Going Wide

As many of you know, since I started my Baker's Dozen Experiment last October, I've been publishing all of my titles on Amazon only.

Well, the time has come to start offering some of my titles at other retailers! This is where the term "going wide" comes from. It means I won't just be publishing titles with one retailer.

The one negative of this is I can no longer be in Kindle Select, so no more availability in Kindle Unlimited. For now, I'm removing titles from Select one at a time (depending on when my Select term is up), and I do still intend to put future titles in Select for at least 3 months (more if I'm getting a lot of page reads) before I move those titles wide. Of course my plans could change at any moment.

The great thing about going wide, though, is that now if you have a retailer you prefer over Amazon, you can buy my titles from there! Don't worry. Everything is still available for purchase on Amazon too.

I know, the whole Select thing can be a little confusing if you're not a writer juggling all these publication things. If you have any questions or need clarification, don't hesitate to ask! I'd be happy to answer anything I can.

Oh, I suppose you might want some links. You can now find 4 of my stories at Barnes and Noble, Kobo Books, and iBooks, as well as several other smaller retailers (just search for my author name on your retailer of choice to see if my titles are available). The links should take you to all titles by Alexa Grave.

Does your library also use Overdrive? If so, my titles are available through there - try to recommend them in Overdrive for your libraries to purchase!

The 4 titles currently available are: Dancing in the Wind, Dreams in Shadow, Tales of Chyraine, and Bound. Later this month 3 more titles will be available: Love Fades, Fractured Fairies, and Blood & Booze.

I'll be updating my website with this information next week, hopefully!

Happy reading!

Heat Wave, Pokemon GO, Kids, and Thorns Entwine the Blade

Welcome to a mishmash post! It has seriously just been one of those months where I've felt like I'm only treading water and not making any forward progress. You ever feel that way? I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I know I've made some progress, though, even if it doesn't feel that way. I did another revision of Void of Intuition (the pre-order is up on Amazon, and it will be released on August 13). And I've started Thorns Entwine the Blade! If you'd like to see a really short snippet of the prelude (this is early draft material, remember), keep reading.

OK, so I haven't updated my progress bars for a while. Ignore those. They lie. It's obviously not June, and I do have some progress on Thorns, really. I'll try to update them next month because this month is already a lost cause for tracking anything.

One of the issues this month is that it's been so damned hot! Last week Tuesday the temp just jumped, and its been hanging in. We don't have central air, and right now our only window A/C is in our bedroom. It's kind of hard to cloister myself in there alone with a toddler (who naps in our bed). This weekend I wanted to run out and get a cheap A/C for the computer room, just so I could be cooler. I can't think in this heat! Right now I'm having a hard time putting words together in this post. And well, you didn't see a blog post last week, did you?

I wish we had enough money to tear up our house for central air, but with radiators for heating, that's not going to happen. If wishes were horses... Yeah, you know how it goes.

I'll admit it, though, it hasn't just been the heat. That first week of July when hubbie was home to work on the bedroom, well once he was done it kind of turned into a vacation for the both of us. Mainly because Pokemon GO was released (the timing couldn't have been any better - it was released the evening of the day he finished the room). I needed the break, anyhow.

Yes, I've still been playing Pokemon GO, but not as often as the first week. This week, though, eldest daughter is done with summer school, so now I have both of my little knuckleheads at home all the time. You'd think eldest could play and entertain youngest while I get stuff done. Oh, no. No no no. Youngest gets mad at everything eldest does, and eldest doesn't know how to interact with youngest to make it so she doesn't scream as much. I'm getting nothing done because when they're both awake, all I'm doing is putting out the flames of an angry toddler. And when youngest is napping, I'm so exhausted from the heat and the tantrums that I make progress on nothing. And even if I try, I have eldest singing the "Can I?" tune every five minutes.

Ah, kids.

That's enough excuses for this post. Again, I have gotten some things done, but at this point, I'm calling summer a bust for huge strides. August I'm going to spend some quality time with my girls, deal with the Void of Intuition release, prep the pre-order stuff for Beguiling Moon, and announce wide status on several stories (more on that in another post). Oh, and I'll aim for 1k words a week on Thorns because if I reach any higher, I'll be sure to splat.

What, have you been waiting to read that snippet from Thorns Entwine the Blade. Well, here's a look at the beginning of the prelude, which is part of the history of Leera, so I'm not spoiling anything that happens in Mind Behind the Mind.

❦

The sun was the color of God's yellow rose. A rose Teela Mahron would never smell again.

It was her choice, of course, which made it even harder. But there was no other way, no other person willing to sacrifice her closeness to God. Her God, who didn't condone blood to be spilled, no matter the reason.

And Teela had a perfect reason. She had to eradicate God's Bane from Leera, lest the witches poison the hearts and souls of all those whom God sheltered. To hunt the witches, she had to step out from under God's shadow and follow her own path.

Today was the day she'd take that first step, on this prairie.

The witch trembled on her knees, hands clasped and raised in a plea, Teela's curved sword blade at her throat. "What have I done?"

Sunset Street Excerpt

Yesterday was another release day! Time to take a different turn compared to those wacko fairies from last month. Sunset Street is a YA urban fantasy, and it definitely has a more somber tone.

Per usual, you can now get Sunset Street from Amazon!

I have also slowly been pulling some of my titles out of Select and going wide with them. I'll have a post in a week or two with more information and links.

Until then, here's an excerpt from Sunset Street.

❦

Rain showered down on the scene, an occasional flash of lightning and rolling thunder in the background. Kind of desolate. I wasn't sure if such a game would help me forget the ache in my chest or if it would only exacerbate it.

I squinted, catching a flash of green behind the rain. A street sign, labeled Sunset. Of course.

The bleakness made me reconsider my afternoon plans. To clear my head, I went to the window. It squeaked, as reluctant to open as I was to put forth any effort, but finally gave. The sweet smell of rain drifted toward me, causing my mind to wander and dream of less lonely times -- those few boyfriends who had ended our relationship before I felt it had even gotten started. My need to be with someone was a show of weakness, and once they realized that, it was all over.

I returned to my computer, determined to do something to distract myself. If the game still seemed too dismal after a few minutes, I'd stop.

But I studied the little scene a bit longer. Maybe the houses hid amazing adventures, the bleakness a facade. What would it be like to stand in the middle of that street? To think I was the only person left in the world?

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, so I could get the full effect of the scent of the rain drifting through the room. The smell grew stronger and stronger. Ah, sweet rain. I imagined my upturned face feeling the drops shower down on me.

When I opened my eyes to play the game, I was no longer sitting in front of my computer. The scent of rain was overpowering -- I had given my imagination too much credit because the rain actually fell on my face.

I stood in the middle of the deserted street.

❦

Be careful what you wish for.

Stuck in her dorm room alone on a Friday night, Leah can’t imagine her loneliness getting any deeper until she pops a new game into her computer... and gets sucked into it. Trapped in a world of darkness and rain, she fears she’ll never see another living soul again. Until she meets Zach. He may be the balm for her heart she’s been searching for, but fulfilling her wish comes with a price. Is she willing to pay it?