As an Indie Author, I couldn’t have come this far without the help and support of some very special people, or the generous insights from those who have trodden the same path.
MY DREAM TEAM
Story development, sounding board, sense checking and editing
CARLOTA
Favourite Aster
Lian, because he’s loyal and ready to run into hell with you and knows that it’s not always a good time for a joke and is ready to protect the ones he loves.
Favourite quote / passage
A Threat To Remain
“One! One minor lapse in judgement and you’re going to hold it against me for the rest of my life.”
TIMOTHY
Favourite Aster
Lian, because he gives his all for others, even at his own expense.
Favourite quote / passage
A Threat To Remain
“Just us,” he said.
Silence again. The wind howled as it tunnelled through the cliffs behind them.
The five of them against the world. It didn’t seem so scary. Matu would go to hell and back for the people on this stone walkway, and he knew they would do the same for him. Whatever they would come to face, and they all knew they would come to face something utterly terrifying and horrid and challenging and deadly eventually, they would face it together.
Just them.
PEGGY
Favourite Aster
Sophie, because her sarcasm and sense of perspective and fighting spirit shine through. Plus, she saves everyone.
Favourite quote / passage
A Threat To Remain
Sky huffed. “I still did pretty good.”
Sophie smiled up at her brother. “Yeah, you did pretty well.”
ASTER (yes, really)
Favourite Aster
Sky, because every time he shows a redeeming quality, he still turns out to be an idiot.
Favourite quote / passage
A World To Lose
Lian laughed, clapping his brother on the back. “I knew it! And the world makes sense again.”
TINA
Favourite Aster
Sophie, because she’s kick ass awesome
Favourite quote / passage
A Queen To Come
Again and again he replayed his plan in his head. His brothers and sister would understand why he had left. They would understand why he hadn’t told them. He would leave a note. They would know where he was and how to find him if he was gone for longer than two days without sending a signal for his wellbeing.
They would be angry when they found out he had vanished.
“Are you out of your mind?” came a voice from behind him.
Or they would be angry now, Sky thought.
MY FAB COVER DESIGNERS
I found the designers for the Prequel and Original series through setting a competition brief on 99Designs.com. AJ won the first competition but was unavailable for the Original Series. That competition was won by GraphicSoul. They are both amazing designers, and brilliant to work with; I highly recommend them both.
Arjuna Jay
Freelance Digital Artist
https://arjunajayofficial.artstation.com
For business inquiries: arjuna.j888@gmail.com
In addition to his own designs, Arjuna made use of resources from freepik.com.
GraphicSoul
https://www.graphicsoulart.com
For business enquiries: dragana@graphicsoulart.com
In addition to her own designs, GraphicSoul made use of stock images from shutterstock.com.
MY RESOURCES
Websites, books and contacts
I build my books on Reedsy, and use its fantastic converter programme to generate ePub, Mobi, PDF and print-ready versions. Trust me, you find different typo’s and errors reading drafts on an eReader or Kindle. My customer experience with them has been 5-star. I also use Word audio as an additional error-finding tool.
This is a WordPress site, theme Twenty Thirteen, with a Forminator plug-in for all my forms.
I bought the francesellenbooks.com, theastersphere.com and theasters.com domains through Go Daddy, and subscribe to their Deluxe web hosting plan. I can’t speak highly enough of the customer support they have provided me with.
I subscribe to a number of blogs and newsletters; here are some of the most insightful: Kindlepreneur, Written Word Media; Reedsy.
In addition, I’ve a growing list of books I dip into for self-publishing and marketing advice:
Let’s Get Digital, and Following: A Marketing Guide to Author Platform by David Gaughran
How To Market A Book by Joanna Penn
How To Sell Books By The Truckload On Amazon by Penny C. Sansevieri
My e-books are currently exclusive to Amazon and Kindle Unlimited. Print versions are available from all book platforms – I am using IngramSpark for POD print distribution. While its brilliant to be able to get my book on all online (and hopefully brick and mortar) book stores, all these companies take a hefty cut of any sales my books make. So with the ultimate goal of becoming self-supporting through my books, I’ve also set up options to purchase the print versions direct from me.
I use AWeber to create my newsletters and manage my mailings.
You can find me promoting the Asters on Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok.