Elizabeth Hunter's Blog, page 37

Great news! Audiobooks for the Elemental Mysteries/Elemental World from Audible.com

I am very excited and pleased to announce that all four Elemental Mysteries novels and the first Elemental World book will soon be available in audiobook format! I am partnering with Audible.com, the world’s biggest producer of digital audiobooks, to make the Elemental Mysteries and Building From Ashes available for listeners, as well as readers. I don’t have any details right now about when they will be available to buy (I’m sure it’s a bit of a process to produce them), but as soon as I do, I’ll make sure to let you all know.

Many thanks to Audible and the wonderful people at Dystel and Goderich Literary Management (especially you, Lauren!) for making this deal happen, particularly over the crazy holiday season. I know some readers have been asking about audiobooks, so I’m thrilled to have that format available to them, and I hope this opens the Elemental Mysteries world up to a whole new audience!

Now, just in case you were wondering, I do not have any say in who the narrator for the books will be. I’m sure you all have lots of ideas, but I’m going to leave all that up to the very smart producers over at Audible. I’m sure they’ll pick the best narrator for the job.

Thanks for reading (and soon listening!)

Elizabeth

Final full chapter of Waterlocked and news about the next Elemental World novel

The final full chapter of Waterlocked is posted HERE (on time this week!). Just an epilogue to go, then I’ll be doing another edit before I put it up in the stores, but it won’t take long. I cannot thank you enough for joining me on this fun journey with Gemma and Terry. I greatly underestimated the response to these two characters, and I’m just thrilled at your positive reaction. I’m so glad you love them as much as I do.

Since the full manuscript of Shifting Dreams: Cambio Springs Book One has been turned into my lovely editor, I’ve started working on the next full Elemental World novel, which is… Baojia’s story! From the time I wrote him into This Same Earth, I knew this character had a fascinating background. I got to develop his history and character a little more in The Force of Wind, but I knew I wanted to write a full book for him. I’ve actually had the plot laid out even before most of Building From Ashes, so I’m really excited to start writing Blood and Sand: Elemental World Book Two. There will be an exclusive sneak preview of Blood and Sand at the end of the Waterlocked e-book when it goes on sale. Until then, back to the business of WRITING!

Hope you all have a great week. I’ve started a Pinterest board for Blood and Sand HERE, if you want to check it out. The final piece of Waterlocked will post a week from today! Enjoy.

Elizabeth

Mea culpa! A new (LATE!) chapter of Waterlocked is up.

I am horribly embarrassed. I’d blame the jet lag from travel, but… let’s just go with that, shall we?

MEA CULPA, readers!

Your new chapter of Waterlocked is here, and a special THANK YOU to reader and Facebook friend Mellisa Riddick Wolford for sending me a note asking where the chapter was! I’m afraid I was neck deep in getting back to work on projects at home and completely forgot. The good news is, I may have some very fun news to announce in the near future.

No more chatting! Read. Enjoy. I hope it is worth the wait, and have a great week!

Elizabeth

Thanks for a great year! (And please enjoy the new chapter of Waterlocked.)

It’s hard to not look back on this year with some kind of awe. It was a combination of both the best and the worst. The good far outweighed the bad, though, and I have my readers to thank for much of that.

Thank you. Sincerely. There are not words enough to tell you how blessed I have been by your love for my writing, your encouragement, and your enthusiasm. This has been an incredible year for me professionally, and I am so, so thankful. I can’t wait to see what next year brings!

Please enjoy this new chapter of Waterlocked, and have a safe and happy New Year’s celebration! I’m enjoying the holiday in the gorgeous city of Savannah, Georgia with friends and I am having a great time. Where are you celebrating? Any special plans?

Thank you for reading,

Elizabeth

Merry Christmas! A new chapter of Waterlocked and a drawing for a signed book

Merry Christmas, everyone! SmallBoy and I had Christmas with the extended family last night, so we’ve already gotten started out here. Hope all your holiday celebrations are going smoothly and you’re enjoying yourself.

For those of you who are online, here’s a new chapter of Waterlocked, full of Terry and Gemma goodness. It’s a sweet chapter, one of my favorites, and there’s a contest at the end for a signed copy of Building From Ashes, if you’d like to enter. Read to the bottom to find out how.

Have a wonderful Christmas! Thank you for all your support through the past year. I hope this season you are blessed to be able to spend it with people you love.

Merry Christmas and thank you for reading,

Elizabeth

New chapter of Waterlocked and a short note from the writer

Hello, readers!

I hope the holidays are treating you well. Here at my house, we’re going into the last week of school, getting ready for family and friends to come into town, and finishing up Christmas shopping. I imagine my house looks a lot like yours with general Christmas mayhem. But this particular mom has also been writing here and there. For those of you with an interest, I’ve published my annual list of things I learned about writing and publishing in the past year, I’ve also started drafting a new contemporary romance (you can see the Pinterest board here) and been editing away on the first Cambio Springs novel (you can read the first chapter here if you like).

And I’m getting such wonderful letters and comments from you! I get letters every day communicating how my books have touched your life in some way. I’m so incredibly thankful for that. I also get lots of letters wanting to know about the future of the series, and that’s also very flattering. And while most all of them are encouraging and wonderful, some are… well, a bit overwhelming.

For those of you who haven’t been following me long, let me give you a run-down of what the last fifteen months have brought to the Elemental Mysteries/Elemental World series. I published four Elemental Mysteries books, two of which were well over 100,000 words. I published a contemporary romance (The Genius and the Muse) and a short story (Long Ride Home). I also published the first book in the Elemental World series (Building From Ashes) and am over halfway finished writing and posting a novella in the same universe (Waterlocked). I wrote the first Cambio Springs novel, which will be published in the new year, and have sketched out four unwritten manuscripts for the series going forward. In 2012 alone, I wrote nearly 500,000 words.

This is not me bragging. This is me trying to tell you just how busy the past year has been. I love my job, but I’ll be honest, when I receive letters demanding I write faster—however well-intentioned they might be—it can be very, very overwhelming. Please understand that I’m also a mother and head of household; and while lots of people can write books, those are jobs that only I can do. They will always be my priority.

I love my readers. I love your enthusiasm. I love hearing from you. But I kind of love to sleep sometimes, too!

And please don’t worry about the future of the series. There will be lots of stories to tell. Some of them, I’m absolutely itching to write. But everything has to happen in its time. The next book in the Elemental World series will be about Baojia, a character who was introduced in the second EM book, This Same Earth, and featured more prominently in The Force of Wind. After that? Who knows? I don’t have a set order. Will there be a book with Ben and/or Tenzin? (And if you haven’t read the Christmas short I did with them, it is here.) I can tell you that yes, there will absolutely be. In fact, I’m planning another series with those two characters as the main protagonists. But it’s not going to happen right away. I hope you’ll stick with me anyway.

Thanks for giving me such an incredible year, readers. Here’s a short excerpt from my lessons of 2012 post:

…I would be typing into the airwaves if it weren’t for my readers. I write stories because I love it. It feeds me creatively. In a very real way, it has been my lifesaver in an extremely tough year. But without readers offering me their imaginations, my stories only live in my own mind. Never forget this. We are only who we are because others listen or read or observe what we create. Do not forget your audience.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for being SUCH an incredible audience. Your new chapter of Waterlocked is HERE. I hope you enjoy! Next Monday will be Christmas Eve, but I will have a new chapter up for you.

Have a wonderful week,

Elizabeth

For Writers: Ten Things I Learned About Independent Publishing in 2012

Yes, it’s a bit early, but the holidays are only getting more hectic, so I thought I’d post this anyway. …

Continue reading »

Early chapter for Waterlocked!

Dear international readers,

I have heard your cries. I have listened. (At least this week.) And since I have a crazy day tomorrow, I’m posting the next chapter of Waterlocked early! *insert wild applause here*

I hope you enjoy it, and I’d love to hear from you in the comments. Suggested songs for this chapter include “You Know I’m No Good” by Amy Winehouse and “Una Musica Brutal” by Gotan Project.

Have a wonderful week, and I hope your holiday shopping list is less crazy than mine. (Yes, this is what I get for not planning ahead, I know this.)

Thanks for reading, Elizabeth

New chapter of Waterlocked is up!

I’m running around today doing many things, so I’ll be on and offline a bit. A new chapter of Waterlocked is up! Hope you enjoy, and I’m looking forward to your comments from this chapter. The sculpture on the right is called “The Kiss” by Rodin, and I just love it. It’s achingly romantic, and since this is very much a romance, I thought I’d share. Yes, there’s a bit of intrigue and action, but mostly, this is Gemma and Terry’s love story. Sometimes, it’s fun to just focus on characters like that.

Love all the name suggestions from last week! You guys thought up some great ones, and I’ll definitely be using a few of them in the future.

Over the weekend, I asked for pictures and ideas of who you think Gemma and Terry look like. Let me know your thoughts in the comments. I always have my own mental pictures, but I love hearing what you guys think. Sometimes it’s really close to what I’m thinking and other times it’s way different, but it’s always fun. Thanks for reading and commenting!

MAILING LIST: If you haven’t noticed, on the right hand side, there is a link to sign up for my newsletter. Now, if you don’t want to subscribe to the blog or twitter or facebook or anything like that, signing up for the newsletter is the best way to keep up with my current releases. I will ONLY send out newsletters when I have something new to buy. That’s it. It’s for new releases and that’s all. Not going to spam your inbox with random info, so if you just want to know when I have new books out, that is the place to sign up.

Until later,

Elizabeth

A new chapter of Waterlocked has posted

Hello, hello! Hope everyone had a fantastic holiday weekend here in the US. And hope everyone else just had a nice weekend. If you don’t live in an area where you can get pumpkin pie, I’m very sincerely sorry.

First off, I just wanted to say that, even though I don’t respond to each comment individually, I read every single one and want to say thank you SO MUCH for your kind words. It’s truly an honor to write for such an appreciative blog audience. I wasn’t sure what kind of reception this story would have, because Gemma and Terry weren’t in the other books much (even though I knew they had a great story) and I also didn’t know how you all would like the serial format of posting. I’m very gratified to know that you’re enjoying it and looking forward to the new chapters every week. And yes, in case you missed it, I will be publishing this at the end, so you’ll be able to get it for Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Smashwords. (It won’t be free in the store, though, just on the website.)

Also, the verdict on weddings is not overly enthusiastic. Good to know! I can’t tell you why, exactly, I’m not fond of writing them, I’m just not. And at this point, avoiding writing literary weddings has become a personal challenge and a bit of a joke between my pre-readers and me. Yes, I have written them, but rarely.

The winner of the signed paperback is posted at the end of the new chapter HERE. (Congratulations!)

By the way, do any readers live close to Boston?

Just wondering. For reasons.

Enjoy the chapter!

Elizabeth