Happy Boxing Day, a new promotion and other news

December 26, 2021 Lilycat Leave a comment

Hi, to all my lovely tribe…

It’s snowing off and on here in Reno, Nevada. We had about 2 inches in the city, but lots more on the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Now the wind is howling as the next storm moves in.

Happy day after Christmas, known as Boxing Day in the UK. But here in the USA, it’s more likely to be Happy Returns Day as people begin to take back the unwanted items they received at Christmas. You don’t have any of those, do you? Anyway, Boxing Day, if you didn’t know, originated with Queen Victoria. After the wealthy people celebrated on Christmas, they gave their servants presents or boxes of items on the day after along with the day off to be with their families. These people in turn gave gave boxes to their loved ones.

These days, it’s a time when some people still pack up unwanted items or new ones and, sometimes, food, to give to the poor on Boxing Day. While it’s a charitable custom, the actual practice may be fading out a little. Still, it’s a celebration day in the UK, Australia, and other parts of the Commonwealth.

The other thing I want to tell you about in this update is….

Science Fiction and Fantasy Promotion

My novel, Time Walker, is part of this one week promotion that began yesterday and will run through January 2nd, 2022. I’ve discounted it to 25% off the regular price. While the first book is available for most formats (Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Apple) through the link, the second book, Splintered Time, is only available on Kindle Unlimited and Amazon at this time.

So, are you looking for some new books to read during the Christmas lull? Check out this great group promotion with about 30 science fiction and fantasy novels to choose from. I’ve picked up three new eBooks myself.
https://books.bookfunnel.com/xmas_treat/fxfqjqgbce

If you know anyone else who might be interested in this promo, please share the link with them. The more the merrier!

Update on Outer Rim

I am still working on the first draft of the 2nd book of the O’Ceagan Saga series, which is named Outer Rim. I have about a chapter to write, so I’m hoping to get that done in the next week or so. I have some down time coming up after the Christmas stuff, so fingers are flexed and ready to go. I just need to engage my brain.

I think this cover for it ties in terrifically with the first novel. What do you think? Like it? Love it? Let me know in the comments.

Vella Project

I am still posting semi-weekly updates to my Vela novel, Cynara’s Destiny. Currently, I am at episode 19 and hope to get 20 up later today, which won’t show up until tomorrow probably. If you haven’t tried reading an episodic story, go out and give it a try. Amazon is giving you 200 free credits to use and the first three episodes of every story on Vella are free.

The stories are designed to be read on mobile devices, except Kindles. I think if you follow a story, it will notify you when a new episode is posted. But keep this link for mine handy so you can easily find it again.

https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/product/B093BJMBJ4

I hope you’ll take a look, read a few episodes and give each one a like. If you really like it, leave it a review. They all help my books to get noticed in the big mass of books on Amazon.

And that’s a Wrap…

Thanks for reading and I wish you a very happy ( and safe) New Year’s Eve and Day. I believe we’re all hoping for a better year in 2022 and more opportunities to get together.

Speaking of opportunities, I may be doing a book signing in Reno in February at Grass Roots Bookstore. More on that as the plans develop. So, until next month. Happy Holidays and happy reading.

Stay safe and warm.
Lily

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NaNoWriMo and a New Release

November 18, 2021 Lilycat Leave a comment

Hi, everyone! Happy Autumn.

I’ve slipped on getting regular updates out again. Somehow my life seems so busy I don’t get everything done I plan. But one thing I finally got done is the sequel book to Time Walker! That’s right, Splintered Time is now available on Amazon Kindle. This novel turned out to be a battle to get it edited, rewritten, edited and critiqued, and edited again. Time travel is complex, with so many things to think about when moving from one time to another, even in a fantasy setting,

Splintered Time picks up where Time Walker ended and takes Mali and Doyle in a different direction. When she tries to return Doyle to his own time, they end up decades in Doyle’s future. Here, Mali sees many changes to technology and history, leading her to suspect Rashid Varsi has a hand in it.

Meanwhile, Mali’s roomie, Anna Brixton, aka Brix, worries when Mali doesn’t return and starts to investigate. She discovers a conspiracy on the space station and makes plans to find Mali in the past.

Splintered Time is available now on Amazon at this link. You can read it for free right now on Kindle Unlimited. Or you can read it for free on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday – Nov. 19-21. If you haven’t read Time Walker, the book will be on sale at Amazon for $2.99 (regularly $3.99) for the same time on this special promotion.

NaNoWriMo

Yes, I’m doing it again. Although I admit most of the writing this month is for my other pen name, Riona Kelly. I am writing a paranormal, cozy mystery there. But I am also trying to finish up the first draft of Outer Rim, the sequel book to O’Ceagan’s Legacy. It is about 90% complete, and I just have to get the last two chapters done. Once that’s done, it will sit through December, then I plan to begin editing it in January. I am hoping for a spring release of this space-hopping novel.

Captain Grania and her sibling crew are back on the newly repaired Mo Chroidhe. They have taken a job to deliver special cargo to the edge of the galaxy. While Sheelin, the banshee, is not on this trip, the puca Dari is along and raising a bit of havoc. Look for another fun adventure with the O’Ceagan crew.

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving if you’re in the US, or just a plain happy November with holiday shopping and celebrations looming in the next few weeks.

Be sure to pick up your copy of Splintered Time this weekend! Nothing would make me happier than to see lots of downloads, except seeing reviews go up from happy readers!

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The latest Vella Episode and how’s it doing?

September 30, 2021 Lilycat Leave a comment

Episode 13 of Cynara’s Destiny just went up on Vella last night. In this episode, Maltron faces some severe worries following his failure to take the princess captive. Now he has a big decision to make.

Having trouble finding the series? Me, too. In fact, it’s one of the things Amazon isn’t doing well and I talk about it in the next section. But for now, here’s the link to the story and I’m going to put it in the right column so you can find it easily from my Loft.

To those who have read a couple of episodes, thank you so much and I hope you’ll read more. Be sure to give me a “thumb’s up” and that all-important review would be so welcome.

The State of Amazon Vella

I hopped on board at the start of Amazon’s new reader platform, Vella. It’s episodic reading. Think of it as a television series, only in book form. But it has its problems.

In some ways, it’s ironic it’s called Kindle Vella since it isn’t, at this time, available to Kindle’s readers. This may be one of the several issues in the newest reading platform from Amazon KDP.

The episodic stories published on Vella are available on readers and phones that support iOS or a computer going directly to the link. For phones and tablets that support iOS, you can download the Kindle iOS app.

Since the program is still in the beta stage, it lacks other features, which could make it better for the authors and readers. Finding stories can be difficult if you’re looking for a specific book or author since it doesn’t have a search option within the Vella section. If you know the name of the story and the author, you might be able to find it on the Amazon search in Kindle. I’ve had mixed results with this.

If you locate a story you want to follow, you can click the follow button. But, it seems to be hit or miss if you’ll get a notice when a new episode is uploaded. Some readers report getting notified on their phones or tablets, but not always. If you are using a computer to read, you don’t get anything.

Right now, Vella is only available in the United States. British and Canadian authors are anxious to give it a try, but I think when the beta period ends, they will have better results than the U.S. Guinea pigs.

Amazon hasn’t advertised or promoted Vella much, seeming to rely on the author users to do most of the promotion but not providing an advertising platform for it. Most try to attract readers through mailing lists, blogs, and social media. Many authors are struggling to reach readers. Some genres perform well, while others show only a few.

Established authors with extensive mailing lists have an advantage here, just as they do on Kindle. But they are experiencing some frustrations also as some of their readers are annoyed they can’t read the episodes on Kindle. One writer reported an unhappy fan wrote a poor review because she had to read it on her computer.

While Amazon is giving 200 tokens to new readers and the first three episodes are free, the reader needs to buy additional tokens to continue reading episodes. The number per episode is determined by the number of words, one token per one hundred words.

Some of the reluctance for Amazon readers to embrace the new format stems from either a preference to read the entire book at one time or concern the subsequent chapters won’t be posted. The second option is a valid one since already I’ve seen authors pulling their stories from Vella with plans to publish them as a book. Other authors simply get discouraged and quit posting or are posting so slowly their readers lose interest.

While my story is written, I am doing final edits and some rewriting before I post. So they are coming out every other week rather than weekly as I’d initially planned. I intend to stick with it as long as the platform continues, but I believe Amazon needs to take some steps to make it work better for the authors and readers.

Two of my fellow writers are publishing on Kindle, Kitty Turner and Russell Jones. So, Id like to give them a shout out here. We all could sure use your help to get more traction on the system, so if you would go to Vella and read, then give a thumbs up, it would be appreciated. A review would be awesome!

Here are the stories and links:

Kitty Turner
Financial Freedom Through Writing – If you’re a writer, this is a great book to teach you some marketing basics. I’ve only read a few chapters, but I’ve learned things I didn’t know. I plan to read more as soon as I have the time.
https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/product/B092XTJJYW

Lillian I. Wolfe
Cynara’s Destiny – A young sorceress must step up to her position as ruler of a star system before she is ready. With the governors doubting her abilities, she must try to convince them they are being threatened by an alien race who want their worlds. If she can’t control her gifts, she will lose everything.
https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/product/B093BJMBJ4

Russell D. Jones
Call of the Void – A fast-moving science fiction story, this one will keep you turning the pages. Dr. Beth Adler is a medical researcher aboard a colonization ship. When something goes awry on the planet and an injured man is brought on board, the doctors discover a bigger problem that threatens the whole ship. Ultimately, Beth is the only one who can solve the problem.
https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/story/B09BW2ZCPX

To find the Vella stories from your computer or tablet, go to this link:

https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/GR2L4AHPMQ44HNQ7

Are you a suspense romance fan?

If you like it or even just enjoy suspense novels and thrillers, my alter ego (aka other pen name) is part of a giveaway on Book Funnel. With over thirty books in the promo, you’re sure to find something to read, so check it out. And check out Riona Kelly’s book, Bitter Vintage. It’s a classic suspense romance set in the 1960’s in the Northern California vineyards.

Go to the link.

Until next time when I hope to have a good update on my time travel novel (still in editing), thank you so much for reading. I appreciate it so much.

Lily

blog, Book Promotion, My musings

Virtual Con Going and a Reminder

August 22, 2021 Lilycat Leave a comment

Here we are – almost to the end of August. And I still don’t have the editing to Splintered Time done! One thing after another has gobbled up my time. So, it’s delayed a little longer, but I do want it to be the best I can make it before I release. New target is mid-September. Fingers crossed (but it’s hard to type that way, so just imagine they are!) If you haven’t checked out the first book of the series, Time Walker, you can find it here.

Convention Going in the Covid Era

One thing I did this weekend was to attend the Highlander Convention hosted by Highlander World Wide. Anyone who knows me can tell you I’m a huge Highlander the Series fan. Yes, I did like the movie, but I really fell for the TV series. I loved the actors, plots, and the flashbacks, yet the heart of the episodes were often the moral dilemmas Duncan MacLeod faced from week to week. The stories made you think and in the HL fandom, that meant a lot of online discussions.

I was fascinated by the Methos character, a 5,000 year old Immortal who looked like a young, hip college student as played by Peter Wingfield. So, I started going to conventions and I eventually became president of Peter’s fan club (under another name). This led to a twenty-plus year friendship with lots of the members as well as Peter. Sadly, Peter wasn’t at the convention this weekend. He’s now a doctor in Los Angeles, so he couldn’t get away from work to make the event. But just about everyone else from the cast and key crew made it. What fun to talk about those episodes again and learn the backstories and other tales of filming.

This was hosted on an interesting platform called Floor, which Adrian Paul uses for his Sword Experience. When you enter, it’s set up with a lobby, then places to click for the stage, lobby, lounge, and vendors. After using Zoom for meetings for the past year, this set up really impressed me. If I were to have a big meeting, I’d definitely consider using the Floor platform.

Reminder about the August Vella Promotion

In case you haven’t had a chance to check out Vella yet, there’s still time to get over and look at the great episodic sci-fi and fantasy stories my fellow authors and I have running there. You can read the first three episodes of any or all of them for free, then Amazon gives you 200 token if this is your first visit to use to unlock additional episodes.

Please check it out by clicking this link. (Feel free to share with anyone you think might be interested.)

I just released episode 10 of my story, Cynara’s Destiny and plan to release episode 11 this coming Friday. So check it out.

This is an adventure story set in another solar system as a young sorceress struggles to control her powers when an outside force threatens her worlds.

That’s it for this month. Enjoy the rest of summer. Look for the release of Splintered Time soon!

Stay safe, stay well. All the best – Lily

Book Promotion

Amazing Vella Promotion

August 3, 2021 Lilycat Leave a comment

As I mentioned last post, Vella has arrived at Amazon. Sadly, the big A doesn’t seem to be promoting this new format much, so several of the Vella authors, including yours truly, have banded together to do a promotion through Book Funnel. That’s right, 17 Vella stories are included to entice you to read a few chapters. Simply click on the image below to go to the page to check out the great assortment of stories.

Among the offerings is my novel, Cynara’s Destiny. So far, nine episodes are available to read. I’ve been trying to get the eps up every other week, but I hope to pick that up to each week at the end of August when I plan to have Book 2 of my Time Threads series ready to publish. In case you’re wondering, Destiny is completely written and I am doing the final edits just before posting each episode, so it will be a completed book. I know some people don’t like to read a serialized story until all the episodes are up.

But here’s the good part. The first three episodes are free to read. Check out any of these stories you’re interested in, then decide if you want to keep reading. Amazon is giving you 200 free tokens just to give it a try. This format is for tablets and phones, but if you have Google Chrome, you can also read it on your computers. So, what are you waiting for? See what’s being offered on Vella now.

Lillian's Loft