#indy publishing

[copperbadge]

The sixth book in the Shivadh Romances, The Royals And The Ramblers, is now available for purchase in print and epub!

Already familiar and just want to buy the book?

The Royals And The Ramblers: Paperback | Epub

You can purchase the book for $3.99 for epub and $14.99 for print; these prices vary by currency for the paperback, but I’ve priced them as affordably as possible. I had hoped to sell the epub across several retail platforms but Lulu is being fussy, so for now both paperback and epub are only available on Lulu. (The upside to this is that I get more of a cut from Lulu sales than I would from other platforms!)

Want to learn more? Read on!

Askazer-Shivadlakia is “the little country by the sea” — a coastal micronation perched between France and Italy, with Europe’s only Jewish royal family and a distinctly queer-friendly culture. The irreverent but earnest Shivadh people have recently elected a new king, Gregory III, and the Shivadh romances follow him, his extended family, and their friends and partners as they manage love, politics, and an ever-expanding social circle.

You can learn more about the series and find purchase links here. 

The Royals And The Ramblers

It's an exciting time for the Shivadh royal family! Gregory III, king of Askazer-Shivadlakia, is marrying kitschy TV chef Eddie Rambler…three times. There's the beach party in Eddie's hometown in California, a private wedding for Gregory's family back home in Europe, and a big formal blowout for everyone in Askazer-Shivadlakia to celebrate.

Eddie's sister Monday is wary of the royals when they arrive in Santa Luna, but they seem nice enough. Gregory's stepbrother Noah even befriends the youngest Rambler, shy and quiet Ephraim. Soon, Monday has warmed to the royals as well, particularly Gregory's bodyguard Georgie, who isn't opposed to a fling while visiting. Then Gregory asks Monday to be a surrogate for a royal baby, and her life turns upside down.

Monday's not the only one dealing with change, either. Gregory's father Michaelis is navigating his relationship with Noah's parent Jes, Noah is adjusting to his new job as prince, Gregory's friends Alanna and Jerry are testing their whirlwind romance, and Georgie is trying to work out where she stands with Monday -- as staff, or friend, or maybe more? And then there's Ioanna, the bright, troubled kid that Gregory catches ditching school to attend Parliament…

It's a year for everyone to learn new roles, find surprising ways to keep growing up, and, as always, keep that irreverent Shivadh sense of humor, whether they're a Royal or a Rambler. And with the birth impending, Monday should probably figure out just what she and Georgie are to one another, and what that means for her future with the royal family.

Purchase: Paperback | Epub

Download: Free PDF

Thanks for reading, everyone!

[mikehawthorne]

I have a new Kickstarter going right now!

Check it out 👉🏽 http://kck.st/3QKHIn1

MIKE HAWTHORNE: WARM UPS #5 SKETCH ART ZINE

An amazing 32pg sketch collection from superstar creator MIKE HAWTHORNE, following up the successful WARM UPS #1 thru #4 campaigns!

[weirdellis]

WIP. The Hobo’s Bindle

[copperbadge]

THE BEAST HAS ARRIVED.

It's so much thicker than I even anticipated. What a doorstop. I took the photo hoping it would be dramatic but it came out a bit more dramatic than intended so I also tormented my cat with it to give a better sense of scale.

You could kill a man with this thing. Probably me.

Anyway, now that I've got the proof, I just need to tweak the cover, read it for typos and typesetting errors, fix those up, and fire it off. It'll take some time but I think I can safely predict a February release. Ooh, I should release it on the 29th, that'd be fun. Hm, time to consider.

[ID: Two images; top, the first proof copy of my latest novel, The Royals And The Ramblers, a large softcover book taking up most of the acreage on a red leather chair. Bottom, the same book is sitting on Dearborn the tortie, who looks philosophical about this (she was not). It is about the size of her torso, and half as thick as her head. Mind you, she's a six-pound cat, so take that into account.]

[copperbadge]

This book is as big as my cat and might weigh more.

Proof copy of the second Omnibus volume has arrived! I need to read through it for errors (and I have an ask in my inbox, I swear Anon I will reply to you soon, about errors in the Royals/Ramblers first edition, so I have to do that too) but then all I need to do is fix the cover and it should be good to go. I don't have a date yet but the end of this month and beginning of next are very crazy for me, so probably not until mid-April.

Releasing it on the eclipse does have its appeal...on the other hand, that particular day I'm going to be in the ass-end of Texas with R and my niece and my parents, so perhaps not the most ideal time to be posting a bunch of marketing stuff. Well, we'll see what I get done between now and then.

[ID: Two photographs of my proof copy of The Shivadh Romances, Volume II, a massive paperback with an olive-green cover. In the first image it is lying on the bed next to Polk the tabby, who looks a little confused; it is as big as her entire curled-up body. In the second image, it is resting on top of Volume I to demonstrate how much visibly thicker it is than Volume I, with the books that both volumes contain in the background.]

[copperbadge]

The fourth book in the Shivadh Romances, The Twelve Points Of Caleb Canto, is now available for purchase in print and epub!

Already familiar and just want to buy the book?

The Twelve Points Of Caleb Canto: Hardcopy | Epub

The book is $4 for epub and $18 for print; these prices vary by currency for the hardcopy, but I’ve priced them as affordably as possible. (Lulu’s rates and minimum pricing have both spiked, my apologies for selling an $18 romance novel.)   

Want to learn more? Read on!

Askazer-Shivadlakia is “the little country by the sea” — a coastal micronation perched between France and Italy, with Europe’s only Jewish royal family and a distinctly queer-friendly culture. The Shivadh romances follow the democratically-elected king, Gregory III, and his extended family, as well as their friends and partners.

The first three books are available in hardcopy and epub, and are also available as a single “omnibus” volume; you can learn more about them and find purchase links here. It should be possible to read Twelve Points without having read the earlier books, but there may be context lacking. You can also download the previous books for free as PDFs here.

The Twelve Points Of Caleb Canto

Twelve Points is roughly 90K words, and depicts a happy-ending romance between Caleb, an autistic trans man, and Buck, a bisexual cis man, set against the backdrop of the Eurovision Song Contest. 

Caleb Canto moved to Askazer-Shivadlakia to live a quiet life, teaching music at a local school and writing pop songs on the side. When he accidentally wins the country's first ever Eurovision National Final, he's put on a new and perhaps overly-exciting path to fame, and drawn into the orbit of the Shivadh royal family -- a collection of earnest politicians, oddballs, and charming rogues. And that's not even including the UK’s Eurovision representative, Buck Haverd, a teal-haired rocker who makes questionable life choices. When Buck arrives in Askazer-Shivadlakia, planning to hide out and work on his latest album, he and Caleb form a friendship based equally on a love of music and on trolling each other ruthlessly. 

Soon both are headed to Turin, immersing themselves in the glamor of Eurovision; with a lot at stake for Buck’s career, they’re going to have to decide what they want, and face what might happen if either one of them wins.

Purchase The Twelve Points Of Caleb Canto: 

Hardcopy | Epub

Download The Twelve Points Of Caleb Canto: Free PDF

Interested in supporting charitable causes and getting an autograph for your copy of Twelve Points or earlier books?

With this book, I’m fundraising for United24, President Zelenskyy's official Ukrainian government support initiative; for as long as the war lasts, 10% of profits from this book will go to the fund. 

Additionally, I'm offering signed bookplates in return for donations!

To get a signed bookplate with optional personalized message, you can fill out this form, which will provide you with a link to donate $7 or above via PayPal. The collected donations come to me, and will be given to United24 in a lump sum, while the form will tell me where to send your bookplate(s). Bookplates are archival-quality paper/adhesive signed with acid-free pen and can also be used as bookmarks.

[copperbadge]

The pitfalls of getting too into one's own imaginary worlds...

So, the Shivadh Romances V1, which contains the first three books, is 600 pages, give or take. It's at the upper limit of comfortable "holdability" as a print book, at least for me.

Twelve Points and Royals/Ramblers are the next two books, slated for V2, but the problem is that they are the two longest books, and Royals/Ramblers is a beast. Combined, they're about 750 pages, which is already larger than V1. But they're also only two books, which is not really what I think of when I think "omnibus".

So I could just combine Twelve Points and Royals/Ramblers, call it an omnibus, and not worry so damn much. Or I could also add in the short stories (Dinner At The Palace) which would add only 50 pages but make it seem like a lot more content. I hadn't intended to include the short stories in the compilation volumes, but there's no actual reason I shouldn't, except that people may have bought the short stories thinking I wouldn't put them in the omnibus.

It's just, then the damn thing is 800 pages (ETA: not sure how I did the math wrong but I just threw all three into a word doc and it's 890 pages) compared to the first volume's 600 pages. I don't think it'll bop the price up too much, especially now that Amazon's no longer got its gross fingers in there hiking the price artificially, but I think that moves it from "book" to "murder weapon".

IDK, wondering what you guys think. Would you rather have an "omnibus" with only two books in it but manageable size, or an omnibus with three books in it that you could use as a booster seat for a small child?

SHIVADH OMNIBUS V2:

Just the two novels; I have normal human hands

Include the short stories; I have a list of people to murder

I have a suggestion in comments / Show me results

Voting ended onFeb 20, 2024