?
Lots to celebrate for the book birthday, and as such, I've put my first series I ever wrote on sale! Noooo... it isn't smutty, but I enjoyed writing the Divine series based on a dream I had when I was in my teens, and I wrote a bit of it and then picked up and brought it to life later. It took me 8 years to complete writing this and this series is the reason why I continue to write today, and gave me the motivation and the encouragement needed to bring all the rest of my books to you today! What once took me years to write one book, now only takes me a few months to bring a book to life. I'm so grateful to everyone who's been part of my journey!
Check out the divine series on Kindle Unlimited or grab it for cheaps during this week's countdown deal! https://steviemarie.com/divine
I'm also celebrating with a giveaway from AuthorsXP! https://authorsxp.com/win-bestselling-ebooks
Free monster smut for May! https://books.bookfunnel.com/monstersmutmay/27n5iopfeh
PSS: Catch up with Book One Jewel of the Alien Bandit! Now with over 50 reviews on the zon with a 4.5 average rating on Kindle Unlimited!
Read on Kindle Unlimited: https://books.steviemarie.com/jotab
Listen to Jewel of the Alien Bandit on Audible:
Happy Reading!
Let's be buddies!
Her Alien Exchange! Free for joining this newsletter, if you missed your welcome email to grab yours: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/yj4qodplqv
Jewel of the Alien Bandit on KU & Audible: https://books.steviemarie.com/jotab
Pre-order Her Alien Prince: https://books.steviemarie.com/heralienprince
Pre-order Her Alien Savior direct: https://payhip.com/b/UO3uB
Join the Facebook Reader's Group Sky's Smut Between the Pages here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/541334578200113
Disclaimer: You are on this newsletter because you joined a book giveaway with AuthorsXP, BookThrone, Booksweeps, another author sponsored giveaway, read one of my books, grabbed that free book Her Alien Exchange, or found me somewhere on the internet and thought, "hey, that author sounds fun!" Either way, you clicked a marketing consent box, and this newsletter is GDPR compliant, does not sell your information, or does the doing of the spam. This newsletter is DOUBLE opt-in. This newsletter does occasionally use affiliate links to help cover the cost of producing this newsletter, at no extra cost to you. So, please be respectful of the people who love to hear from me, and do not click the spam compliant button. I am a hoooman, feel free to email me anytime. This newsletter is for you!
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