Tag Archives: SBibb

The Cover Design Process for The Trial of Bells and Blood

The cover for The Trial of Bells and Blood was… shall we say… a trial.

I had already rendered it twice, but I still wasn’t quite happy with it.

Ignoring the section where the title goes, this is the first version I did:

A horned man stands next to a woman with her arms crossed. They're confronting a frightened man cornered against a rock.

I liked the gist of it, but the camera angle made Haven look like he was towering over Alia, Alia looked miffed that she had to be in the picture rather than skeptical about the whole situation, and the guy on trial seems more worried about Alia than Hahven.

And Hahven is looking… somewhere behind the giant rock?

Eh… I didn’t get my angles right.

Take two!

A horned man stands next to a woman with her arms crossed. They're confronting a frightened man cornered against a rock. The woman tilts her head as if she doesn't believe him, and her sword is partially drawn.

Okay… better…

Now everyone’s actually looking where they’re supposed to, and they’re the correct heights.

Alia has her sword and, while still looking a little posed for the camera, at least she now appears to be part of the scene. She has her head cocked skeptically and sword partially drawn. Hahven actually looks to be about his right height, and the guy on trial seems to be looking the right direction. Hahven is the real threat.

My concern was that they all still looked a little too stiff, and the previous covers have all had the figures much larger.

I debated switching to a new image entirely. But skip ahead about a month, and I made adjustments per newsletter reader feedback, re-rendered the image, then touched it up in Photoshop.

Drumroll please…

SBibb - The Trial of Bells and Blood Cover

I gave Hahven a sword to threaten the man with, and Alia seems less skeptical and more judgy.

Without being a spoiler, Alia’s restraint is the only reason this guy hasn’t gotten shish-kebabbed by Hahven. I really enjoy the dynamic between Hahven and Alia, as well as how Hahven has to struggle with his chesnathé horn’s constant calls for judgement.

(The scene on the cover is one such moment).

What do you think? Did the final version do better?

* * *

Learn how Hahven got his horn and where Alia got her restraint…

* * *

Happy reading and writing!

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Infinitas Publishing – Status Report

📋 Here’s the July report!

A lot in progress, plus a new release! 😁

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.

Deceived #3: On hold. Needs revisions. Tentatively titled Exposed.

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): On hold. Next step is a revision round which involves incorporating notes into the manuscript.

Multiverse Chronicles (Distant Horizon Universe Spin-off): On hold. Next up is adding the missing scenes, doing a read-through for revision smudge, and then a read-aloud with Isaac. Then it’s off to beta-readers!

Little One (Distant Horizon Prequel): Last time I was up to chapter six with light revisions, and at this point I’m still at chapter six with the lighter revisions (I did do another pass of that chapter, however), but chapter three has been polished and sent to the newsletter, and chapter four has been through ProWritingAid edits and was scheduled to go out with the August 2nd newsletter.

TWB 4: (Book Four of The Wishing Blade series). On hold. Next step is to write the outline and reread the first three books.

The Dark Forest of Aneth (A Legends of Cirena short novel): Got my notes from the Kindle Paperwhite read input! Afterward, I had Claude Fable do an “ARC reader/developmental editor” pass to help me catch remaining issues. I’ve started the next step, which is to review those suggestions and input the ones I agree with. Then it’ll be time to give it a polish and send it out 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): On hold. Next step is to revise the chapters of the secondary character, then merge the two drafts together.

Future goals: Polish cover. Create blurb.

Untitled LoC Short Story (Standalone – Merchant in Reveratch): On hold. Next step is revisions.

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): Continued the process of writing a chapter, using ProWritingAid for edits, and then using Claude for review and checking plot progress. Last time I was at chapter twenty-seven sent to the newsletter with the draft at 60,000 words. Now I’m at chapter twenty-nine sent to the newsletter and roughly 66,500 words. (Finally wrote a chapter that had been eluding me… yay!)

I also discussed possibilities of future plots points regarding the Litkanston War era with Isaac, since those are directly tied in to this story arc, and began developing detailed ideas of Lord Nomca’s backstory.

Next step is to continue writing the rough draft.

The Wind Mage and the Wolf Spin-Off (Joran’s Story – A Legends of Cirena short story) : On hold. Needs the rest of the fight scene cross-referenced.

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

Fae Book Cover

Fae (Huntress 3): RELEASED! 😀

After seven years of waiting, the ebook of book three is now available!

Got the final chapter written that Isaac suggested, plus made a few other adjustments based on the read-aloud. Did the ebook formatting and printed out the story for one final proofreading pass. Updated Huntress and Changeling backmatter and got that uploaded, plus set Huntress at 99 cents for Fae’s launch and will keep it that price through August.

I used Claude Fable to help me rework the blurb I was having issues with (mostly by me explaining the section I was having a problem with, then having Fable suggest what might be the problem… which is how I finally landed on a version I liked much better).

I added in the special effects I was wanting on the cover, then used Claude to pinpoint the remaining issue I was having with the Fae cover and make suggestions for improvement. The change I chose to make was to adjust the flute’s color to make it stand out better, and I’m much happier with the result. (All image work done in Photoshop CS6).

I also got the pre-order links up early and updated the Infinitas Publishing website with the information for Fae, and set up a couple paid newsletter promos for Huntress. (Tried for a BookBub, but didn’t set up the discount right, so I didn’t get it. Oh well. Maybe next time). I also redid the promo sheet to make it easier for me to start keeping track of paid promotions again.

Next step is to format the print edition.

Horse Shifter Romantasy 🐎: On hold. Next step is to start drafting from the outline.

Dark Romantasy Idea: On hold. I need to finish writing the synopsis (currently 4,000 words).

Writers of Warrensburg Anthology – All four of the other anthology short stories were edited and returned on time! Next step is to complete the edit based on the feedback for my story.

Other Stories: The YA Alien Invasion/Dystopian short story is on hold.

Poetry (?!): Nothing new this month

Game Design:

Phalanx: I got the blog post up about the digital edition of Phalanx! It’s also linked on the Phalanx and Extras page of the Infinitas Publishing website.

I still need to get a photo showing all of the pieces for the mousepad edition.

Elemental Card Game: On hold. Needs a lot of playtesting because the rules weren’t finalized before I started tinkering with a digital edition.

Legends of Cirena Tabletop Game: I had Claude Fable implement a lot of mechanics for the digital version of this game, mostly in implementing the base rules and then intended expansions, to the point where the game is mostly playable but still missing a few key mechanics. There’s one more expansion to add, and then playtesting. (And I need to see if those expansions had art already or if that still needs to be drawn).

Battle Decks: I had Claude Fable make some tweaks that made the digital game considerably more playable, which meant more playtesting got done, though it’s not quite ready to move forward. Once the base mechanics are working I’ll look into trying to get a mobile version functioning properly.

Anchor: I need to get a landing page for it set up on the Infinitas Publishing website.

Fantasy RPG Productivity App: On hold.

Cozy Fantasy Pet Sim: On hold. Adult creature lineart needs cleaned up and added to game, and juvenile creature art needs adjustments. I still need to add my own flavor text as well.

KROWN Assessment: This is a personality quiz for the Huntress universe. A while back I had Claude code a basic version of the in-person quiz Isaac and I did at last year’s GeekUP convention. This month I had Claude Fable revise the code and add details that the previous model was having trouble with. I had Isaac look at the result, which functions nicely now. I want to do a bit more testing before I release it, but it should be about ready.

AI Usage and Policy: No new updates. Detailed usage is in this report.

Marketing and Admin:

  • Had Claude develop an author/series analysis of my published books to help me recognize patterns I wasn’t familiar with and predict future patterns I might want to keep an eye out for. One pattern that stuck out was a tendency for books in a series to get longer and more complicated the deeper they got into a series, which is where series often stalled for new releases.
  • I tried developing a “publisher advisory team” with Claude that would analyze the previously mentioned analysis from the point of view of an editor, a reader, a publicist, etc, but I don’t think I’ve really got that working very smoothly. Mostly it found the same things as the original analysis… and said to finish the series that are already open. (I mean, it wasn’t wrong, but I was hoping to learn something new).
  • I continued using Claude to conduct Amazon price checks for my permafree books and automatically draft an email to send to KDP support whenever one showed up as no longer free. I switched this to weekly to catch the frequent changes. So far, it seems this has been helping me keep up with the permafree books (The Wind Mage of Maijev and Whispers in the Code).
  • Got BookFunnel subscribers downloaded and added to their respective newsletters.
  • Continued doing a weekly/bi-weekly review of my Infinitas Publishing-related progress using Claude. This has been super helpful keeping me on task, or very close to it.
  • I’m up-to-date with accounting! (This one makes me so happy…)
  • Newsletters all went out as planned! (Well, there was a technical glitch which resulted in one email going out a day late, but mostly this proceeded as intended).
  • I had Claude Fable review Dossiers, Exposed… and the rest of the Deceived series drafts, Merto’s prequel story from the Wishing Blade universe, as well as the horse shifter romantasy outline.
  • I had Claude Sonnet 5 pull my BookFunnel promo stats and review them for patterns. The clicks have been lower than what I would like. So I did a test round of sending out a second email of the monthly promo highlights to the newsletter I hadn’t yet sent them to (but with anyone who had already seen the other email removed from the second send). So far, the results are positive, so I plan to try the same technique this month. Previously I had been sending the monthly promo highlights out every other month to each list. I’m also keeping an eye on which banners subscribers seem most interested in.
  • CliftonStrengths Test! I’ve been wanting to do the CliftonStrengths 34 test ever since getting my top 5 results a few years ago. I finally bribed myself that if I completed work on Fae by a particular day, I could go ahead and purchase the test. (The bribe worked. Yay!) Anyway, I input my list into Claude to compare my writing/publishing processes, and now I’ll see if I can use the new insights to improve what I’m working on.
  • Finally reviewed Google Search Console analytics using Claude in order to see if the weekly blog posts repurposed from the newsletter are drawing in new reader traffic. Doesn’t appear to be the case (and actually, older posts specifically on writing processes seemed to be bringing in more search traffic). For now I’ll continue doing the newsletter blog posts because I enjoy them, and because I don’t have any measurements to test for whether or not readers who are already here (Hi, reader!) are sticking around for them.
  • I finally figured out how to add alt text to images in ebooks. I think I successfully updated the Huntress series. However, other ebooks will need alt text added as I go through and update their backmatter.
  • I ran the Claude CoWork task to review September BookFunnel promos. Those have now been chosen and scheduled as a newsletter send and blog post.

Next up: Review and update book prices; watch Book Blurb Magic course on books with multiple POVs, review a social media and newsletter email PDF I bought. Continue updating the design of individual Infinitas Publishing book pages and adding metadata. Continue adding books to the Stripe store for direct sales (alternately, review new BookFunnel feature offering Square sales?). Overhaul book categories, keywords, and blurbs.

Crafting Your Fictional World: On hold during July, but we’re now in the works of determining the date and time for the August presentation.

Repurposing Old Newsletter Content:

I think the July posts were mostly scheduled close to their post days rather than ahead of time, but they all went live as intended. I did pull more content for the Distant Horizon Universe blogs, though, and got the first August one scheduled.

Events: No events in July. A Crafting Your Fictional World presentation is planned for August.

SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: Finished the formatting project for the indie press! It’s uploaded for them, and now all that remains is to upload a minor revision that includes the ASIN, as well as the age categories that KDP is asking for. Otherwise, it’s complete!

Additionally, I did a printing job for a friend, which was fun because I got to pull out the specialty paper. (11×17 luster metallic! 5×7 polar matte cardstock! Whee!)

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: The stickers came in! I restocked merch at Black Ice Comics.

Here’s the new bag hoarding dragon sticker:

Sticker of a dragon hiding in a pile of bags.

Daz PA: Pretty good back catalogue sales, though not specifically due to the Quick Grab and Outlet Store slots. I still intend to continue submitting to those sales promotions.

* * *

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

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Choosing a title for “The Trial of Bells and Blood”

While working on The Wind Mage and the Wolf, I was still thinking onward to the next book of the Legends of Cirena series.

Problem is, I hadn’t decided on a title.

I mean, I kind of had an idea of what I was leaning toward, but I wasn’t sure it was really right.

(Choosing a title, like blurb rewriting, is usually one of my writing banes).

I tried brainstorming potential titles by jotting down the first ones that came to mind and then branching off from those.

Some of them seemed promising.

Some of them really didn’t fit the story.

Some seemed like… maybe?

After a bit, I whittled the choices down to three and asked the Wishing Blade Universe newsletter readers for feedback.

I gave them some details about the book I was trying to title: Legends of Cirena #8, which brings in the characters of Hahven (The Cursed Halls of Kalecen, Legends of Cirena #4) and Alia (The Scars of Her Past, Legends of Cirena #5).

Synopsis

Hahven is a duelist who would rather train his students to protect themselves than spend his time serving a vengeful god of justice, but due to an event from The Cursed Halls of Kalecen, he’s now stuck as the vengeful god’s champion. He’s forced to serve the god, or risk going back on a deal.

Thanks to those same events, he also has a rather annoying chesnathé horn growing from his forehead that intrudes on his thoughts with the guilt or honor of nearby people. Unfortunately, the horn also comes with a desire to stab and kill those he deems guilty, or to stab and grant immortality to those he finds worthy.

(Either way, the horn tends to be on the stabby side).

So when his god calls on him for a mission, he dreads learning what he might be asked to do.

Meanwhile, Alia is a merchant with a past she has tried to atone for and forget (as detailed in The Scars of Her Past). She’s almost ready to start a caravan of her own when one of the criminals she crossed during her time as a guard makes a plea to the vengeful god Hahven serves, determined to get revenge on Alia.

Problem is, that vengeful god takes a liking to Alia instead, and wants Hahven to convince her to serve him, too.

Alia isn’t having it.

Neither is Hahven.

Determined to keep her from facing the same fate he did, Hahven calls upon the high god for help circumventing his current master, and he’s surprised when he actually gets an answer.

The high god sends Alia and Hahven to the southern desert of Neel via a caravan that belongs to the gods. But when they get there, they discover an atrocious murder that tests Hahven’s increasingly irritable horn, and forces Alia to reconsider whether or not she’s really done protecting people from those who mean harm.

So that’s the overview.

These were the titles I presented that I thought might work, and there was one in particular I was leaning toward, though I hadn’t settled on anything and was open to ideas if readers were willing to share.

  1. The Trial of Bells and Blood
    • There are multiple trials throughout the story, the bells are a symbol of the vengeful god, and the horn wants blood… constantly nagging at Hahven to kill those it finds guilty. Also, it was the vengeful god’s blood that gave Hahven the judgmental horn.
    • However, the downside of this one was that it was very close to the title of our work-in-progress Multiverse Chronicles story and its Battle Decks edition: Trials of Blood and Steel.
  2. The Bells of Truth and Blood
    • The bells are a symbol of the vengeful god, the horn sees the “truth” of people, though its judgement is skewed, and the horn wants blood.
  3. The Caravan of the Gods
    • Alia is given a caravan to take to Neel where she and Hahven investigate the murder. As the caravan was organized by the gods, it’s a “caravan of the gods.”

In the end, I chose the one I was originally leaning toward: The Trial of Bells and Blood.

But what do you think?

Does The Trial of Bells and Blood have a ring to it (pun intended)?

I hope you enjoyed this look into my title-choosing process. 🙂

* * *

Delve into three tales of vengeance and forgiveness

* * *

Happy reading and writing!

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Cover Process for The Wind Mage and the Wolf

Today I thought I’d give you a look into the messy sketches and scribbles of my cover design process for the The Wind Mage and the Wolf, the seventh story in the Legends of Cirena series.

I don’t always make sketches like these, but in this case, I had a few ideas I wanted to jot down so I wouldn’t forget.

Note: the scribbles are barely readable in person. Unforunately, that means they’re even less readable here.

As you can see, these are really rough sketches, meant to give me a general idea of where I might place key elements.

I’ve tried to make a note of possible titles, variant backgrounds, and things I’d need to take into consideration when I went to create the proof.

All of this was on one sheet of paper, and covered multiple stories, but I cut the page in Photoshop to make it easier to view in an email, where I originally sent out this preview in 2019.

Fast forward to the finished version of the cover, which I designed in Daz 3D Studio:

SBibb - The Wind Mage and the Wolf Cover

Here we have Livena and Nuaka (currently in an altered wolf form) as they head down the streets of Ashan. Though Livena’s magic wouldn’t normally be visible to the naked eye (she can’t see it, either), I was aiming to convey the magic/fantasy genre.

This was the first of the covers for the crossover portion of the Legends of Cirena series, each of which are novellas (or a novel, in the case of the upcoming The Dark Forest of Aneth) instead of short stories.

Eventually I decided on the title: The Wind Mage and the Wolf

(Notice in the sketch it’s “The Wolves of Maijev” which… didn’t really work for me)

My logic was that “The Wind Mage and the Wolf” crosses the title conventions of the two previous stories (“The Wind Mage of Maijev” and “The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear”), where Livena was the wind mage, and the cover art focuses on the style of her cover, whereas the title style is closer to Nuaka’s story (previously she was the mountain bear, and now she’s the wolf).

I was concerned it might sound too silly (or be too close to the first title), but ultimately, it stuck. 😄

* * *

A wind mage and a shapeshifting thief start with their own adventures… and then end up working together:

* * *

Happy reading and writing!

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Infinitas Publishing – Status Report

📋 Got the June report ready!

Busy month with events and such.

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.

Deceived #3: On hold. Needs revisions. Tentatively titled Exposed.

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): On hold. Next step is a revision round which involves incorporating notes into the manuscript.

Multiverse Chronicles (Distant Horizon Universe Spin-off): On hold, though I did start working on a character design for Trish in Daz, and started on a render but haven’t yet completed it.

Next up is adding missing scenes, doing a complete read-through to check for revision smudge, and then doing a read-aloud with Isaac to make sure the story still fits his vision. Then it’s off to beta-readers! I’m hoping to start revision work in July.

Little One (Distant Horizon Prequel): This story is back in action?! It is!

After doing some braindumping into a chat session with Claude and having it create a chapter by chapter “line edit” I could review, I decided to go ahead and do a test round of revisions. First four chapters went smoothly, so I gave Little One the green light to start sharing in the Distant Horizon Universe newsletter!

So far I’ve revised six out of a lot of chapters (this is a longer novel), but I’m really enjoying the process. Current plan is to do light revisions and ProWritingAid edits on this chapter by chapter, then send out a chapter with each regular Distant Horizon newsletter email.

TWB 4: (Book Four of The Wishing Blade series). On hold. Next step is to write the outline and reread the first three books.

The Dark Forest of Aneth (A Legends of Cirena short novel): On hold during June while finalizing Fae. Next step is to finish inputting my notes from my Kindle Paperwhite read, then review those revisions and see if it’s ready for 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): On hold. Next step is to revise the chapters of the secondary character, then merge the two drafts together.

Future goals: Polish cover. Create blurb.

Untitled LoC Short Story (Standalone – Merchant in Reveratch): On hold. Next step is revisions.

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): Last time I was at chapter twenty-six around 58,000 words. I hit a bit of a snag this month with writing, but I have sent out chapter twenty-seven and the draft now sits at around 60,000 words. While Claude Fable was still available, I ran a developmental edit test to pick out remaining loose threads and plot issues to keep an eye out for during later revisions.

Next step is to continue writing the rough draft.

The Wind Mage and the Wolf Spin-Off (Joran’s Story – A Legends of Cirena short story) : On hold. Needs the rest of the fight scene cross-referenced.

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

Fae (Huntress 3): I’ve completed the read-through on my ancient Kindle and input those notes. Afterward, I did a test of Claude Fable (before it got pulled and recently reinstated) as an “ARC Reader/Proofreader” for feedback. Got some really useful notes, especially around little typos that were super easy to miss. Got those corrected. Then I did the read-aloud with Isaac using ElevenReader (verdict… much more natural sounding that the stock computer voices, and even better than previous uses of NaturalReader, though it still occasionally missed the mark with how a sentence should be read).

Meanwhile, the base of the cover is now complete. Painterly touches have been added. Still needs retouching (and I noticed I forgot to add the series number), and there’s one more special effect I think I might add in, but it’s almost done.

The blurb is also almost finished. I reviewed my original blurb but wasn’t quite happy with it, so I had Claude run through the same questions I gave myself and create a blurb as well. Then, after a lot of back and forth where I would read Claude’s version, make suggested changes and ask the AI to make suggestions on specific spots (the whole process reminded me quite a bit of times when I was on a more active writer forum and would exchange blurb feedback, just a lot more instantaneous), we got the blurb to a point that I actually mostly liked. Mashed my version and that version together, and now it’s set aside for me to review again after a couple days away from it.

Once the cover is finished I’ll finalize the backmatter in Huntress and Changeling and get those ebooks updated.

Horse Shifter Romantasy 🐎: On hold. Next step is to start drafting from the outline.

Dark Romantasy Idea: On hold. I need to finish writing the synopsis (currently 4,000 words).

Writers of Warrensburg Anthology – Edits based on the meeting feedback have been input, and the revised version was submitted! Next step will be to edit four of the other anthology short stories by the end of July.

Other Stories: The YA Alien Invasion/Dystopian short story is on hold.

Poetry (?!): Nothing new this month

Game Design: Still doing bits and pieces of game design.

Phalanx: I finally updated the Infinitas Publishing Phalanx landing page to reflect the current offerings. I still need to get a photo showing all of the pieces for the mousepad edition.

The beta version of the digital Phalanx game is ready to go, so I’ll be making a post about that soon! Once that’s live I’ll include a link to that on the Phalanx page (and possibly the “Extras” page).

Elemental Card Game: Been a while since I touched this one, but I grabbed the rules for the game (the ones I could find in our older files, anyway), and had Claude create a digital version for playtesting. This one is still in alpha testing and nowhere near ready for release (somewhere I have the notes Isaac and I made while beta-testing), but I’m starting to remember the basic mechanics and get a functional testing version going.

Legends of Cirena Tabletop Game: On something of a whim I gathered all the files we had for this game (since it had a finished, printable prototype but was still technically in beta-testing) and handed those to Claude to create a digital edition. Still very early in the conversion phase, but I’ve got a version ready to start testing for playability. (Needs help with the user interface conversion, though).

Battle Decks: Digital version on hold. I need to playtest this to find the remaining quirks, then see if we can’t get a mobile version functioning properly.

Anchor: Physical edition complete, but I need to get a landing page for it on the Infinitas Publishing website.

Fantasy RPG Productivity App: On hold until Isaac has a chance to review it.

Cozy Fantasy Pet Sim– Not a huge amount of adjustments here, but I did have Claude set up the game so it can now play properly in mobile. Haven’t had much chance to test it yet. Adult creature lineart still needs cleaned up and added to game, and juvenile creature art needs adjustments. I still need to add my own flavor text as well.

AI Usage and Policy: No new updates. Most of what I’ve been doing with AI is mentioned in this report. Been reading more books on the topic, and still have the idea for a presentation on AI Literacy.

Marketing/Admin:

  • Continued with BookFunnel group promos. I’ve scheduled monthly promos through August! One change I made here is to test Claude CoWork, and I’ve structured an automation which allows Claude to go through my BookFunnel Dashboard and select all potentially relevant promos in a set time period for me to look at. I then review the picks and discard any I’m definitely not interested in. Then Claude pulls any extra details and the links to the banner (because I do review the banner for whether it’s a good fit). Once I’ve narrowed those options, Claude creates a basic submission email for me from a template I provided, which I can then quickly edit if additional details are needed, and then submit! I also had Claude create a list of the chosen banners and their respective tracking links to make those easy to upload to both my blog and newsletters, and Claude creates a basic paragraph for me with promos linked that’s easy for me to tweak and test the links. (You’ll be seeing that in the July and August posts–shouldn’t look any different from what I’ve had previously). Basically saves me from wading through a ton of promo lists that mostly aren’t good fits for the books I’m currently promoting, and automates the really repetitive tasks. Real test will come at the end of July when I go to set up the September promos (provided I’m still on the Claude Pro plan), but so far, it’s looking promising.
  • I tried running a few all-new Amazon ads, but didn’t see any traction with sales, so I ended up pausing those. Next step is to review them and see if *anything* was working about them to pull for future tests.
  • Continued using Claude to update my weekly/bi-weekly priorities list to help me stay on track with projects. I’ve also been doing a post-event review where I drop in all my thoughts of what worked and what didn’t… mostly so I’ll have a record for myself, but also to see what patterns the AI could spot.
  • One issue I’ve had with permafree books is Amazon not keeping the prices free in all territories, and the process of checking all the links and composing a message to send them requesting specific territory fixes can take a while. I set up an automation in Claude CoWork to check the prices for me, and then create the message to send based on a pre-written template. It also reminds me twice a month to do a check. So far, this has been working to help me keep both Whispers in the Code and The Wind Mage of Maijev available for free!
  • On a semi-backburner project, I gave Claude my series briefs for Distant Horizon and Glitch and had it recommend a to-market, genre-based book cover. Then, in a rare case of using ChatGPT image generation, I had it create a mockup based on the brief. (Note: The generated images will NOT be used as the actual covers. They’re visualization for my purposes only.) Though a couple of the mockups were definite misses, one stood out, so I returned with that image to Claude to discuss what I thought was working, what I thought wasn’t working, and what I liked/didn’t like compared to my current covers. I’ve gotten some pretty good ideas I want to test in a future cover, and I started toying with the perspectives on one of my Daz setups to see if I could mimic the parts I liked about the mockup image. What I found especially interesting about this process was that it reminded me of one of the assignments in my photography classes where we intentionally modeled another image we liked, so we could better learn the techniques.
  • Continued sending out Distant Horizon Universe and Wishing Blade Universe newsletters.
  • I’ve been keeping up with accounting!

Next up: Review and update book prices; watch Book Blurb Magic course on books with multiple POVs, review a social media and newsletter email PDF I bought. Continue updating the design of individual Infinitas Publishing book pages and adding metadata. Continue adding books to the Stripe store for direct sales (alternately, review new BookFunnel feature offering Square sales?). Overhaul book categories, keywords, and blurbs.

Crafting Your Fictional World: On Hold.

Repurposing Old Newsletter Content:

I did get the June posts scheduled ahead of time, but still need to schedule the ones for July. I recently pulled a bunch more content from my Wishing Blade Universe newsletter and need to do the same for the Distant Horizon Universe newsletter.

Events: This month is one of our bigger months for events, and we had both UP Rainbow Pride in Marquette and Hancock Pride Market. One thing I found useful, is that last month, before the Flower Moon Spring Market, I had Claude create an HTML event prep checklist based on the things I knew still needed done. That helped, so I updated it to be more generic but overall useful, and both times that helped keep me from forgetting anything while organizing everything to take to each event.

A Crafting Your Fictional World presentation is still planned for later in the year.

UP Rainbow Pride – Marquette MI (June 13th)

So much wind! Thankfully we had both stakes and cinderblocks to keep the tent in place, while I did spend quite a bit of time holding the back of the tent to make sure it didn’t suddenly pitch and knock over our displays. Made a great conversation starter, though.

Stephanie smiles while holding the bars on the back of the tent to keep the wind from moving it.

UP Rainbow Pride was a couple hours out, but we still had everything mostly gathered from the Flower Moon Spring Market, which meant it was fairly easy to make a few adjustments to our inventory and have everything ready to pick up from the storage unit the night before, then leave first thing in the morning without trying to pack. We split the booth with a friend, so that also helped.

The event went well, and we made about the same as last year (including almost exactly the same from stickers and totes. O.o ). Aside from the wind, the weather was nice, and we had a fun time.

Marquette Pride 2026 picture of the Infinitas Publishing Booth Setup

Hancock Pride Market – Hancock MI (June 28th)

This one is closer, and since we still had everything organized from UP Rainbow Pride, it didn’t take long to prep for at all. (Definite bonus part of having three events with a few weeks of each other). Got set up real quick, which gave us more time to chat with the other vendors. We didn’t make as much as expected on this show, but it might have been too close to other shows. Not enough data to say for sure on that outside of speculation. Overall, though, it was an enjoyable event.

SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: Just about done with formatting the ebook for an indie press! Need to help set up categories/keywords, and then it’s ready to upload.

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: Stickers ordered! I got the proofs and asked for a couple small corrections. Bag hoarding dragon stickers, coming soon! (Plus restock of plant hoarding dragon and Not-a-Ghoost).

Also, had fun making a mermaid render in Daz – “Reaching for the Light.” I used Affinity for the basic touchups. (Still need to learn how to use it for more complex touch-ups, though, so for now I mostly still use Photoshop CS6 on my older laptop).

Daz PA: Not quite as strong sales as last month, but still an improvements, so I plan to continue submitting products for the Quick Grab and Outlet Store slots.

* * *

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

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A Render of Merto from Magebane

A couple weeks ago, I introduced you to Lord Cafrash Menchtoteale, the blacksmith who forged the Wishing Blade.

Today, I’d like you to meet Merto, one of Cafrash’s two sons. Unlike Camir, who makes a grandiose show of impressing those around him and makes favors with anyone he can work into his grasp, Merto tries to stay out of the public eye, careful not to draw to much attention to himself.

For now, Merto remains meek… though he knows and can do far more than he lets on.

Merto makes his first appearance in Magebane, and will continue to make appearances throughout the Wishing Blade series.

Excerpt from Merto’s first appearance (Magebane):

“What are you doing here?” Toranih demanded. The leather hilt felt slick under her clammy fingers.

The light stopped moving. “Father sent me.”

“Father?” She frowned, still not quite able to make out the figure’s features in the low light. “Show yourself.”

The young man opened his hand and a pale turquoise crystal dimly lit his tall frame. He looked about Toranih’s age—she couldn’t tell if he was older or younger—and he was a shadow like the others, his features clear since she was part of his realm. His dull, grayish hair was cut loosely around his ears. His eyes were pale and he had a petite, pointy nose and rounded jaw, both of which looked familiar.

The light weaved back and forth as the young man swayed, unstable on his feet. “My father… Cafrash.”

Though Merto has a fairly small role to play in Magebane, he has his own secrets, and Toranih quickly decides she isn’t sure if she should trust him.

But then, that could be said for everyone in Cafrash’s family, and Merto isn’t the only one with a hidden agenda.

(Huh. I realize now that I haven’t designed Camir’s character in Daz yet. Given his flare for fancier clothes and haughty attidude, I bet his render would be fun. What do you think? Should I take some time to make his render?)

Eventually I want to edit Merto’s backstory novella… which I do have written but needs edits to avoid breaking my plot. Fun times.

* * *

Both brothers have an agenda… but whose plans are more dangerous?

* * *

Happy reading and writing!

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An early render of Lord Cafrash Menchtoteale

Since we’ve been looking at a lot of my early Daz renders, let’s now take a look at the renders I have of Lord Cafrash Menchtoteale, one of my characters from the Wishing Blade series. (He starts as an antagonist… then kind of ends up in as the questionable mentor… whether he wants to be a mentor or not).

So a long, long time ago when I was playing around with Daz, I rendered Cafrash, the creator of the Wishing Blade (the series’ namesake). I rendered this image a couple times, since I apparently designed it on my older laptop, whose graphics card that would have made rendering nice went caput before I found Daz. Then I rendered it again once I got my then-new laptop (which now mostly lays in rest because I used it a lot for rendering and that’s… very intensive on a laptop, unfortunately. Renders now happen on a desktop with much better fans and airflow.

That first render took 7 hours, and didn’t have nearly as good as the results of this 2-hour render.

Needless to say, I was quite happy with the capabilities of the then-new laptop. (And I suspect the new desktop would render this much faster… though we’re on a new version of Daz now so the lighting system would probably have to be readjusted).

Anyway, enough about laptop capabilities. Lord Menchtoteale was a blacksmith before getting involved with the trickster god. Long story short, he forges the Wishing Blade, the weapon used to steal magic from Cirena in Magic’s Stealing.

Here’s a render that Isaac put together from a later version of Cafrash’s character design, which I then polished:

A blacksmith hammers a sword with magical blue wisps above it.

But did Cafrash actually want to forge the sword?

Is he really the warlord everyone thinks he is?

Or is there more going on behind the Trickster’s plans than meets the eye?

Cafrash’s backstory is one part of the story I’m having a lot of fun working with, and first started showing up in The Shadow War, and has a much larger role in Magebane.

* * *

Meet Lord Menchtoteale in all his grumpy “I’m going to give you advice whether either of us want to deal with this,” in The Wishing Blade series…

* * *

Happy reading and writing!

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Reaching for the Light – Daz Render

Decided to make a for-fun render in Daz Studio yesterday with some new assets I picked up during a sale. (Finally got that mermaid setup I’d been wanting!)

So there isn’t a particularly story behind this one, other than me picturing a mermaid seeing the sun (or moon) shining above the water and reaching out for it. Kind of feels like it might work well for flash fiction inspiration, though, or one of my 1000 word stories.

A mermaid swims up through kelp and pillars in a blue-gray sea toward a distant light.

Polished in Affinity.

* * *

Happy reading, writing, and rendering!

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Infinitas Publishing – Status Report

📋 And here’s the May report! Going to try to keep these updated on a monthly basis, but we’ll see.

Got a lot done, but that said, this last month through me for a curveball with my cat, BG Neelix, passing away unexpectedly. (If you want to know the details about what happened, click here).

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.

Deceived #3: On hold. Needs revisions. Tentatively titled Exposed.

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): On hold. Next step is a revision round which involves incorporating notes into the manuscript.

Multiverse Chronicles (Distant Horizon Universe Spin-off): The epilogue has been sent, along with an additional wrap-up scene. I even got a chance to do a read-aloud with Isaac on these chapters. Yay!

Next up is to add missing scenes, do a complete read-through to check for revision smudge, and then do a read-aloud with Isaac to make sure the story still fits his vision. Then it’s off to beta-readers! I’m hoping to start revision work on this project in July.

TWB 4: (Book Four of The Wishing Blade series). On hold. Next step is to write the outline and reread the first three books.

The Dark Forest of Aneth (A Legends of Cirena short novel): I’ve been slowly inputting my notes from my Kindle Paperwhite revision round into the manuscript, though this is on the backburner while I work on Fae. Next step will be to read through those revisions and see if it’s ready for 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): On hold. Next step is to revise the chapters of the secondary character, then merge the two drafts together.

Future goals: Polish cover. Create blurb.

Untitled LoC Short Story (Standalone – Merchant in Reveratch): On hold. Next step is revisions.

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): Last time I was at chapter twenty-three and around 51,500 words. Now I’m at Twenty-Six around 58,000 words, and I have a pretty good idea of the remaining scenes that still need written.

Next step is to continue writing the rough draft.

The Wind Mage and the Wolf Spin-Off (Joran’s Story – A Legends of Cirena short story) : On hold. Needs the rest of the fight scene cross-referenced.

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

Fae (Huntress 3): Placeholder page made! Got Fae back from beta-readers, made adjustments, and put it onto my ancient Kindle Paperwhite so I can give it one more pass before the read-aloud with Isaac. Then I had Claude Code create a timeline of the Huntress series (after several iterations to correct for incorrect entries) so I could make sure the passage of time was clear in Fae. I also used Claude to do a basic formatting pass on the manuscript based on my previous ebooks to make it easier to finalize later.

I did a couple more tests with the cover, and finally found the right stock images to make it work. Base of the cover is complete, and now I need to do the polishing “painterly” touches.

I’ve also drafted a blurb and will need to review it soon to see what I might want to change. I gave Claude a set of questions to ask me with a prompt to include feedback, and used that to go through the process though I did the actual writing to the blurb myself.

I updated the backmatter in Huntress and Changeling, which I’ll upload once I finalize the cover for Fae.

Horse Shifter Romantasy 🐎: On hold. Next step is to start drafting from the outline.

Dark Romantasy Idea: On hold. The idea is still pinging at me, but I need to finish writing the synopsis (currently 4,000 words).

Writers of Warrensburg Anthology – Story has been drafted (and is surprisingly short for me), edited, and read at one of the Writers of Warrensburg meetings! Next step is to review the feedback I got and make edits. I also still have a couple more meeting to watch the recordings of and submit feedback on.

Other Stories: The YA Alien Invastion/Dystopian short story is on hold.

Poetry (?!): I wrote another poem called “Glittering Moments” but I’m not quite happy with my revisions yet, so I haven’t posted it. You might see it in the future, though.

Game Design: Progress! Isaac and I made a trip to Marquette to pick up supplies for finalizing Phalanx and Anchor.

Phalanx: Mousepad edition of Phalanx complete, and debuted at Flower Moon Spring Market!

Additionally, I worked with Claude to create the web-based browser edition that works both on mobile and desktop. Beta-version is now complete, and the current version of the game includes a link to a form for testing. Deployed via Netlify, and I’m giving the Distant Horizon Universe newsletter subscribers the first go at it, and then I’m planning to release the beta on the main Infinitas Publishing website. (I’ll probably also include a post about it here as well as on our Facebook page.)

Battle Decks: I did the first review of what Claude was able to code based on the trial version of the card game, then did further testing to refine the user interface and fix rules that didn’t quite translate into the programming. Currently it needs me to do some testing to make sure everything is playing correctly, then see if we can’t get a mobile version functioning properly.

New game — Anchor!

Anchor: Isaac completed his physical prototype and created the art for this game (I tried inking his original sketch and it came out too cartoony, so he turned to Daz Studio instead). We used Claude to double-check dice probabilities to make sure his scoring made sense, I proofread Isaac’s rules booklet and did the formatting polish, and we put together five first edition box sets. We got this done in time to debut at the Flower Moon Spring Market!

Fantasy RPG Productivity App: On hold until Isaac has a chance to review it.

Cozy Fantasy Pet Sim– I cleaned up the art for the juvenile creature in the game and worked with Claude to trouble-shoot some issues with how the graphics were presenting. I still need to clean up the adult creature art and make a few more adjustments to the juvenile creature that I missed in my previous pass.

I also had Claude create a table for me that lists all the different items and shops so that I can make sure to update everything with my own flavor text, and had it review the code for areas to streamline.

I also finally set up Claude Code on my computer because the game got too hefty to edit in a regular chat.

AI Usage and Policy: I decided to keep the Pro Plan of Claude, at least for now. It’s been really helpful for keeping me on track with business stuff, so I’m going to hold onto it a bit longer. I did update the Infinitas Publishing AI usage policy to include our usage of Claude AI for coding.

I still want to do a presentation on AI Literacy, but haven’t made any further progress with setup. (I have, however, been reading several more books and articles on the topic).

Marketing/Admin:

  • Created a project file in Claude for Infinitas Publishing. Using that for analyzing past reports and keeping up to date with admin processes. I’m continuing to do a check-in every week or two to make sure I’m staying on track with my goals.
  • Continued sending out Distant Horizon Universe and Wishing Blade Universe newsletters.
  • Did a couple more BookFunnel group promos, and created a promo for June (but no one signed up for it so I cancelled that one). I signed up for the next round of promos and pre-scheduled the blog-post/newsletter email.
  • Updated retailer links for my books on BookBub (just need to double-check now that I got them all updated)
  • Finally updated my author bio on the blog and most retailers.
  • Updated the series pages on the main Infinitas Publishing website.
  • Worked with Claude to create the bones of the Huntress KROWN Assessment quiz based on the interactive personality test Isaac and I did at last year’s Geek UP. Needs some interface work and further beta-testing.
  • I’ve continued using Claude to help keep my priorities organized, review accounting and event results, and review stats I’ve been tracking.
  • Attempted to have Claude Design work on A+ content for Distant Horizon using my own images. It’s got some interesting ideas… but it isn’t there yet.
  • Printed and cut out new Infinitas Publishing Business Cards for events.
  • I’ve been trying to make Facebook posts on the Infinitas Publishing page to help promo some of our upcoming products and events.
  • I finally paused all Amazon ads, and have had Claude help make suggestions for how to maybe make adjustments for new ads. So far not much luck with getting those going.
  • So far I’ve been managing to keep up with accounting. Yay!
  • I had Claude make me a personalized event checklist that I’ll be able to repurpose for future events. Hopefully, once I finish organizing it, it’ll make it easier for me to keep track of what I need to get done ahead of time.
  • I still need to update Infinitas Publishing book pages with buttons for retailers. I also need to continue adding metadata information.

Next up: Review and update book prices; watch Book Blurb Magic course on books with multiple POVs. Continue updating the design of individual Infinitas Publishing book pages. Continue adding books to the Stripe store for direct sales (alternately, review new BookFunnel feature offering Square sales?). Overhaul book categories, keywords, and blurbs.

Crafting Your Fictional World: On Hold.

Repurposing Old Newsletter Content:

Still going strong with the blog posts here. Scheduled May ahead of time, which helped. I need to do the same for June, especially considering the various events going on. But it has been helpful with rekindling some of that exciting “new publishing” energy I remember from when we first started Infinitas Publishing.

Events: We went to the Flower Moon Spring Market in Hancock at the end of May.

Meanwhile, we’re planning to be at UP Rainbow Pride in Marquette, and we’ve applied for the Hancock Pride Market that happens at the end of June. I also still have a Crafting Your Fictional World presentation planned for later in the year.

Flower Moon Spring Market (May 24th)

We had a booth inside at the Flower Moon Spring Market, and we debuted not only the mousepad edition of Phalanx (the first time we’ve had Phalanx available to purchase in several years), and we also debuted an all new game–Anchor!

Admittedly, neither of us were at full energy due to having recently learned that BG Neelix had cancer, but the event was still fun and Isaac was able to demo the games to a lot of passersby.

SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: Still working on formatting an ebook for an indie press.

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: On hold. I’m watching for a sale at my sticker printer so I can order more stickers (and get bag hoarding dragon stickers!)

Daz PA: The new Daz store promotions seem to be working! I’ve seen a strong uptick in sales, so I’ve continued submitting products for the Quick Grab option and plan to try for the Outlet Store again as well. I’m hoping these sales continue to have luck. If so, it’ll make for a nice revival of the backlist.

I’ve also started playing with some character shaping as a possible upcoming product. Haven’t gotten far yet, so we’ll see if I continue working on this.

* * *

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

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An early render of Siklana

At some point in 2019, I took to learning how to use Daz Studio in my spare time. Daz is a 3D modeling program that lets you purchase assets (poses, characters, clothing, backgrounds, etc) for your own use and then position those assets to create scenes.

There is also the ability to “morph” the basic models so they match how you envision your own characters.

The first character I customized was Siklana Covonilayno, Toranih’s sister from The Wishing Blade series:

A young noblewoman with long brown hair  in a navy blue dress and overcoat.

Her hair’s a bit too long here, but this was a quick render to test the outfit and general background.

Here’s a closer look at her facial structure (customized from the Victoria 4 base model — which I’m still impressed I succeeded with since shortly after, I started working primarily with Genesis 8 models).

(At some point I needed a Daz PA (Published Artist) profile image, and this was one of my early renders I was happy with, so I used that. Later on I realized that she looks a little like me when the image is in tiny thumbnail size. Not intentional.)

At some point I might make some adjustments to Siklana’s design, mostly in redoing the character on a later model to take into account some issues and limitations I didn’t know about when first starting.

I continued to work with learning the program, and eventually put together a full scene with her.

In this case, she’s with her horse, Esara.

A young woman standing on a vine-tangled staircase offers her hand to a curious horse at the foot of the stair.

(The horse’s coat and mane ended up a bit darker than I was initially picturing for Esara, so I may need to do some tweaking if I do further images with her).

The idea behind this image, though only mentioned in The Wishing Blade series rather than actually seen, is that Siklana used to go outside of Cirena City to practice her knife-throwing skills in peace.

She would ride out to the forested region behind the city walls to a small, abandoned ruin. (This region was once Aneth, home to those who would eventually spread throughout Cirena. At the time, they faced attacks by the immortals, and many of their buildings ended up in ruin once they fled). This particular building would likely have been fairly recent in their history, though still abandoned. But now this side of the forest is relatively safe. The perfect place to go when someone wants time to themselves to study and throw knives.

Are there any characters from the Wishing Blade universe (any of the stories) that you would be interested in seeing?

* * *

Though Siklana starts as a side character, by Magebane she has a major character arc…

* * *

Happy reading and writing!

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