Blog Page
Mid-year update What a dizzying six months it has been! I write this 200km from my usual abode by the coast, enjoying a relaxing weekend with visiting family from interstate as we stay with other relatives. It’s chaos but no complaints from me. The first half of the year was crammed with settling into a new home, madly editing and preparing two books to be sent off for professional edits, and to my formatter. Once that was finally done, I was off to drafting once more! And in the typical fashion of my chaos, I’ve decided to maybe take on a third project. As it stands, that one is definitely slower progress, and no updates for that one. As for book 3 of A Saga of Demons and Dragons, that word count is currently at 37k, with a predicted count of 200k+. So lots more to write! The sequel to A Song of Death is on its way, albeit at a much slower pace for the moment at 10k. I wish I could write more than I am at the moment. As I am busy studying for a new job for the next few months, I really have to knuckle down to get that sorted. I am still trying to write at every available chance. What does this mean for 2023 release schedules? Book 3 probably won’t release until October at the earliest, or hopefully no later than December. The sequel to A Song of Death will likely release earlier in the second half of the year, purely because I expect that to have a smaller word count. Back to this year! The Queen of Blood and Fury is officially available for preorder with Amazon for ebook. The paperback might be available for preorder on my site (work schedule pending as I may be away for release). A Song of Death is about to be returned to me from my editor. From there, I will launch straight into Atticus and madly format it. Hoping that means I will be able to put that onto Amazon for preorder within the next few weeks. I will have a final release date locked in by that time. I have also updated the website to reflect the trigger warnings for The Queen of Blood and Fury, and made a few minor updates across the website. Because I am a silly chook who left it gather some cobwebs in the chaos of my life. I leave you here for the moment. I’m about to head off for some horse riding and a little bit more relaxing. Do not fear, I will also be tapping away a little today and try to get some work done on both drafts. Might need to hide away as I am expecting to write some rather emotional scenes. R.I.P my heart. All the love, C.M. Quinn
January 2022 update!
Welcome to 2022! I am incredibly sorry first and foremost that I have been so slow to update here. It has been a crazy month post-book release. I have been madly making some amendments to The Girl of Ash and Snow (a couple of typos and formatting kinks), editing book 2, and working on another draft for a story. Because releasing one book a year clearly wasn’t enough for me (RIP). I’ve also had a heap of life changes as well; from a job change to moving from one end of Australia to the other. This is why I am now in the second half of my hotel quarantine. I’m doing okay though, busily finishing up a round of developmental edits for my dragon book, and smashing out the last 20k of my sapphic romance. All while enjoying the delights of having covid. Luckily, I’ve been super fortunate and managing with little symptoms. Now that the draft and editing of the first two projects are done, I have just sent book 2 off to my beta readers. They’re starting their diligent read before I do another few runs and send it off to my editor in April. Seriously, that is creeping up on me way too fast and I don’t like it one bit. As promised to my newsletter subscribers, I am now sinking into some short stories based in the universe of The Girl of Ash and Snow. If you know, you know 😉 These will be exclusives for my subscribers, so if you want to read more about this world, then sign up! I mean, you’ll also get sneak peeks on my 2022 releases, cover reveals first, and chances to win signed copies of my books. Now, back to my shop with my signed copies, I will hope to have these available again soon! Now that I have a house secured and hope to move in next week, I hope to have stock back up in the coming weeks. Including mugs with original art, bookmarks, keychains, and maps! More to come this year <3 Some more exciting news! I got my first review of The Girl of Ash and Snow on Amazon recently. That might not seem like much to some, but this is a huge achievement for me. It’s a milestone I’ve had and combined with the back I just got my first bit of fan art, I have been having a wild start to 2022! Here’s to an exciting year! C.M. Quinn
Unexpected delays
Good morning everyone! When I imagined the release of my book, I hoped for as little complications as possible. Obviously releasing a book during a pandemic comes with its own unique challenges. I had hoped to meet the deadlines with IngramSparks in order to avoid the printing/courier delays that have hit the publishing world. One that indie isn’t missing out on. Unfortunately, due to mostly inexperience on my part with dealing with Ingram, it’s becoming increasingly unlikely that those books will be delivered prior to release date. What does this mean? Essentially, my plan at this stage is to bring the release date in sooner (exciting, I know) and make use of Amazon’s option to buy author copies (books at cost print price). Amazon doesn’t permit me to pre-order advanced copies like Ingram, which was why I hadn’t used them for that. The files are already accepted with Amazon, so upon release day the books will be ordered. As soon as Ingram is ready, I’ll order from them as well. This just means I’ll have two sources bringing in copies to be signed, and whatever arrives first I will sign, package and send. For those that have pre-ordered the e-book, enjoy the early release date. Expecting the 9th or 10th of Dec now, perhaps even sooner. We shall see 😉 Not quite the plan I had in mind, nor the greatest marketing strategy. Take notes, future authors! Don’t be me! But as frustrated (again, at myself) as I am, and a little disheartened, I push onwards. There are at least two books to release next year alone; The Queen of Blood and Fury (book 2); and A Song of Death (book 1 of a sapphic paranormal romance).
The race to the finish line
Greetings readers! It’s been a crazy few weeks as I add the last few touches to The Girl of Ash and Snow before I pass it to my formatter. I can’t believe how quickly everything is happening and how fast the final dates are approaching. Here is the timeline that I am currently working with but it may change depending on a few things with Amazon/Ingram sparks. 31st October 2021 Pre-order available 30th Nov final copy proofread and uploaded to distributers 14th December launch day! I am still trying to pin down a printing press to create the bookmarks…without having to order 1000 off the bat. I’ve got the 2×6” design already done but few Australian companies seem to be able to do it, or have large minimum orders for custom jobs. It does put me in a bit of a bind but have no fear! I am determined and have a few ideas up my sleeves. I am hoping not to have so much issue with the mugs that will be made for the book. Just waiting on the designer for the final image. There will also be some A5 portraits of characters available too. Now, most of the merchandise will be available for individual purchase outside of the launch box, which will include everything. Keep your eye on the store for those! Still lots of little things to finalize but I had a good chance to nut through a couple of them. I got to spend some time in sunny Manly in Sydney, Australia, whilst my car was being serviced. My earbuds were dead, so didn’t have much chance to write. However, I got lots of walking done, which gave me the time to mentally work through some scenes and hash out some plot details for book 2. You would be surprised with how handy just going for a walk as a writer can be sometimes. Can’t wait to release more info for this book shortly! Keep your eyes on this website and remember to subscribe for regular updates, promotions and giveaways! All the love, C.M. Quinn
Hello world!
Greetings to everyone who has come to this website! Hopefully, all the bugs will be worked out soon (and I will be somewhat capable of working on a website). But if you’ve made it this far, here is a little bit about my story, where everything is at currently and what’s next. I began writing way back when I was fourteen, fresh in high school. I’d always had a love of reading, so dipping my toes into writing seemed a natural step forward. Luckily, I had a little encouragement from a close friend of mine, and from there, a spark was lit. For the next ten years, I wrote voraciously, posting heavily on Wattpad for several years with varying degrees of success. In time, however, I felt burned out, and took a pause from writing (well, that’s what I told myself at times). For a little while, I wrote short stories but with no direction in mind. I ended up on a site called Penana, a much younger site with a smaller base and the best decision I made. The site offered competitions created by other users. I was able to put my work out again and receive a little feedback. It was on this site that I first drafted a good chunk of The Girl of Ash and Snow, along with some other works which may also appear in the future. But, after 18 months from Wattpad, I inevitably found myself back and experiencing the community forums. There I forged connections, made friends and began to receive decent momentum for The Girl. Then Wattpad did the dirty…and got rid of the forums. Cut off from a lot of networking options, I was lost, adrift and uncertain once more. Then a friend I’d met invited me to a Discord server…and there my journey began to take off. I finished the draft of The Girl, had it ripped apart, went back to the drawing board and spent months working on it. After rounds of editing, tears and focus, the story began to look like something work showing to the world (in a professional sense). I toyed with querying it for traditional publishing but ultimately made the decision to self-publish. More editing and finally a professional editor entered the picture. Art has now been commissioned for merchandise which will be included in the Launch Box (stay tuned for more info!). I am still considering a final date but in light of the Christmas rush, the date of release for my debut novel will likely be mid-January now. Am I working on other projects? Yes! I have zero self-control with focusing on just one project! Will I divulge any info? No… I’ve rewritten this one several times and its still very early stages. All I can say for the future is, I’m waiting on the last few art pieces to be delivered and the merchandise to be delivered. A lot of the merch is coming in massive bulk orders, so there will be the option to buy these separately from the launch box. Well, I think that covers it for now but stay tuned! Much love, C.M Quinn
“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”
