Raven’s birthday thoughts 🎂

With no further ado, let’s get going!

First just a little note to make sure that my email address is saved in your address book so it doesn’t end up in a spam filter. I have some great newsletters planned in the coming months, so you don’t wanna miss ‘em!

I wish this email could be all birthday joy and celebration, but this is a hard year and a hard birthday for me.

Firstly, as you may remember, my beloved dog Cairngorm died last year on my birthday (that would be today) and so I just haven’t had any celebration in me. I still miss him, as wonderful as Archie is, and I will never stop missing his indignant, demanding little self.

Secondly, the company is just not doing well. For those of you reading this, you are the wonderful and cherished few who are supporting me, and I value you so very much. But there are not enough of you, and I have spent this exhausting year trying to figure out why. The problem is: I am not adequately getting across my message of how good these books are and how much people need to read them. I have tried a billion different versions of “messaging” over this past year, and nothing has yet worked. What I really need is guidance from experts in marketing and promotion, but of course that costs money, and to get really good people that costs more money. This is one of my several main goals in the coming year – to find someone who is both an excellent promoter and who believes in the books.

But that’s a very aspirational hope, because right now I am scrambling to pay the bills every month, and just hoping to cling on and survive while I find funding. I’m not gonna lie, things are dire financially right now, and it adds to my complete lack of desire to celebrate in this moment.

If you want to see me keep this company going (by which I mean, if you want more books in the Blood & Ancient Scrolls series), and you can find a few extra minutes in your day, here’s what you can do to support:

1.) Request that your local library carry my books and/or audiobooks (Here’s an article on how to do that.) This is really wonderful for me (and other readers) as the library can order my book through Ingram/Overdrive, and so I get paid but then the book is available for everyone to take out. I cannot say enough how much I love my books being in libraries. (I will put all relevant info you might need at the bottom of this section.)

2.) Buy a book or two for a friend or relative as a gift – the best option is if you request the book(s) through your local bookstore, as they will often stock a few more copies at the same time. Or you can send a gift of the ebook or audiobook on your preferred platform. If you would like signed copies, order from https://ravenbelas.co/ (Also, if you put in a request for it, I will wrap them in festive paper and mail out the books directly to the recipient in good time to get there for the holiday/event in question.)

3.) If you’ve read my books but haven’t left a review, PLEASE leave a review. It’s really hard to get reviews without paying for them these days (and it’s expensive to do so) so this is really a gift which keeps on giving. You don’t need to write a thesis paper or anything, just select the stars you’d like to rate the book and then mention a thing or two that you enjoyed about the story or the series as a whole. Amazon is the most useful place for reviews to be left and you don’t have to have bought the book through them to leave a review!)

Of course, there’s yet another reason why this year’s birthday is not something I have much oomph to celebrate….

For those who don’t follow me on IG or TT, you may not have seen the reel I put up following the election. If you have not, and you want to know where I stand, here it is:

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The Solitary and Crepuscular Jerboa

I think we do all need some lightness in our days as well, so here is a video I made about the guest appearing character in Blood Ex Libris, you know, the little ridiculous creature?

Since this is the newsletter, you guys get some proper background to enjoy, not just a 90-second reel. So, our wee friend the jerboa was not in the first or even third draft of BXL. But after I had started building up my impressive pile of rejection letters from agents and publishers, I took to heart the advice from one of them, that the start of the story was not thrilling enough.

I mean, of course it’s not thrilling. Noosh is under-challenged, stagnant, living a half-life. It’s pretty hard to make that thrilling, but it’s the starting point to her journey, so what can be done? It’s vital to the story that I show clearly how unthrilling her life was to start, so that you are all invested as things become more and more thrilling. The obvious answer was to do an “in media res” [into the middle of a narrative] flash-forward prologue to the more thrilling time. But…somehow not do any spoilers!

Noosh’s need to have those embarrassing kee rest breaks was the perfect opportunity. It immediately humanizes her, while contrasting with the inhumanly violent situation she has just found herself in. And the jerboa? I’m not entirely sure. I had already entirely lost control of my characters by that point, so it just bounced in and decided to go potty in my prologue 😂 I’m not even surprised by this stuff anymore, I don’t fight it and it’s all good.

(Mind you, putting that prologue in still didn’t land me with one of the Big Five. But with the state of publishing being what it is today, I’m not sure that I would be in a better financial situation right now even if I had. I certainly wouldn’t have had the control to make the audiobooks with Amber Benson, and everyone of you who has listened to Blood Ex Libris and Blood Demands as read by her knows that that she was the best possible actor for the job, so I can’t regret that.) You can watch on YouTube or Instagram.

Blood Triad Review from the Wandering Scribe

I did an interview with the fantastic Gabriel Garcia a few months back, and this past week he posted his review of Blood Triad:

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I really appreciate his kind words and thoughtful review. And if you haven’t grabbed your copy of Blood Triad yet, this is your call to do just that! 📢

🎧 The Music Rec this week is the multi-talented artist Ren and his video for Money Game Part 3. Get ready to be rocked to the core by his raw talent and the truth of his message. Also, like me, he has a chronic illness (Lyme in his case), and he really inspires me that despite how much my illness holds me back, that there is a chance I can get the kind of reach and fandom that he has 🤞