Starbright Series Makeover!

Okay.. I'm going to be honest. This blog post is a little bit... awkward for me.

It probably shouldn't be. But it is.

I don't usually talk about the business side of writing, not really anyway. Unless maybe you see me in person and are my husband's friend and then feel as though you can ask me any and every question that comes to mind from my finances to my marketing philosophies. Then, fine, I do talk about the business side of writing. A. Lot.

But that is neither here nor there.

(I was being sarcastic before. I don't mind all the questions! I really get that what I do for a living is beyond weird to most people.)

The truth is, I don't usually think of my job as a career. It's just this thing that I love to do and I actually get to do it! On a daily basis! I mean... WOW!!!

But if I want to keep doing it, there are parts of this dream world that I have to treat like a business. This is where it gets awkward for me. In reality, my writing is a business and my books are my product. In my head, my writing is my life, or a huge extension of it, and my books are pieces of my soul.

In a perfect world, I could treat my world like that always. I wouldn't have to market my books (Which I kind of hate), I wouldn't have to charge for my books, and I could just write them, publish them and send them out into the universe with good thoughts and positive mojo and hopefully people stumble upon them and fall as deeply in love with them as I am.

Sounds super hippy-ish??? Welcome to the inter-workings of my mind. :)

No seriously, that's how I think.

Thank God, I married a man that does not think like that. Otherwise, I would probably still be querying Reckless Magic.

Anyway. You all know that I'm finishing up Firelight and hope to publish it this month.

I love this series. But more than that, it is a labor of love to me. It is the first paranormal book idea I ever came up with. The main character is named after my oldest daughter. And Sunburst was such a gruesome fight to create with some of the best, most incredible rewards, that this series has truly carved out a huge space in my heart.

Unfortunately, it is my worst selling series.

That doesn't mean I don't try as hard with it. Probably, I try my hardest.

No, that's not true. Every time I sit down with a book, I endeavor to make it the best thing I've ever written. That is truly my biggest and most important goal as a writer. So before Firelight, The Fall was really my best book ever written. And now Firelight will hopefully surpass even that.

We shall see. I'm not arrogant enough to believe it yet.

But I'm hoping.

Still, no matter how much I love it, no matter how much I believe in it, it just does not sell.

So what do I do?

Do I chalk it up to bad writing? Or a story line that doesn't fit into current trends or markets? Do I look at it and say that it might not ever sell, but that's not the point, I'm an artist, I don't need sales for validation??

Yeah, I just rolled my eyes at that last one too. :) I use the term "artist" very loosely.

I'm not the sit-back-and-do-nothing kind of girl. I have this amazing(in my opinion) product and I want it out there, I want people reading it, I want people falling in love with Seth as much as I am and cheering for Stella with real emotion! I want this story to be as good as every other thing out there. (That's my hope and dream for everything I write. I wouldn't do this if I didn't really believe in every story I put together. It's too... soul-crushing on a daily basis otherwise. Someday I'll explain that.)

So, with Zach's amazing and necessary help, we came up with new titles and new covers. Bottom line, The Starbright Series got a MAJOR makeover.

This is 100% a business decision. And it kills me just a little bit.

I love the titles I came up with first. I love all the covers we've been through. Plus, I know this is a little strange. To change titles in the middle of the series? I mean... it's weird.

But I have hope for this series. I want to see it succeed. I don't want to be tied down to a title or a cover that is just not working. I want to move this series around until I find the right way to put in front of you.

And I have to admit, the original titles are probably too cutesy for the material in the book.

I've done this once before, but it was so long ago and nobody was paying attention to me that it didn't matter. But originally, The Star-Crossed Series started out as Reckless, Hopeless, Fearless and Endless. We didn't add the Magic to each of the titles until after Reckless had been out for a couple months. The Magic at the end made all the difference and the book became clearly genre-defined.

That's what I'm hoping to do now with these books. Present them to you as a product of the their genre- Epic Fantasy with a Sci-Fi twist.

Enough rambling. :)

Although the series will keep the banner of The Starbright Series, the first book will no longer be called Starbright. The second book will no longer be called Sunburst. And the book releasing this month will no longer be called Firelight.

The series will now go like this:

1. Heir of Skies
2. Heir of Darkness
3 Heir of Secrets - this is the one releasing this month!!!!!
4. Heir of Empyrial Fire
5. Heir of Realms

The only site they've updated so far on is Amazon! B&N and the rest will be catching up soon. I will be releasing the cover for Heir of Secrets (formerly Firelight) very soon as well!!! But while you wait for that... here are the incredible new covers made by Caedus Design Co.!!!!!

Heir of Skies for Amazon



Heir of Darkness for Amazon


Aren't they beautiful??? And now their covers and titles really reflect the series.

I am in LOVE with them.

If only I could have come up with it all first. BUT. You live, you learn. And this kind of flexibility is just one of the reasons that I love being Indie!!! Seriously. This is SUCH a huge perk.

I hope you all understand my decision! I know it will be confusing at first, but please know that this was not in any way an easy decision to make. This has taken a lot of thought, a lot of time and a lot of guts for me to do this. In fact, mostly I'm just hiding behind internet bravado right now. :)

Don't try to buy this if you've already read Starbright or Sunburst. (Updates for the new covers will be available soon) NOTHING else has changed but the covers and titles. And stay on the lookout for a teaser from Heir of Secrets later today!!!!

 

Rachel

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12 comments:

  1. oh my! you are so brave Rachel! this seems like an incredibly HUGE step!! I totally fell in LOVE with Starbright when it was first released even when you said it was riddled with editing mistakes...i still loved every minute of it. I loved every second of Sunburst too and am totally looking forward to Firelight...i can't wait to have Seth back and Stella is so strong. i love them both. everything you have written has been incredible and i pass them all on to my friends who have in turn become fans. I pray for this huge (but beautiful) change to be the best step for this series. i want everyone to get to know Seth and Stella and fall in love with them how i have :) <3

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  2. oh i forgot to mention in my long windedness....the new covers and titles are amazing!! :)

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  3. I have read the first 2 and waiting for the third. I do like the new look. I juat hope I dont have to buy them again

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  4. First, off don't think too critically of my opinions. I think it was a smart decision to change the titles and covers especially if sales were not going well. BUT I am sorry, I am not sure how the titles relate to the books? Heir of Skies? I thought Stella was the heir of protecting Earth? Heir of Darkness? As in Seth gets full of darkness? Am I catching on??? Help me out. I really liked the look and feel of the old covers. Maybe I am horrible with change, but I still like the stories so I will still read it regardless of the title or cover.

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  5. Changing the titles and covers is actually a great decision. I liked the former ones, but the new ones are more intriguing and will hopefully draw in new readers. Best wishes!

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  6. I love the new titles and covers. The series sounds good, I hope to start it soon.

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  7. It's pep talk Wednesday! You hooked me when you gave Reckless Magic away for free. Since then, I've purchased everything you've written, so that was good marketing! I absolutely love your stories, characters, and style.

    I think the new titles and covers could help. (PLEASE don't give up on this series!!!) I wonder if you are underselling the thing that you do best. What I love the most about your writing is that you always deliver heart-constricting romance without resorting to fifty shades of detail to sell the book. I haven't read anything better.

    You shouldn't feel weird about marketing your books. I think they are all amazing, 5-star reads and you should shout it from the rooftops whenever you finish one!

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  8. LOVE the new covers, not sure on the names yet. I can't imagine anyone not completely LOVING this series, I haven't found a series of yours that I didn't love. I am the type of person if I find a book I love I definitely read another one by the author and another and another until I have read them all. I adore you, your realness and your writing. I wish more of my family members read Ebooks because I know they would love your books, my daughter and I are always raving about them. I am excited for you to print more books so that I can share them with my family. Good Luck!

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  9. Wow. Love the new covers and titles. They definitely suit the content better and I can't wait for heir of secrets to be released. When is that by the way. Is it sometime this month? But don't anything like that deserves to be perfect.
    From your biggest fan Heather aged 13.

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  10. I really love this series and I LOVE the name changes!! I can't wait to read "Heir of Secrets"! I was wondering if you will completely get rid of the old titles? For example, on Goodreads, will you just add new books or would you change the existing ones? (I'm curious as a goodreads librarian..)

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  11. So when is the heir of secrets coming out. Can't wait the first two books were amazing! Love the new covers and titles.

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  12. Rachel, I've ready many of your series. You got me hooked with the Reckless Magic series and then I read The Rush. I started to read the Starbright Series and I stopped it for this major reason: too much of a gap between series. You started the project and then wandered off into so many other projects before coming back to the Starbright Series. As a reader I want to be able to read a series in successive order and in a somewhat timely fashion.

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