Tag Archives: books

August 11, 2025 · 10:30 am

Infinitas Publishing – Status Report

Time for the April through mid-August Infinitas Publishing status report! 📋

Despite this primarily being during the so-called “chaos months” (in this case, lots of things happening that disrupt routine… including a couple of “meh” life events that weren’t planned, of which one is still ongoing), a lot of stuff got done, and I’m excited to go back through my planner and record it all here. 😁

The chaos months are only sort of over, but we’ve finished the big move and brought home a cat, so that’s one relief. (I even figured out where to put the fancy printer so I could prep for the June events!)

I’ve highlighted the projects that had changes in blue.

Warning… there’s a lot. (That’s a good thing!)

* * *

Changing Tides: (Book 4 of the Distant Horizon series). On hold while working on The Dark Forest of Aneth. Next step is to merge the two revised drafts and start writing the missing scenes.

Betrayed (Deceived #2): I’ve posted the launch review! If you’re looking for a deep dive into my launch process for this book, that’s the post to read.

Next up, revising Deceived #3 (tentatively titled Exposed).

Other future steps: Input Isaac’s notes from Deceived #5 (formerly #4) into the manuscript, revise Deceived #5, and revise #6 (formerly #5) before handing it to Isaac for his feedback.

Dossiers (Deceived Spin-off): I continued this story a bit further, adding two more chapters before completion. This also included adding a Daz render and dossier for Agent Shepherd. I’ve also done one more revision pass, but I feel something else needs added before formatting and sending it out to beta-readers.

While I was originally thinking I’d make this exclusive for newsletter subscribers, I’m now leaning toward making it a free or 99cent “1.5” book available in the Deceived series.

Multiverse Chronicles (Distant Horizon Universe Spin-off): I’ve started sharing this with the Distant Horizon Universe newsletter! After several years of being relegated to the back burner, the prologue and first seven chapters have been fully revised, edited in ProWritingAid, and sent out to newsletter subscribers. Fortunately, the majority of this has been edited already, with the exception of one chapter that Isaac and I both somehow missed writing, so it mostly just needs light revisions.

TWB 4: (Book Four of The Wishing Blade series). On hold. Next step is to add the remaining outline to Scrivener, review that outline for missing plot points, and then write the rough draft.

Legends of Cirena Volume One Ebook Cover

The Legends of Cirena Volume One (Collection of books 1-6): Released! (Including on Google Play and Smashwords, which I hadn’t uploaded previously).

I did a small launch of paid promos (which I still need to analyze), as well as sent extra book details to the Wishing Blade universe newsletter for each included story.

The Dark Forest of Aneth (“Ro’nor (“The Restless Sands of Neel”) & Zynia (“The Dragons of the Mist”) cross-over / A Legends of Cirena short novel): While this was on hold during the early chaos months, my goal was to finish the missing scenes during July. Which happened!

I completed a round of revisions on the already-written scenes, added in the missing scenes, and input ProWritingAid’s Manuscript Analysis feedback, with a few notes left behind for future tweaks.

I’ve been letting it sit for a couple weeks before I begin the next stage of revisions. Then it’ll be ready for ProWritingAid edits, any final AutoCrit Analysis tweaks, and then it’s off to beta-readers!

Other Goals: Revisit the book cover concept. Create a blurb. Polish the related poem/ballad so it can be included as back matter.

The Ruins of Amixthael (The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear Spin-Off): I’ve completed a full revision pass of the original six chapters, and drafted intermediary chapters for a secondary character (four complete, two to go, with one of those being outlined but not drafted). Those will still need polishing edits in ProWritingAid.

Additionally… while it’s not decided for certain, the secondary character’s perspective might allow me to start foreshadowing a much larger antagonist that appears later in the Wishing Blade world. (*Squee!*)

There’s a strong chance that this is going to be part of a new arc in the Legends of Cirena series (The Dark Forest of Aneth will conclude the previous arc while also laying the foundation for the new arc).

Future goals: Polish cover. Create blurb.

Untitled LoC Short Story (Standalone – Merchant in Reveratch): This story concluded with seven chapters, so I have drafted, polished and sent two additional chapters to the Wishing Blade Universe newsletter since the last update.

I’ve set aside the current manuscript so I can fully review it later with a fresh set of eyes. This is another story which will likely be part of the next Legends of Cirena arc.

Goals: Figure out a title. Create book cover and blurb. Polish the related poem/ballad so it can be included as back matter.

Untitled LoC Novella (Standalone – Twins in Ferta): I’ve outlined the next story to appear in the Wishing Blade Universe newsletter (5,400 words). I am really excited about the possibility for this one to connect with the larger Litkanston War arc, because I finally, finally get to introduce Lord Nomca. And it’s not even exactly a cameo, like I originally expected (he’s briefly referenced in the Wishing Blade series, but hadn’t yet made an appearance in any other stories). I’m currently working on chapter six, and the full draft (being revised/edited as each chapter goes out to the newsletter) is 13,300 words. I’m definitely expecting this to go into novella-length territory, if not that of a short novel. Six of the chapters have already been sent to the newsletter.

The Wind Mage and the Wolf Spin-Off (A Legends f Cirena short story) : I made some progress to Joran’s short story! I’ve revised what was already there and made note of a couple spots that still need work. Additionally, I’ve started cross-referencing the final scene in The Wind Mage and the Wolf from Joran’s point of view.

This will go to newsletter subscribers first, but I may make it a “7.5” story in the Legends of Cirena arc.

Goals: Edit in ProWritingAid, read-aloud, proofread. Book cover and blurb.

Huntress 3: On hold. Next step is to finish re-reading Changeling to make notes on the series guide, finalize the cover (proof created), and create a detailed outline.

Horse Shifter Romantasy (Maybe???) : This one was a surprise to me, too. 🐎

Unrelated to any of my current story worlds, this one got a lot farther along than I ever expected it to. (Thank a co-worker talking about fanfiction and me happening to be processing a book with a horse on its cover at the time). But it’s been a nice “refresher” story that’s allowed me to go running into the weeds with world-building ideas without falling down a rabbit hole in the other worlds (which often happens during chaos months when I can’t put my full attention on any particular project).

It currently has a 5,500 word outline, with additional details on the side. I’ve been using AutoCrit’s analysis features to figure out where I’m missing crucial beats and what details could still use fleshing out, and let me tell you, I’m excited for the world, the magic system, and the characters (and I think the characters might even actually be following the romance beats they’re supposed to, though that’s an area I notably have trouble writing).

If this gets written, it’s going to be because I wanted the challenge of writing a romance-focused story with really strong worldbuilding elements that tie directly into the plot.

Other Stories: I wrote a flash fiction short that I posted to Substack. This one was based on a picture Isaac created:

I also did a revision pass for the YA Alien Invasion/Dystopian story, which does need a bit more work before I’m ready to release it. The next step is to review the AutoCrit analysis to see if there’s any feedback I want to input before the next stage.

I also discovered there’s a fantasy anthology I’m interested in submitting to, so I’ve been outlining possible short story ideas I might use for my submission. I’ve got two so far:

  • One involves a grumpy sorcerer who wants to be left alone, and a sorceress who’s stuck in the form of a bat-winged squirrel and steals his pears to drag him out of his garden. Definitely a short story.
  • The other is a “love-wins-in-the-end” story involving refugees fleeing from evil ice mages whose single-minded fear/hatred has narrowed their magic to one purpose, and the refugees find support within a protective community whose magic hasn’t become so narrowly focused. Pretty sure this one is itching to be a novella.

Game Design: Not a whole lot of new updates for Anchor, but Isaac did a bit more prototype work and we’ve acquired a few more test pieces for future prototype testing.

He also reviewed our Legends of Cirena game and made notes for a shorter version of the game, and we went over some possible changes for a future edition of Battle Decks (and I like these changes, because while it’s still a war game, a new morale mechanic puts more emphasis on keeping your characters alive rather than using secondary characters as canon fodder).

Testing AutoCrit: I did a two-week trial of AutoCrit, a writing software with an analytical feature I’ve been wanting to try for a while. Mostly I uploaded previously completed manuscripts into its Story Analyzer tool to see how it did at finding loose plot threads, with hopes that it might make writing later books easier if I can quickly review what’s happened previously. Seemed to be potential there, and I liked its Story Builder tool for being able to analyze missing plot beats, so I went ahead and subscribed for a month.

Afterward, I finally went in for a year on this, because I rather like its Story Builder feature for organizing my thoughts, and because I like being able to write a chapter and then analyze it for potential issues (though I’ll admit that its analysis features are a bit hit and miss).

Additionally, while first exploring the AutoCrit Story Builder analysis features (not so much the generation features), I started exploring what I’m temporarily calling the “Greedy Adventurer” story idea, which now has a very loose outline but may influence Litkanston history within the Wishing Blade universe.

That said, because the AutoCrit tools (and the ProWritingAid chapter critique tool I like) does use Generative AI, I crafted an AI use policy so others can easily see how I do and don’t use AI.

Long story short, I don’t use generative AI for images or creating/writing the actual story, but at this point in time I do use writing-specialized genAI tools for the purpose of analyzing what I’ve already written and occasionally trying to brainstorm through a block.

As a note… I have also been trying to see what other AI features might be useful in analysis, helping organize my thoughts when it comes to quickly finding what I’ve already written, or searching for comp titles of books that I might not have considered previously. The AI policy goes more into that.

Still no plans to use it for image generation, however.

Marketing: The last several months had far less focus on marketing than the previous month. Meanwhile, these are some of the recent projects:

  • Amazon Ads same as usual, the ones that were already running and one extra as a test.
  • I created a list of my books by publication and word count for my personal use. Eventually I want to create a simple web page guide.
  • I did some research on various book pricing strategies, and I might update book prices in the near future.
  • I scheduled Initiated for a BookFunnel promo that ran in May and July, and I scheduled promos for June and August with Stone and String. It’s all scheduled and ready to send. I’ve also started doing author book swaps again where we exchange books to highlight in our newsletters.
  • The newsletters have been going out on time with their respective stories, so yay for that! (Apparently having one story in progress, and one that only needs revisions on a chapter-by-chapter basis, is working really well for me). I also finally did a scrub to remove subscribers who haven’t opened any of the newsletters in over a year.
  • I updated the design for the Distant Horizon Universe book pages on the Infinitas Publishing website. Minor tweaks, but should ultimately look better once all the details are in place (Goal is to add sample pages, Goodreads/BookBub links, additional book info, etc).
  • I kept up with Infinitas Publishing accounting through May… woot! Now it needs updated again.
  • I created my first book-themed quiz, and created a new “Extras” page on the Infinitas Publishing website! Check out the “Which of our series should you start with?” quiz!
  • I finally finished setting up the Payhip/Stripe Store accounts and linked them to BookFunnel, and I even created pages for the first six Legends of Cirena ebooks! They can now be purchased directly from me.
  • I tinkered with the idea of audiobooks, and I recorded chapter one of The Wind Mage of Maijev and tested editing the recording using Audacity. Thus far, I think if I plan to proceed with the process, I’ll likely need to re-record that chapter for better enunciation on my part. No big plans for that at this point.
  • I’ve been trying to get back into writing and marketing research, both with reading articles and listening to more podcasts and webinars. I picked up the Newsletter Ninja’s “Launch to Your List” course and I’m working on revamping upcoming book launches.

Next up: Continue updating the design of individual Infinitas Publishing book pages. Continue adding sample chapters to the BookFunnel sales pages for each book, and then to the main Infinitas Publishing website. Add BookBub and Goodreads links to each landing page. Update my author bio across the different retailers. Continue adding books to the Stripe store for direct sales. Revise Amazon ads, and overhaul book categories, keywords, and blurbs.

Substack – Sporadic posting at the moment, due to the chaos months, though I did get a couple more writing tip roundups posted. I also created a Tip Jar.

Weekly(ish) Writing Tip Round-Ups:

Crafting Your Fictional World:

A while back I’d started writing a non-fiction book focused on world-building, and while I haven’t made much more progress in that regards, I did post a couple of the chapters to Substack.

Repurposing Old Newsletter Content:

For a while now, I’ve been considering going back through my older newsletters and repurposing some of the behind-the-scenes content. I got the extra push to move forward with this plan upon learning that blog content is not only good for SEO (whee… the search engines can find you and point more readers your direction, yay!), but might also be good in the age of AI search engines, which seem to be interested in context when doing searches. And sense more search engines are moving to AI-powered searches… yeah. Now I get to have fun revisiting those older newsletters and updating them for the blog. (And this actually is fun for me. The content’s already there, and just needs revising, so it’s cool seeing what I did in the past for newsletters and what I might want to start doing again).

Events: June was busy with three events. Two we vended at, and the third was a writing workshop that we attended.

UP Rainbow Pride (Marquette) – June 14th

Lots of fun, and we tested a more condensed display with our SIFlint Art (the dragons) at the front to draw people in. To our surprise, the tote bags did really well (I need to order more of the yarn dragon now), and this definitely did better this year than last. We even had someone come looking for book two in a series. Yay!

The booth at UP Rainbow Pride

Writers of Warrensburg Workshop – June 22nd

We got a chance to reconnect with friends from Missouri in what was a combination trip to visit family, attend the writing workshop, and return to Michigan with our new cat, Baby Girl Neelix.

The workshop was a lot of fun, with three presentations and four great presenters, and a lot of helpful information. Plus, we got to participate in the author signing after.

An orange cat in a harness sits between car seats.

Hancock Pride Market – June 29th

Because we didn’t have a local artist alley for Pride month, one of our friends put together an awesome local pride market that ended up being lots of fun, one of my favorite setups we’ve tried (grids to the max, and condensed setup!) and I’m definitely hoping this happens again next year.

Stephanie and Isaac stand in front of their booth at the Hancock Pride Market.

SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: Mostly on hold for the moment, though I did do a photoshoot of my new houseplants I acquired from plant-sitting. I have chosen the ones for editing and done basic edits, but I still need to finish the bigger edits and send them to their previous owner.

I might also have another formatting project coming soon.

Future Goals: Update the SBibbPhoto website to incorporate Daz work and fix the SEO information. Finish designing cute mascot for a local store. Finish editing photos for a local Aikido group.

SIFlint Art: I finally got to print my shiny (literally, it’s on metallic paper!) dragon display!

I even printed my own business cards this time around. Wasn’t perfect (not happy with the paper chipping at the edges) but I’m still pretty satisfied with them.

Plus… Isaac made a shiny new self-serve sticker display! It’s been really nice so far (though we need to hot glue the back string on so it’ll stop falling off).

Goals: Finish the line-art for a bag-hoarding dragon, do a fun commission for a friend, and order new merch for upcoming events.

Daz PA: Though on hold for most of the chaos month, I’ve now returned to working on projects! Everything been updated to make it easier to work again, and I’m really glad Isaac and I made a Standard Operating Procedure for making poses last year. That really helped to fast-track me back to work on these.

I’ve finished reviewing the poses of the Leadership set Isaac started, which are ready for thumbnails. There’s been a bit of a hang-up on this one, however, because I’m hoping to include props… and it’s been a little while since I’ve done any 3D modeling. I’ve started designing a podium to go with the poses, but I need to review how to use Substance Painter so that the model (which is complete) looks decent.

In the meantime, I’ve started a “Cursed Expedition” centaur set that I’ve started making thumbnails for. Next step is to finish the thumbnails and create promo art.

Goals: Find collaborator for Genesis 9 Diverse Worlds set and complete the Ankylosaurus Rider pose set Isaac started. Maybe complete snow and ice texture pack idea?

* * *

Happy writing and reading (Or 3D rendering if you’re into Daz)! 🙂

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July 12, 2025 · 5:20 pm

Madia’s Plans

I’m finally getting around to repurposing some of my older newsletter sneak peeks and behind the scenes notes into blog posts!

To start with, we’ll delve into the lore of the Wishing Blade Universe…

I have a lot of fun when working on the world of the Wishing Blade, both with Cirena, and with the Cantingen Islands. While Cirena is the mainland, the Cantingen Islands are to its southeastern shore, though more distant than my map would suggest.

A grayscale fantasy map primarily focused on Cirena.
This is an older version of the map, but not the earliest version of the map.
  • First, Cirena does tend to be a bit Cirena-centric.
  • Second, my sense of scale when I originally designed the map was not great. But I was thirteen… so… yeah… Later map designs have gotten considerably more realistic.
  • Third, I already published it so I’m going to role with my mistakes and, despite Cirena being roughly the size of Missouri and still having a large degree of biome diversity, it’s totally fine because there are mythological reasons that I will eventually get to in later stories and that I’ve already started hinting at in the Legends of Cirena stories.

Speaking of which, one of the aspects I find so enjoyable when writing fantasy is the magic systems, and today, I’m going to focus on word magic. Mostly because word magic means I get to create a language. (For better or worse, because I probably should be writing when I’m busy translating in-world poetry into Cantingen. You get to see the results of that in Wind and Words.

Anyway, I thought it might be fun to examine a few tidbits regarding the Cantingen language.

Let’s look at Madia… the goddess of the dead. In Cirena, they call her Madiya… slight pronunciation difference due to regional separation.

But in the Cantingen language, madi is a verb that means “to plan,” “to set a course,” or “to plot.”

Conjugated, it looks something like this:

Madia – I plan

Madiat – You plan (a human “you”)

Madian – You plan (imperative, used for word magic purposes)

Madion – He plans

Madiol – She plans

…and there’s actually several other conjugated forms, but for now I’ll spare you the details.

So, Madia’s name literally translates to “I plan.”

Is it any wonder, then, that everyone from the Cantingen Islands is always going on about her plans?

* * *

A spell to infuriate the goddess of the dead…

Read more about Madia and word magic in the Stone and String series:

Book cover for Stone and String
Book Cover for Wind and Words

* * *

Happy reading and writing!

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April 27, 2025 · 3:54 pm

Betrayed Launch Overview

For Betrayed, the first new book I’d launched (aside from a coloring book and omnibus print edition) since Starless Night (November 2021)… I wanted to give it the full launch. But with a little over three years since the last big launch (which had me double and triple checking my math because where did that time go?) I had some catching up to do, some notes to revisit, and whole new systems to build.

This post is where I do a post-mortem of the launch so I can see what I intended to do, versus what actually happened.

SBibb - Betrayed Cover

First off…

The Marketing Plan List – I made myself a list. It wasn’t a list of any particular order, but it was what I referenced every time I had time to work on the launch but couldn’t remember what needed to happen next. Anytime I thought of something that needed to be done for the launch, I added it to this sheet.

Analysis
I want to make a more streamlined version of this list for future projects, though I’ll expect it to be messy each time. Also, this eventually got spread across two or three sheets.

This list was very helpful with keeping me on track.

Let’s see what all ended up on that list. I attempted to somewhat organize these into logical categories, though they most definitely weren’t organized on my original sheet.

Goal – I created a goal for myself so that I could focus on what needed to happen and make choices based on that goal. This time it was: “Funnel readers into newsletter through Deceived and catch interest for rest of the series.”

Analysis
Most of my early setup was focused on this goal. It appears I added three organic subscribers to my list via this method.

Something needs to be adjusted here. Further analysis will need to occur to figure out where the hangup is. (Marketing? Branding? Writing style?)

Newsletter

Review DHU Newsletter Automation – I wanted to make sure the current automation I had set up in MailerLite was 1) still functional and 2) up-to-date.

Analysis
Complete! I did find a couple things that needed updated… namely in regards to author bios since Isaac had finished his PhD.

Subscriber Landing Page for Initiated – Turns out I already had this set up on MailerLite, but it did need updated.

Analysis
In the future, I’d like to create a landing page that isn’t specific to MailerLite. That way if I ever need to switch email list hosts, I don’t have to remember to update the back matter of every book with that page.

Test Initiated Subscriber Page – Since I updated the sequence, I wanted to make sure that the automations were all working correctly.

Analysis
Had to swipe Isaac’s email for testing, but so far, so good!

Deceived Updates

Fix Backmatter in Deceived – I updated the newsletter info and subscriber page URL, and added a page for Betrayed, now that I had the info for that.

Analysis
Reviewing the backmatter was useful for checking how it might funnel readers through the series, since I hadn’t reviewed it in over three years.

Review Deceived Blurb – I wanted to update the blurb to be stronger, but with time running out, I decided it was fine for now.

Analysis
I would like to update the blurb eventually, but it didn’t happen for this launch.

Upload updated Deceived ebook at all retailers – With the backmatter updated, I wanted to make sure it was uploaded to all retailers.

Analysis
Complete! And it was here that I realized I had somehow missed adding Deceived to Google Play. That’s now been fixed.

Set Price of Deceived to Free – Since I wanted to run a promotion on Deceived in order to draw attention to the Betrayed launch, I needed to set this to free.

Analysis
For the stores with price change promo systems… super easy. For KDP I set it to 99cents first, in case I had trouble swapping it (though it did mean that the “regular price” shown was not what it will ultimately return to), and then set it to free at all other stores. I created a list of Kobo links at the different territories I wanted Amazon to price-match, then sent them the email asking for the change. It took a couple days, but swapped over nicely. (Now I just have to remember to update the price… and the royalty percentage… when the promo ends).

Promotions

Review Paid Newsletter Info and Choose Submissions – Several years ago I used to run paid ads in a variety of newsletters that showcased free and discounted ebooks. I had made a list of those most likely to work for my books, as well as detail about what they accepted, price, and various other notes.

Analysis
I updated the most promising choices on the list and removed ones that were no longer applicable. I ended up choosing four newsletters (small and medium size) to stay under my $50 budget for the launch, and I’m promoting Deceived in them while it’s free. I ran one before the launch, one day of, and a couple spread out after. I paid $44 for various promos, and earned back $33 across all books on all retailers during the start of the promos to two weeks after the last promo ran.

There are several other newsletters on my list I still need to update.

Kobo Ad – Kobo has a promotion tab for various promotions, which I’ve submitted to in the past.

Analysis
I didn’t realize it at the time, but since I already had a specialty price promotion scheduled for the book, it was not eligible for the usual promos I apply to. I ended up passing on this promo this time.

Book Funnel Promos – I originally planned to place Initiated (newsletter exclusive prequel to Deceived) in a few Book Funnel group promos, or possibly make a couple niche promos of my own.

Analysis
Ran out of time to set these up and ensure they would get promoted in my newsletters. I’ll still likely do these in the future, just not part of the launch. Additionally, I need to work out a better system of transferring subscribers to my newsletters. (There is an automated version, but this costs more).

Update Subscribers from Mailchimp – There are still a few straggler signup pages that I’ve missed from Mailchimp, so I need to periodically check the lists for anyone new, then transfer them to the correct list.

Analysis
Not yet complete. Additionally, I need to figure out where the sign-up sheets are hosted that are still funneling into the Mailchimp list.

Upload Subscribers from BookFunnel – This is more of a periodic endeavor, since I don’t have the automated subscription. However, since I haven’t been running consistent giveaway promos through BookFunnel, this tends to get overlooked.

Analysis
I’d like to get back to a consistent practice with BookFunnel giveaways and find a smoother way to make sure I get subscribers uploaded into MailerLite.

Write a DHU short story for the launch – I wanted to make a related short story for the launch, something that those who were already familiar with the universe could enjoy, and something that might entice readers who hadn’t yet read the stories (or only read the freebies) to go try something else from the universe.

Analysis
I had a few ideas in mind, though the main ideas I had seemed a better fit for the next book in the series. Ultimately, I decided to create a set of “dossiers” on each of the characters from Deceived, with a “school ID” style photo and short passage from the point of view of an upcoming antagonist. Stuff that’s happening behind the scenes during Betrayed. I got two complete and sent out during launch. The other three planned ones needed to be completed later and sent out in the regular newsletters. Ultimately I hope to compile them into a mini ebook that can go in the Newsletter Subscriber bonus section.

Update:

Dossiers completed with eight chapters, and six dossiers, and the final chapters goes out in an email on April 27th (three months after the launch…) I’m additionally considering whether to only have this as a newsletter bonus story or to also make it a “1.5” story available for free or 99 cents.

Newsletter Subscriber Bonus Page Updates – I wanted to better organize the bonus page, which is currently a giant gallery of art thumbnails. I also wanted to add some of the flash fiction short stories that I’ve sent out to the newsletters.

Analysis
Not yet complete, but something I would still like to update. Will probably need to decide how to better organize that page.

Betrayed

Upload Betrayed to Retailers and set Pre-Order – I chose the pre-order date of January 28th, 2025, and waited until I had the book complete and ready to upload before creating the different retailer pages. I did this around the two week to release mark.

Analysis
This took a few steps since Smashwords still needs its own version of the table of contents and I had to create the Google Play version of Deceived, first. But it otherwise went smoothly, and I have since learned that Amazon takes the D2D epub for Kindle, which looks great, so I’ll probably switch to that method from the previous method of creating a ZIP file.

Upload Betrayed to all Distributors – I made a list of all distributors (KDP, Kobo, Google Play, Smashwords, D2D, BookFunnel) so that I could easily mark when I had updated the backmatter to Deceived and when I had uploaded Betrayed. I also used it for BookBub and Goodreads.

Analysis
This was very helpful for keeping track of everything.

Create BookFunnel Sales Page – I intended to create a sales page with links to all retailers as something that would let me create a sample that would then point to where readers could find the rest of the book.

Analysis
This didn’t get completed, however, I did create a Books2Read page and updated the one for Deceived, and that was extremely useful for my newsletter. I definitely want to review the other universal links I have for future use and make this link for future books.

Add Pre-Order Links to Infinitas Publishing Page – Once the ebook was uploaded to a retailer and had gone live, I added the link to the landing page on our Infinitas Publishing website. I had a “coming soon” note beside any of the links that I was still working on uploading or hadn’t yet gone live.

Analysis
Complete!

Marketing

Betrayed Blurb – I wanted to review the Book Blurb Magic course notes I had and create a blurb for Betrayed.

Analysis – Complete! It may still need revisions long term, but I got both the blurb and the shorter pitch version written.

IP Website Page for Betrayed – I needed to create the landing page for betrayed on the Infinitas Publishing website, which meant I first needed the cover (all variants already created a while back when I did the early release on Wattpad), and the blurb. Initially I simply listed the pre-order date since I didn’t yet have links. This also meant creating the appropriate links on the world and series pages.

Analysis
I still would like to add a link to sample pages, as well as include Goodreads and BookBub links on all books. Also, it really helped having the cover already made, so I would like to lean toward finishing the cover and blurb earlier in various projects so I can get these pages uploaded sooner.

Check Backmatter of Distant Horizon and Glitch books – The idea was to make sure their backmatter is up to date.

Analysis
This did not get done, but I would still like to do this before the next related launch.

Backmatter for Initiated – I wanted to check that all backmatter was up-to-date.

Analysis
Complete.

Make sure Whispers in the Code is set to free – This is a permafree book, and since it is related, I wanted to ensure it would still be available for free. (Amazon has a habit of unmatching the prices after so much time on different territories).

Analysis
I checked both Whispers in the Code and The Wind Mage of Maijev in all the links and sent my template email to KDP to ask for a price match in the necessary territories. I also created myself a private web page with clickable links to make it easier to check each territory. That made it super easy (and didn’t make it so hard to load tabs on a browser as I’ve done previously), so I plan to make more lists for any future books that need to be checked for price matching.

KDP A+ Content – Since I’ve already been making art for the newsletters, I was planning to transfer some of that art into A+ content (the image promotions on a book page) on Amazon.

Analysis
Ran out of time for now, and still need to make some of the art I’d like to, but I still want to give this a try, at least for first-in-series books.

Deceived Free Social Media Announcement – Goal was to post variations of the same announcement I made in my newsletter to this blog and Facebook, and Instagram.

Analysis
Complete, except for Instagram. Not sure how much impact it had.

Betrayed Pre-Order Social Media Announcement – Goal was to post variations of the same announcement I made in my newsletter to this blog and Facebook, and Instagram.

Analysis
Complete, except for Instagram. Not sure how much impact it had.

Betrayed Launch Day Social Media Announcement – Goal was to post variations of the same announcement I made in my newsletter to this blog and Facebook, and Instagram.

Analysis
Complete, except for Instagram. Also posted to X/Twitter. Not sure how much impact it had.

Review Goodreads and BookBub Pages – Some of the books need to have their updated covers added, or duplicate entries merged.

Analysis
Ran out of time to complete this. I’d still like to do this at some point in the near future.

Improve Keywords – In general I’d like to review all books and improve their keywords for retailer search functions.

Analysis
Ran out time, not yet complete.

Add BookBub and Goodreads link to Infinitas Publishing Website Pages – This hasn’t yet been added to any of the books, but I think it would be helpful for readers looking to read reviews, so I wanted to get these links added to the website.

Analysis
Not yet started. I’ll likely do this after I get the book covers updated on those websites.

Advance Reader Copies

Create ARC Request Form – As it had been a while since I had sent out ARCs (advance reader copies), I put out a call for interested reviewers to the Distant Horizon Universe newsletter. In order to simplify things, I created a simple Google form that allowed me to collect responses, and I uploaded them manually into MailerLite.

Analysis
I realized from doing this that I already had an ARC list (as well as a beta-reader list, which needs to be transferred to MailerLite and updated). So I updated the form I already had and transferred the ARC list. This should go smoother next time since it’s already set to go, though I may put out another call in the future for ARC readers both in the Distant Horizon newsletter and in the Wishing Blade newsletter. I also hope to push this much earlier in the launch process for future launches.

Ask for ARC Readers – I mailed the Distant Horizon Universe newsletter list, as well as anyone who indicated interest on the previous list, and offered ebook copies of both Betrayed and Deceived. First, I uploaded the necessary files for Betrayed and the updated file for Deceived into BookFunnel and used those links for ease of use.

Analysis
I did do a reminder email after a few days for anyone interested in signing up for the ARC who hadn’t done so yet, which had one person show interest. However, my newsletter host shows that they never checked the follow-up email, so I don’t know if they were still interested. I’ll likely try follow-up reminders again in the future, but if they have similar results, I may hold up on follow-ups after that.

Create Follow-up ARC email with details – I created an email to automatically go out on the day of the launch with all updated links and to let ARC readers know that the book was live.

Analysis
I’m not sure if this is helpful for them or not, but since it’s basically an updated form of an already-written email, I’ll probably do this again next time, too.

Create ARC Thank You Email – Originally I planned on crafting a standard thank you email as a template to start with whenever a reviewer might respond to let me know they had posted their review.

Analysis
I ended up just writing a direct response. They’re already quick, and this way I can personalize my response easier.

Refresh Beta-Reader List – After updating the ARC list, I realized I had a beta-reader list that I hadn’t transferred from Mailchimp when I switched email hosts. My intent was to transfer the list.

Analysis
Ran out of time; not complete. I would like to complete this before my next launch, however, so I can send out a call for beta-readers for the next book.

One thing I learned was that it really did take me the whole month to set everything up for launch, and even then I didn’t complete everything I hoped to. Still, there are several systems now in place that weren’t there previously, so that should help for next time.

Anyway, I hope this overview has something of use to you as well. 🙂

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April 22, 2025 · 6:53 am

🎉 The Legends of Cirena Volume One Ebook is here!

🥳 Happy eBook Birthday, Legends of Cirena Volume One! 🎉

Though the print edition has been available for a couple years, I’ve finally compiled the ebook edition!

(I don’t know why I didn’t compile it sooner… ebooks are usually easier to format than print versions.)

In the meantime, let’s toast (I choose coffee!) to the new book! ☕

🗨️ Here’s what reviewers are saying so far:

“Although all the stories are set in the same world and are deeply shaped by it, they blend the common fantasy with a variety of different genres, from the espionage thriller of ‘Scars of Her Past’ to the dark adventure of ‘The Cursed Halls of Kalecen’. This balance of commonality and difference means readers who enjoy one story are unlikely to find the others utterly not to their taste, while those who approach the collection in a single sitting are unlikely to wish for greater variety.” ~ Dave H.

Legends of Cirena Volume One is now available at most major online retailers! 😀

~ Legends of Cirena Volume One ~

Legends of Cirena Volume One Ebook Cover

Brave a storm. Fool a gryphon. Mount a perilous rescue.
Become legend.

Explore the lives of legends in this fantasy collection of six stand-alone short stories and novellas from the world of Cirena!

A wind mage hides from a storm in a city that hates mages in
The Wind Mage of Maijev.
A shapeshifting thief must outwit a treasure-loving gryphon in
The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear.
A “dragon” uses scrying magic to help a child rescue his family from slavers in
The Restless Sands of Neel.
A duelist confronts a deranged god of justice to protect his student in
The Cursed Halls of Kalecen.
A merchant with a terrible secret must aid a former enemy to save the city in
The Scars of Her Past,
and a priestess searches for a lost traveler in the isolated realm of dragons in
The Dragons of the Mist.

The legends begin . . .

Grab the Legends of Cirena Volume One ebook for only $9.99!
(Save $5 by buying the ebook box set compared to buying each story individually)

Ebook

Amazon (US) | Amazon (UK) | Apple Books | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | Kobo | Smashwords | Hoopla

Paperback

Amazon (US) | Amazon (UK)

Happy reading! 📚

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April 15, 2025 · 10:42 am

Crafting Your Fictional World: Adding Flavor to Your Story

A couple years ago, I started working on a non-fiction project:

Crafting Your Fictional World: A Guide for Writers and Gamemasters

While I had several chapters written (And I’ve done a two-hour long workshop a few times at the local art center!) it’s mostly sat on the back burner.

Originally, I wanted to make the chapters part of a subscription setup with monthly chapters and exercises and cool stuff… but I’ve found my process isn’t consistent enough at this point to make sure I have enough chapters ready to go all at once.

So…

I decided to post chapters on my Substack, free to read with an attached tip jar if anyone is so inclined to buy me a coffee. The chapters don’t exactly do anyone any good sitting in my storage. 😅

Today, I’ve released the first chapter: Adding Flavor to Your Story.

Interested in world-building and writing tips? Go have a look. 😊

And in the meantime, this is the cover for said in-progress book:

Happy reading and writing!

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April 7, 2025 · 1:00 pm

Infinitas Publishing – Status Report

Time for the March-April Infinitas Publishing status report! 📋

I had hoped to put this out sooner, but between vacation and then a second unplanned trip a few days later, this is coming out a little later than expected.

Lots happening, though, even with the chaos months having begun.

I’ve highlighted the projects that had changes in blue.

* * *

Changing Tides: (Book 4 of the Distant Horizon series). While no revisions were made on the draft, Isaac and I did discuss the climax of the series and possible options regarding the final battle. Additionally, some ideas were tossed around in regards to how the future of that world might look, which could affect what foreshadowing I focus on.

Otherwise, this is on hold while working on The Dark Forest of Aneth. Next step is to merge the two revised drafts and start writing the missing scenes.

SBibb - Betrayed Cover

Betrayed (Deceived #2): I still need to finalize the post reviewing the launch for Betrayed, but I did start the process of making notes on the sales as related to promos with the exception of the sales I was still waiting to see finalized.

Next up, revising Deceived #3 (tentatively titled Exposed).

Other future steps: Input Isaac’s notes from Deceived #5 (formerly #4) into the manuscript, revise Deceived #5, and revise #6 (formerly #5) before handing it to Isaac for his feedback.

Dossiers (Deceived Spin-off): This is a short story I started during the Betrayed launch that, per usual, took on a life of its own. I not only included character bios for the main group of Deceived, I also included a running short story involving a future antagonist, Agent Shepherd. I’ve sent an episode at a time to Distant Horizon newsletter subscribers.

Since the previous status report, I’ve sent episodes for Nia, Erin, Luuk, an an additional chapter focused on Luuk’s brother. Currently I’m debating whether to continue the story a bit further or end it there.

Once complete, I’ll likely edit it to have as a bonus for newsletter subscribers. I haven’t decided if I’ll publish it separately.

Multiverse Chronicles (Distant Horizon Universe Spin-off): I dusted off the Scrivener file and made revisions to the prologue. I may be sharing this soon with the Distant Horizon Universe newsletter.

TWB 4: (Book Four of The Wishing Blade series). On hold. Next step is to add the remaining outline to Scrivener, review that outline for missing plot points, and then write the rough draft.

The Legends of Cirena – Collaborative Adventure Facebook Group: On hiatus. There’s a possibility I might move this concept to the Wishing Blade Universe newsletter, but that’s just a vague idea at this point.

The Legends of Cirena Volume One (Collection of books 1-6): This was one of the unplanned projects that I had in my list of maybe-get-done during chaos months. I already released the print edition a while back, but I hadn’t yet compiled the ebook edition.

Good news: I finally completed the ebook version!

I’ve created the Infinitas Publishing page for it, uploaded the ebook to most of the online retailers (with the exception of Google Play, which will be coming soon, and Smashwords, which needs a small file adjustment) and started preparing to send out ARC files.

The ebook version will release on April 22nd!

Next up: Create a launch week plan and order newsletter promos? (I’ve chosen a few but haven’t yet ordered them).

The Dark Forest of Aneth (“Ro’nor (“The Restless Sands of Neel”) & Zynia (“The Dragons of the Mist”) cross-over / A Legends of Cirena short novel): I essentially completed my goal for February, which was to finish another round of revisions and write the missing chapters. Woot!

However, there were more missing chapters than I realized. So I got the amount of work done as intended (plus a couple extra chapters), but there are at least two more chapters that need added, as well as heavy-duty revisions to the new chapters and another light revision pass after all that.

Additionally, I tested ProWritingAid’s new Manuscript Analysis feature, which provided both the suggestions I already intended to implement, as well as ones I hadn’t considered previously. So I intend to look over those in the next pass, too.

Goals: Revisit the book cover concept. Create a blurb.

The Ruins of Amixthael (The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear Spin-Off): I’ve started the continuity revisions. So far the first two chapters are complete. I’ve also drafted a Daz render for the cover. It needs a bit more work before I render the final version for Photoshop editing and the title.

Untitled LoC Short Story (Standalone – Merchant in Reveratch): I’ve drafted, polished and sent three more chapters to the Wishing Blade Universe newsletter. (We’re now on chapter five). Despite having an outline, this one is turning out longer than expected, but I’ve been having a lot of fun exploring this particular area of Cirena (both Reveratch and the Immortal Realm). I anticipate at least two more chapters before completion.

Additionally, I’ve been working on a related poem/ballad that explores the lore as related to this particular story. I haven’t decided yet if it’ll make it into the story.

The Wind Mage and the Wolf (“Livena (The Wind Mage of Maijev”) & Nuaka (“The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear”) cross-over / A Legends f Cirena short novel) : Joran’s short story is on hold. Still needs a couple scenes smoothed out, and I need to cross-reference the final scene in The Wind Mage and the Wolf (from Joran’s point of view). After that, it’ll be ready for a read-aloud and proofreading.

Huntress 3: On hold. Next step is to finish re-reading Changeling to make notes on the series guide, finalize the cover (proof created), and create a detailed outline.

Other Stories: I wrote a couple of flash fiction shorts that I posted to Substack. Both are set in the same fantasy post-apocalyptic world:

  • “The Courier” – A homesteader in a post-apocalyptic wasteland gets an unexpected delivery.
  • “The Proposal” – A nervous office worker turns in an ambitious proposal.

Next up: Revise ending of YA Alien Invasion/Dystopian story.

Game Design: Isaac designed a simple dice game (tentatively called Anchor). We’ve been beta-testing the basic rules and created a rough draft of a potential playmat. I’ve also been researching customized dice prices, and we’ve been working on gathering the pieces needed to create a prototype.

Marketing: The last couple months had far less focus on marketing than the previous month, though I’ve begun planning promos for upcoming launches. Meanwhile, these are some of the recent projects:

  • Amazon Ads same as usual, just the ones that were already running.
  • I scheduled Deceived for a BookFunnel promo that ran in March. That one was promoted in my Distant Horizon newsletter later in the month, along with a blog post. I also scheduled Stone and String for a couple promos in April. The newsletter is set to go but I still need to prep the blog post.
  • I tested an updated design for the individual book pages on the Infinitas Publishing website (Distant Horizon). Only one done so far, but I like the result. I’m planning to eventually update all the pages for the more streamlined design, though I may do a couple more setup tests before finalizing the general setup.
  • I sent out an email to the Distant Horizon Universe newsletter with a book promo for an author friend who had a new release.
  • Finished business taxes for 2024.
  • Hoopla removed a massive number of ebooks (most of mine included). I sent an email to D2D (the distributor) to follow-up on the reasons why, but haven’t heard anything new about having the books reinstated since the first reply acknowledging that this happened.
  • I revised the backmatter for all Legends of Cirena ebooks and updated them at all retailers.
  • I updated the mailing list automation for the Wishing Blade Universe newsletter.

Next up: Continue adding sample chapters to the BookFunnel sales pages for each book, and then to the main Infinitas Publishing website. Add BookBub and Goodreads links to each landing page. Update my author bio across the different retailers. Continue updating Stripe and Payhip so I can offer direct sales from the main website. Revise Amazon ads, and overhaul book categories, keywords, and blurbs.

Substack – Though I missed a couple weeks of posting, I continued posting writing tips and weekly roundups on my Substack.

Events: Isaac and I joined local author, R.Aveen, at the Portage Lake District Library for a YA Author panel. We had a lot of fun talking about our processes and the audience asked great questions.

Unfortunately we didn’t have enough people sign up for my Crafting Your Fictional World workshop at the Copper Country Community Arts Center, so that one didn’t run. I’ll be talking with the art center to decide on what workshops might work better to run in the future.

At the beginning of April we had a booth at the KYCA Art and Music Festival, where we primarily focused on our art prints. We added several new prints to the mix, using secondhand frames we found at various consignment stores. Additionally, I got to test out my metallic photo paper!

SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: I’ve finished my most recent book formatting project for Cave Hollow Press! You can now pre-order Just Willa by Helen Sheehy. I may have another formatting project coming up, but the details for that is still in the works.

Future Goals: Update the SBibbPhoto website to incorporate Daz work and fix the SEO information. Finish designing cute mascot for a local store. Finish editing photos for a local Aikido group.

SIFlint Art: I’ve received the stickers from my most recent order! I’ve added a trans-themed shark hoarding dragon, as well as the Ghooste of Christmas Yet to Come and the Ghoosteling of Christmas Past.

Additionally, I finally placed my paper order with Red River Paper. I’ve already gotten to print on the metallic photo paper (which I framed for the KYCA Art and Music Festival), so my next step is to print more business cards. I do plan on printing and mounting one of the dragons as a display for future shows.

Daz PA: I took a series of snow and ice texture photos on a couple different photoshoots, which I started merging for the use of texture photos. I’m considering making another texture pack.

Other future projects include searching for a collaborator for my Genesis 9 Diverse Worlds set, and to complete some of the pose sets that Isaac started last summer before he got his new job.

* * *

Happy writing and reading (Or 3D rendering if you’re into Daz)! 🙂

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February 17, 2025 · 10:41 am

🌊 Last Chance! – Read Deceived for Free

A teenage girl in a hospital gown looks off camera in horror with a green "beastie tank" behind her.

📣 Last call to get your ebook copy of Deceived for free! 📣

It returns to full price on Wednesday, February 19th.

Deceived by the government. Exposed by her powers.

When Galina turns herself over to the health clinic after believing she’s infected by a hallucinogenic plague, she discovers the truth might not be what it seems. Will she drown in the deceptions?

SBibb - Deceived Cover WIP3

Get your copy today!

Amazon (US) | Amazon (UK) | Apple Books | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | Kobo | Smashwords

Happy reading! 📚

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February 4, 2025 · 10:39 am

Infinitas Publishing – Status Report

Time for the February Infinitas Publishing status report! 📋

Let’s see if I can actually keep this thing going monthly this year. 😅

I’ve highlighted the projects that had changes in blue.

* * *

Changing Tides: (Book 4 of the Distant Horizon series). On hold while working on The Dark Forest of Aneth. Next step is to merge the two revised drafts and start writing the missing scenes.

Betrayed (Deceived #2): Released! My goal for January was to get everything set for launch, and it went live on January 28th! 🎉

SBibb - Betrayed Cover

I’m going to have a full-length post examining everything that I did for the launch later this month (I want to give the promotions on Deceived, which is temporarily free, time to follow through, that way I can analyze the results).

Long story short, I finished the proofread, updated backmatter in the related books, prepped several launch week emails for the newsletter, prepped a few goodies in the form of character dossiers with art, chose a few paid newsletter promos, and got the pre-order up and running!

Next up, revising Deceived #3 (tentatively titled Exposed).

Other future steps: Input Isaac’s notes from Deceived #5 (formerly #4) into the manuscript, revise Deceived #5, and revise #6 (formerly #5) before handing it to Isaac for his feedback.

TWB 4: (Book Four of The Wishing Blade series). On hold. Next step is to add the remaining outline to Scrivener, review that outline for missing plot points, and then write the rough draft.

The Legends of Cirena – Collaborative Adventure Facebook Group: On hiatus. There’s a possibility I might move this concept to the Wishing Blade Universe newsletter, but that’s just a vague idea at this point.

The Dark Forest of Aneth (“Ro’nor (“The Restless Sands of Neel”) & Zynia (“The Dragons of the Mist”) cross-over / A Legends of Cirena short novel): With Betrayed complete, this is my next big project. My goal for February is to finish another round of revisions, including writing the missing chapters. I’ve finished the initial input of the simpler suggestions Isaac had. Now it’s on to the bigger changes!

Goals: Revisit the book cover concept (which had been unfeasible until getting a more powerful computer that could actually render the scene in mind, but I may still overhaul the design anyway). Create a blurb.

The Ruins of Amixthael (The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear Spin-Off): On hold. Next step is whole-story revisions for continuity. At the moment I’m leaning toward publishing this a stand-alone ebook, but offering the final version of the story to newsletter subscribers for free.

Untitled LoC Short Story (Standalone – Merchant in Reveratch): I polled the Wishing Blade Universe newsletter regarding the details for the main character in the next short story (much like how I started new stories in the collaborative adventure Facebook group), and then created an outline from the winning results. The first chapter has been written, revised, and sent to the newsletter.

I’m expecting this to be complete between four to six chapters, and I’m rather excited for this one because, spoiler, I realized I could introduce an immortal that’s something like a selkie! 🦭

The Wind Mage and the Wolf (“Livena (The Wind Mage of Maijev”) & Nuaka (“The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear”) cross-over / A Legends f Cirena short novel) : Joran’s short story is on hold. Still needs a couple scenes smoothed out, and I need to cross-reference the final scene in The Wind Mage and the Wolf (from Joran’s point of view). After that, it’ll be ready for a read-aloud and proofreading.

Huntress 3: On hold. Next step is to finish re-reading Changeling to make notes on the series guide, finalize the cover (proof created), and create a detailed outline.

Other Stories: On hold. Next up: Revise ending of YA Alien Invasion/Dystopian story.

Game Design: On hold. Isaac made some notes for an astrology-themed game with some similarities to The Game of Life. I think this was more of a for-fun project, but what I saw of his notes looked interesting.

Marketing: Most of this month’s marketing efforts were focused on the launch of Betrayed, and I plan to have a detailed post about that later, so I won’t get too in-depth here.

  • Checked that Whispers in the Code and The Wind Mage of Maijev are still permafree. Created a private webpage with links to more easily check each territory on Amazon.
  • Created a promo for Deceived to run for free between January 18th and February 19th. I purchased slots in a handful of paid newsletters to promote the freebie, in hopes that some of those might translate to purchases of Betrayed or Distant Horizon, or that I’d see a spike in organic newsletter subscribers. I also updated my paid newsletter spreadsheet, since I hadn’t updated it for a couple years. (Once all the promos have run, I need to update their numbers in that spreadsheet).
  • Sent ARCs for Betrayed after updating the list.
  • I didn’t tinker with Amazon Ads, so the only ones here were those that were already running.
  • No new BookFunnel promos for the month (though I have scheduled a newsletter swap with an author friend).
  • I announced the Deceived promotion, the pre-order of Betrayed, and then the release of Betrayed on Facebook and my blog.
  • I created a couple of extra detailed behind the scenes emails for the Distant Horizon Universe newsletter, as well as a piece of character art and a few character bios, but written to be a dossier from the point of view of a future antagonist.
  • Isaac and I took a business trip to Marquette to update our UPS mailbox for the newsletter.
  • I wrote a blurb for Betrayed.
  • Printed a calendar of the year so I could mark out the dates I expect to be busy or that already have events planned, that way I can better see when different projects are likely to happen.

Next up: Continue adding sample chapters to the BookFunnel sales pages for each book, and then to the main Infinitas Publishing website. Add BookBub and Goodreads links to each landing page. Update my author bio across the different retailers. Continue updating Stripe and Payhip so I can offer direct sales from the main website. Maybe add a progress tracker somewhere for the different books? Revise Amazon ads, and overhaul book categories, keywords, and blurbs.

Substack – I’ve continued adding writing tips to my Substack, though I scaled it back from six times a week to five. (In theory, I don’t post on Sunday or Wednesday, but sometimes that gets shuffled around a bit).

Events: No events for January, though Isaac and I will be joining local author, R.Aveen, for a YA Author Panel at the Portage Lake District Library on February 6th, so I’ve been helping with making the flyer for that and creating a list of moderator questions.

On February 21st, I have another rendition of my free, Crafting Your Fictional World workshop at the Copper Country Community Arts Center.

SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: I’ve finished my most recent book formatting project for Cave Hollow Press! You can now pre-order Just Willa by Helen Sheehy. I may have another formatting project coming up, but the details for that is still in the works.

Future Goals: Update the SBibbPhoto website to incorporate Daz work and fix the SEO information. Finish designing cute mascot for local store.

SIFlint Art: I’ve colored the line-art for my Ghooste of Christmas Yet to Come and the Ghoost of Christmas Past, as well as finished my trans, shark-hoarding dragon art. Those have been polished and the stickers are on order!

Eventually I’d like to place another order with Vograce, but we’ll see whether or not the tariffs make that unfeasible. I’ve also been looking at nifty little micro puzzles, so I’m investigating whether those might be an option in the future.

I got my sample paper in from Red River Paper, so I created a test page with a few different images to try and ran that image across each different type of paper.

*Cue very, very delighted Stephanie. And also a housemate’s happy cat perched on top of the printer.*

The results came out great, so my next step is to decide which projects I want to focus on so I can order the paper I need for them.

Daz PA: On hold. Next step is to search for a collaborator for my Genesis 9 Diverse Worlds set, and to complete some of the pose sets that Isaac started last summer before he got his new job.

* * *

Happy writing and reading (Or 3D rendering if you’re into Daz)! 🙂

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January 28, 2025 · 11:12 am

🌄 Betrayed – New Release!

🥳 Today’s the day! 🥳

Betrayed is now available at most major online retailers! 😀

A tall metal gate with forbidding fence in the desert with a mountain range behind it and blue sky.

After escaping a treacherous transformation facility, Galina and her newfound friends suspect the isolated desert settlement where they’ve arrived holds dangerous secrets of its own.

🌄 Read Betrayed today! 🌄

Amazon (US) | Amazon (UK) | Apple Books | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | Kobo | Smashwords

🌄

Here’s what reviewers have said so far…

“I recommend it to readers seeking a young adult speculative thriller that features dramatic action but is driven by the protagonists’ character rather than their innate exceptionalism.” ~ Dave H. (Blog)

“It’s an exciting tale that I believe you’ll enjoy as much as I did so I am happy to recommend it to all those who enjoy a good action book.” ~Chad B. (Goodreads)

🌄

Don’t miss the second book of the Deceived series… choose your favorite retailer and read Betrayed today!

Amazon (US) | Amazon (UK) | Apple Books | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | Kobo | Smashwords

🌄

SBibb - Betrayed Cover

Happy reading! 📚

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January 23, 2025 · 10:24 am

🌄 ~ New Pre-Order Available ~ Betrayed!

We’re now less than a week to Betrayed’s official release! *Squee!*

As part of the launch, you can grab your copy of book one, Deceived, for free! 🌊

Now… for Betrayed…

Here’s what’s coming:

  • 🤫 – Secrets… (like… let’s not tell the suspiciously enthusiastic leader about Erin’s reality bending powers)
  • 🌄 – An isolated desert community… (post-apocalyptic vibes, anyone?)
  • 🌊 – Superpowers! (More water manipulation, and now powers are in the open! Well, mostly. See above about Erin’s powers)
  • And… a cute, sort-of-but-not-actually-a-goat, goat! 🐐

All that and more…

Now with links where you can pre-order your copy of this 42,000 word novella (that’s twice the length of Deceived!) and have it as soon as it goes live next Tuesday! 😁

Pre-order the ebook at your favorite retailer:

Amazon (US) | Amazon (UK) | Apple Books | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | Kobo | Smashwords

SBibb - Betrayed Cover

“Welcome to the Kariz! A new Communuity. Safe, secure, and above all, transparent!”

In the Community, every citizen has a purpose. Unfortunately for Galina, that purpose involved secret plans for turning her into a monster. Now, after a harrowing escape from a treacherous transformation facility, Galina’s only hope for safety lies in the Kariz, a nearby desert settlement surrounded by towering fences, barbed wire, and impassable mountains.

But it’s not her own safety she’s worried about. Her sister still lives in the Community, and one of her fellow escapees has a dangerous, untrained reality-bending power that the facility’s agents tried to kill her for.

So, when the settlement’s suspiciously enthusiastic leader promises Galina a chance to build a new life at the Kariz—while her reality-bending friend insists she senses something… off… about this place—Galina refuses to settle in. She needs to warn her sister about the transformation facility and protect her newfound friends.

But Galina has only just begun to understand this strange, different world. Will her friend’s untamed power reveal them before Galina can befriend the allies they need to uncover the truth about this settlement?

Investigate what secrets the Kariz hides… pre-order Betrayed today!

Amazon (US) | Amazon (UK) | Apple Books | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | Kobo | Smashwords

Happy reading! 📚

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