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Wood the Writer

~ Author of Tales From Undersea

Wood the Writer

Category Archives: book launch

TALES FROM UNDERSEA: THE COMPLETE SERIES is the summer read you need!

03 Sunday Jul 2022

Posted by Jessica Wood in author, Blog, book launch, sale, self publishing, steampunk

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dieselpunk, dieselpunk book, ebook sale, steampunk, steampunk book

Tales From Undersea books 1-3 is now available as a box set! In addition to all 3 books, this set also contains 3 exclusive bonus shorts, including the original deleted prologue. It’s a perfect beach read and I hope you all enjoy!

Show me!

If you want to read the sequel series (set in the same universe but in a different time period and with a new cast of characters), the first book in the Tales From the Skies series, Sky’s Edge, is only 99 cents, but only until July 4th.

Get it now!

The second part in the series, City of Devils, is available for pre-order, also for 99 cents. It will be regular price after release, so this is the perfect chance to get the book for a discount.

Pre-order now!

Sky’s Edge is here!

04 Wednesday May 2022

Posted by Jessica Wood in author, Blog, book launch, indie, sale, self publishing

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book release, dieselpunk book, mafia romance, mm romance, new book, steampunk book

Get it for only 99 cents until May 5th!

I’ve done a few experiments with this release. First of all I tried out setting it as a pre-order, which seems to have worked since I got several sales even a month before launch, so thanks to everyone who pre-ordered the book. Second, I’m trying a 99 cent launch, and also having a sale on all three books in the Tales From Undersea series for 99 cents each. If both of these go well, I’ll do more launches like this from now on.

If you read this book and genuinely enjoyed it, you can really help me out by posting a review either on Amazon or Goodreads (once the book has a Goodreads page, as I still need to put in a request for it).

Outcasts’ Alliance is out now! And what’s coming next

02 Sunday Jan 2022

Posted by Jessica Wood in author, Blog, book launch, fantasy, self publishing

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book launch, book release, dieselpunk, fantasy, steampunk, steampunk book

The final part of the Tales From Undersea trilogy is now available as an eBook! Click the cover below to grab your copy.

What’s coming next in 2022? Aside from hopefully being able to travel again. First of all, the Tales From Undersea series is getting a dieselpunk upgrade with the launch of a new series – Tales From the Skies. This series will be set in a sky city in the 1920s and will focus on a police/mafia romance, with lots of fun characters and fantasy elements.

As well as these books, I will also be jumping into the fantasy genre (although my books are arguably fantasy anyway) with the start of the Children of the Jaguar Empire series, a globe-trotting adventure based upon Aztec mythology.

I’m very proud of how my writing has developed over 2021. While I’m still far from the ‘quit your day job’ stage, I hope it will develop further in 2022.

Have a good New Year and may you receive many blessings for the next 12 months!

Stealing From Thieves is out now! (Plus a book deal)

23 Wednesday Jun 2021

Posted by Jessica Wood in Blog, book launch, books, pirate, sale, self publishing, steampunk

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99 cents, book deal, book release, book sale, ebook sale, new release, self published author, self publishing, steampunk book, ya book, young adult book

I’m very happy to announce that Stealing from Thieves, the second book in the Tales from Undersea series, is out now on Amazon in ebook, paperback, and in Kindle Unlimited! Click the book cover to go to the Amazon page:

If you haven’t started the series yet, book 1 is only 99 cents (or 99p) until Sunday.

Join the Undersea newsletter for more book releases, deals, and free stories.

Four things I learnt from writing and publishing my first book

18 Thursday Feb 2021

Posted by Jessica Wood in author, Blog, book launch, books, Editing, indie, self publishing, story, writing

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creative writing, self published author, self publishing, writing

As proud as I am for not only completing but self-publishing my first novel, it soon became apparent that there were a lot of things I did wrong, and a lot of things I can learn from. These are just a few which I’ll be applying for my future books, and which may be beneficial to other authors:

Abandoning ideas can be a good thing

People always tell you ‘don’t give up’ and ‘always finish a book’. There is some good sentiment in these statements, but I think it’s more important to recognise when you should give up or abandon a project which isn’t working.

For me, I spent years working a novel which I was proud of at the time, but looking back it contained every YA book cliché. Rebellious princess? Revolution? Non-human and borderline creepy love interest? Yep, it had them all.

When I first came up with the idea which would turn into the Undersea series, I was reluctant to give up on the book. But after much reflection, I realised that letting it go to work on this new project was the right move. While there are still some things with this new series, I’m not happy with in hindsight, reception has been much more positive, so I’m glad I didn’t release that cliched book as my debut release.

Plan from the beginning

While I decided early on that I wanted this series to be a trilogy (with the possibility of further books in the future), I didn’t plan out each book in the trilogy until I started the first draft. This has held me back as I’ve wound up with dozens of different characters and sub plots to juggle and resolve cleanly in the final book. Many character arcs have gone a different direction than I intended and some foreshadowing in the first (now published) book I’m now wishing I had cut out. If I write another series with ongoing continuity, I’ll do much more planning from the start so I don’t end up writing myself into a wall.

The final draft is never the final draft

You would think that once the final draft is done, it’s over, right? Oh, how wrong I was! There are still edits, proofs, print copies, copies in different formats. These are all the files in my ‘final version’ folder:

And that’s for just one book.

No matter how low your expectations, you’ll still be disappointed

This one is going to be difficult for other authors to swallow, but is precisely why we need a thick skin. I knew that as a debut author with virtually no platform, my sales were going to be low at first. But I thought I might get at least a few on release day. Maybe a few people would read my blog or see my social media posts.

I opened my Amazon account the next morning and… nothing. My first sale didn’t come in for a few days, and that was me buying a copy of my own book to check it for errors.

Part of it, I have now learnt, was that it takes a few days for Amazon’s system to pick up a book, add the ‘look inside’ feature, and start including it in search algorithms. This is why next time I’ll go for a ‘soft launch’ to give Amazon a few days to register the book before I start promoting it. I’ll also focus more on looking for ARC reviewers to look at the book on release (contact me if you want to join my ARC team, btw).

Sales have picked up a tiny bit thanks to some promotions, but are still nothing most days. But I’m not discouraged. This is just part of the process. I’m going to keep writing whether I ‘succeed’ or not, so it really doesn’t matter.

 

If you want to find out more about the Undersea series or get some free stories, join my newsletter.

Traitor’s Revenge is out now in paperback

03 Sunday Jan 2021

Posted by Jessica Wood in author, Blog, book launch, pirate, self publishing, steampunk, story, writing

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book, book release, paperback, paperback release, steampunk, steampunk book, steampunk fiction, ya, ya literature, young adult literature

I hope that everybody had a fun and safe Christmas and New Year and that you’re now getting back into the swing of work. Or maybe you’re still working through those Christmas sweets!

Traitor’s Revenge, the first Tale From Undersea, is now out in both ebook and paperback format from Amazon. Formatting and putting together the physical book myself was a real headache, so I’m especially proud now that it’s done. I know that the international mail service still has a lot of restrictions and delays (I still haven’t received all of my Christmas presents!) so I hope they will be resolved soon. I will also be doing a ‘wide’ release on other websites soon.

I’m also hard at work on the next few books in the series. I even started working on an additional novella during my Christmas break, when I was supposed to be resting!

Here’s hoping that 2021 will be kinder to all of us!

Get your paperback copy of Traitor’s Revenge from Amazon.

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Traitor’s Revenge is out now

08 Tuesday Dec 2020

Posted by Jessica Wood in author, Blog, book launch, indie, self publishing, steampunk, story, writing

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book launch, creative writing, debut author, debut book, steampunk, steampunk book, steampunk fiction, writing, ya, ya fiction, ya literature

After three years of work, my debut novel and first book in the Tales From Undersea, Traitor’s Revenge, is out now on Amazon!

US store

UK store

I know I said it in the book’s acknowledgements, but thanks again to everyone who helped with the book and supported me over the years. I hope to put out many more books in this series!

I’ll be launching the paperback at a later date, as well as publishing the book on other platforms.

Sign up to the Undersea newsletter for new releases, special offers, and exclusive free shorts.

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Contact me

jessica@woodthewriter.com

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