I self-published two books in the last eight months! I have learned a lot from the experience. For example, I haven't sold very many copies and have even fewer reviews. This is partly due to my impatience to release the books; they were ready, so I published. If I had taken the months/years to build an online following before publishing them, they undoubtedly would have done at least a little better. I can't say I regret publishing them quickly, because life is short and I firmly believe we can't take tomorrow for granted. Things we put off until tomorrow, or next week or next month, may never come to pass. But, I hope more people will read them and my other books in the future, so I've been working on my social media presence. I recently joined Tiktok and gained over 1k followers in a month, so that's awesome! (@carablaine)
A handful of those followers volunteered to beta read my next novel, Order of Terra. It is the YA dystopian, witchy, coming-of-age fantasy my heart has wanted to write since I was a kid. It is a good bit longer than my first two novels and more complex, so it is taking me longer to make revisions. But I hope to have it ready to publish this fall. Fingers crossed!
I have written two more manuscripts as well. One is called Queen of Ocean Bright, and it is a prequel/spin-off off Dream Cursed Queen. It is currently in novella form, but may end up being expanded to a full novel. It is an origin story based in the ocean, with two different types of "mermaids," as well as a sea goddess, selkies, and krakens. It was really fun to write and I'm already working on edits.
My fifth manuscript is a bit different. I decided to dip my toes into romance writing, just for fun and to challenge myself with something new. It is a fantasy romance, so still kind of in my wheelhouse. It is a fairytale-adjacent story about a witch who lives in a cottage in a haunted forest, and a prince. It has tons of adventure, romance, and magic, and also a little "spice." It was so fun to write! I'm not sure if I'll venture further into romance writing, but I'm glad I at least wrote this story, because I love it.
I'm on summer vacation right now, so I am throwing myself into writing, editing, and social media / marketing while I have extra time. Also, I get so many compliments on my book covers that I started an Etsy shop to provide affordable book covers and character art to indie/self-published authors, full of fun digital art that I created. (You can find that shop if you search for CaraBlaineDesigns on etsy! I have a sale running for the next week!) I have some fun blank notebooks listed as well, featuring original art covers of my own design.
I also have a lot of work to do for my day job this summer, and I'll be visiting family out of state for two weeks in July. But, as far as what's on the writing horizon other than what I outlined above... My niece and I have talked about co-authoring a fantasy novel. If we do, I'll definitely share the details!
I hope everyone is having a fantastic summer!