November 2023 – Knights in Glazed Armour

If you are reading this, you may well already have a copy of Far Removed. If not, you have a few more hours to nab it at $ 2.99 (or an equivalent price in other countries). Sorry to those east of me, it’s probably too late. The price may also go down in December, but after that, it’ll probably sit at $ 5.99 for some time. There may also be sales for the paperbacks and audiobooks, depending on where and when you shop. Keep them on your wish lists for updates.

I am preparing The Tidelings of Dras Sayve for its “official” publication in the new year (it is currently free with my newsletter). I saddle Oklas with a lot in Far Removed so it was good to write his more carefree days. I recently bought Atticus and am experimenting with formatting the ebook. I have a detailed cover and chapter illustrations planned to make it worth the wait.

You probably noticed I shared some character art in this post. After securing an invite to Webglaze, I can now keep images safe on my data-scraping website! The protection level on the above artwork is medium. You can see some discolouration around Rosh and Ilu’s faces, but I’m still pleased with the result. I want to publish these in an art book eventually so protecting my work is important.

Which brings me to my next point: I am going to start a Kofi page in December. It will include:

• New illustrations, some of which I won’t share elsewhere until much later. I will use the default glaze setting on the high-resolution images. It may be less noticeable than medium.
• Behind-the-scenes footage and drawing tips.
• Besides posting 1 image per month related to my own books, I also want to prioritise gifting indie authors with fan art (+- 1 every 2 months). I love doing this at no cost to the authors, but it does take time. No harm in putting my cap on the floor for patrons to throw coins my way.
• I won’t open my commissions wide just yet. My job involves working through contracts for educational illustrations, so I am drawing to specifications all the time. It’ll be nice to have a place to share art featuring characters and worlds I already know and enjoy. You can approach me with commissions if we know each other, and I’ll see if I can work within your budget.

I find it much easier to talk about ideas and characters than myself, but some of you might want to know more about the human behind this blog. I am currently in quite a good place emotionally, though I have had some wobbles. My book sales slowed but are holding steady, with my first 2 sales of November only happening this past week. I am not that concerned, as I’m exclusively using social media to advertise (not the paid kind). I have had bitter disappointments and learning curves in my 15 years of selling art and entering competitions. I went into self publishing with those experiences guarding my heart. I still have high hopes for my books but I want to celebrate small victories. Being a relatively invisible author means I don’t have the pressure of expectations, which is a blessing. I also don’t get too many promotional DMs.

That being said, I recently learned that Far Removed was submitted for the Indie Ink Awards. This took me by surprise – I had hoped someone might submit it next year. I would love for it to get into the next round in 1 category. The trouble is, it published quite late in the year, and I am still building my reader base. People can’t vote for what they don’t know. If you are inclined to vote for it, you can sign up with Indie Story Geek here:

Categories in which it may stand a chance include: Best audiobook narration, best book cover/ artist, or best setting. I would be happy to provide any willing reviewers with copies of the book or the audiobook so you can make an informed decision.

Libraries and bookshops in South Africa can’t directly order books from Ingram Spark. If I want to get my title to them, I have to approach them with my own supply (import fees and all). I can’t reach international libraries to request that they stock my book so I have signed up with Library Bub to approach them on my behalf. Far Removed will also be discounted on Overdrive soon. Libraries are such magical places to discover books. It’s like sending a message in a bottle to reach someone by chance, rather than tirelessly manipulating algorithms in your favour. If you are in the US or UK, you can request Far Removed at your local library in any format (the audiobook is on Hoopla too). Seeing a photo of it on a shelf would be smashing.