So, while the vast majority of the U.S. is having a big ol' winter storm right about now, my part of South Carolina has been sporting high temps in the 70s. (That's like 22+ for the rest of the world. 😉) My husband and I have been seeing daffodils appearing on various lawns during our morning walks through the neighborhood, along with a dandelion here and there.

Now, of course, we're waiting for the violets, so we can add them to our salads and have -floral thoughts- 😁

Maybe the Weirdness Hat needs to make a comeback . . . .

I'll definitely have to share any weird gardening attempts I make once spring actually arrives. If you've been hanging out on my newsletter since last April, you might remember that I tried to grow herbs & peppers in 2022. That went okay until my husband & I took our Great Western Road Trip in June-July. By the time we came home, some sort of pest had gnawed most of our plants. 😢

We don't have a big vacation planned for this summer, so maybe our plants will survive this year. If you've got any gardening tips to share, please do! I'm thinking about trying the cayenne pepper trick for pest control, since I'm not a big fan of chemicals for that sort of thing. We'll see what happens!

🪨 Gift of Stone's Sales Stats 🪨

As promised, it's time for me to share how we did with getting Zehra's twisted love story out into the wide reader world. 📚 Since I didn't run the pre-order at 99¢ like I did with Gift of Fire, I wasn't expecting a giant batch of sales, because I know most of us are pinching pennies—myself included.

You might recall that I ran Gift of Stone at $2.99 for the pre-order and during its first week on the retailers. Now it's at its standard price of $4.99, so I'm not-so-secretly expecting pretty much 0 sales for the duration now. Unless you're RICH. If you're rich, NOW is your moment.

(And don't forget, I don't hate you if you're rich. You are #goals for me! 💖)

So how'd we do with Gift of Stone? Glad you asked!

Gift of Stone's stats

Amazon - 34

Apple Books - 2

Google Play - 2

Kobo - 1

Nook - 2

Smashwords - 1

Direct Sales from PayPal - 8

Total royalties earned: $107 🎉

I am really and truly blown away, because I'm certain nearly all of those sales came from YOU. Sure, we sold only 50 copies of Gift of Stone, which doesn't look like much when we sold over 200 of Gift of Fire back when it was 99¢. BUT we made more royalties from Gift of Stone since the price point was higher!

Maybe, just maybe, I might be able to eventually earn a living through writing these weird, witchy stories after all!

I'd especially like to thank the 8 readers who bought Gift of Stone directly from my PayPal button. (Yes, that means I'm thanking myself and my husband, LOL, but 6 of you "unknown" readers bought from me, too!) Thanks to you, I ended up with a nice chunk of change in my PayPal account, and now it's on the way to my bank. No 2-month wait like with Amazon royalties!

In case you haven't gotten your copy of Gift of Stone yet, and you're wanting to delve into a darker romance about Teuton witches, feel free to pick up a copy for yourself today. If you happen to subscribe to Kobo Plus, you can read at your leisure there. Or you can ask your library to get a copy from OverDrive or Libby.

https://bf.clcarhart.com/keag4pmhtb

Floating Down The River

For the next couple weeks, I'll be doubling down on my "secret project," along with a really, really HUGE project that might be a Shopify store. 😱 The hope and plan is to get my store up & running at the beginning of March, to celebrate my 2-year publishing anniversary. So that means right now, I have no time to enjoy the beauties of nature, as much as I'd like to disappear on a hike.

That means it's time to get a laugh out of how silly my husband and I looked a couple years ago when we tubed down a North Carolina river with one of our friends. Have you ever gone tubing before? Send me a reply & tell me about it!

Fantasy & Sci-fi Freebies

This week's book fair has got 89 eBooks for you to scroll through & potentially add to your e-reader. Yes, you'll have to join a newsletter or two to get the books, but you know all us indie authors would love to have more reader friends joining us on our crazy journeys into the wide world of fantasy! Make sure to browse the book fair all the way to the bottom to pick out diamonds in the rough. You might find a semi-new freebie from C.L. Carhart along the way. 😉

✨ Fantasy Freebies ✨

Books You Might Like

Got a nice pair of fantasy books for you to take a look at this week. One is Kindle only, so huge apologies to my readers who don't read on Kindle (myself included). Both look deliciously intriguing, so make sure you show my fellow authors some love & see what they've got to offer!

Being a badass Guardian isn't easy, but I was born for it. Now, I've been selected for a top-secret mission.

Fae are real, and they want access our world. I'm sent to the Fae Realm to broker an alliance with the powerful creatures, accompanied by paranormal beings from our own world. But what starts as a peace mission turns into a deadly contest.

Will I be able to fight the pull I feel to a certain Fae royal and get out of these trials alive? Or am I doomed to be trapped in Fae forever?

✨ Kindle Only ✨

Once thrown overboard, a woman could be saved - resurrected - by Poseidon. Once long ago, women were believed to be bad luck if on ships. A belief that led to their demise at the hands of men.

Once thrown over, they drowned or, in some cases, saved by the God of the Sea. Granted a new life under the waves, these women could seek revenge and second chances. As times changed, any who found death under the waves could find themselves turned to life as a mermaid - or merman. That is where Songs of the Deep begins. With death, magic, and revenge.

Dive under the waves with 24 tales of mermaid magic.

✨ Mermaid Magic ✨

All right, I've got a "secret" chapter to finish, so I'd better let you get back to your "real life" activities. If you're tired of hearing me yap about my secret project & want to find out exactly what it is, feel free to join my group of Teutonic Friends on Buy Me A Coffee. ☕ My Teutonic Friends have access to the first 6 chapters of my secret project, which is shaping up to be a spicy, heart-wrenching tale.

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/clcarhart/membership

You can also read the first 3 chapters of Gift of Stone for free over on my Coffee page, along with the entirety of my newsletter freebie, Veiled Magic. Hoping to bulk up some of the offerings on my Coffee page as time goes by, so be sure to check it out & join up if you want early access to all of my writerly projects!

Have a wonderfully weird week, and stay safe.

Talk to you soon,

C.L. Carhart

Get Gift of Stone: https://bf.clcarhart.com/keag4pmhtb

Get Gift of Fire: https://bf.clcarhart.com/w721mjjj90

Read the prequel for free: https://bf.clcarhart.com/6w57qgfhc9

This week's book fair:

https://bf.clcarhart.com/free-sci-fi-romance-fantasy-romance-paranormal-romance/lphk6ftt85