Newsletter

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Updated 31st August 2015

Adventures in Proofing

I keep a mental list of the most interesting / funny / difficult-to-spot typos found during the very final round of proofs. Remember, this is after many, many, many people have already read the book, all of whom are looking out for errors.

It shows how elastic the mind is that we so easily recognize what the word is meant to be, or what order the sentence should be in, and keep on reading.

In my final proof typo hall of fame, I have:

Knees that crumbled.

Hands put into the coats of my pocket. 

And now...

If you can spot the typo, don't give it away! Just say you got it. :) Now imagine spotting that typo in among 159,000+ other words. I feel pretty awesome right now. (Until someone writes to me after the book is out and points out a typo I missed and I go gahhhhhh!). ;-)

How did the typo above escape the computer's eagle eye? In this case, it was human error - I made an edit in the manuscript post copy-edits and forgot to run the spellcheck over the addition. But human eyes pick up substitutions like bear/bare, lightning/lightening, so it all balances out in the end.

And yep, that's the final wordcount of Shards of Hope. In manuscript format, it'd probably be 630 or so pages I think. Formatted for the hardcover, it's 483 pages. 

That should keep everyone busy for a few hours at least!

Proofing SHARDS OF HOPE

Away with Aden

I hope everyone is having an awesome week so far. I've just received the copy edited manuscript to Shards of Hope, so I'll be away from the blog until I've returned the CEs.

I've scheduled the Friday Blog post, so that'll go up as usual. Until then, talk amongst yourselves! :-)

Book Updates

Some book updates for you to kick off 2015!

Shards of Hope - I've had revision notes back from my awesome editor. She asked me to expand some scenes, so the book will be even more full of delicious goodness. (You will love her for the scenes she asked me to expand ;-)).

Guild Hunter #8 - I started work on the next Guild Hunter book this week, but I need a little more time to get into the story before I announce it. Just wanted you to know another GH book is in progress.

Rock Hard - T-Rex and the Mouse are undergoing final proofreads this week. Once that's done, they'll head off to the formatters. I think review copies should be ready at the start of February. All review copy requests that have come in so far have been filed and reviewers be contacted once review copies are ready. (Click here to find out how to request a review copy).

Psy-Changeling Anthology - I'm still working on this in my spare time.

Any questions?

Shards of Hope & Rock Hard

I emerge!! SHARDS OF HOPE is on its way to my editor. It's a *ahem* big book, but I should've expected that, given the fact it's the end of one story arc and the beginning of the next.

Also, I absolutely did not want to shortchange the romance - so there's tons of romance as well as tons of other cool stuff, none of which I wanted to edit out. (I even snuck in a gorgeous romantic scene that might not be *strictly* necessary, but that I think is necessary for the heart). :-)

This afternoon, I start work on the copy edited manuscript of ROCK HARD. Charlie-mouse vs T-Rex - who wants to call the winner? ;-)

Friday Book Club

I thought I'd put up the Friday Book Club while I'm having lunch. What are you reading and loving this week?

p.s. I won't be online much over the weekend, as it's all systems go on Shards of Hope. :-)

Writing Update

Plan: Edit book down,delete some scenes.
Reality: Delete scene, write even bigger new scene. 130k words and counting in SHARDS OF HOPE 

Where is Nalini?

I'm a bit scarce on the blog at the moment as I'm concentrating on finishing Shards of Hope. Talk amongst yourselves! Seen anything interesting online lately? :-)

Shield of Winter & Shards of Hope

Thanks to all of you, Shield of Winter has made it into the finals of the Goodreads Choice Awards!

If you'd like to keep supporting Ivy and Vasic, don't forget to vote in the final round. Follow this link to vote.

These two are doing really well at the moment. They've also made it onto Kirkus's Best Fiction Books of 2014. Go Ivy and Vasic!


I finished the most recent draft of Shards of Hope last night. I tweeted at the time that it was huge and that I'd have to edit it down to make it sleek and dangerous like the Arrows, so now it's about seeing what stays and what goes.
 
No idea what the final size will be yet, since there are some missing scenes in there, as well as scenes that haven't been entered yet. (I handwrite edits onto at least one draft of the book and sometimes that ends up with me handwriting a full scene that's thousands of words.)

Onto the next draft today.

News, Covers, Excerpts...

I've shared a lot of things over the past couple of weeks, and I thought it might be a good time to do a roundup of all of it so if you missed something, you can click back to read.

First though, I have some amazing news!

Shield of Winter has been chosen as one of the Best Books of 2014 (Romance) by Amazon.

Rock Addiction & Shield of Winter have both been nominated in the RT Reviewer's Choice Awards. Rock Addiction is in the Indie Press Contemporary category, with Shield of Winter in the Paranormal Worldbuilding category.

Shield of Winter is also through to the semi-finals of the Goodreads Choice Awards thanks to all of you! If you'd like to continue voting for Ivy & Vasic's story, here's the link.

Onto the news roundup!!

The excerpt from Secrets at Midnight, my Psy-Changeling novella in the Night Shift anthology is now up. Release date: November 25th

I've also released an excerpt from Rock Hard, featuring an ex-rugby player turned CEO hero, and a shy heroine who doesn't really want anyone to notice her, especially not the boss she calls T-Rex. Release date: March 10th, 2015

Slave to Sensation is being re-released with an awesome new cover (see larger image here). If you love the old cover (my precious!) and want a paperback of it, grab it in the next few months, because once those go, the next printing will feature the new cover. If you want the new cover (pretty!), it should start appearing around the middle of next year (I'll let you know once my publisher confirms its printing.)

Shards of Hope, the June 2015 Psy-Changeling novel has a cover and a blurb. Follow the link to see a larger image and read the blurb! No excerpt yet because I'm still writing it. These two are making me work for it, but I expected that... I mean, two Arrows? Would any of us ever expect easy? Nope. But this story needs to be written: it's their time and I'm so excited to go on this journey with them.

Also, I've updated my What's Next for the Psy-Changeling Series post with a couple of notes about my "secret" anthology. ;-)

If I missed anything, please leave a comment!

Cover Love: Scherben der Hoffnung

And the run of awesome covers continues with the German edition of Shards of Hope: Scherben der Hoffnung!! (Thanks Sabrina for the heads up.)

Love!!!

 

Cover Love: Shards of Hope!!

Look at this gorgeous cover!! I love it to pieces!!

SHARDS OF HOPE 

June 2nd, 2015

Pre-Order: Kindle / Hardcover

More links to come!

The "smoldering heat, epic romance, and awesome action"* of Nalini Singh's New York Times bestselling series continues as two Arrows find themselves caught in a chilling conspiracy that spans all three races…

Awakening wounded in a darkened cell, their psychic abilities blocked, Aden and Zaira know they must escape. But when the lethal soldiers break free from their mysterious prison, they find themselves in a harsh, inhospitable landscape far from civilization. Their only hope for survival is to make it to the hidden home of a predatory changeling pack that doesn't welcome outsiders.

And they must survive. A shadowy enemy has put a target on the back of the Arrow squad, an enemy that cannot be permitted to succeed in its deadly campaign. Aden will cross any line to keep his people safe for this new future, where even an assassin might have hope of a life beyond blood and death and pain. Zaira has no such hope. She knows she's too damaged to return from the abyss. Her driving goal is to protect Aden, protect the only person who has ever come back for her no matter what.

This time, even Aden's passionate determination may not be enough—because the emotionless chill of Silence existed for a reason. For the violent, and the insane, and the irreparably broken…like Zaira.

*Jaci Burton, New York Times bestselling author

Interview & Upcoming Cover Reveal

"ARCHANGEL’S SHADOWS takes the action and suspense of Urban Fantasy and the passion and intimacy of romance and blends them effortlessly together to create a story that grips you until the very end." ~ UTC Book Blog

I have an interview up at the Under the Covers Book Blog today where I talk about Secrets at Midnight, my writing process, and more.

Also, if you missed the news, the Shards of Hope cover is scheduled to go live in about twelve hours. I can't wait for you all to see it!

SHARDS OF HOPE

...is the title of the next Psy-Changeling book, out 2015. Here's the blurb. :-)

The “smoldering heat, epic romance, and awesome action”* of Nalini Singh’s New York Times bestselling series continues as two Arrows find themselves caught in a chilling conspiracy that spans all three races…

Awakening wounded in a darkened cell, their psychic abilities blocked, Aden and Zaira know they must escape. But when the lethal soldiers break free from their mysterious prison, they find themselves in a harsh, inhospitable landscape far from civilization. Their only hope for survival is to make it to the hidden home of a predatory changeling pack that doesn’t welcome outsiders.

And they must survive. A shadowy enemy has put a target on the back of the Arrow squad, an enemy that cannot be permitted to succeed in its deadly campaign. Aden will cross any line to keep his people safe for this new future, where even an assassin might have hope of a life beyond blood and death and pain. Zaira has no such hope. She knows she’s too damaged to return from the abyss. Her driving goal is to protect Aden, protect the only person who has ever come back for her no matter what.

This time, even Aden’s passionate determination may not be enough—because the emotionless chill of Silence existed for a reason. For the violent, and the insane, and the irreparably broken…like Zaira.

______________

Are you surprised? Excited? Did you guess who Aden's heroine was going to be? Discuss!

*Jaci Burton, New York Times bestselling author