BIG NEWS ALERT!
I’ve done some massive changes to my Camilla Crim series over the last few weeks and I can FINALLY tell you about it. I have been a busy, busy bee- late nights, glazed over eyes, falling asleep with my nose in a book… Oh wait, that was what I was like when studying for finals.
I made a really big decision at the beginning of May to rearrange the reading order of my Camilla Crim series. I know, you’re wondering, where in the world did I get the idea to do that?? Well, let me explain with a short story… (it’s what I’m good at)
Back in 2013ish when I first started writing The Faintly Beating Heart, my very first book, I started writing from the perspective of the character of Knox Duffy. This book takes place 12 years prior to the start of the actual series which centers around the character of Camilla Crim.
I think I had to start this early in my series for own writer brain so that I could understand Camilla’s roots and some of the things that happened when she was only a kid. But naturally, this being my first real book that I had finished, I wanted to get it out into the world and not sit on it.
I had originally planned to market that book as a prequel to my series, but when I posed that question to my editor, she said, no, it’s the first book in the series, so people will read it first, and then read the next book.
So, me being a totally newbie writer, I went with what she said, and called The Faintly Beating Heart, Book One.
The problem is, The Faintly Beating Heart, although a wonderful book, is not a good representation of the Camilla Crim series. Like I said, it’s set 12 years earlier in the timeline, and it’s from the perspective of a male in his mid 20s instead of the teenage, female Camilla.
I suspected that I may have been losing some readers who were expecting a young adult book from a female perspective and were confused by the Knox point of view in The Faintly Beating Heart, and stopped reading before getting to the next book.
After much soul searching, I followed the advice of the famous writerly quote, “Kill your Darlings”. (Fun fact: it’s highly debated who originally said that quote, but we’ll attribute it to William Faulkner.) I took The Faintly Beating Heart out of the main reading order of the series and, re-labeled it a prequel, as I wanted to do in the beginning. Now it’s a stand-alone, companion piece to the Camilla Crim series that can be read at any point.
This was tough for me, because it meant having to shift The Sacrifice of One to book one in the series, and The Bear Gap Rebels to book two. Which of course means that my new book, The Dark Ruler is technically book three in the series, instead of book four, as I was previously calling it. (If you have a keen eye, you may have noticed that when I released the cover for The Dark Ruler it had ‘Book Three’ on it.)
It felt like I was taking a step back in writing this series. In reality, I know this is my fourth book that I’m working on now, but it pains me a little to have to call it book three. Petty, right? I’ll get over it.
This may seem like a rash decision, but it’s been in the back of my mind for years. And as I stated in a previous blog entry, I had to start looking at my books with a marketer’s eye. The truth is, The Sacrifice of One is a better ‘book one’ for my series. It’s starts at the beginning of Camilla’s story.
The Faintly Beating Heat is super interesting to read to get some origin on Portia, Camilla’s mother, and her interaction with Knox, but you can still read all the other books in the series and follow along just fine.
Phew… Glad I got that off my chest. I’ve been holding it in for so long! Don’t click away yet. I have another bit of news to share.
Because of this change in the reading order, I’ve decided to celebrate by doing 2 mini re-launches of The Sacrifice of One and The Bear Gap Rebels leading up to the BIG launch of The Dark Ruler.
This relaunch will include updated covers, refreshed eBook and print manuscripts, along with more ways to read my book, I.E. think- Nook and iBooks!
I’ll be posting some fun stuff along the way as we approach the re-launches. Just a reminder, I still have spots available on my Street Team which gives you the opportunity to be a part of all 3 launches, read all 3 book (“The Sacrifice of One”, “The Bear Gap Rebels”, and “The Dark Ruler”) for FREE, and get FREE signed paperback copies of all 3 books after the launch. Sound interesting? You can sign up for that here >>> http://eepurl.com/bVizLv
Thanks for reading! Stay engaged with my journey and you’ll get to see some cool stuff along the way!
Lot’s of love,
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