Every now and then, you just have to admit defeat and August’s recap was one of those times. Amidst the chaos of launching a book, it just wasn’t going to happen. So that’s why you’re getting two for the price of one this month…
My Books
Heart of Mist, Book I: The Oremere Chronicles
Goodness me, where do I even start with this book? Heart of Mist has now been officially out in the wild for an entire month.
One whole month. And it has absolutely surpassed all my expectations. Both in terms of sales and in terms of the response its received so far from readers.
In under 24 hours, Heart of Mist became a #1 bestseller on Amazon AU in all three of its fantasy categories.
You read that correctly – a #1 bestseller.
I couldn’t believe my eyes.
It also hit the #3 spot on Amazon.com.
I’m still in shock. A bestselling author on my release day? That doesn’t happen, surely?
But it did. I’m immensely grateful to everyone who bought the book, who shared the story and who reviewed it.
You can read about my ‘launch day feels’ here.
And then there was the book launch…
Signing, signing, signing <3
For those of you who don’t know, the iconic Sydney bookshop, Better Read Than Dead launched Heart of Mist to well over 100 people last Saturday night.
It was an incredible event, one that I wish all my readers from around the world could have attended.
Heart of Mist managed to also hit BRTD’s bestseller list 🙂
Andddd it hasn’t slowed down. As I write this, Heart of Mist is in the top 10 of all of its categories on Amazon worldwide.
Book II: The Oremere Chronicles
I’ve definitely made some progress over the last few weeks with the second book in the series. I’ve got about 5 or 6 chapters left to write… And then it’s onto rewrites and edits.
The book is due for beta reading in December and there’s a lot of work to do before then. The pressure is on!
I think I underestimated how much the marketing of Heart of Mist would eat into my writing time…
However, I think the wonderful reception to Heart of Mist, and being surrounded by such an incredible support network has left me feeling inspired.
(I may also have had a few ‘hurry up with the second book’ comments).
So! I’m still hard at work writing the next instalment, which will be released this time next year.
Alex, me, Lisy and Tori at the HoM launch 🙂
Other works
The third prequel e-short was finished and sent out to my lovely subscribers just a few weeks before Heart of Mist was released.
Simply subscribe to my newsletter to get all three delivered straight to your inbox.
But don’t worry – there’s more where they came from. Before the second book is released, there will be another three prequel stories published 😉
What I’ve read
I’m still not overly happy with how my reading’s been going lately, but I can only do what I can do… So here’s what I read during August and September…
- Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas
- Just Another Week in Suburbia by Les Zig
I actually re-read quite a lot of books. It just seemed easier than committing to something new. But I’m back on the Outlander train (was I ever off it?), so no doubt you’ll hear more about Jamie Fraser next recap.
And that’s it for now folks. Lots of writing to do!
Until next time,
Helen