OK, That Earlier Email Escaped Me Somehow. Darn Cyber Gremlins. 🤖

Nov 30, 2022 3:01 pm

Crap! Honestly, I have 0 clue how that newsletter draft got away from me when I scheduled it to go out at 11:00am EST. 😬 Apparently SendFox (my newsletter client) is having some crazy glitch that's going to make me look like an idiot.

Great way to start my Wednesday, right? 🙄

[SendFox hates me. And 15% of you opened it already. 🤦‍♀️]

Totally NOT scheduling this newsletter until I finish writing the whole thing. The tech gods & goddesses aren't smiling at me today . . . .

(This time let's hope I can actually add all the graphics, too!!!)

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So how many sales-y newsletters did YOU get during Black Friday weekend? I didn't keep a count of the ones that dropped into my AIM email (yep, you read that correctly, my spam/newsletter email is AIM. Just aged myself. 😜), but pretty sure I wouldn't be able to find anything important in that inbox if I hadn't checked it every single day. And tossed a bunch of stuff in the trash.

Sorry, not sorry. I'm a consumer just like you, and I delete the majority of sales newsletters I get, just like you. 😉

That being said, I might have broken the bank collecting premade cover arts for forthcoming novellas. And restocking my collection of scented candles. Oops.

Here's a screenshot of some newsletter titles I saw on Cyber Monday. LOL!

Author Biz Updates

Over the last few weeks, I've hinted toward some odd business items in the works for 2023 in C.L. Carhart's authorly world. To be incredibly honest, my author life thus far has been an abysmal money sink. I'm going to share some rounded numbers on that note, then give some insight on what comes next.

Bad news first.

In case you weren't following my author journey in 2021, I published my debut novel, Arcane Gateway, in March 2021—almost two full years ago now. Then I proceeded to publish the other five books in His Name Was Augustin series every three months after that. The problem?

I made A LOT of writing/plot mistakes with Arcane Gateway, most of which turned readers off so much they didn't want to read the rest of the series. 😔

The result?

Since 2021, I've spent $9,000 on publishing & advertising my books.

Since 2021, I've earned $2,040 from the books I've published.

Yep.

You read that correctly.

C.L. Carhart's author "career" is currently almost $7,000 in the hole.

Obviously, I shot myself in the foot with my first book series, since I wrote it without thinking much about what readers actually WANT to read. And obviously, things are going to have to change in 2023 if I don't want to have to chain myself back to the "corporate grind."

(Yeah, I did start out doing an energy-sucking corporate job, for a good 10 years of my life. How many books did I write in that time period? None. 😣)

OK, enough bad news. It's time for the good news! 💖

I have no plans on pulling my eBooks into KU from all of the retailers. I know that many indie authors do that in hopes of cashing in on the reader pool in Kindle Unlimited. But since KU requires that an author NOT publish their eBook anywhere else—not even to libraries—I'm not going to put my eBooks in KU. It goes against my conscience to exclude giant swaths of the reading public, especially people whose sole access to books comes from their local library.

While I need to make money with this career, I'm still invested in supporting readers on limited incomes! After all, I'm one of you right now. 🙂

Therefore, even though I'm planning on offering things like full-priced, limited edition eBooks with bonus content and a subscription service for early readers, I'm still thoroughly committed to getting my eBooks into libraries, to maintaining an ARC team of volunteer readers, and to running sales on my eBooks every now & then. I also have no plans to take my eBooks down from the retailers, even though I'll be pushing my web shop to the forefront.

Why a web shop? 🤔

Well, if you haven't unsubscribed yet thanks to my earlier OOPS email (or because my business musings bored you to tears), keep reading. My first ever pre-actual-web-shop offering awaits you down below. 🤩

💕 Romance eBooks To Browse 💕

Today's BookFunnel promo includes 42 eBooks in a wide variety of romance genres. To be honest, there are a LOT of "man chests" to gawk at in this promo. 🤩 And to be even more honest, Gift of Fire's cover doesn't really fit in with its peers, since most of the books seem to be contemporary, billionaire, or holiday romance. Oh well, that's the price I pay for trying to tell everyone out there about my next book in the Teutonic Fantasy Realm!

Have you already read any of the books in this promo? Which one would you recommend? Let me know in a reply to this email!

✨ Romance Galore! ✨

😍 Get Gift of Fire BEFORE The Public! 😍

First off, be assured that my plan is to start up a Shopify web store for my eBooks (and eventually paperbacks & merch). That's on the docket for next month & early 2023. But today, I'm dipping my toes into the waters of direct sales by offering EARLY ACCESS to Gift of Fire, if you buy it directly from me!

Remember, Gift of Fire will be out on all retailers on December 10th. But if you want to read Gabi & Lukas' love story NOW, before the public has access to it, you can buy the eBook from my PayPal button linked below the snippet!

Last night, I set up my BookFunnel account to deliver eBook sales through PayPal. Yes, I realize you might not like PayPal. I don't either; they take a rather large cut of sales, for something priced at 99¢. Unfortunately, PayPal's the only option FOR NOW, although you can check out with a credit card or debit card if you want. Once I get my Shopify store set up, PayPal will be one option, but it won't reign as king over every single transaction. 🙂

One quick snippet from the masquerade ball Gabi—and her best friend, Bianca—attended toward the end of Gift of Fire. Out on the castle grounds, they ran into an elderly couple many of you met in the series prequel! 💖

We passed through the first garden of low holly hedges and into a second, occasional lanterns rising from the earth to offer light on moonless nights. The argentine glimmer of starlight combined with the first quarter moon doused the landscape in a mystic glow appropriate for a magical romp. Bianca turned the flash off on her camera and took several photos of the grounds, praising the scenery. We encountered three couples dancing and others making out upon benches, elements weaving the night air with refreshing wonder. My frustrations ebbed as my spirit basked in the collective joy of love and light.

We followed a paved pathway with bamboo reaching for the heavens on one side and blooming forsythias on the other. Bianca gave a sudden shriek, stuffing her camera back into her purse and bounding ahead to where a slim woman with a silver-white braid pushed a wheelchair occupied by a black hooded figure. “Lady Ilsa! You came!”

The older woman caught Bianca in a hug, her sky blue dress a crisp breeze on an Alpine hike. I summoned my fire back into my vision, seeing how beautifully their elements greeted each other—whirlwind and air. “Of course I came. I said I would, didn’t I?” The woman pulled back and smiled at Bianca, her light blue mask matching her dress. “I even brought my master along for the ride.”

“As if I had a choice.” The priest in the wheelchair sounded amused as he offered a withered hand to my friend. “So good to see you again, Bianca.”

I halted a few steps back to watch their reunion, observing Lady Ilsa’s relationship with her priestly husband. She wagged her tongue at him in a playful manner while Bianca clasped his hand, and the elder made a chiding noise. “Don’t tempt me, airy witch. I want to finish admiring the flowers before we give these young people a show.”

“These young people can make their own shows, if they have the courage to do it. They don’t need us for that.” Lady Ilsa lifted her gaze to mine and beckoned me forward. “Come join us, my dear girl. You must be Bianca’s friend, Gabi. I sense the vital heat of your fire. I’m Lady Ilsa Vorbach, and this is my husband, Horst.”

I stepped forward to take her hand, stifling my element back into my spirit in the process. “It’s an honor to meet you, Lady Ilsa. Bianca has told me all about your . . . witchy ways.” I could not think of a proper term for her services.

The older woman burst out laughing, and so did her priestly husband. “See, these Teutons in the cities are always so strict and formal. It’s sweet.” Horst shot me a grin, revealing several gaps in his teeth. He wore no mask, his face appearing much older than his wife’s. But his irises gleamed with fire’s natural flames.

“Sweet? More like ridiculous. It’s no wonder they get all tangled up in rules and prejudices.” Lady Ilsa put her hands on her hips and looked skyward. “We’d better get a move on if we want to park by the Pegnitz for our dance. Our colleagues here might think they need a fire extinguisher once we get going.”

*** * ***

Want to read the WHOLE story before the public gets access? Now's your chance! Remember, the eBook is only 99¢ for a limited time! 🤩

✨ Get It EARLY! ✨

By the way, if you haven't filled out my survey asking for feedback on my up-and-coming subscription program, please toss me your ideas at the link below! On Friday, I'm going to start running a giveaway to celebrate Gift of Fire—and there will be signed paperbacks up for grabs. I just might decide to offer extra giveaway entries to anyone who completes the survey. 🤔

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1vDYx4L_Wie7SBuaXMDD1BVEtRp57yQy8G_45jdJTynE/edit

Now I've got to go get everything squared away for the final push toward December 10th, when Gift of Fire comes out on all retailers. Don't forget, you can get YOUR eBook BEFORE everyone else if you snag it from me personally! You can find the link to do that at the very bottom of this newsletter.

I'll admit I'm slightly terrified to schedule my next newsletter for Friday, after that glitchy fiasco from a couple hours ago! 😅 But I'll push that fear off to another of my side characters, who will share more promos with you later this week.

Talk to you soon,

C.L. Carhart

Pre-order Gift of Fire for 99¢: https://books2read.com/ebgiftoffire

Winter Wonders free anthology: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/8vf3yn51uc

This week's book fair: https://bf.clcarhart.com/romance-salepromo-mid-november/w1pvgr04tg

Get Gift of Fire EARLY here: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=MAH9CS4M7854U

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