Who wants to hear the title?

Today I saw the cover for the upcoming Soul Screamers novella, and I'm thrilled to say that it actually says "A Soul Screamers Novella." I'm hoping that'll cut down on the confusion. You would not believe how many bad reviews and 1 star ratings both "My Soul To Lose" and "Reaper" got (even though they were offered for free for months) because people were expecting a full novel. And that's not an assumption on my part. That's actually stated in many, many reviews.

I don't have permission to post the cover yet, but I do want to say a couple of things about the novella today before I eliminate another possible narrator. I'm going to do that by answering the most common questions I get about the Soul Screamers novellas.

Q: Why do you write these novellas? It's a gimmick, isn't it? You're just trying to snare new readers, right?

Rachel: With "My Soul To Lose?" Yes. Guilty as charged. I'm not sure why some people are offended by a self-employed writer (yes, novelists are considered self-employed) wanting to increase her readership by offering a free sample, but there you go. The original free sample idea came from Harlequin Teen, several months before the launch of the line. Soul Screamers was new. Harlequin Teen was new. I was new to YA. The idea was to give potential readers a free sample of my writing and world building, as well as an early glimpse of Kaylee, the main character. "My Soul To Lose" launched the entire line.

If it were up to me, the story would have remained free, but my publisher has business restrictions and concerns I won't even pretend to fully understand. However, they kept it free for as long as they could, and they let me keep it up on my website for free in PDF format for more than two years, and I'm beyond grateful for that.

The idea for "Reaper" was mine. I wanted to tell the story of how Tod died. I pitched the idea to my editor and she liked it, and my published came back with an offer for not one, but two new Soul Screamers novellas, both of which would be offered free to readers for a limited time. The point this time was not to snare new readers. In fact, I did my best to warn people that "Reaper" was best read after the third novel. "Reaper" was intended as a "thank you" from me to the readers who made it possible for me to have a YA writing career.

The same is true of this new novella. It is INCREDIBLY spoilery for one of the major events in If I Die (I'll explain why down below) and it sets up some stuff in Before I Wake.

So, neither "Reaper" nor the new novella are intended to trick people into reading Soul Screamers. Would I turn down new readers? Of course not. I'd be thrilled to have them. But I can't recommend this new novella as a good way to start the series, unless you want to be spoiled from the start. ;)

Q: Why aren't the novellas in print?

Rachel: Because releasing them in electronic format allows us to put them out faster and cheaper, and to make them free for at least the first few months. However, "My Soul To Lose" is now in print in the Soul Screamers omnibus Volume One, which comes out later this month.

Q: Why don't you just post them to your website instead of letting your publisher publish them, so they could be free forever?

Rachel: That's a complicated question with a complicated answer. The simple version is that I'm a writer, not an editor or a cover designer. I need my editor to edit the novellas and I need HQTeen to design the covers. Sure, given enough time, I could figure those things out for myself or hire someone to do them. But if I hired help, I couldn't afford to offer them for free, and if I spend time learning to be a publisher, I'd fall behind on the books I'm already under contract for.

Okay, now for the fun part--a couple of tidbits about the novella that you didn't already know. The new novella will be called...

"Never To Sleep"

You can thank my editor for that title. I think. We bounced around more than a dozen titles, and I think she's the one who came up with this one.

And... "Never To Sleep" takes place during If I Die. That's right. It takes place right in the middle of the novel. And you will see one of the most memorable scenes in If I Die from this mystery narrator's perspective. Which is why I would NOT start the Soul Screamers series with "Never To Sleep," even if it will be free for a while.

I'm not ready to tell you who's narrating yet, although I suspect what I've just revealed with narrow down your guesses a bit. So I'll help out by crossing out another potential narrator below.

Feel free to discuss. But be warned: there may be spoilers in the comments!

The list, in random order:

◦Tod
◦Sabine
◦Nash
◦Alec
◦Sophie
◦Emma
◦Avari
◦Addison
◦Scott
◦Lydia
◦Levi

A reminder: Notice that Kaylee isn’t on the list. Consider that your freebie. Kaylee is not the narrator.