A'mara Books Update - June 16, 2019

By Lori Svensen - viking ventures | A'mara Books | 16 Jun 2019

Happy Father’s Day!!!

Whether you’re a father, a “bonus father”, a surrogate father or a stand-in, you all count! Then, there are the single mothers who must also be father… I’ve been there, it’s a hard job.

This week at A’mara Books:

This week has been … interesting, full of ups and downs, writing and publishing work. Following last week’s decision to stop posting Steem chapters on Saturdays – making room for my NSFW supplements or other bits and pieces about A’mara Books in general, I also realized that my weekly writing target could be lowered from 9000 words/week to just 7500 – i.e. 1500 words/day, 5 days/week. But sometimes, writing still needs to happen – for leisure – leading me to well-exceed the old target and reach...

over 11,000 new words!

Game of the Neví got 5k of that. It now stands at over 45k words. I’m still working one “day” at a time to finish this one up. I’m feeling the pressure of the calendar – knowing that time is ticking away as Mind of the Neví starts tomorrow.
A dark romance set, loosely called Freebooter Apartments, received it first 1500 words, but that will be utilizing some of my dark romance rambles – maybe I’ll use the pieces to fill between gaps in stories if I need to… seems sloppy to me, but we’ll see. Anyway, that one will definitely be NSFW, comprising of a wraparound and a dozen or so short stories about women who come to find themselves ensnared by the net of the Neví and Balan.
Other NSFW leisure writing got the rest of the words this week. Again, the writing was often a release from other things going on in the Blockchain world or my daily life… as you’ll see…

Change of plans – Whaleshares

Temporary (I hope) and indefinite stop on story posts on Whaleshares coming up later this week.

Some of you saw my “shitpost” on Whaleshares about DaBa (Daily Bandwidth) allowance brought in after hard fork 2 (HF2), bringing in Whaleshares version 2.5. Dabadabadoo!

I ran into this on Monday as I attempted to post my daily chapter on Whaleshares. I copy/paste from my old post to the new one for consistency, only changing out the actual chapter, plus the links. But sometimes, it gets messed up and I have to update it as I go to post. Monday, I made the mistake of updating first, then I didn’t have enough DaBa left to get my daily chapter out until about 12 hours later!

During those 12 hours, I learned a heap about what’s been going on on Whaleshares including the fact that THEY never intended it to become another blogging platform, like Steem. Rather, THEY wanted it more like Twitter and Facebook (yawn… as if we don’t have enough of those already – even on the blockchains.) I even had it (officially) recommended to take screen shots of my writing and post those instead – since Whaleshares hosts images off platform, they don’t care about those – they don’t take DaBa, somehow. (I still don’t completely get it because someone* has to host it – and data takes less space than images… but that’s okay. I understand that it doesn’t quite work that way on the blockchain for some reason.)

Previously, I had been posting 2-3 times most days on Whaleshares. I’d have my daily chapter in the morning somewhere between 6:30 am and 7:30 am, then a photo post (or something else) in the evening. Occasionally, like on Sundays (with this update post) or for a contest, I’ll make a third post. I especially like doing a third post when my second post is NSFW, since not everyone wants to see those.

I also spent time daily supporting other bloggers, often through the @phoenixproject, bringing last minute hope a bunch of bloggers every week. But with DaBa, that also has to be curtailed – sad, because that’s half the point of the platform, right? (Now, my mana/voting power sits at 100% while my DaBa lies in tatters.)

Anyway… I’m aware that the situation is still in flux and that there is disagreement even among the witnesses over DaBa. I hope that they will resolve things so that I can continue what I was doing while still being able to engage with others. But, assuming they don’t resolve the situation this week, the stories will stop on Whaleshares at the end of the week (when I run out of chapters on the current set) and not resume until the situation has been resolved. It’s sad, but it did make me do some other things this week...

Dabadabadoo!

Publishing – including paperback!!!

With the craziness on Whaleshares, I was scrambling to find another platform to serialize my books on. I looked at Yours (dead), Honestly (mostly dead) and Cent (unsure – trying with photos). I also decided to test out Brighid’s Blood the closest thing I have to a standalone right now. I put it on Scribl – but their site is clunky, doesn’t even display a cover image and I can’t actually get to the book link to share with you right now! However, Scribl also handles audiobooks, so maybe that will happen in the not-too-distant future. I will work with them on Facebook to see if we can make some progress there.

However, I did manage to put it on LBRY – a blockchain, independent publishing client (I have trouble describing these things) at a discounted price (mostly to get it going.) LBRY also takes videos, artwork, almost any kind of file you might want to have stored to share (for free, or for sale) in a way that's meant to be easier for the consumer to find. It's still early days for me there and I'm trying to get my head around the whole thing.

I also finally tackled the Lulu templates and got it up there as well – that’s for a paperback! So far, that’s only through Lulu because I have to purchase a proof to be able to send it to other retailers. (It will happen, just not yet… maybe when I have a few books ready.)

I did get sticker shock there, but I think that may be more due to me not buying many retail books since returning to the US rather than an actually exorbitant price. Exclusivity does weird things anyway – if you buy through Lulu, I get a much larger cut than if you buy through Amazon, etc. I wish I could post a lower price for Lulu than for the others, but that's not the way it works, so I kept it as low as I could to ensure some cut from the others once I get there.

The new links for Brighid’s Blood:
Books2Read - digital formats only
LBRY - digital
Lulu - paperback

Coming up this week

Five chapters from Mind of the Neví on Steem.
Five final chapters from Acting the Part on Whaleshares. (Please visit if you missed this book the first time around!)
Try (again) to finish Game of the Neví
Work on Neví 5 and/or the 852 TCE set.
epublishing Mind of the Neví on Books2Read, LBRY and Scribl.
publish Acting the Part on Lulu, LBRY and Scribl.
Continue with Encyclopedia work once I hit my weekly word count.

Reviews?

If you have liked any of my books, please take the time to leave me a review/rating at Goodreads

Anyway, that’s what’s been going on here at A’mara Books this week! I hope you manage to take a few minutes to immerse yourself in my world of Terrenden – which I’m so delighted to share with you!

Crossposted on Steem, Whaleshares, WeKu and Publish0x.

PLEASE CATCH UP! LINKS TO BUY! (in chronological order) Notes: C.E.= "Common Era" (Earth) T.C.E. = "Terrenden Common Era" - B.T.C.E. = "Before Terrenden Common Era"

Brighid's Blood

2006 C.E. and 1213 B.T.C.E.
Katja and Rachel are so desperate for love that they cast two love spells one night.
But the Guardians do not consider spells "fun", but rather as cries for help from the very depths of your soul.
Certainly Katja and Rachel could not have possibly imagined where these spells would take them!

Book 1 in the series: When God Lines Meet

Buy at:
Books2Read - digital formats only
LBRY - digital - cheapest option at the moment.
Lulu - paperback

Birth of the Neví

829 T.C.E.
It is a tumultuous period of Terrenden history. As is all too common, there are those who wish to profit from the misfortune of others. Some of these come together in a new "charitable organization" and step on the toes of the notorious Uugli. Combine this with draconian new measures to combat pollution and Terrenden has a situation ripe for a power struggle.

Book 1 in the series: Rise of the Neví

Buy at:
Books2Read - digital formats only

Name of the Neví

829 T.C.E. - All of Terrenden is reeling in the aftermath of the Restrictions brought in at the end of the last session of Parliament. Suffering the most are the industrial countries throughout the world. But the forests of Çtaráña and Shayanda are still being poisoned and fingers are being pointed bringing the continent of Kranisis to the brink of war. How can the A'mara save Kranisis amidst their own personal struggles?

Book 2 in the series: Rise of the Neví

Buy at:
Books2Read - digital formats only

Rebound of Power: 850 T.C.E. Collection of Romance
Terrenden is being terrorized by a previously underestimated Neví who, through the mysterious “Curator,” have been controlling elections all over the planet.
In this collection, we meet some interesting women.
Iyva - a homeless teenager in Irola whose untrained power leaves her close to death in Rebound of Power;
Marc’la - a breeder of prized caballus in Kasago whose heart lives in the past in Friendship on Fire;
Zukie - an abused widow whose heart is afraid to try for future happiness in Courage to Trust;
Jenna - an elections assistant manager and masseuse who has a prejudice against A’mara in Elect to Change;
Kami - a chola student in Varkevand who has been assigned to protect Ardin, a man who has his own reasons to distrust A’mara in Ocean of Empathy. Acting the Part - 851 T.C.E. Collection of Romance
The Neví have infiltrated the Terrenden Freedom Party. Dr. Jarly is on the run and the Curator still dominates the Terrenden stage. Famous actor, Derick Aiden has released his Neví expose film and now the Neví want him dead...
In this collection, we meet more interesting women.
Kauri - a simple receptionist who doesn’t realize one of her wildest dreams has come true; in Acting the Part
Tirry - an elections manager who is always the bridesmaid and never the bride; in Building on Promise
Zara - a chef who has all but given up on finding love for herself; and
D'zani - who isn’t even looking, but has to chaperone her more vulnerable roommate; in Spice of Strength
Soala - an heiress who is expected to marry, but refuses to marry someone she doesn’t love; and
Moxara - one whose past griefs have locked away her heart in Sands of Survival.
We also get updates on some of the lovely ladies we met previously. COMING SOON TO AN EBOOK STORE NEAR YOU!!!

Rise of the Neví

829-835 T.C.E. In this series, the Neví begin their rise in power with the completion of several large housing projects that seem totally charitable, but also hide a great evil within. The draconian measures (829 T.C.E.) have caused major distress throughout the world, perfect for giving the Neví a further foothold on the Terrenden stage. Will the A’mara, now removed from the Council of Peers, be able to shut down the Neví before disaster strikes?

Titles include: Birth of the Neví, Name of the Neví, Mind of the Neví, Game of the Neví, more to come...

**(To be Named)** - 852 T.C.E. Collection of Romance... It's confirmed that the Neví are now in all three houses of Parliament and most assemblies throughout Terrenden. Additionally, some are threatening to introduce legislation to severely cripple the A'mara of all their privileges.

In this collection, we will catch up with our fugitives (Iyva/Zilan, D'zani/Elíaz). We will also meet Celna Dellan in X'lea; Peri Harmon, a Peer Councilor in Irola; Janys Tyne, an elections team leader in Atrua; meet a nice (as of yet unnamed) woman in Kasago; and revisit Vissia and Catalia in Towani.

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