C.J.R. Isely's Blog, page 4

What's Next - Short Stories And The Works

Last month, The Fallen Heir hit Amazon as the third book in the William of Alamore series. This is the longest of the series and was, ironically, the fastest to go from start to publication.

But, though I might pat myself on the back for a work that only takes months rather than years, my readers are whipping through these books in hours (and I love you all for that. Thank you!)

So - what is next?

Well, if you are waiting to see my pen name on book four, that will take some time (hopefully not too long as it is starting). If, however, you're interested in finding others of my works before then, I am excited to announcing that on May 23rd, 2022, a short story anthology will be released and will feature yours truly.

What is this anthology?

It's a collection of stories by myself and 12 other authors - fantasy, horror, retellings, and dystopian. As I normally like to do, I decided to take my own little twist on history with my story - Curse of the Beast.

This is my retelling of Beauty and the Beast, but with the old legend of The Beast of Gévaudan thrown into the lot. It doesn't tie at all into the Alamore books, but it ties in some fantasy elements and is my first attempt at a book coming in under 100,000 words (yay!)

This anthology will be listed for FREE on Amazon, Scribd, Kobo, and other platforms so you can pursue it at your own leisure. There you will be able to find other authors you may never have read before and learn more about their full length works.

I seriously can't express how excited I am for this anthology! These authors have been amazing to work with and really knock it out of the park with their fantastic stories.

But is there more?

Am I working on anything else?

Again - yes. I am working on book four, naturally, but also have a good start to the first book in a dark fantasy academy series. I don't want to spoil anything yet and will be doing a title release when draft one is done (about 1/4 of the way there.) But I can't wait to release this one to such fantastic readers as yourself.

And book four...

While I have a working title, I am witholding that for two reasons

I want to finish draft one I don't like my own working title that much

But it is started and coming together very nicely (thought the start of a book is always the hardest thing for me for some reason.) You will see some familiar characters from Book Three so make sure you've read The Fallen Heir (maybe a couple times because I need some time!)

That's it from me for an update for this week. Over the next few days (9 actually) I will be running all over the place as, in my day to day life, I am preparing for my own wedding :)

So, until next time!

CJ

Pirates of the Seven Servers: The Brutal Truth of Pirating Books and How it Hurts Authors

If you publish a book, it will likely happen at some point.

You'll go google your book, see if you can find all the places with all the ratings and see who has loved your book, shared your work, raved about you in a facebook group or on reddit.

And you find it.

It hits you straight in the stomach. It twists in your chest. It hurts to see that you have found the pirated edition of your labor of love.

It breaks your heart.

That's how it felt for me to stumble upon my book on a pirating site, to find message boards where people were asking where to find Ranger of Kings for free. It was a blow to the heart and a knife in the back.

After I discovered this, I wanted to sit in a room and question humanity in the dark, to write only printed words so the buggers would have a harder time stealing it. I wanted to question if I had done something wrong in asking for $2.99 for an eBook that took me 12 years to release. I wanted to doubt if my work was worth it. I wanted to dwell in misery and feel sad.

I don't do well feeling sad, however. So, I told myself it was a waste of time and that there were other things I could do. What I could do was share my experience, learn about others, and bring awareness to the fact it does hurt an author when their work is stolen.

I went to TikTok with my experience and here are three things I learned from and with my fellow authors and reads.

First: It happens too much. So many authors shared heartbreaking stories of their experience. We're talking authors who are trying to scrape through their living, trying to recover the expenses they put into their book in the shape of editing, cover, and formatting, not to mention marketing. People who want free things tend not to think about the cost of them. Instead, they seem to think it's theirs for the taking.

Second: On the bright side, a lot of your pirate sites don't discriminate. This means that if you they providing work they stole from you, they are often trying to steal information from the people who try benefiting from stolen work (It's a small bit of karma and still money in the wrong pocket, but hey, I'll consider it a form of slight justice.

Three: "You should be honored." This one was the one that took me aback the most. People literally said I should feel honored that people wanted to read my books so much that they were stealing them. Excuse me? Did I understand that correctly? So if I remodel my home and someone takes my cabinet doors, should I thank them for liking my taste in work? I don't believe I will, thanks...

But there are a lot of readers who really have deluded themselves into believing that they are owed this from you. "It's publicity, it helps you sell more books."

Wrong. If you are talking about my book, you're probably telling people how and where to get it for free, meaning that I am losing more and more each time you open your mouth.

"It is so humbling that that many people wanted to read your book. Why are you upset?"

Why am I upset? Because it's not free. It didn't just pop into existence. It's a book that took hours, years, tears, sweat, doubts, trials, and more money that I admit to anyone but the government at tax time. It took a lot of bloody work - at my desk and at an 8-5 to afford this dream.

"Not everyone can afford books, you should be more understanding."

Oh, lovely, yes, that's the ticket. If you can't buy it, steal it, I forgot that was the motto of an honest soul. Absolutely not. Authors don't make a killing. We don't even make profit often. We write and work and strive to make our dreams a reality like anyone else. We understand that some months can be tight and, the worst part is, I'd give someone a book. I have done it several times. If they want to read my book and told me they are saving to get it on their budget next month, I'll send them a kindle copy without hesitation. All I ask is that they let me know if they enjoyed it. No money is needed for that. If they liked it, I set them up with the sequel often (or as often as I can afford it because I have to pay for my kindle copies just like the next person.) Blazes, I even offer a book for free 24/7 on my site. So, no, I don't have to be more understanding of theft, thank you.

"It really helps you because more eyes are more reviews."

No. They aren't reviewing the book, I know this. I know this because I put just as much if not more work into rounding up reviews as I do any other piece of my marketing. Even some of the worst reviews I have ever received were people I provided the book to for free in exchange for honest feedback. And when I say for free I mean what I said before: I foot the bill because I have to buy a kindle copy.

Why am I buying copies? Because I can't share PDF, Mobi, or ePub editions...

Because I've been trying to avoid this.

I don't share those so I can avoid the pirates of the seven servers...

In one of his books, Dick Francis has a quote regarding illegal drugs and how it is the users who ought to be locked up, not the supplier. Suppliers exist because of demand. So, don't be the demand. Stop reading pirated books if you do read them now. It hurts authors financially and emotionally more than you realize until you've had your hard work stolen time and time again.

Even the smallest amount of money adds up. If 100 people pirate my $2.99 ebook, I've lost more than I make in a month from writing. Let that sink in. That's a lot of money for me and about what I spend each month on marketing.

So, after my experience, what would I change as an author?

Well, unfortunately not much. There aren't a lot of routes to go that keep you safe. I still won't provide Mobi and pdf versions most times of my book unless it's to someone I trust. I keep my Beta Reader list pretty exclusive with readers I trust and correspond with, and even then, I remove access after launch and sometimes I'll change names in the book just so I can track it better.

What I can do is remind people that they're hurting authors by pirating. If they want to read the book for free, go to a library, please. Libraries buy their copies so at least we get paid there, and no author will ever begrudge a library, I can promise that. We have all used a library to get our fix before.

And authors? We can support one another. We can remind people that even $7.99 isn't over priced for an ebook. You spend that on a coffee without batting an eye and that coffee isn't going to provide hours of entertainment (usually) nor can you pick it up in a year and enjoy it again (don't drink old coffee, please. You may get sick.)

I know this has been somewhat of a tangent - I feel pretty strongly about this - but I do hope this helps readers realize why you shouldn't read free versions of a book. They are stolen. You are breaking an author's heart and hurting them more than the cost of an ebook will hurt you.

Where's your reading mood?

There's just something about curling up with a book on a laidback day that can't be beat. But finding the right spot to read can also make all the difference in the material you are reading.

When you pick up a book, where's your go to place?

If you could control the weather, what would it be?

Do you listen to music or enjoy the silence?

Sometimes I feel it depends on the book just as much as my mood. I am sure it is for each of us and I can only speak for myself; but what is your ideal reading place?

One thing is for certain - I love windows.

When I read by a window, it's a lot easier to imagine the world beyond the glass being part of the world inside the pages.

Something that makes this easier is that I live fairly remotely. Outside the windows in my house are hills, fields, and pastures of cattle and horses. Without much noise and chaos outside, there is little to distract me from my reading.

Weather.

Oh man, if I could control the weather when I read, it'd be raining.

The sound of rain against a tin roof, the gentle rumble of distant thunder, the flecks of water collecting against the window, and the warmth of the house around me. Curled into a chair, knees in my chest, it wouldn't be perfect without the rain.

What's your drink?

For the morning, I always have to have my coffee, but the ideal when reading?

Tea. I love tea with a bit of cream and a tad of sugar, in the rain, in my reading nook... it's perfect

But when you read, what do you pick up: kindle or physical?

Physical books for me. The smell, the feel, the satisfaction of watching one side of the book shrink as the story grows in your mind, taking life, taking flight. You can't beat the sense of being surrounded by stories and shelves.

So, now that I've rambled - what's your ideal reading set up? If you could read anywhere in the world, where would that be?

Is now the time to re-cover?

It's been a debate since even before the launch of my third book in the William of Alamore series. When designing the cover for The Fallen Heir, I found myself stepping back to look over the covers of Ranger of Kings and The Cutthroat Prince and, not for the first time, I felt doubt.

Were they good enough? Did they display what you could expect in the pages of the book?

The short answer is no.

I'm seeing that they aren't eye-catching, they don't promise the plot twists, the action, the adventure, of the Alamore world. These covers don't stand out and say "read me" and, let's be honest, don't we all judge a book by the cover?

So, now I am asking myself; is this the time to re-cover, rebrand, and relaunch these books?

The pros to doing this now is that I can design these three covers and get more readers if I do.

The con is that the readers who have my book now may not ever get a matching cover set of all six books planned for the William of Alamore series.

It's truly a toss up but I think the time has come to accept that sometimes the first cover you pick for a book isn't in your best interest. It's something all authors probably have to face at some point in time.

And this is that point.

Well then, you might ask, what comes as the next step for redoing the covers? How are you picking a design that won't, like these, merely blend together?

Great question. Here's how I've started the work of searching for new cover ideas...

Homework: it doesn't end when you graduate. Actually, it only truly begins the day you step into the real world, especially as an author. When I look at my book, I try to picture who reads my book. So far, I would like to think it's people who enjoy friendship, heroes, adventure, and plot twists in the YA sector. In short, when I picture my reader I have two series that really come to mind: Harry Potter and Percy Jackson. Both those books (well the original American covers) displayed some of what you might see in the pages without necessarily being limited to an exact scene in the book. Both promise action, adventure, and a world you wanted to plunge into. Both show the protagonist. But, where Harry Potter's face is on the cover, I actually prefer to leave that to my reader's imagination. This falls more under the style of Percy Jackson. Rough sketch: It's ugly but it'll do. This step was me throwing together elements I could use on the cover and discarding the chaos causing ones to create something that better captures the story of William of Alamore. Find your designer...because it isn't me. I will accept that art isn't my strongsuit, and still less is cover design and computer skills. With sketch in hand, I've started to get a list together of illustrators so I can hunt pricing down. Redoing your book covers isn't cheap, but after helping my dad redo his book cover for a western he wrote, I have seen how much it can be worth the investment (we are talking he's reaching about 2x the readers now.) Buy and launch: Pay your illustrator. Launch your cover. Seems simple, right? Well, don't forget to market it. Don't forget to shout your new cover from the rooftops. I haven't reached this step yet but I am already working on my strategy of how to tell my readers that Ranger of Kings has a new Cover, how to convince new readers to pick up the story and plunge into the world of Alamore.

Now, I know this is something of a ramble and I appreciate all the feedback I have received regarding covers. As readers, I love your thoughts and feedback and, if you have ideas of what you would want to see on a book cover, or if you have a favorite book cover you would like to share, please do so! I would love to see them all.

Launch Into New Adventure...

And just like that, the wait was over, the book released, the pages awaiting the fingers of eager readers and the words longing to shape into pictures and adventures within the imaginations of many...

What an adventure these books have been. I can not thank you, dear readers, enough. You have stood side-by-side with these characters, you have watched the story unfold, been right there to see the plots twist and turn.

You stood at that doorstep with Will on the first page of the first chapter.

You stood with him that day that day that the peace with Thornten began.

And now I invite you to explore new places with old characters in The Fallen Heir - Book Three - which has been released today.

Oh, and for this journey, you may very well need a brand new map...

Plunge into New Lands with The Fallen Heir - Book Three (SNEAK PEEK)

What a whirlwind these past few months have been. It astonishes me how time can fly when you are in the midst of grand adventures and life.

However, what I enjoyed most was how quickly Book Three came to life and how well this story answers gaping questions left by Ranger of Kings and The Cutthroat Prince.

So, what can you expect come April 12th, 2022, when The Fallen Heir will officially be released? Well, I'd hate to give away too much so I shall only hint at what waits to be unravelled...

Betrayal. Assassins. Seaward Adventure. Secrets Revealed. Friends Lost...

Too vague? Perhaps. So maybe the best thing I can do is tell you that I left easter eggs in books one and two. You will want to ensure you've read up on those two as you're going to run into characters you haven't seen since the first pages of book one (and who you never truly got to meet.)

The best way for me to not spoil is perhaps to share just a snippet of the first few pages of the third book in the William of Alamore series here...

Prologue

Blood, hot and scarlet, congealed with the sweat and rain running into his dark eyes. The boy wheeled his grey pony round, back toward the edge of the battle. Clutching his short-bladed sword in white knuckles, he struggled to see above the masses that ebbed and crashed. It was as if he were drowning in the sea of fighting, deafened in the screams of dying, the clash of weapons, and the distant thunder above them.

Hang back. Now he wished he had obeyed. But at the time, listening to the knight’s whispered order hadn’t seemed as important. Hang back. Why hadn’t he listened? Why, for once, couldn’t he have obeyed the orders of that knight? This was more than he was ready for, more fighting than he’d trained for. The knight had known that. He wouldn’t have told him to hang back otherwise. He usually couldn’t be bothered with a greeting, so why hadn’t he taken the knight’s warning seriously?

The pony grunted and spun almost out from beneath him, causing the boy to jerk forward and grapple for the front of his saddle. A massive horse was crashing past them, into the chaos. The boy stared at the rider of the black horse, trying to see if he recognized the man even while the shiver that ran through him promised that he did. The man faltered, staring at him. The color washed from his face; his black eyes flashed. For a moment, the boy thought the rider was about to charge at him. But, before either could move, they were separated by a riderless chestnut horse. By the time the chestnut horse had passed, the man was gone.

Fighting the uncontrollable shudder that jarred through him, the boy turned away, squeezing his legs to the pony’s sides. “Come on, Shelach,” the boy shouted, hoping his voice carried to the pony. “Up we get, come on!”

The pony obeyed, trotting on short legs between riders and the fallen, sides heaving with exhaustion and fear. They were nearing the edge of the fray now, getting back to the stands of trees where they could slip into shadows, into safety.

A clap of thunder, a fork of white lightning, and the world was suddenly rushing, spinning around him. Earth crashed up to meet his body as the boy fell, mud spraying up around him, the air pulled from his lungs by the impact. His fingers let loose of his sword, reaching to take some of the force of his fall moments too late. He rolled onto the ground and a second crash near him made the earth shiver. Dread coursing through him, the boy turned his face. His breath caught in his throat, heart seeming to still in his chest. The pony stared back at him, unseeing. Dead.

“Shelach!” The boy rolled onto his stomach, pain shooting through his side, but that pain meant nothing. It dulled to the panic rising to suffocate him. He tried to crawl forward, to the felled animal. “Shelach!” He stretched a hand forward to reach for the pony’s bridle, but iron fingers closed over his shoulder and pulled him away.

“I don’t think this is a very safe place for boys to be playing at Ranger,” a voice hissed behind him.

Instinct and training made the boy spin, hand flying for the dagger on his side. He struck out with the blade. The man was just as fast, grabbing his arm and yanking it up. He pulled the boy to his feet, squeezing his wrist until it felt like the bone might splinter.

The pain in his side screamed as he was spun around and pushed backwards, staggering and falling over his dead pony. The world tipped. He felt he might be sick. Struggling to keep himself from falling into the shadows clouding the edges of his vision, the boy stared up, gasping in pain and rage. Standing above him was the black-haired man, a leering snarl of triumph illuminating his features. The man who he’d seen charge into the fight. The boy tried to push himself up, ready to fight, to kill.

The man shook his head, laughing coldly, and pushed the boy back with a boot as easily as if he were a small animal who had tried to bite. “Oh, I don’t think you’ll be going anywhere this time.”

With the speed of a serpent, he drew the dagger from his side and struck, the blade slicing across the boy’s brow. The boy clapped his hand over his face, bewilderment and pain making his eyes water.

It wasn’t until his bones started to ache, his blood turned to lead in his veins, that he understood. The last thing he saw was the leering man with his falcon-shaped dagger before the poison took hold and he was sinking into blackness. The man’s face was seared into his vision, smiling with wicked triumph. A face he knew, a face that he hated even when it faded into dark…

Miles and years from the battlefield, under the early rays of the brilliant sunrise, the boy’s eyes flew open, and he woke with a start. His hands curled on the ground, half expecting to feel mud again. Instead, sand slipped between his fingers. His shoulders relaxed against the earth, and he stared at the grey dawn light that filtered between familiar tall trees as the nightmares washed over him again. He let his fingers relax, the sand falling back to the ground. There wasn’t an attack. The battle was years ago, the grey pony long gone, he reminded himself.

And the boy… He winced, slowly pushing his body into a seated position – the boy’s life had ended on that battlefield even if his heartbeat had stayed strong. Because he wasn’t the helpless boy with his dead pony. No. He would never again be the child who had been unable to escape.

Turning over his hands, he stared at the scarring across his arms, over his wrists, the calluses that marred his hands. His fingers tightened into fists, and he stared at the pink sunrise above the trees through his black eyes. Black eyes that matched those of the man in his nightmare.

***

This story flew to life and I truly hope you will each enjoy it (and if you do, please leave me a review! If anything about it was not to your taste, I'd love to know that as well and always invite you to reach out and discuss those aspects with me.)

But I can tell you that you won't want to miss the secrets that will finally gain their answers. To make sure you don't, you can pre-order The Fallen Heir today on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Fallen-Heir-Wi...

Black Friday and Flat Tires

Hello!

In case you didn't get the newsletter this week (we will blame the weather rather than me questioning why you haven't subscribed yet) here is what this week's Newsletter entailed

https://shoutout.wix.com/so/b3NraQz8V?languageTag=en

Want the long and short?

I'm really over flat tires and I really love food.

That's the basic summary!

The World of Alamore

Learn how the world of Alamore came to exist and the thoughts of the author behind it

How did you come up with Alamore?Well ,I came up with the name of the land long before I ever did any stories. When I say 'long before' I mean at age 11 and I wrote the first book - Ranger of Kings - when I was 12.So, if the land came first, how did the story come about? What gave you the ideas?Honestly, the story came about on its own. I started with an idea and thought it'd be a fun script for me and my cousins to create a movie but when I first started writing, the plan was that one of the main characters would be a girl. They were going to be in a high magic world. They would all have dragons. And then, as I wrote, I ended up with six books of "Low Fantasy" (they classify as fantasy due to world building, low Fantasy for the lack of magic. I truly didn't know what would happen until it did. There was no control at all. You mention that some of the characters were meant to be girls but, in the first book, there weren't really many girls or women to speak of. How did that come about?I think that this largely had to do with actual history. From as long as I can remember, I've been in love with medieval history. When I was little, I'd check out all the books in the library on medieval battles and armor, and when we'd go to the art museum, I couldn't be drug away from the swords and chainmail display. In the medieval days, I knew that women weren't allowed to be warriors and I wanted to play that into my books. As I mentioned earlier, I intended one of my main characters to be a girl - I was going to have her be disguised as a boy - but it never came about.But I knew Alamore would be ahead of medieval times. In the first book, I really set the stage for that. Revlan always was going to be the King who started to give women more rights - and this continues with the series. Eldin and Serena really go above and beyond to break that glass ceiling and it was important to show.What about love interests in your book? Had you considered that?When I edited the first book - 13 years after I wrote it - I really did consider this. I played with it in my mind but, in the end, I decided against it. 12 year old me had written something I loved, something not caught in romance and love triangles or any of the other tropes. When I was younger, I only craved books of friendship, good defeating evil, and adventures. So, I held true to what I'd written before. Really, my job now is only to smooth over things I wrote before and improve the character development (a skill I lacked as a preteen author) Now, this doesn't mean love doesn't show up eventually. I aged with my characters, but everything stays as I enjoyed it - focused on friendship and adventure. Who is your favorite character in your Alamore world? Sir Laster, without the slightest doubt. I love writing Laster. Sneering, cool, and snarky. He's essentially what I grew up to become (only kidding… kind of)His backstory always interested me as well. He's had that since I was twelve, all the knights have their own. But it really explains a lot about him and why he acts the way he does.You mention the backstory of characters - do you have a lot of those? Absolutely! Each character has them. One of the biggest edits I did when working in the first book for release was remove three characters who never had a backstory.Some of the backstories are simple, others will twist and turn throughout the series as they come to life. These books really do all tie together. I will give 12 year old me that - my writing might have been rough, but I loved and still love the stories that make each character the way they are. That includes the villains too. Lastly, to tie this out, how is the third book coming along?It's going great! The start of this book may be the biggest edit I've had to do to any of them - it was very unrealistic and predictable and all happened in the span of about three pages. So that was changed But, it's coming together really well now and I've got a fantastic Alpha reader who has been reading it as it's written. His input really helps and lets me know where I'm on the right track and where things need to change. Fingers crossed, I may be able to kick this first draft before the close of 2021.

Have questions you would like to ask C. J. R. Isely? She's always open to hear them. Comment on this post or contact her directly through the site

Young Adult Books for Action Driven Readers

Another fine fall morning, another one of those fall mornings that makes us want to grab a book to read while wrapped up in all the blankets we can locate.

And, for me, those books tend to be ones filled with adventure and action and the witty character or two.

Recently, I was approached with the opportunity to share some of my favorite reads with readers much like yourself in an interview. As of this week, that interview has been published and I hope you will take a moment to look through the titles listed, finding new favorite reads (and probably a familiar title or two.)

https://shepherd.com/best-books/actio...

Read. Review. Repeat. Because your feedback is important!

Hello my fantastic readers.

Another day off, something we all need on occasions to clean house, work on projects, see friends and family, or to catch up on the world's trapped and calling us on the pages of a new novel.

And as you do so, I ask a huge favor.

If you have enjoyed the world of Alamore in any of my works - The Falcon and The Stag, Ranger of Kings, or The Cutthroat Prince, I ask that you please remember to review these books on Amazon, Goodreads, and/or Audible.

Your reviews not only tell me what you like and what you think could be improved on, but they also help other readers find their next favorite books. Readers like you and I value the words of our peers, so your feedback helps to grow the world of Alamore.

So, as this weekend wraps up, please take a few minutes to leave a review on the Alamore books in your favorite reading or purchasing platform(s). I'll give you the highest of virtual high fives if you do!