Making Changes: New Covers and a SALE!

New things! In Antipodean winter?? It's true!

I am currently embarked on a quest to promote my books better, which I am also documenting on my Instagram account for accountability reasons. How's that going? Well, over the last three weeks I wrote a ten thousand word short story, and also rewrote the cover copy ("blurbs") for my seven Olympus books.

For me, writing the story was way easier.

It is a source of genuine despair for me that I have absolutely no native marketing nous. Organising newsletter swaps does not water my crops. Social content batching does not spark joy. I would sincerely prefer to write a novella than make a single pretty social media graphic. But if I do not make the graphic–and about a half million other things–then no one knows about the novella!

So I sought advice from a collection of very smart women on how to make the big fuzzy cloud of ????discoverability???? into comprehensible step-by-step strategy, and lo, I am doing my best.

One of those changes was the new blurbs. That was hard, but I did it1! The next big step is new covers for the Olympus Inc books, which is going to be even harder, but I will do that too.

But you know what wasn't hard? These new editions of the Olympus Inc. boxsets, collecting all the Olympus Inc. novels and some fun bonus content:

God, so pretty. Different titles, but the same books inside!

Allow me to introduce Gods of Fashion and Heroic Women - all new covers and titles, same great Greek myth spicy romcom retellings inside.

(These covers weren't hard because they were a gift from the designer, Camberion. I didn't have to do anything but be grateful. I legit teared up. I don't know how people do graphics, and this seems to me like nothing less than magic.)

I am celebrating by putting both boxsets on sale at $2.99 US for ONE WEEK ONLY. Get amongst, and tell your friends!

Short Story Release:

Speaking of that 10k story, it's exclusive to my bonus content Patrons, it's called "Exeunt, Numinous, Luminous", and it's set in the Sparks & Recreation universe, just four years after the Cataclysm brought magic back the world.

The Swinging Sixties are still swinging, but young magician Tamatha Grace doesn't have much time to enjoy it, what with rogue vampires, haunted theaters, and men who won't believe she's a Hunter. Still, when she's called into to appraise a gathering of ghosts on Broadway, there's no alternative but to put some silver rounds in her revolver, shove a stake down her boot, and hit the stage.

Another gifted cover, this one by Robyn!

For non-Sparks & Rec readers, this should be an enjoyable standalone. For Sparks & Rec readers, it's a spoiler-free introduction to a character who's going to show up in Charlie's next modern-day adventure. Plus, there are a few familiar faces! What's the point of having long-lived characters if you don't throw them into your world's history?

If you're not yet a Bonus Content patron, there's seriously never been a better time to sign up. You get the complete back catalogue of Bonus Content, exclusive new content every month, and a raft of other goodies (like early ebooks and Kickstarter discounts!) throughout the year.

What Kate's Reading:

  • After my fourteenth D.E. Stevenson "light romantic novel", I decided I'd best get myself into something else Scottish; King Hereafter, by Dorothy Dunnett, a retelling of the historical Macbeth2. It's a very chewy novel, and I was glad I knew a little of the history of the period, but also must admit I skated over some of the more obscure political allusions in dialogue. I have found that if you trust Dunnett to eventually explain (usually via the smart characters having to make something clear to the nice but slower ones), you are generally rewarded, and then there is some excellent action and good kissing.
  • My most recent non-fiction audio history was Susan Quinn's Eleanor and Hick: The Love Affair That Shaped a First Lady. Happy pride, haters!
  • I was recommended the romantic comedies of Jodi McAlister and read four in three days, so you may assume that I also recommend them. An Academic Affair was my favourite--funny, hot, feminist and smart as hell. Looking forward to the next in the series! An Academic Affair also made me even more grateful to have walked away from my PhD at Melbourne Uni, whew3. I'm saving Libby Lawrence for the holidays, when I imagine it'll give me many theatre kid feelings.
  • I'm late to Tansy Rayner Roberts's The Family Cursebreakers series, but the release of Tomb of Brass (book 2) made me remember I already had Curse of Bronze (book 1), and if I read it now I could go straight into the second. Good choices, me. Curse of Bronze has gargoyles! Werewolves! Curses! Young Ladies Sorting Their Shit Out And Discovering They Are Actually Very Brave and Can Do Hard Things! I love cosy historical fantasy so much.

That Healey Girl is the weeklyish newsletter of Kate (Karen) Healey, a romance and speculative fiction author who lives in Ōtautahi, New Zealand and shakes plots loose by wandering along the river.

1 Can very recommend Olivia Atwater's Better Blurb Writing for Authors, a short and brilliant text.

2 Maybe. She posits that Macbeth and Thorfinn of Orkney are the same person, and if you can get over that historical hump, a satisfying drama ensues.

3 I used to have some I'm-a-failure-who-failed shame about not completing my PhD, and then I was on a festival panel with a psychologist-author who nodded wisely and said, "Ah. You took your hand out of the meat-grinder."