LK Billips's Blog

Hello Readers!

It has been some time since I last updated my blog, and I apologize. Last year had no shortage of ups and downs, and I fear I fell victim to the corporate grind of my current full time occupation.

But as they say, dreams never die! So here I am again, working diligently to produce some quality stories for one and all. The current story I am working is an extreme weather romance. This is super fun to write, and if you are a fan of weather movies this one will be right up your alley. I have several episodes up right now in kindle vella, and hope to have the ebook and paperback out this fall. If you want to check it out hit the banner below:

In other news... I finished #NaNoWriMo in November. If you are not familiar with it, it is a free contest where you work to write 50000 words for the month, or as some say, write a novel for the month. I chose to use this challenge to work on my second book in The Catalyst series. It was my first try, and I succeeded. I am not completely done with the story, but I have a good chunk down, and plan to start editing it and releasing episodes on Kindle Vella very soon!

It was a challenge, but it was a wonderful experience and it gave me the confidence to continue this writing journey.

If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend. There are a lot of encouraging people are out there to help you succeed, and writing anything down is a success in my book.

I have chosen the cover art for my second story in the Annabelle Sweeting Mystery series. This should be coming out mid-April to early May. I love this model. @nicoleaionescu from iStock. She has some really great photos.

I hope to get my newsletter going again and to post more on this blog. For those who have stuck around, I thank you! Sometimes there are hiccups and hills when chasing your dreams, but if you never give up then it isn't failure. We all have a different path to what we consider success. It's all about the try!

LK Billips

These past two weeks have been a real blur! I celebrated my 39th birthday with my daughter in Sheboygan, Wi on the 22nd. It was nice to get away from the grind for a few days. I took her for her first mani-pedi and she loved it. We found a wonderful used book store there call Inklings Books. The woman behind the counter such so happen to like historical mysteries so I gave her a copy of my book, The Catalyst, to read. I hope she liked it! I've been working diligently on my newest Kindle Vella, Sway of the Sun. I have 18 episodes out so far and I really like how this one is turning out. I've always loved Greek mythology and shifter stories, so I thought why not combined them. If you want to check it out here's the link- first three episodes are always free. Below is also a review of the story! I love any and all feedback I can get, so if you read any of my stories don't be shy!

Positively glowing after reading this!!

What's new?

Another new development for me is I am now selling The Catalyst merchandise in my shop on this website. I have a few items available and will most likely be giving away a free shirt in an upcoming newsletter so be sure to subscribe to

enter. If you are interested in how I did this, I went through Printful.com. They connect automatically to your Wix.com account or other website. You just create the design, set the price, and connect the websites and it will post for you. The only struggle I am having is finding regular size bookmarks at a good price. I found some mini ones through zazzle.com, but I want to make the average size as well.

Goals!!!

My goals for next week are to write ten more episodes/chapters for Sway of the Sun, put a few more items in the shop (if there is anything you want to see shoot me an email or message me here), and I would like to finish my drawing of Purgatorio so I can have some prints and bookmarks made up. April was a pretty great month for me! I launched my debut novel, went international, and really felt like an author. I know with time and experience I can only go up from here. Thank you all for joining my journey! #happysleuthing

Happy St. Patty's Day! Another great thing about today is it's my daughter's 11th birthday! She is warm, kind, creative, and smart. She helps others, makes me laugh, and isn't afraid to try new things. I am glad that I can show her that no matter your dream, it's never to late to pursue it. I wish Hogwarts was real and that she could go, she is sooo obsessed! She loves to read and write her own stories, and comics. She is always creating something and I love it!

What's going on in LK Billips land?

I've been working hard on doing the final edit on The Catalyst so it is ready for release on April 4th! I did my first newsletter swap through #storyorigin with great success. I started with 7 subscribers and am now up to 36! Pretty excited to feel the momentum starting to build. I have been horrible on keeping up with my episodes on #kindlevella and I feel like a loser. Things just seem to pile up and if I want to make something work another thing must suffer for a bit. So the story goes. :) I am trying not to burn too brightly now, and fizzle out.

Another exciting development is my new participation in #tiktok. I have read numerous articles and posts regarding authors on there for #booktok, so I thought I would throw my virtual hat in the ring. You can find me @lkbillips. I am not sure how often I will post, but I will try to do something at least weekly. I think the hardest thing so far regarding self-publishing is the marketing. Social media is a time sucker, but it is also kind of fun seeing the creativity other authors and fans come up with. It doesn't leave much time for writing though! I am going to work hard to come up with a better schedule and stick to it. I will detail my findings here as it evolves. What do you do to keep yourself on schedule? Let me know in the comments. #happysleuthing

Prequel for The Catalyst out now!

The past few weeks have been like a roller coaster for sure. I succumbed to a pretty bad virus for a week, I felt overwhelmed by the newsletter/campaign world, and I just doubted myself. After a pep talk from my 10 year old daughter, I realized I have gotten a lot farther than others that left their dreams crash and burn by the wayside. She said, "You can't give up now, you're so close!"

I feel you Dani. So here I am, blogging some exciting news and just glad I kept pressing on. I will be sending out a Newsletter on Friday the 11th. I signed up for Story Origin and am doing my first Newsletter swap to hopefully get some interest generated in my stories. I am offering a free prequel to The Catalyst that tells the back story of Mr. Jaime Nethersby, Annabelle's cousin. This is a Newsletter subscriber exclusive! Click the button below to get the link!

What I've learned in the Indie Writing World

I have read tons of blogs/posts regarding newsletters and their importance to a self-publishing author. One main component to a newsletter is being able to offer your reader's bonus material, free stories, etc. In order to entice more readers a program such as #StoryOrigin is crucial. You can network with other authors, swap newsletters (meaning you give them a mention in your newsletter and they do the same for you with links to your work or free material), you can also join group promos in your genre. I haven't dabbled with that yet, I am just doing my first swap this week and hoping to pick up some more interested readers. I am also getting my main story, The Catalyst, ready for publication. I am going through Amazon for my ebook. I have it set to pre-order so their is no backing out now! I am releasing the ebook and paperback on April 4th, 2022!

I've found that all this marketing and posting has taken away from me actually being able to write my current stuff. Fine tuning and editing are a whole other beast, but I am lucky to have some friends with keen eyes to help me. In the future, if there is success, I believe I will get an editor, but for now I feel what I am doing is staying in my lane, and not of pocket too much.

If you want to be included in my newsletters be sure to subscribe to this site, or just follow the link to the free prequel and sign up that way. Thanks for all your support and #happysleuthing

LK Billips

Happy weekend friends! It has been a long week balancing my current full time job, being a mother and wife, and chasing that indie dream. Weather has been crazy here in Wisconsin the past few days. One day it was 57 degrees, and then the next we have a winter squall warning!

I've been slow but steadily uploading new episodes each week on my current Vella, Sway of the Sun. I've also been working with some great people that are helping me proofread and edit my finished novel, The Catalyst. I am going to be releasing that via Amazon on March 14th!

Update on ISBNs: So, after a little more research I discovered that you don't necessarily need on for an ebook. Most sites give your story an identification number strictly for their site, so doubling up would be costly and redundant. I am, however, going to stick with getting my own ISBNs from #Bowkers for the paperback version. By getting my own that allows me to not only sell through Amazon but have the same ID for libraries, stores, and other venues.

I plan to finish up my reader's magnet of The Catalyst prequel, and hopefully get that out in my next newsletter. It will be a short story showing the origins of Jaime Nethersby and Annabelle's friendship. I was also thinking about doing a few bonus drawings of some of Annabelle's gizmos, and maybe one of Purgatorio! I hope you are having a great day, wherever you are in the world. Remember to be kind! #happysleuthing

LK Billips

Cover Reveal!! What do you think?

I've been working hard this week figuring out some of the intricacies of being an indie author. One major item I came across was that of the ISBN number. This number you will need to sell you book and for it to be categorized in stores and libraries. KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) offers this for free, the catch is you will not be able to sell your book anywhere else; no stores, other digital formats, no libraries. The other option is to get an ISBN outside of Amazon. You can use through Amazon's platform and everywhere else. The catch is, they are pricy for beginner authors. You will also need one for each type of book you create, i.e. paperback=1, ebook=1.

The site that I discovered that sells these is Bowkers. https://www.myidentifiers.com/

They sell one at a time or you can buy a 10 pack and save a few bucks. I am still learning the ropes on each item, but I hope my struggles and discoveries along the way might help another author starting out. Or maybe just show the readers all the crazy things involved in getting our stories out to them.

I feel like my new cover turned out successfully. I did make it through #Canva. I also purchased the image through #iStock. I am working on my free prequel for my newsletter. The story revolves around Jaime Nethersby, the cousin of Miss Sweeting, and gives you the back story on him and how Annabelle came to live with him. I'm pretty proud of how its turning out, and I hope my readers enjoy it as well. I plan to add it as a readers magnet in #StoryOrigin.

I was also thinking of doing some sketches of the gizmos Annabelle creates as a fun bonus. If you have anything you'd like to see in the newsletter, drop me a comment or send me an email at read.lkbillips@gmail.com

That's all I have for now. #happysleuthing

LK Billips

Welcome friends! I ended January on a really high note. Not only having completed my first Vella, The Catalyst, but also having more episodes read than ever before. I nearly quadrupled my read episodes. It made January a little more warm and fuzzy in this current snow-pocalyspe in Wisconsin. :) My newest story, Sway of the Sun, went live on February 1st. It hasn't received as much love as I thought, but I don't have a huge reader following anyway. I just need to keep plugging away, posting on social media, and learning how to add people to my subscription list. If you would like to check it out, click the picture below. First three episodes are free on Vella.

It can feel a little overwhelming and disheartening trying to create a reader base. I think that all the things one needs to learn in the self-publishing industry to 'make it' is a vast list. I try to take each element and do my best to weave it into what I've already got going. I wonder if authors like Jane Austen or Ernest Hemmingway had to publish in today's society what marketing strategy the would do. Can you picture Jane doing a booktok video calling out single men in possession of a good fortune? I'd watch that! The current struggle for me is gaining a following. I have been reading up on newsletters and how to had people. I am going to check out #bookfunnel and some of the site that offer help in that arena. I wanted to wait to have my story published as an ebook and paperback, but after reading some authors suggestions, it might be better to start now. Their point being that if you don't have a following, who will buy your book when it launches.

I am hoping to look back on this blog fondly. Take what I learned and help others starting out. If you're a writer, what advice would you give to your younger self? If you would like to subscribe to my newsletter please the subscribe button below.

Thanks for reading! See you next week.

LK Billips

I've been diligently plugging away at figuring out what works, what doesn't, and what I

can afford. There are so many options out there for authors. The struggle is deciding which ones work for you. I've scoured the world wide web reading blogs and reviews for #Grammarly and #Prowritingaid. I've looked into newsletter programs like

#maillite and #mailchimp. And don't even get me started on cover art programs

.

What I learned:

I can only share what I did. I'm not saying it was right or wrong. Maybe we will find out down the road, but here it is.

I signed up for this lovely website Wix.com and started out with the free version. The bad thing about the free version is your webpage name is ridiculously hard to type and would be even harder to search down the line. Luckily, they sent a discounted deal email several days later. I'm glad I waited, as it was for 50% all their paid programs. This has been my most expensive expenditure so far. I bought my domain name through @domains.google.com for 12$ a year. I ended up creating a newsletter right from this website---they call them campaigns. Looks like you get a limit per month, but I think that would fine, because I don't want to bombard my readers. Cover art is still a tricky subject. I haven't quite it figured out yet. I grabbed my first image for free off of shutterstock, my next cover I tried out on the free sections of #picmonkey, and I even found a cool tutorial online for doing cover art with microsoft word. So neat. Here's the link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_6zDyBZ9Mw What I've been up to:

I've finished up all the episodes for The Catalyst! Yeah me! All episodes will be live on January 31st. This is very exciting as I now can wait 30 days from that release date

and then turn the story into an eBook and paperback through #KDP- Kindle's self-publishing platform. This will be my first published book ever and I couldn't be more proud. I am having a few people help me fine tune the edits. A little Grammarly and a full cover and it will be raring to go! This has been a life-long dream of mine and to see it coming to fruition is very satisfying.

New Release:

My newest endeavor has been a new paranormal romance called Sway of the Sun. I am very excited for this one to come out. It mixes a hot werewolf Alpha with a Greek demigoddess. I based this in my home state of Wisconsin, the piece just really fell together. I mean who knew there would be a town in Wisconsin called Arcadia? I suppose the people that live there, but hey--Destiny!

This #kindlevella releases on February 1st, 2022. The first 3 episodes (or chapters) are always free on the platform. If you want to check them out just click the link below to find all my current stories available. Thanks for taking the time to read this and don't forget to subscribe to my site. I'll be sending out monthly newsletters-Billip's Banter- with all new and interesting things!

Thanks again,

LK Billips

Welcome Readers!

#happysleuthing #kindlevella

If you are reading this post, I thank you! For one, you have navigated the stormy seas of the internet to visit me. For two, you must of liked my story enough to search me out and see what else I'm up to. I am honored by your intrigue.

As a new author, I wanted to a blog to my website to give you updates, my progress and maybe just a laugh or two. I've been an avid reader for many years. I've started many stories never to finish them. Then this year, I came to the conclusion that what was hindering me from finishing was fear. Fear of failure. Of everyone hating my stories, pointed out the flaws, and dashing my dream of becoming an author.

No more! I've taken on my dream with new vigor. Life is too short to allow your dreams to pass you by. I am happy to share my dream with you reader. So let's start this journey together and see what crazy worlds, characters and stories are created!

My Current Story- The Catalyst

The Blurb--Annabelle Sweeting has come to London. Set in a Steampunk world, a country girl with a quirk for gears and fashion makes her way through the busy streets in the hopes of discovering herself. What she does discover, however, are two dashing men vying for her attention, an unexpected series of murders, and an underestimated talent for being in the middle of it all. Can she navigate her way through the haughty ton, help the handsome Constable solve the murders, and not get killed herself?

The Backstory-- I've had this story in my head for about 5 years before I decided to really go for it. I am really proud of what I've been able to accomplish on Kindle Vella, and I am hoping to have this published to ebook and paperback early Spring of this year. I love Steampunk and find the culture romantic and aesthetically gorgeous. I am a sucker for a strong female lead, so of course my story has one. Full of fire and sass. The best kind in my opinion.

The Future

Heat Stroke--This new story is in progress as well.

The Blurb--Cynthia Dalton is trying to save the planet. The devastating effects of global warming have finally hit the tipping point and now it's a race against time to reverse it. She will take heat from her boss, the constant erratic weather and maybe just maybe the handsome new Samson Everett. He's come to lend aid to the American sector based in Wisconsin. Can these two find a remedy for the scorching heat in time, and maybe a little heat of their own? Someone's bound to get burned.

Sway of the Sun--This will be a paranormal romance entangled with Greek mythology. Keep checking back for more updates!

In Conclusion-- I am super excited for the future! I hope you stick with me and enjoy the stories I create!

Happy Sleuthing!!

LK Billips