Publication Plans

This August I am expecting to release my third book, Thicker Than Blood. I meant to post this as soon as I wrote up my detailed plans for publication, but unfortunately life gets hectic. I wanted to share my plans with you so you can see my process. August is only a couple months away, and I’m very eager to release the book.

May

For the month of May my main focus is finishing first edits on the hard copies of every chapter in the book. Some chapters I've mentioned before are already finished, but those revisions still need to be added to the digital copy of my book (on the computer). Even if I complete one chapter each day that gives me at least 28 days more or less to finish with that -more than enough time. I broke down my tasks in a way so it is not overwhelming, but keep in mind I can do more than one chapter if time permits.

Already I am 38% through with these edits. Once I edit the hard copy, I add all of that onto the digital copy. The copy on my computer is already formatted in the 6x9 template for Createspace.

June

By June I should have the first round of edits done. If not, I still have some extra time to work on them. My main focus for this month will be round 2 edits. This consists of checking for details, answering any questions, verifying information, and polishing everything. Working with a series requires checking back in the other books to make sure the plot and timeline continue moving in the right direction. I want to make sure nothing is left out, character develop properly, and the book fits in with the series. Again the goal here is to work on at least one chapter a day. During June I’ll also have some extra time to work on the book since school will let out (hence days off of work for me).

Expect a sign-up list (posted here on my blog) available for anyone interested in the cover reveal happening in July during this time.

July

If all goes as planned, July will be an exciting month. With all the edits complete, I can focus solely on formatting. This involved checking fonts and appearance, running the document through Amazon to verify it’s set, etc. I’ll also be ordering my hard proof copy of the book at this time to make sure everything is how it should be. (Expect to see pictures.) Once I have the hard copy I’ll re-read and approve it once it meets my expectations. This is also the time when I will be deciding on the price for both paperback and ebook versions of the book. The pricing won’t be revealing until release day.

The more exciting part: cover reveal time! I’ll be revealing the official cover for TTB -both the book cover and the book jacket. The reveal will be hosted on Blogger, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and various other social media websites. I’ll be posting the cover up on my instagram as well if you follow me on there. Somehow I managed to keep the cover a secret all this time, and I can’t wait to finally let the curtain down. If you’re already interested in being a part of the reveal, let me know.

August

By the start of August I’ll be announcing a release date.

Once I have the hard proof copy and approve it everything is set for publication. The ebook I publish through Amazon's KDP, so I'll be going through and making sure that is all set. I may be able to convert the original document to ebook format, and if not I know how to set it up to be acceptable for ebook. I had a little trouble with this last time when I published SandE, but this time I know what I'm working with and am giving myself more than enough time.

I’ll be hosting a release countdown on my blog as I always do for my books. There will be a release party, which once again I’ll be asking for participants.

Whew, that's a lot! I have a lot of work ahead of me, and some parts are laid back just to ensure I don't get overwhelmed and hit an obstacle. August sounds like a perfect month to release the book, and I hope you’re eager to read Alaire’s story. Until then, keep checking in for more news.

Lindsey R. Sablowski

Thicker Than Blood on Goodreads

This post was meant to be posted sooner, but anyways better late than never. Here it is, the exciting news!
When an author talks about preparing their book for publication it's exciting, but for the readers they tend to grow anxious as more time passes. So I decided today to take an unexpected leap and add Thicker Than Blood to Goodreads. The great thing about this is now you can go directly to my Goodreads page and see the book there, read the official summary, and get as excited as you want about it. I will confess, however, that the cover and the release date are not present. I put 2014 as the publication date, but once I have an exact release date I will update the information. The book cover will also go up when I do the cover reveal. 

I remember posting Cursed With Power on Goodreads and how exciting it was. I was thrilled when I added it to the site and people started adding it to their "want to read" lists. It looks like I made the right decision by deciding to post TTB on Goodreads earlier than I planned because now I'm feeling excited again. Here I am in the midst of editing, but I can log onto Goodreads and see the book is right there, ready to be update with all of the information as soon as publication date is a go-ahead.

Unfortunately there are several other books with similar titles to "Thicker Than Blood," but even with knowing that, I decided to keep the title at what it is because it fit with the book's theme so perfectly. Whether you search the title or just for my name, don't worry you'll find the book. And it's noted that it's the third book in the Magicians, so there won't be any confusion there either.

Searching through my instagram, I managed to find a picture of when I first added SandE to Goodreads as well. It blows me away to realize I'm here -the third book is finished, and now all I have to do is push through edits and it'll be all ready for you to read. 

All in all, I hope you guys are as excited as me. Be sure to check out the links, add the book to your Goodreads, and tell me what you think. While the book might not be releasing until this fall, we can still have moments like these to get us hyped up and remember... it's coming.

Before I go I know previously I promised to post about the masquerade scene in Thicker Than Blood. I plan on posting about the masquerade and some exciting details about my plans for publication next, so stop back in soon. Once again thanks to everyone for being so patient, and I hope you're excited for Alaire's adventure.

Lindsey R. Sablowski

Deadline set

My spring break has been busy and filled with work, but today being my only day off I finally managed to sit down and make an ideal deadline window for myself. I don't want to fall behind with finishing edits and releasing Thicker Than Blood. That being said, I have a picture to go along with this as proof for you guys to see how I'm planning everything out.

I realized yesterday when my boyfriend mentioned upcoming dates that April is quickly coming to an end. So I decided to take a look at what months I have left to work on edits and when I could ideally release TTB. I've been saying for a long time now that I want to release it late this year, so even if I could not release it until September, October, or November at the latest I would still reach my goal. Hopefully by having this deadline out in front of me will help me work harder and stay on task. At the very least I gain three months to work on edits and have two/three backup months just in case. Who knows, if I really need it I can wait until December to release the book. 

Now you know what my personal deadline is, and hopefully I can estimate a more specific one as we approach closer to those ending months. Either way, looks like this book will be releasing fall/early winter. Again, a huge thank you to everyone who has been patiently waiting.

On a different note, I wanted to share a collage I made this morning. 

Using the ebooks of CWP and SandE, I took screencaps of the title pages. Then with my own private "print ready" digital copy of TTB I also managed to get a snap of that as well. Nothing too major that separates the title pages, but I thought it was interesting to see them all together in one place. I'm going to have a lot more like this to share when we get closer to the release of book 3. 

Editing Progress

With being busy over spring break, alas I did not have spare time to work on edits. I hope to get back in the grove this week and then get myself on schedule. Chapters 19-27 are awaiting edits and printing, but I plan to have all of the chapters printed out by the end of this month. 

Coming Up

I thought I previously posted about the masquerade and the inspiration behind it on here, but going back through my posts I realized I did not. I plan to have that post up later this week with pictures that helped inspire the scene and talk about its parallels to previous books in the series. 

Hope everyone is enjoying this spring weather, and I'll be back soon with more. Remember if you want to tweet about Thicker Than Blood on twitter use the hashtag #ThickerThanBlood

Lindsey R. Sablowski

Who will be the fifth Dark magician?

(Credit to model)

In the summary of Thicker Than Blood I revealed to you that the 5th Dark magician will be unveiled in book three. While originally the 5th magician was not likely to make his/her appearance until the fourth book, I was excited when I realized they could be introduced sooner. Now while I can't tell you who it is -because that's for you to find out- I hope this post while intrigue you more in what we will soon find out.

We've had Celestria, the girl who loved and lost, Leal, the vengeful magician, and Alaire, the fallen hero. The fourth Dark magician was revealed and introduced in Shadows and Embers, and now in Alaire's story we will finally find out who is the last one. 

Ready for a teaser (no spoilers!)?

I managed to survive longer than anyone could have expected. Every day was a struggle, and the more I wondered the more I felt like an animal. There were hunters at the ready, waiting for my appearance. One day it was only a matter of time before they caught me. In the end it all came down to finding the other Dark magicians in hope they would offer me a haven. This world was not ready for people like us, and thus I became more of an outsider than I ever was.

While there are only five Dark magicians over the years I've spent a great amount of time incorporating them all into the storyline and figuring out how they survive. The fifth magician originally was meant to be someone else, who was vaguely mentioned in Cursed With Power, but ideas change and so do characters. I am very pleased with who the fifth Dark magician ended up being. 

Whether you've read the books or not you know of at least three Dark magicians. Who do you think the fifth will be? Could it be someone from the previous books or an entirely new character? Share your thoughts in the comments or as always tweet about it on Twitter, using the hashtag #ThickerThanBlood

Editing Progress

April is here and editing must continue. I have not planned out how much editing I want done with a calendar (as I did with writing) simply because it changes depending on how much time I have. Regardless, I have up to chapter 16 printed out with several of those chapters editing and some in the process of being completed. Right now I'm focusing on making sure everything is polished, writing down questions and additional scenes which may be needed. Once it's all polished I will go back and add in what's needed, revise and polish again, and then read through it and see if I am pleased. 

Createspace has been great through this process, and I already have the book briefly set up on their website so when I am ready the hassle is out of the way. I am excited to be self-publishing again, and I can't wait to finish with edits, plan a release date, and then be able to reveal the official book cover (and book jacket!). Needless to say it's going to be an exciting an overwhelming experience, but first editing needs to be finished. Fortunately spring break is right around the corner, so I can sit down with a pen and paper and spend more hours on my work.

Thanks as always to everyone for their patience with the release of this book, and I'll keep you updated. Remember to continue checking back in on the blog for more posts about the book and characters. I have gathered together a lot of great ideas for new posts to share on the blog, so you can expect a variety of posts upcoming.

Lindsey R. Sablowski

Scenery tour of Alaire's journey

There are three primary locations we visit in the upcoming third book, Thicker Than Blood. Two of these locations have already previously been visited in the other books, but I am excited to announce there is one realm that will be entirely new to both Alaire and his companions, as well as you, the reader. So join me as I take you on a quick tour of what we can expect to see...

Welcome back to Transylvania. Dark magicians haven spent years hiding away from a society that hates them, and it appears that is not bound to change any time soon. With the Prince still in reign he continues to order the exstinction of the Dark magicians, and a job well done pays handsomely. This is the same Transylvania you might recall from the previous books, Cursed With Power and Shadows and Embers. For Leal and Alaire they've lived a majority of their life in one of the biggest towns, Neutadt.

One of the main reasons I chose Transylvania a long time ago as the main location throughout this series is because it was a small and seemingly un-extraordinary country back in the late 1500s. I loved being able to bring my characters to life in a realistic fictional world that people could relate to. It also helped with humanizing the magicians so that you could feel more for them. So far my favorite town within Transylvania to write about has been Neutadt. It is such a large town, and since both Alaire and Leal have lived there for about twenty-some (less for Leal) years there is a lot to work with. This is the town Destin developed and grew into a huge organization.
The map pictured above is actually one I own a physical copy of (from the Library of Congress) that helped with the town names within Transylvania. As you can see, it's an extremely old map and unfortunately can be difficult to read.

However, the human world is not the only place where magicians go to hide. This leads us to Belsgar, the magical realm created by the first White magician, Arnulf. Arnulf created this realm centuries ago to ensure that future magicians would have a safe haven. Even so, in his time he also faced a dilemma with the Dark magicians, and therefore the realm was only mean for men and women with White magic. Belsgar is the largest realm with a vast variety and number of magicians and is also where the Council resides. 

Belsgar has been exciting to write about because it is entirely fictional. Anything can happen, and it feels magical when it is both mysterious and open-ended. I imagined a place where hundreds of magicians could gather together, camp out, and this was the world I ended up creating. Sometimes it surprises me with what it has to offer.

Now we come to the last destination on the tour: Wyndor. Wyndor was first created long ago to ensure the safety of foreseers and since then is where the majority of them reside. This new realm is different from any others we've seen before, and it appears the foreseers are cut off from all contact with the "outside" world. What could this place possibly offer for our magicians?

While Wyndor was a new place in this book, it was also new to me and required more work. Once again, though, this is another realm that allows me to be as creative as I like. I really enjoyed working on the backstory of why Wyndor existed and how the foreseers had changed over the years. I'm eager to hear what people think about this new realm, and if they prefer it more or less than Belsgar. There's a realm for foreseers and magicians... What will I think of next?

That concludes all the time I have tonight, but I hope you enjoyed the brief tour. If you're more interested in the places our heroes will be traveling, remember you can read all about it in the books. There's more coming up next, so please stop by when you are able to.
Lindsey R. Sablowski

Alaire and Hunter

As promised while I am in the process of editing Thicker Than Blood, I want to post more to help better involve you in the upcoming book.
If you've been reading the books in the series since the beginning, we all know the story of Alaire and Hunter. There's no spoilers in knowing that Alaire once called himself "Hunter" when he was in Destin. This name originated from the fact that he would hunt White magicians at night. Originally in the first couple of drafts of CWP I had never decided about this dark lifestyle which Alaire once led, but it finally made its way into the book. After all, not every hero is perfect. Hunter was also mentioned in Shadows and Embers, since we took a closer look at the magicians when they were a part of Destin.
Now in the third book Hunter has not left us, but instead we take a deeper plunge to find out exactly what he did. Alaire is faced with dealing with the horrendous crimes he committed as Hunter. Alas, Hunter will also be a dilemma because he might be "dead," but couldn't he easily return if Alaire allowed him to? It sounds like our hero led two different lives, and that was one of the main reasons I nicknamed him "Hunter" for his darkest moments in Destin.
So far in the series each one of our heroes have been faced with dealing with something from their past. Celestria was faced with coming to terms with her magic, Leal sought out revenge for his father's death, and now finally we have Alaire, dealing with who he once was. It was a bit challenging writing scenes that flashed back to Hunter, simply because I've become used to how Alaire is now, but in the end it worked out. It added something unique to the story that was also different from the previous stories, so I'm curious to see how it turns out when the book is released.
What do you think: Will Alaire overcome his bloody past, or should we expect Hunter's return soon?

Kindle Matchbook promotion for Shadows and Embers

 
Before I go I do have several announcements to make. For one, SandE is now a part of the Kindle Matchbook promotion on Amazon. This means that if you have purchased a paperback copy of SandE from Amazon in the past or you do in the present/future, you are able to purchase the kindle version for a discounted price of $0.99
This promotion will be ongoing, and I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity. The kindle version is usually $3.99 without the purchase of the paperback. Be sure to check it out on Amazon.

Editing progress in Thicker Than Blood
As for the progress I have made with edits for the upcoming book, I am working on chapter two. Fortunately I have my spring break coming up in April, so I plan on spending a lot of that time editing and revising as much as I can. I have been using this great program that helps me edit, so it has been running pretty smoothly so far.

Remember to check back in for more updates and more discussions. Have an idea of what I should post next? Leave a comment, and I'll get back to you!
Lindsey R. Sablowski

Editing

The editing process has began to prepare Thicker Than Blood for publication. I started the moment I finished the book, and now that I've found a useful editing program that also helps me it is a lot less stressful than I remember. Useful editing is a stressful time for me; both times I did it before for my book made me feel as though I just simply did not have enough time. This time it's different, and maybe it is because I have learned that editing cannot be planned out to be finished at a specific date. Regardless, I feel relieved with the fact that I do have more than enough time to edit and still release this year. The other part of it that is a relief is knowing that all of my ideas are down on paper; everything is there for me, and now I can go through and add and/or delete whatever I feel is necessary.
Since editing might not be all that interesting for you to read about, I do promise to have a variety of topics posted on the blog. I would love for everyone to be involved in this process as possible, and I've been looking through old posts on the blog to see what I have done. What I did notice is that with CWP I had a huge countdown, and for each day that passed there was a new post with more talk about the book to pull readers in. Unfortunately I did not have the time to do that as much with the release of Shadows and Embers, but I do plan on doing it again with this book. I don't want to leave any corner untouched, and I definitely want to involve everybody. After reviewing this material, I've come up with a list of different posts you can expect:

• Behind the character and/or behind the name
• Fun facts
• Scenery/setting choices
• Giveaway(s)
• Teasers
• Excerpts from the book
• Quotes
• Cover reveal
• Countdown
• pre-ordering details
• release (with links to purchase)

The ones in green text won't be happening until I have a release date or until publication (depending on what they are), but everything else will be coming up little by little. Stick around and don't miss out!

Lindsey R. Sablowski

Book 3: At the end!

 
This snow day turned out to be quite productive, and I am happy to announce that at 81,438 words my third book, Thicker Than Blood, is now officially complete.
February was a crazy month for me, hence why I was M.I.A. on the blog, but with moving and having two new cats that want to play with everything in the house my boyfriend and I have been very busy people. Nonetheless, I am grateful I had off of work today to finally sit down for several hours and just write. I was not expecting to finish the book today, but once I started writing I could not stop. So here we are at last at the end of the writing stage.
I learned a lot while writing this book, and even though this is my third full completed novel I found myself learning and making mistakes along the way. Writing is not something that is meant to be rushed, and no matter how well I thought I knew my characters they managed to surprise me now and again. I originally intended to finish this book in February, but life also catches up and can delay what needs to be done. Now that I am done with writing I will be jumping right into the editing stages to prepare this book for publication. I'll admit I was excited when I finally reached the end of this book and could announce it. Considering that it was July when SandE released and it's just now the beginning of March that I am finishing TTB, this book has taken a lot of time and energy.
As for publication, I am still expecting to release this book later this year. I don't see that editing will stop me from reaching that deadline, and as I have mentioned before once I see what needs to be done with the book I can more accurately estimate a release month. I am so thankful to all of my readers and fans out there who have been patiently waiting for this book, and I promise you once it releases it will have been worth the wait. I can't wait to share Alaire's story with you, so please be patient for a bit longer while I work with it and make it perfect and ready for you to read.
When I was writing the book I thought a lot about this day when I would finally be finished, and now that I'm here I will admit its such a relief. Editing will no doubt take a lot of focus and time, but it will bring me one step closer to publication. Before you know it we'll be having the cover reveal, and since I'll be in the editing stages for a while I'll be sharing sneak peaks and quotes directly from the book. Don't worry the journey is far from being over. As a matter of fact it's only begun, and Alaire wants you to come along with us.
As usual, check back in for more updates. I'll be sure to post something exciting very soon after I rest a while from all of this writing.
Lindsey R. Sablowski