Tag Archives: Stephanie Flint

August 9, 2025 · 8:29 am

Backstory Between Toranih and Siklana

In The Wishing Blade series, there’s a rivalry (often unspoken), between Toranih and her older sister, Siklana. Though they care for each other (in fact, the one magical item Toranih actually likes and frequently uses is a light crystal Siklana made for her), Toranih has always felt like she was in her sister’s shadow… that, no matter what she did, her sister was always better. Better at academia, better at fitting in with social expectations, and better at earning their parents’ approval.

Once, when they were younger, Toranih and Siklana were instructed to create a small tapestry to showcase what they’d learned of weaving and embroidery. Toranih chose to painstakingly render a detailed depiction of a beautiful knife wielded by the legendary noble, Duke Nomca, who was known for his fairness and protection of those in need, including those without magic. (And of the beastmen, which gets shown in a story I’m currently writing). Toranih worked hard on that tapestry, and when her work was complete, the final piece was beautiful… if in its own pragmatic way.

She was quite proud of that work, and sure she had finally managed to achieve something her sister couldn’t. But when they unveiled their tapestries for their parents, Siklana’s detailed work far outclassed anything Toranih dreamed of achieving… and her hopes were dashed.

After that day, she refused to touch the loom except for the most basic of lessons, and she turned to Captain Brekartn for lessons wielding a weapon like Duke Nomca. Though any skill with knives eluded her, she soon found mastery in swords. The more she practiced, the better she became.

As the years passed, Toranih denounced the arts her sister excelled at—including magic—and instead focused her talents on the one thing Siklana showed little interest in—swordsmanship.

If all went well, she would one day become a guardswoman, while her sister would become an academy mage.

But, of course, life doesn’t go as planned.

Magic is stolen.

Siklana is left without the magic she’s become known for, and Toranih’s traditional weapons prove useless against the army of shadows invading the kingdom. Toranih finds herself forced to consider the role her sister once studied for—the role of a mage, while her sister is left wondering where she fits into this strange new world.

And there you have it, a little history between Toranih and Siklana.

Toranih’s reaction to the change of her world is the primary focus of Magic’s Stealing, whereas we see more of Siklana’s reaction in The Shadow War, and Siklana has a major arc in Magebane, the third book in the series.

* * *

A heinous plot is unveiled when magic is stolen…

See how Toranih and Siklana adjust in The Wishing Blade series:

Book Cover for Magic's Stealing
Book Cover for The Shadow War
Book Cover for Magebane

* * *

Happy reading and writing!

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August 2, 2025 · 11:49 am

Memory Seeds

A couple weeks ago I posted “When Two Books Share the Same Scene,” and I referenced the concept of “memory seeds.”

Let’s go deeper!

In the world of Distant Horizon, telepathy is one of the strongest and most dangerous powers a person can have. While it’s generally used to read minds and emotions, telepathy can also be used to implant ideas in a person’s thoughts and, at its most powerful, possess them.

(Tim is very much not a fan of this when he starts dealing with the second Legion Spore in Spirits of a Glitch, and he first gets an idea of how the implanted memories work in Ghost of a Memory).

Lots of fun for me as the author, not so much fun for my characters.

However, a few telepaths, including Lady Winters (the insidious “Brainmaster,” but don’t let her catch you calling her that), know how to plant so-called “memory seeds.” Rather than having to be present when they attack, a telepath leaves a set of (usually) false memories inside their victim’s mind that are set to activate under certain conditions.

In Jenna’s case, Lady Winters inserts memories of Jenna being transformed into a sub-human beast, though she’s never actually been in a beastie tank.

Here’s a look at a scene in Fractured Skies where she’s attempting to confront the seed with Gwen, one of the rebel telepaths:

Are you ready?

I swallowed hard… or imagined I did… and nodded. Let’s get this over with.

She raised her hands to the black ceiling above us. The blackness grew lighter, shifting into green. Gwen faded into the darkness. Green liquid crashed over my head.

I was trapped in the glass tube of a beastie tank.

Thick bubbles shimmered around me as I flailed, screaming. The burning liquid, the deadened sensation of my hands and feet—I shook my head and begged to get out, but my words were lost in the breathing mask strapped over my mouth.

Look around you. This isn’t real. Wasn’t real? What wasn’t real? I pounded my fists against the glass. “Let me out!”

Look beyond the glass. What should you see?

I took a gasping breath. Beyond the glass I couldn’t see anything…

That was the problem. I should have been able to see something. A shadow of movement, the smooth structures of other tubes. Those images slowly formed in front of me… but not because my eyes had adjusted.

Recognizing that your surroundings aren’t what they are supposed to be allows you to take the first step in controlling your situation.

That voice… Gwen!

Over time the memories get worse, with the idea that the next time Jenna confronts her, Lady Winters could easily use the memory seeds to disable her in a fight.

This happens and, in a later confrontation, Lady Winters adds the memory of the Legion Spore’s transformation. With the latter seed, simply hearing the Legion Spore’s telepathic voices can trigger the memory, but crowded spaces (claustrophobia from being inside the transforming Legion Spore) can also cause the seeds to strike.

Ideally, another telepath would be able to remove them, which is what Gwen tries to do at first. But when you’re dealing with someone as strong as Lady Winters, removing the seeds can be a challenge, especially when traps have been laid to keep them from being removed.

Memory seeds aren’t the only trick telepaths can use to manipulate others, and once we get to Fractured Skies, Jenna learns that the seeds in her head may be a bit more complex than the average seed.

And once we get to Starless Night, well, the enemy she’s fighting might be herself…

* * *

Who can Jenna trust when she can’t trust her own mind and memories?

Book Cover for Distant Horizon, with a gold title. A young woman faces a sterile white hallway with faces in the doors. She has vines around her arms.
Book cover for Fractured Skies with gold text. A young woman in a coat faces a wintery, pink-tinted forest. She has vines around her arms.
Book cover for Starless Night. A young woman in a black combat suit with thorny vines around her arms faces ghostly spirits in a wintery city street at night.

* * *

Happy reading and writing!

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July 26, 2025 · 8:22 am

How the Wishing Blade Universe changed over time

When I first created the world of The Wishing Blade, I had no idea how much I’d change of the story as it progressed. And how much I’d add. Like a whole ‘nother language… (Wheee, language creation!) I had only really considered the main series, and how some of its immortal characters lived throughout time, but not the lives of the characters from The Legends of Cirena series. Not Edyli and her sister in Stone and String, or how varied Litkanston might look.

Even major elements now, like the Cantingen Islands with its word magic, were only briefly mentioned and didn’t play a large role in the story. (Word magic didn’t even exist yet… I don’t think?) Pretty sure the islands weren’t directly mentioned in any of the early drafts, though I did find a later pixel version of the map that had them added in, likely as I expanded the story after the events of The Wishing Blade series.

I think this was “storyideamap26.gif” if that gives you any idea of my process. For reference, the map below is one of the first maps I ever made referencing Cirena, in all its pixel-y goodness.

(I later created the current version in pencil and ink and then polished it in Photoshop)

Notice that several features have changed from this version (storyideamap26) for The Wishing Blade series…

To the most recent version for The Wishing Blade series:

  • For example, scaling and spacing got readjusted. Neel, while still a city, also became a desert region.
  • Toranih’s estate doesn’t even get a dot on the map.
  • The Cantingen Islands (and pretty much every landmark) got redefined.
  • The Shadow’s Pass and the Pass of Cirena haven’t even been touched in the current series. (Though we might still see a version of these as the series continues).
  • The Midder Triangle (in my head now as “Midder’s Triangle”) also hasn’t been addressed… though some of the Legends stories that are in development (The Dark Forest of Aneth) are now making references to that goddess, and the concept of the Triangle might eventually make it into Litkanston lore if any of my current headcannon makes it into published cannon.

As the story developed, much of the plot and world-building changed. I guess that’s what happens when my first ideas for this series started 12 years before I published the first book (Magic’s Stealing). I was still in junior high, daydreaming in choir and whenever I had free time.

I set the idea for The Wishing Blade series aside for a while after high school, though I occasionally tried rewriting the concept without much success.

Then, after college, I tried reworking the story again, and finally published Magic’s Stealing in 2015.

It took a while to finally get the world to a place where I was satisfied, but I’m excited to see what changes as the series continues, and what plot points and characters stick around.

For example, Toranih’s sister, Siklana, plays a major role in the current version of the series, which was a big change since she was only seen in a couple scenes in the earlier drafts. She even has a major arc in the third book, Magebane.

I expect plenty more to change, though there are still major scenes that I look forward to finally writing.

* * *

A heinous plot is unveiled when magic is stolen…

See the result of my world-building changes in The Wishing Blade series:

Book Cover for Magic's Stealing
Book Cover for The Shadow War
Book Cover for Magebane

(And yes, there’s at least one, if not two more books planned for the complete arc).

* * *

Happy reading and writing!

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July 19, 2025 · 7:43 am

When Two Books Share the Same Scene

Hi there! Today I’m going to be talking about tackling two points of view of the same scene in different books. But there are going to be some spoilers regarding the Distant Horizon Universe. They’ll be minor, but if you’re trying to avoid spoilers, go read the books first, then come back after!

Still here?

Cool.

There are several scenes in Fractured Skies (Distant Horizon #2) that reference events in the Glitch Saga.

While the Glitch Saga (Glitch #1-3) follows Tim’s point of view within the Camaraderie, the Distant Horizon series follows Jenna’s point of view with the Coalition rebels.

At times, these scenes directly overlap.

For example, in Ghost of a Memory (Glitch #2), there’s a scene where Tim first takes the Legion Spore to attack the OA training base in Japan:

Master Zaytsev, we are required to alert you to a small, unidentified vessel leaving the area.

“Insignificant,” I murmur. We need to fix this glitch, not apprehend ships.

Master Zaytsev… The voices are curious. She has our memories.

I frown and bring the revolving set of images onto the main screen. Mechs. Helicopters… There’s a small firefight in the distant region, but most of the people on the ground now are Special Forces.

We are legion, it calls mentally, and I almost swear it’s happy. Then I see the fast fleeing vessel.

“Zoom in.” Nothing happens. I bite my cheek. “Legion Spore?”

No response.

I type the command, and one of the Legion Spore’s eyes shift and focus until they reveal a small, black car flying into the distance. My chest tightens as I manually scan the ground for signs of the rebels. I don’t see anyone, so maybe they escaped. “What were the memories?”

Not her own. Disappointment. Stolen memories, used to cause pain. Are we a device for pain, Master Zaytsev?

Long story short, there’s some behind-the-scenes information that Tim doesn’t have in regards to those memories the Legion Spore saw. During an earlier mission, Jenna fell victim to a telepathic attack that left “memory seeds” in her head, seeds which attempt to weaken the victim’s mind.

Jenna is all too familiar with the problem these seeds can cause, and the memories—painful images of being transformed into a beast and the Legion Spore—tend to attack at the worst times. Such as right in the middle of a mission.

In Fractured Skies, she’s at the same base when Tim brings the Legion Spore there to attack, and her view of what’s happening is a little bit different:

We are legion. Telepathic voices, overlapping but discordant, boomed in my head, overshadowing every other thought. I clapped my hands over my ears, trying to plug out the sound, but that didn’t stop the wave of pain rolling through my skull. So many voices, so much pain…

I gasped, my eyes watering. Pain. I knew exactly what this was. The numerous voices and the sense of being one unit… “The Legion Spore,” I whispered. Chills ran down my spine. My body shook, all of my muscles feeling loose and scattered, as if there was nothing else around me but so many creatures, beastie and human, their bones knitting with metal. Their skin stretching to form a hull. A loss of sight, our vision was black, and all there could be was a terrible, hot, burning pain. We gritted our teeth, strained against our binds. The noise… that beating, beating pulse of hearts merging with clicking gears and digital clocks. Winding, binding, whimpering, crying…

“Jenna!”

 We struggled against the metal grid. It held us tight. The bindings, the wires were part of our bone, part of our new skeleton, and radiation… terrible radiation unified us, our new sight—our powers, together, a legion of souls—

“Jenna! Listen to me!”

Listening. Commands… commands… Her senses, same as us. Her memories are ours… She is part of us. Meant to be part of us. She could complete us. Join us; we are legion…

“Jenna! Damn it, I need her to see me!” A firm hand gripped my chin and forced me to look into brown eyes—

Brown eyes… Lance’s eyes were green. Whose were these?

 “She’s responding,” the face said. Slowly it came into focus, and I finally saw Quin, not the horrible visions. Cold sweat covered my aching body.

“Can we go invisible yet? I think we’re out of range, but still—” A fuzzy-looking Inese turned in the driver’s seat, looking back.

“Not yet. Let’s be sure we have her.” Quin held my chin tight so I couldn’t look away. “Can you hear me?”

I swallowed hard. My throat burned as if it was raw. “Yeah,” I whispered.

“Do you remember anything?”

“Yes.” I stared at his face. I should have been able to escape the memories. But how could I use Gwen’s teachings if I didn’t know it was a memory? It felt real, like only part of it was a memory, but part of it was new.

“What happened?” Quin released my chin and I looked around me. The base was out of sight and, thank the Community, so was the horrible vessel.

“A memory seed,” I said. “The creation of the Legion Spore. One of Lady Winters’ attacks.”

Quin frowned, his eyebrows quirked with worry. “You were saying ‘We are legion.’ ”


So there you have it!

A look at what was going on in Jenna’s mind when the Legion Spore spots the fleeing rebels.

This scene was fairly easy to match up, because we really don’t see a whole lot of overlap.

I think this might be the easiest way to work with multiple perspectives, because, while the larger event is the same, there’s not a whole lot of interaction.

In one of my other projects, I’m working on an alternate perspective for The Wind Mage and the Wolf, and there’s an entire scene of dialogue and action that overlap.

That one has been proving trickier, since I need to make sure that everything still happens the same, in the same order, and makes logical sense without contradicting the other.

For that one, I wrote the majority of the story, and left the overlapping scene for last. My current method for trying to bring them together is to strip out the fluff from the original scene, making note of what the POV character in the new story would see, and then rewriting the rest of the details from his point of view.

It’s tricky, but neat to play with different perspectives.

* * *

Two sides of the same war…

Book Cover for the Glitch Saga. Orange and red. A beautiful woman with black hair faces the viewer, there's an airship in the shape of a Portuguese Man'O'War, and an angry spirit rises above a forest.
Book cover for Fractured Skies with gold text. A young woman in a coat faces a wintery, pink-tinted forest. She has vines around her arms.

* * *

Happy reading and writing!

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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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May 23, 2025 · 2:31 pm

A fun new quiz is available!

Infinitas Publishing now has a new page… the Extras page!

Right now it just has the one “extra,” a “Which of our series should you read first?” quiz!

Long term, I’m hoping to add other fun quizzes… think “Which character are you?” or “Which powers would you have?”

But this is the one I decided to use for figuring out how Tally.so (the quiz host) works, so here it is!


Click here to take the “Which of our series should you read first?” quiz!

Long term, I’d also like to include free coloring pages, printable bookmarks, and that kind of thing. Let me know if there’s anything you’d especially like to see!

* * *

Happy quiz-taking!

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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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