Yanni's Story
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Yanni’s Story is FREE for a short time only!
That’s right!! Yanni’s Story (Spencer Cohen Book 4) is FREE for a short time only!!
Universal Amazon link: http://mybook.to/YannisStorySpencerCohen4
Grab it while you can!!
Also, please note that Galaxies and Oceans will be coming out of KU and going to other retail sites after the 22nd September. If you’re a KU user and have been thinking about grabbing it, now is your last chance!
Universal Amazon Link : http://mybook.to/GalaxiesAndOceans
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Good Morning Monday and what a bloody week it was!
OMG this week… So busy, but productive, thank God! What I got done this week:
- Wrote 16,000 words to finish the first draft of On Davis Row 🙂
- Wrote the blurb for On Davis Row (I swear, the 92K word story was easier lol)
- Completed edits on 82,000 words for the re-release of Breaking Point (Oct 27th)
- Organised/ordered 96 paperback pre-order books to be delivered to Denver
- The Weight Of It All was released on Audio
- Negotiated a contract for all FOUR Spencer Cohen books to be done in Audio
- Imagines and Perfect Catch came off KU and went to other retailers
- Set up a CafePress store!
Not to mention the real life/mum things I’ve been doing all week. My kids go back to school this week, so I’ll have some free hours to get everything ready for my big trip to America next week!
Speaking of my trip, I leave home early early next Monday morning (16th) so there’s a very good chance there will be NO post from me next week. And the following Monday, I’ll be in Denver, travelling back to LA, ready to fly home at midnight. So there might not be a post from me for the next two weeks. I’ll be sure to make up for it though with lots of pics when I return.
I’m so excited to meeting up with everyone again, and meeting new faces! I can’t wait!!
For those who may have missed previous posts, this is the gorgeous cover for On Davis Row. I can’t share the blurb yet because it’s unedited. Release date should be late November 🙂
I can’t remember if I’ve shared with you the new cover for Breaking Point… The very talented Reese Dante made the three covers for the re-releases. Due to be out on October 27th, Breaking Point has been re-edited and tidied but no new content has been added.
Be sure to grab POINT OF NO RETURN (book 1 in the Turning Point Series) while it’s still on special for just 99c!
The audio of The Weight of it All was released this week to RAVE reviews! I’m so thrilled people are enjoying Henry and Reed’s story in audio as much as the book, and the wonderful narrator, Joel Leslie, really brings Henry to life.
You can find it at Audible HERE
Tantor Audio have requested all FOUR Spencer Cohen books!! I’m beyond stoked for these boys to go to audio, especially Yanni’s Story, which I’d never have been able to afford to self-pub into audio because of its length. No dates yet, but I’m imagining they’ll be spread out over next year! Stay tuned for more details.
All my books will be coming out of Kindle Unlimited for now. If and/or when I decide to put them back remains to be seen. They probably will but I’m happy for them to go wide at the time being. (New releases will be in KU and Spencer Cohen 1 has two more months).
Imagines is the next title to be released wide.
You can now find Imagines at:
And I’ll share the links to B&N and iBooks when they become available.
Perfect Catch is also going wide!
You can find it at Smashwords and Payhip!
Other retail sites to follow asap!
And my new swag store is now at Cafe Press!! There are lots of new and fun products, so be sure to check them out!
So that’s all my news this week! This week will be busy with travel plans and getting packed and organised. I have some real life things to take care of this week before I leave, so I doubt there’ll be any writing, maybe some tweaking of drafts etc, but that’s about it.
Until then… <3
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Good Morning Monday! All The New Releases!
Within a week, I will have had THREE releases!
- Yanni’s Story (Aug 29th)
- Cronin’s Key III on audio (Sept 5th)
- Elements of Retrofit re-release! (Sept 6th)
Crazy, right? Busy too! LOL
First of all, Yanni’s Story made its way out into the world and I couldn’t be prouder! I’ve had some wonderful, heartfelt feedback who thanked me for giving them a voice. It breaks my heart that anyone has lived through (and thankfully survived) what Yanni went through. For many people, Yanni’s Story wasn’t fiction, and I’ll be forever grateful to the readers who contacted me to share their stories with me. If anyone were to ask me why I write, my answer is this: so people have something to identify with. And if my words can shed a little bit of light on one person’s darkness, then everything I’ve done thus far has been worth it. <3
Buy Link: Amazon KU
Next up is Cronin’s Key III on Audio!
The third and final instalment of Alec and Cronin’s epic adventure is out on audio September 5th!
Listen as Joel Leslie brings every character to life. The poor guy had six nationalities, as well different ages, different sexes, in ONE conversation, and pulled it off flawlessly!
You can find it at Audible
And last but not least, the re-release of Elements of Retrofit!! I am SO excited to be getting the rights back to my books with their current publisher. Things you need to know…
- The current (old) version will disappear from sites on Sept 6th
- I will upload the new version on Sept 7th.
- The new version has been re-edited.
- There is no new content.
- It will be exclusive to Amazon KU.
- The paperback will be available the same day!
- Each of the Thomas Elkin books will be released as separate paperbacks.
- I get the rights back to Clarity of Lines in December, and Sense of Place in Feb.
- The current trilogy paperback will be unavailable from Monday.
- Check out the amazing new cover Reese Dante made for me!!
I will post the buy links when the new version goes live!
In other news, my WIP is at 33K. It’s titled On Davis Row, and I need to get it finished before school breaks up in three weeks. If I can manage 10K words a week, I should be able to do it 🙂 Failing any RL hiccups or roadblocks, that is. I’ll be aiming for a November release.
Until next week! <3
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Yanni’s Story! The whys and the warnings…
I’ve just hit “publish” on Yanni’s Story. Amazon KU can take 30 minutes or two days to publish a book, so I figured I’d just hit publish today and hope for the best.
But before you think about reading this book, you might need to know a few things…
First, it’s a slow book. Why? Because healing from emotional and physical trauma is a SLOW process. For some readers it might be too slow, and that’s fine. Please know the pacing is deliberate and how the characters needed it to be told. Anything otherwise would have been forced, or there would have been huge time-jumps in the storytelling. The fact it’s 120,000 words probably doesn’t help either. It’s a LONG book! Yanni has a lot of issues to get through, and coupled with a slow healing process, it’s an unfolding story. There’s no action or drama, no formulaic plot twist at the 75% mark. It’s simply a story of healing and growing, and believing in yourself to finally find your place.
Second, there are trigger warnings in this book. Specifically:-
Trigger Warnings: Descriptions of violence, suicide, and sexual assault. Reader discretion advised.
These instances are not on-page, but the ramifications are. The events are described, their stories told, and the characters are left to deal with the aftermath.
Now, if trigger warnings are not your thing and you get annoyed in an ‘OMG it’s such spoiler’ kind of way, be thankful. Be thankful you don’t need to be pre-warned because of the lasting psychological damage shit like domestic violence and sexual assault can leave behind.
If you do need trigger warnings, in particular those listed above, I’mma hug you first then tell you this book might not be for you. <3
Lastly, this book delves into Daddy kink, and it’s also May/December trope. If you’ve read the Spencer Cohen Series, you know Peter is 43 and Yanni is 21. Again, if these are not for you, you might want to give this book a miss.
Now, if you’re A-okay with the aforementioned, then please by all means go ahead and read. If not, that’s okay too. <3
I’ll be posting the buylink as soon as it goes live!
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Good Morning Monday! Weekly update and Yanni’s paperback cover :)
Hello again! This is only going to be a super short one today. I’ve had another busy week (I seriously can’t remember when they weren’t). So a quick rundown of what I got through this week:
- Some (not all) proofing edits on Yanni’s Story
- Released some (not all) ARCs of Yanni’s Story
- Wrote 11K words. My WIP is now at 19K 🙂
- Finalised some artwork for the new Thomas Elkin Series covers (which are amazing, by the way – and I’ll share them soon.)
- Started to proof the audio of Red Dirt Heart 3
- and probably a bunch of stuff I can’t remember…
This week coming up, I only have three days at home. We leave on Thursday and get back on Monday (not going anywhere exciting, unfortunately) but I still have a weeks’ work to do (cry me a river, I know LOL). Anywhoooo, my list looks a lot like this:
- Finish proofing the audio of RDH3 – and it’s soooo good. Joel slays it!
- Finish sending all ARCs to review blogs
- Write more words on my WIP – I’d love to be up to 25K before I leave.
- Finalise the proofing edits for Yanni.
- Format the final file of Yanni for ebook and paperback.
I think that’s enough for three days… 😉
And speaking of the paperback of Yanni’s Story, I have the wrap cover to show off! In keeping with the Spencer Cohen theme, I made up a mock cover and sent it to Sara York, who did a superbly fabulous job in making it perfect!
Isn’t it gorgeous?? I just love it! I can’t wait to hold one in my hands!
As I’ll be away next weekend and Monday, I highly doubt there’ll be a usual Monday morning post. But as Yanni’s Story is just 8 days away, I’ll definitely be posting between now and then. I’ll try and find some excerpts to share 🙂
Until then… <3
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Good Morning Monday! Another busy week and a cover reveal…
Well, rarely does a week go by when I’m not busy, but damn… I’m beginning to think I need a new word for busy!
Remember a few weeks ago I mentioned a story I was going to put on my website in small chapters posted daily? Well, I’ve been playing with that manuscript and really just think the best way to post it would to just upload the whole bloody thing in one go. The story is a “drabble” which is told in 100 word chapters, and for me to post each one individually at the same time every day would just be a whopping pain in the butt. Well, not the posting of the chapters, but rather how the reader would read it when WordPress will update each chapter on it’s own separate page, and last chapter first – it’s just a mess for me to post, and a nightmare for a reader to read/follow. So I do believe just posting it in one go is best.
There were originally two parts to this story, and combining them into one makes it approx. 21,000 words. I have a cover for it now (which is gorgeous, btw) but I still have more fixing to do, then editing of course. So it’s a little while away yet, and while I still haven’t exactly figured out how I’ll release it, it’s definitely happening 🙂
I’ve also been going over an old story I’ve had on my laptop forever. It started its life as a fanfic but I’ve re-written most of it, changed it, fixed it. It was a helluva mess (a sure sign that my abilities as a writer has improved, I hope!) It was also written in third person omni POV, which is weird. I don’t know why I wrote it like that all those years ago LOL. But to change this story to third person alternating POV wouldn’t work (not without basically scrapping it and starting again – which I’d rather not do) BUT it’s also a male/female story! *gasp/shock/horror* so my loyalist m/m readers who don’t delve into m/f anymore might want to give it a miss. It’s a 30K romance/action kind of story.
I sent it off to some beta/critique readers to see if it works, or to see if I should just scrap it altogether. I’ll be sure to keep you posted.
THE WEIGHT OF IT ALL:
For any readers who prefer not to buy from Amazon, The Weight of It All is now out of KU and is now available at the following stores:
Smashwords
B&N
iBooks soon – they’re being very slow…<3
IN OTHER NEWS:
Production of Red Dirt Heart 3 in audio is underway, with the audio of Cronin’s Key II due out on the first of August! Spencer Cohen 2 (Italian translation) is out on July 28.
COVER REVEAL:
As promised, I have the cover to Yanni’s Story to share with you! You may have seen it shown at LoveBytes Review blog over the weekend, but in case you haven’t, here is what I had to say:
“Yanni’s Story is a 120K word story that took me by surprise. I always knew Yanni, from the Spencer Cohen Series, would get his own story. In case you can’t place him, in Book 2 of the Spencer Cohen Series, Yanni’s the poor guy that Spencer is hired to track down only to find out the ex-boyfriend was abusive, and poor Yanni is terrified. Spencer and Andrew take Yanni to Andrew’s parents’ house and toward the end of Book 3 of the Spencer Series, we learn that Yanni is much happier. Well, this is why it’s called Yanni’s Story – because it’s exactly what it is.
Now, about the cover… Matching covers to a completed series is never easy. Especially when the series has the MC on the cover! The Spencer Cohen Series covers are very distinct, to say the least. And adding a new cover for a character that wasn’t Spencer was never going to be easy.
I needed something that was similar, that would look part of the series, but keep Yanni’s identity. Spencer’s covers, with the leaves and the primary colours, are totally Spencer. And after searching and searching, I found the right picture for Yanni and made up a mock cover of my idea. With some help from Sara York, who takes my mock covers and makes them better, we have the perfect addition to the Spencer Cohen series.
BLURB:
When Yanni Tomaras is kicked out of his family home, his parents’ final words are religious insults and an order to never return. Homeless and desperate, he’s lured in by Lance, charming on the outside, an evil predator underneath, who abuses him until he finds the courage to leave.
After years of being trapped, Yanni should feel free, but by the time Spencer Cohen finds him, he’s resigned to being handed back to Lance, and once again being caged by fear.
Starting school and a part-time job, Yanni starts to reclaim his life. But a love for silent films leads him to Peter Hannikov, a man twice his age with a kind heart, and an unlikely friendship between them blooms into so much more. Neither man knows what he wants, at first. Finding out exactly what he needs is Yanni’s story.
“I’d spent years as a bird, caged with my wings clipped, tormented and beaten.
I thought I’d escaped when I’d left my abuser, but in hindsight I could see that I was still caged, this time by fear and self-doubt.
Spencer and Andrew, and Andrew’s parents, opened the door to the cage that confined me.
But it was Peter who taught me how to fly.”
Until next week… <3
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Good Morning Monday! Point of No Return is baaaaack!!
Yes, that’s right!! The rights to Point of No Return have been returned to me! I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am about that! It was my first ever submitted book, way back in 2011 (subbed in 2011, published in 2012) and what a roller coaster this poor book has had! It’s had two publishers (the first being Silver – no more needs to be said on that matter LOL) and it’s short lifespan, this new edition will be its FOURTH cover.
No wonder people are confused, right??
Just so we’re clear, this new edition has been re-edited and has a bright and shiny new cover, but there’s no additional content. The story hasn’t changed.
It will have an introductory price of $2.99 for a week before it goes up to the permanent price of $3.99.
I’m waiting on Amazon to approve it (I’m expecting delays because of the proof of ownership/copyright, so stay tuned!)
I simply LOVE the new covers for this series. They’re really getting back to the original cover art design, which was utterly perfect. Reese Dante did an outstanding job recapturing the original. I just love Matt and Kira (and Sal and Yumi) and I’m so thrilled to have this book back!
In other news, Yanni’s Story is now with some pre-readers and I’ll be sending it to my editor asap. The first draft came in at 119K words! I have shown the cover in my private Facebook readers’ group, but I’ll be showing it off to the world soon, I promise!
I’d like to pick a release date for late August, though it will depend totally on edits. I could very well be crying in my coffee until September… 😉
Personal update on me – I seem to be managing my Chronic Fatigue okay. Though this week, after travelling away and being busy with my son’s tennis from 6am until 9pm every day, I have contracted some god-awful chest infection. I’m on antibiotics and a few other types of medications, but it has wiped me. I’m exhausted. My kids also have this week off school, which does mean that they’ll be home every day in my workspace, but it also means I can sleep in! YAY! 🙂
Now, the biggest question is… which story to start next? Decisions, decisions… Normally I have impatient characters who are yelling at me for their story, but they’ve all gone quiet. Maybe they’re kindly waiting for me to feel better, or waiting until I’ve finished my taxes *lol/sob* I have ten thousand ideas in my plot-bunny folder, but no disgruntled characters in my head, demanding to be written. It’s kind of a toss-up between three ideas – one crime novella trilogy, one fluffy surfer/lifesaver stand alone, or a hugely plotty paranormal that I love the idea of, but after writing Yannis’ 119k in 8 weeks, I think I need something easy… It will all come down to which guys want their story first. As I’ve always said, I don’t get to choose – I’m just the typist. 😉
Until next week! <3
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Good Morning Monday! I Hit A Writing Milestone This Week!
This week I crossed a professional milestone! Up until now, the longest book I’ve written is Starting Point at 92K words. But my current WIP, Yanni’s Story, has breezed past that and is currently at 106K!! There’s probably another 12K to go, maybe more.
Yanni’s Story is written in three sections called Acts. Given he’s studying acting, I thought it was appropriate LOL. Each Act shows Yanni’s growth and recovery from being in an abusive relationship. I’ll share more of this when the first draft is done.
And I could split Yanni’s Story (yes, that’s the name of the book) into three separate books, and it would be more in tune with the Spencer Cohen Series (which Yanni’s world is a part of) if it were three books, but truthfully, it would read better as one book. So it will stay as one book. 🙂
I’m still aiming for a release in late Aug/early Sept. Fingers crossed my editor won’t suggest massive re-writes LOL
For my Italian readers, Cuore di Terra Rossa 3 is out today!! That’s Red Dirt Heart 3 to everyone else 😉
You can find it on Amazon or directly at the publisher, Triskell
A reminder that I’m taking pre-orders for signed books at GRL in October, when I’ll be in Denver, Colorado!
You can find the pre-order form HERE.
Also, a HUGE thank you to my audio listeners for making Cronin’s Key such a successful release! It spent three weeks straight at #1 on LGBT audio, so thank you!!!
Okay, so I won’t be here next week, so there won’t be an update. I’ll be away with my son’s tennis but also for a bit of a family vacation as well. I’m going to try like crazy to have Yanni’s Story’s first draft done so I can have some down time. I’ve written 65K words in the last month, so my hands (and brain) would probably appreciate the break 😉
Have a fabulous week! Until then… <3
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Good Morning Monday! It’s Four Months to GRL!!
Good morning!! Yes, it’s only four months to GRL!! I’m so excited to see everyone again and to meet new friends. A little freaked out about travelling to the US alone, but I’m sure it’ll be fine. I travelled from the US back to Australia by myself without a hitch, so I’m sure it’ll be fine! I leave home at 5:30am, fly to Sydney, then to LAX, for a grand total of 20 hours travelling time! Ugh, I’m sure it will be as sucky as it sounds LOL
SIGNED PAPERBACKS AT GRL
As Colorado has sticky selling/trading regulations, especially for non-US residents, I won’t be selling any books at GRL. However, If anyone attending GRL this year in Denver would like signed paperbacks, you have two options: You can bring your own copies and I will happily sign them, or you can pre-order them using my pre-order form (like last year). To ensure no money changes hands in the US, all purchases and financial transactions are to be taken place beforehand, and I will then have your signed books for collection at GRL.
You can find the pre-order form HERE
To allow for ordering and shipping, please note the cut off period for ordering signed paperbacks from me is September 30th.
Quick writing update
My WIP, Yanni’s Story, is now at 86K words. I’m thinking there might be about 20-30K to go, so yes, it will definitely be my longest story. My longest book to date is 92K so this will easy pass that. 🙂
I’m aiming for a late Aug/early Sept release date, all things going well. That is subject to change, but I’ll keep everyone posted!
Not sure when I’ll do the cover reveal. I may wait until I’ve finished the first draft and have some feedback from my beta readers. I don’t want to release the cover with an actual release date if I need to do major rewrites. Fingers crossed that won’t happen LOL
I’m still working on getting that free story posted, so stay tuned on that. I haven’t forgotten, I promise. I’m just trying to work out the best way to post it so it’s reader friendly. There should be approx. daily (very short) chapter updates every day for a month, which should be fun!
That’s it for today! I hope everyone has a fabulous week! Until then…
<3
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Good Morning Monday! 2017 is half over already?
I cannot believe how fast this year is going! It feels like I’m doing these Monday posts every second day! 😉
So, what’s been happening this week? Doctor appointments, kids’ sport (oh, and school lol) and writing! I somehow managed to write 12K this week!
A quick WIP update is that Yanni’s Story is now at 62k words and I’m very pleased to announce that Yanni and Peter have kissed! Once! LOL I’m truly thinking this will be a 90k-100k story. My longest story ever is 92k and I do think this will exceed that. 🙂
I might even share the cover soon! I’m hesitant to share it in case I jinx myself LOL. I’d hate to share it, have people get excited, then to get writer’s block or something… but I really love the cover and can’t wait to share it!
Paperback news!
I got creative with some paperbacks and want to explain a few things…
Red Dirt Heart Imago is only 18k words long, so to beef it up for paperback, I added the Red Dirt Christmas story as a bonus to the back.
But, because I love the Red Dirt Christmas cover so much, and a lot of readers told me they do too, I decided to put it in paperback with Red Dirt Heart Imago as the bonus story at the back.
Excuse the terrible photography LOL but I hope the pics make it clear as what you can expect in each book. Both books have 138 pages and should retail for $7USD. They have been approved through Createspace and should be available at Amazon very soon! I was hoping to have the link for this post, but it wasn’t to be. I will update asap!
Audio news!
I’m thrilled to say Cronin’s Key has been sitting at #1 in the LGBT Audio spot for a week!!!
Joel’s narration is incredible, and the reviews have reflected this! I’m so excited to announce that he has just started on Cronin’s Key II 🙂
I’ve never considered audio when writing, and I’d have loved to be a fly on the wall when I told Joel he had a dozen different accents to master LOL But he nailed each and every one! I can’t wait to see what he does with CKII. And Red Dirt Heart 3 soon after!
That’s it for this week! I won’t be posting next week as I’ll be away. Be safe, be kind. <3
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