Markets & Monsters

This month was supposed to be a stress free month. It mostly was, except waiting to see if I would still have a job. Unlike a lot of peers in tech, I’ve survived this round of layoffs.

I’ve been through five or six layoffs over my career and was only RIF’d once (Reduction In Force/Made Redundant (UK version)) It never gets easier. Not for the people that were let go, and not for those that are left behind trying to figure out what’s next. If you’re reading this and find yourself without a job, I empathize. Hopefully this will only be a quick blip before things pick up again.

And if my career is anything to go by, there is always an uptick. Even if it looks bleak right now, the tech industry bounces back. I started in tech around the 2008/2009 dot com/housing market bubble burst. I was working for a finance company at the time. That was epically not fun.

If you found yourself in this situation and would like a little pick-me-up. Something I can send to you in the mail, perhaps, reach out to me via one of my social media accounts. The first five folks that DM me, I’ll set you up with some swag and a few books. It’s not much, but anything to put the positive energy out there and offer a smile.

Monster Erotica?

If you’ve ever struggled to market a book, you’ll feel this pain. While I, the author, have ideas about what the genre of my books are, it’s hard to figure out exactly what categories would find the right readers.

Over the last seven months, I’ve been marketing my books as queer urban fantasy, or queer fantasy, or queer romance fantasy. My universe fits in all of those. I could also probably add it to queer fantasy sci-fi too since there are a few things here and there which pushes it in that direction. (Part of the third Saint George novel takes place on a moonbase with regularly scheduled trips to and from earth, besides automated vehicles, interactive holo devices, and other touches).

While the one mainstay is queer, the shift I’m seeing is that regardless of how much story I have in my books, there is a threshold of sex scenes that readers tolerate before they call it erotica. Especially if the books focus on queer or polyamory oriented characters.

I’m not going to dive into the debate of where the line is between a very spicy romance and erotica. Instead, I’m going to move with the market. That’s how markets work, as we’ve all recently learned.

My books are SUPER spicy. I’ve been hesitant to label them as erotica because the stories aren’t entirely about the sex. However, the sex does play a part in the character development, and in some cases villain-development (If you’ve read SGC Vol 1 - a character will probably jump to mind here).

For me, it’s important to have the creative freedom to explore all the aspects of these characters. I want to depict full lives, from the boardroom to the bedroom. The Saint George Chronicles has a total of five books planned, and there is so much life the characters go through in five books. I’m excited to tell the story.

I have so many great things planned for the Mythical Desires Universe. To get to all of it, I need people to read my books. To do that, they need to be marketed to readers that want all the smut I’m willing to offer.

So, starting in February, I plan to market my books on Amazon and Smashwords as Fantasy Romance and Romance Erotica. On social media, it will still be Queer Monster Romance, because despite everything else, that fits this universe the best.

Hopefully everyone on here will come along for the ride and invite your friends too.

Promotional Stuffs

It’s the last few days to get your dragon fix! You can find some great reads about dragons here. (click the image)

AND what you’ve all been waiting for - The full cover wrap for the paperback of The Saint George Chronicles: The Dragon’s Lance.

There are some details that were added specifically for this cover. I’m looking forward to having an author proof in my hands soon. Hopefully you are looking forward to reading it. I’ll do a full reveal on February 1st across all the socials, so keep an eye out for that.

Wanna get in on a preorder? I’ve got it waiting for you at all your favorite retailers. You only have to click this link to find them. On March 23rd, join me on social media to celebrate. I’m going to be doing giveaways, and AMAs all day long!