Soulmatch is One Year Old!

I can’t begin to tell you what a whirlwind of a year it’s been since Soulmatch’s launch last July 29th. Bit of a rollercoaster too! I’ve had some of the most exciting times of my life and also some of the most stressful. But that’s how it goes, right? It’s all a balance.

The good news is the book stuff was all flipping amazing. Just take a look at how big my smile is in all of these pics from the past year!

My friends, family, and strangers alike really showed up for me. I am so grateful!! Thank you for giving me so many reasons to smile!

Now onto my updates! As usual, I have so many!!!

1. The Soulmatch paperback releases on August 4th, and THIS THURSDAY (the 30th) is the last day to place a preorder through Middleburg Books for a signed copy and free swag for the same price as the big bookstores! Click here and shop small!

2. To celebrate Soulmatch’s birthday and the paperback launch, I’m hosting a giveaway on Instagram starting the 30th and running through the 1st. THREE DAYS ONLY! Visit my Instagram page on the 30th, starting at 9am, to enter.

3. And just in time for Soulmatch’s birthday, I hit my long-sought goal of 200 reviews on Amazon!! Thank you so much to everyone who’s read and reviewed! Keep ‘em coming. More reviews = more cred for prospective buyers. And not to worry, I don’t read reviews.

PREDESTINED updates!

4. Now onto Predestined news!! The ARC (advance review copy) of my second dystopian romance novel is expected to hit Netgalley and Edelweiss on/about August 4th (yes, the same day as Soulmatch’s paperback release).

You might be wondering, what’s an ARC and why do I care?
ARCs are sent out months in advance of a book’s publication to industry professionals, book reviewers, librarians, booksellers, and trade publications to drum up interest and hype. Books with a lot of early hype are easier to sell to bookstores and libraries!

Edelweiss is exclusively for people who work in the publishing industry (librarians, book sellers, book bloggers, etc.) but Netgalley accounts are free for everyone! Small caveat: not everyone is approved for every ARC. Publishers tend to look for reviewers with a proven track record of reading and reviewing before approving some ARCs. But it can’t hurt to try!

Is the ARC the same as the finished copy?
Noooooo… I know for a fact the Predestined ARC will have dozens of typos. The ARC is printed after copy edits but before formatting and proofreading. And this is what my manuscript looked like after copy edits:

The purple and green fonts indicate revisions. During copy edits, you’re not allowed to accept changes on the word doc, so it creates a huge mess. The copy editor quickly reviews the changes and sends it to formatting, then it goes to print. So the ARC has a plethora of missing spaces, a few omitted words, two random scene breaks, and more leftovers from all this yuck. If you know typos will annoy the heck out of you, you’re not an ideal ARC reader. Preorder the finished book instead!

5. If you have an Instagram account and are interested in receiving lots of free swag and participating in contests to support the Predestined book launch, then join my street team!! We’d love to have you! The next contest (for this gold necklace with a bird pendant!) starts 8/5!

6. I was hoping to have the Predestined preorder campaign through Middleburg Books set up by this post, but we just couldn’t swing it (so many overlapping vacations!), but I promise, it’s coming soon! I’ll send another update in a couple weeks. If you don’t care about a signed copy and free swag, you can preorder Predestined through Bookshop.org for 15% off and choose Middleburg Books as your store (or another favorite independent bookseller of yours!).

I cannot stress this enough… Preorders are absolutely essential to getting sales and marketing support!! If you know you’re gonna buy Predestined (a near-future thriller where AI can predict the next 24 hours), or even if you’re just somewhat interested, please place your order early!! The sooner the better!

7. LOTS more giveaways coming, including a collaborative one with several YA dystopian authors. Follow me on Instagram if you’re not already so you don’t miss out!!

Whew! That was a long one, but there’s so much happening all at once!! Thanks for sticking with me!

Real quick book rec… if you’re looking for a creepy YA horror novel, I highly recommend They Call Her Regret by Channelle Desamours! I loved it!!