Author: karennacolcroft

Ebb and Flow for Preorder!

Posted on by karennacolcroft

I’m experimenting with different lengths of preorder periods for my books. When I started self-publishing in spring 2022, I was doing a one-month preorder, but I wasn’t getting orders. So I shortened it to two weeks. Which sometimes meant I got preorders, and sometimes not.

(To be fair, some of the lack of preorders is due to my lack of saying “There’s a preorder available.” And to the lack of links in my published books… but that’s hard to sort out, and I’m working on figuring out how best to do it. I freely admit that marketing/promoting my books is by far my weakest point.)

After reading advice from several authors I know who are making a solid living from their books, I’ve decided to try putting up preorders *earlier* than a month prior to release. I’m still tweaking how much earlier, and how to best get the word out, but I’ve started with Ebb and Flow, my next novel, which will release on October 10.

Ebb and Flow is a spin-off from Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat, specifically Take Some Tahini, which introduces Quinn Boucher and Malachi Powers, a mated pair with obstacles including living in different countries, grieving previous partners, and Malachi being VERY unhappy that, as a werewolf who’s about 130 years old, he has a mate who’s only 22.  Malachi was actually introduced in my historical paranormal male menage novella, Hooch and Howls, and when I decided Take Some Tahini would bring Tobias and Kyle to Nova Scotia, I knew Malachi would turn out to be a character in that book. But I did not know he and Quinn would turn out to be mates until they did…Sometimes my stories take on a life of their own.

Ebb and Flow picks up a few weeks after Take Some Tahini and depicts how Quinn and Malachi start building their relationship. It’s available now for Kindle preorder, and on Oct. 10 will be available for Kindle, including Kindle Unlimited, and in paperback.

The heart of the wolf yearns for his mate.

Only weeks after the massacre of half his pack, Quinn Boucher is finding his footing as a guard of the U.S. Anax, the ruler of all werewolves in the country. But something is missing: His mate Malachi. Despite whatever fate drew them together, Malachi won’t accept Quinn—and that hurts like hell.

Decades after losing his human lovers, lone wolf Malachi Powers still grieves. The last thing he needs is a mate, especially one over a century younger. But when Quinn returns to Nova Scotia to assist the Canadian Anax, they reconnect and Malachi can no longer deny their bond.

Together, Quinn and Malachi build their relationship. But there are those who want the Anax dead—and Quinn and Malachi are caught in the crossfire. Will they be torn apart before their life together can begin?

This book includes discussions of past sexual assault and depictions of grief and mourning. It also includes consensual commanding of a character and an adult character being called “boy.” This book is set in the Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat universe but is not a direct part of that series.

New Month, New Projects

Posted on by karennacolcroft

Well, technically one of the projects I’m currently working on isn’t new. After spending a week going through my universe bible (the document in which I try–and sometimes fail–to keep track of all the details of the world in which my books are set, plot points of the books, characters, and so on) and previous books, and writing a brainstorm that’s longer than some short stories I’ve had published, I’m now working on the rewrite of Bring On the Broccoli (Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat 7). I wrote a draft of this book previously, but because of personal life stuff that was happening, I wasn’t able to focus on it as much as I needed. I also hadn’t done a sufficient amount of brainstorming and planning. I wound up with a draft that left out a couple of really important plot pieces that needed to carry over from previous books, had one character acting far more out of character than could reasonably be explained (even though his acting out of character is an arc in the next few books of the series), and had Kyle Slidell, the narrator, acting more as a narrator and less as a participant in the story.

It needed a LOT of work. So I’m pretty much starting from scratch. This time, because I did the necessary preplanning, I have a better idea of where the story will go and how to get it there. This draft is already going better than the previous one. Bring On the Broccoli will be released in January.

I’m also working on the cover for Ebb and Flow, my next release, which will be out in October. I’m hoping to put Ebb and Flow up for preorder this coming week, and I would really, really like to have the cover done before that.  (A cover isn’t required to put a book up for Amazon preorder, but I would *like* to have the cover when I set up the preorder.) So far, it hasn’t been exactly easy. Finding stock photos of models who fit my mental image of Quinn and Malachi was difficult at best, especially when there are certain aspects of their appearance that are stated in the book and so needed to be on the cover. I’ve seen some people say that models on book covers don’t have to look exactly like the characters, it’s more important that they fit the “vibe” of the genre, but honestly, as both an author and a reader it bugs the hell out of me when the model(s) on the cover of a book don’t match the in-book description of the character(s) they’re supposed to represent.

I think I’ve gotten the right models. I’m a little worried that people will assume the one representing Quinn is underage; he does look young to me. (Then again, now that I’m in my mid-50s, anyone under 40 looks young to me…) But going by some of the other pictures of the model available on the stock site, he is an adult, even if he’s a young-looking one. And Quinn looks young; he’s 22 and “far too thin,” according to the description.

I’m even more concerned about being able to put together the cover the way I envision it. I do make my own covers, because I enjoy doing it, but I’m far from professional and there are some tricks and intricacies of the program I use (GIMP, which is a free program similar to Photoshop) that I haven’t learned yet or am still figuring out how to use. I will end up with a good cover, but it might not be the exact cover I’m seeing in my mind.

So that’s what I’m working on as we begin a new month. And this is the background I’ve chosen for the Ebb and Flow cover. It’s from a picture I took from the ferry between Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia; somewhat fitting since most of Ebb and Flow takes place on a private island in Nova Scotia.

New Newsletter Thank You

Posted on by karennacolcroft

When people subscribe to my newsletter, they receive a free gift as my thank you. For the past several months, it was a free PDF of the young adult novel Fresh Meat, which details the origin story of Tobias Rogan from the Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat series.

I like to swap things out occasionally,  so I was planning to put up a new thank-you, but was having trouble figuring out what to use. I wanted something connected with my existing books, which meant that most of the short stories and previously-published novellas I have were out. (Some of those are set in the same universe as my current books, but they aren’t *connected* to those books.)

After spending enough time reading and learning about newsletters and marketing to make my eyes ache, I had an idea. Which I have now implemented.

The first 3 books of the Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat series are told in first-person narration from the point of view of Kyle Slidell, the vegan werewolf. Which means that in those three books, we only see Kyle’s side of the story. Including in the first chapter of the first book, Salad on the Side, where he is still human, heavily crushing on his neighbor Tobias (who he doesn’t know well yet), and completely confused when Tobias strips in the garden between their apartment buildings–and then a wolf appears.

I got to wondering: What was *Tobias’s* take on that? How did he feel about having a human moving into the pack’s midst? Was he crushing on Kyle as much as Kyle was crushing on him? And what did he think when he realized Kyle saw him in the garden?

So I wrote it. And it is now available to new subscribers to my newsletter; current subscribers were sent the link yesterday to download it if they choose.

To sign up for the link to “Side Salad,” Tobias’s version of chapter one of Salad on the Side, go to my Free Story page and fill in the form. This will add you to my newsletter list, but you can unsubscribe at any time.

My Executive is Dysfunctioning

Posted on by karennacolcroft

Being neurodivergent, I have a brain that sometimes cooperates with me and sometimes doesn’t. The more I have on my figurative plate, the less my brain cooperates.

Over the past week or so… it hasn’t exactly been cooperating. I’ve been deep in the thick of revisiting how I approach writing and publishing. Since I started self-publishing a little over 2 years ago, I’ve looked at it as something I want to have fun with that might also bring in some royalties. Which is what it has been.

But more and more, I’m realizing that I want to reach more readers and have more visibility in the world. I want to be one of those authors that someone thinks to recommend when someone else asks for werewolf books, or less-known authors, or books with cats in them, or whatever. I want to be more intentional and thoughtful about what I write, when I write and release it, and how I let people know it exists. So I’ve been doing a deep dive into planning, reading or watching info from authors who are where I want to be, reconsidering my writing schedule, and so on.

On top of doing that, I’ve also been driving rideshare, continuing my weekly volunteering at a local cat cafe, keeping the house reasonably clean, trying to make sure I have something resembling supper ready for my kid when they come home from work (I call them my kid because it’s the only gender-neutral term we’ve agreed on for their relationship to me; “child” doesn’t work because they aren’t one, and they don’t like “offspring” or “spawn”, but they aren’t a kid, they’re in their 20s), trying to find a job that *isn’t* driving rideshare, trying to replace the car that I’ve had for five years that has been pretty much destroyed by driving rideshare…you get the idea.

(This week at the cat cafe, I apparently was the official lap… here’s a picture of Speedy, or as one of my friends referred to him, “a fluffy raincloud,” lying on me.)

There’s been a lot going on. And sometimes, my brain just glitches out. Like yesterday, when I literally could not figure out how to bring a paper prescription to the pharmacy, get the meds from the pharmacy, do the grocery shopping, and do rideshare. I wound up not getting the prescription filled. (It’s for the kid’s cat, who needs eye drops periodically, so it wasn’t urgent.) But I also wound up not being able to figure out anything to make for supper, because I’m not adept at cooking and struggle to follow recipes–or to even find a recipe I want to try–and by the time I got home with the groceries, my brain was just like “Nope, not cooking, screw it.” I had a microwaved veggie burger and ice cream for supper. Kid fortunately had gotten food on the way home from work so didn’t need me to prepare anything for them.

Today… who knows? I won’t be leaving the house. The one thing I’ve promised myself is that Saturday is my day to stay home, rest, and catch up on things that didn’t get done because I had to *leave* the house to do rideshare and errands and such. (The only exception is if I’m visiting family or there’s something special going on.) But I’m still trying to do the planning and learning and housework (oh my). And I do want to make an actual supper tonight, but I’ve already got that organized and just need to actually put things in a pot and cook them later.

I’ve always had issues with organization, time management, etc. When I was growing up, and even in my early years as an adult trying to hold down a full-time teaching job, I was told that I was lazy, that I could do it if I wanted to, that I needed to “try harder,” that I obviously just didn’t care about getting things done properly. None of which was true, but in those days–that makes me sound old, but then I realize that “those days” were actually over three decades ago, so maybe I *am* old–not as much was known about autism and ADHD and CPTSD and other things that alter the way someone’s brain works and processes. I’m realizing through my kids’ experiences that all the things I was condemned and insulted and bullied about, and all the things that made holding a job effectively so much harder for me than it appeared for other people, weren’t laziness or lack of caring or lack of trying. They were because my brain is not wired like the brains of the people who were saying those things to me.

When I was teaching, after a little trial and error, I found an organizational system that worked for ME, for the way MY brain works and processes. (I also found a principal who bitched at me for using my system instead of doing things the way she wanted me to, even though my way ensured that I was the most effective teacher for my students and their parents and that all the paperwork and lesson plans were actually being completed; that job didn’t last long.) In my personal life, my writing life, etc., I’ve had to do similar trial-and-error things to find out what works for me, instead of getting hung up on what other people say *should* work for me. Things like folding and sorting each item of clothing as I remove it from the dryer, instead of yanking it all out of the dryer and into the basket, then having to fold it later. Or color-coding the stages of my writing projects so I can see at a quick glance where I am with which book.

But it does take trial and error, and when I add a new thing, or entire new set of things, to the table, as I’m doing now with the planning and learning about writing and marketing and such, sometimes my inner executive stops functioning. And I’ve learned to be kind to myself when that happens, because I know *now* (at age 54) that that doesn’t happen because I’m lazy or don’t want to do it, it’s because my brain is wired differently and sometimes needs a break or a different approach.

At least takeout food is a thing…

Excitement!!

Posted on by karennacolcroft

This past week has been an AMAZING week for me as an author!

 

 

 

First, on Thursday (July 11), I released Take Some Tahini. Releasing a book is a major accomplishment, and I’m proud of myself for getting this one out there.

 

 

Also on Thursday, I was notified that Fill the Empty Spaces was a winner in the Paranormal category of the Regal Summit Book Awards! Fill the Empty Spaces is not like my typical books and doesn’t get the love I’d like it to get, especially since I donate 25% of the royalties from that book to the cat cafe where I volunteer and I would love to give the cafe more money, so having it recognized like this makes me very happy.

 

 

On Friday, I got a 4.75 star (out of 5) review for Take Some Tahini from Camille at Joyfully Jay! As I’ve blogged previously, I was a little nervous about how readers and reviewers would react to Take Some Tahini… but this was one of the best reviews any of my books have gotten, including the books that were published between 2009-2016!

And finally, also on Friday, I finished the first round of edits on Ebb and Flow, the book I’ll be releasing in October. And I was sad when I finished… I didn’t want to leave Quinn and Malachi’s story just yet. I think that’s a good sign…

How was your week?

Release Week! and a couple of updates

Posted on by karennacolcroft

This coming week marks the release of Take Some Tahini (Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat 6), the first never-before-published Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat novel since 2014!

I’m both nervous and excited to see what readers think of the book. I first wrote it back in fall 2022, then in 2023 almost completely rewrote it because it wasn’t what I wanted it to be. I’m quite happy with the finished product, but how *I* feel about it doesn’t matter as much as what *readers* think.

The book has been up for Kindle preorder for a little over a week now, and will be released on July 11 in Kindle, including Kindle Unlimited, and paperback. This is the longest Real Werewolves book by far, clocking in at well over 300 pages not counting the sample chapter of Ebb and Flow that’s included at the end (because Ebb will be released in October). You can preorder, and purchase the Kindle edition once it’s released, on Amazon.

 

As for the updates:

First, I have finally finished the first draft of Bring On the Broccoli (Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat 7)… but, like Take Some Tahini, it isn’t quite what I want it to be. I’m hoping I’ll be able to fix it on edits, but if not, I’ll end up doing a complete rewrite, as I did with Take Some Tahini. That would result in this book’s release being pushed back to July 2025, instead of January 2025 as currently planned. Stay tuned for further updates.

Second, I’ve heard from a couple of readers asking when/if I’ll be releasing my books through retailers in addition to Amazon. My original plan was to have all books available through multiple retailers by… well, before now. I ran into a couple of snags with that, one due to content in most books that I hadn’t been able to remove due to the formatting, and one due to my accidental deletion of my Amazon books. Fortunately(?), the second snag gave me a solution to the first one; I have now been able to remove the problematic content and so have versions of the books that other retailers will be willing to carry.

However, I am still debating and crunching numbers. Authors like me, who release exclusively through Amazon, do so for multiple reasons. In my case, it’s partly because of the Kindle Unlimited program, which allows readers to subscribe for a small amount per month and read as many books as they like. Authors who enroll their books in the program are required to have their books available *only* on Amazon, and are paid by number of pages read of their books. This is somewhat problematic, because Amazon keeps changing the per-page amount, which means some months authors earn far less than they would like, and also because Amazon doesn’t consider that sometimes an author hasn’t *chosen* not to be exclusive, such as when books are pirated, and just goes and kills the accounts of any author whose books are found anywhere else, even on known pirate sites that the author clearly didn’t put their own books on. A number of authors I know have chosen to pull out of the Kindle Unlimited program because of these issues. The retailer Kobo has introduced a program called Kobo Plus, which is a subscription service similar to Kindle Unlimited but without the exclusivity requirement, and I’m keeping an eye on how other authors are doing in that program, but for the moment most readers who sign up for a subscription-based service still seem to be going for Kindle Unlimited. (Understandable, since Amazon is probably  the best-known book retail site.)

Currently, despite the issues with per-page payment, over half of my writing income comes from Kindle Unlimited. All of my full-length novels are enrolled in KU. By comparison, my novella Hooch and Howls is *not* in KU and is available for sale through multiple retailers. In March, the month I released Hooch, I earned less than a quarter of what I earned in January, the month I released Tempeh for Two, which *is* in KU.  (For transparency, in January I earned $175; in March, I earned $25.) While I obviously want readers to be able to read and enjoy my books, to some extent I do have to make decisions about my writing and publishing from a business standpoint. I’m not doing this only for the love of writing, though that is my primary reason; I also have bills I need to pay. On the flip side, when I accidentally deleted my Amazon account in May, the only books I had available were Hooch and Howls and my Christmas short story Snow on Christmas Eve, since both of those were available through other retailers.

I have not made a definite decision yet, and I continue looking at the numbers and considering what is best for me and my books. For the moment, all of my novels are in Kindle Unlimited, which has a 90-day term that auto-renews unless the renewal is manually canceled. When I republished after the Great Deletion of May 2024, I chose to put all books back into KU for the first 90 days and then reassess and decide whether I’m ready and able to release them through other retailers (in which case I would cancel the KU renewal), or want to continue with Kindle Unlimited for another 90 days. Likewise, Take Some Tahini will be an Amazon exclusive for the first 90 days, at which time I will reassess. While I have heard from a couple of readers who prefer not buying from Amazon, I have also heard from several who can only afford books because of Kindle Unlimited, and therefore won’t read books that aren’t available through that service, so there are factors to consider in addition to whether it makes financial sense *for me* to remove the books from KU. I will keep my readers informed.

Take Some Tahini preorder Is Live!

Posted on by karennacolcroft

In late summer/early fall 2022, I decided there needed to be a continuation of my Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat series. At the time, I was envisioning only writing about my werewolves, alternating releases between the male/male Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat series and the male/female Real Werewolves True Mates series, which paralleled Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat. I had recently re-released Salad on the Side, book 1 of Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat, and Alpha Receptor, book 1 of Real Werewolves True Mates, and I was gearing up for the release of Veggie Burgers to Go (RWDEM 2).

In revisiting my werewolf universe, I realized that the story of Kyle Slidell, the vegan werewolf, and Tobias Rogan, Kyle’s mate and a reluctant leader, didn’t end where it originally had, after book 5 of RWDEM. So I started planning a book 6. I decided, because my family is from Nova Scotia and, at the time, my kid was in school in Prince Edward Island, that the book should include Tobias and Kyle traveling to the Canadian Maritimes to meet with the Anax (ultimate werewolf ruler) of Canada, given that conflict between American and Canadian werewolves was established in the fourth and fifth books of RWDEM. And I decided that travel should be a road trip during which they rekindle the romance that has been suffering since Tobias started his rise from being Alpha of the smallest pack in the country.

The original version of Take Some Tahini (RWDEM 6) was basically just a road trip story, with little conflict beyond a couple of attempts on Tobias’s life (which, if you’ve read previous books of the series, you know aren’t exactly uncommon). And when I started looking at it for revisions a few months after writing it, I realized it wasn’t really a book people would want to read.

So I started over in summer 2023.

I’m not sure where the character of Quinn Boucher, a young wolf changed under violent circumstances that remind Tobias of his own change, came from, but I’m very glad the youngster showed up. The traumatic loss of nearly half of Quinn’s pack, and Quinn subsequently joining Tobias’s staff as one of his guards and accompanying him and Kyle to Nova Scotia, completely changed the book’s trajectory. This clocks in as the longest RWDEM book to date,  well over 300 pages, and in the process gave rise to a spin-off featuring Quinn and his mate Malachi, Ebb and Flow, which will be releasing in October of this year.

I’m very pleased with how Take Some Tahini turned out, and I hope readers enjoy seeing Tobias and Kyle’s adventure continue as well. Take Some Tahini is now available for Kindle preorder, with the official release of Kindle and paperback versions coming July 11.

Tobias Rogan never wanted to be a leader. But here he is, the Anax of the United States, ruler of all werewolves in the country. Only two weeks after winning the rank, Tobias and his mate Kyle are still adjusting to their new reality when a frantic call alerts Tobias to the massacre of nearly half the wolves in a pack in North Dakota–including the pack’s Alpha and Beta.

An investigation reveals that the wolves responsible are from Canada. Tobias reaches out to Silas Creighton, Anax of Canada, and finds someone like-minded in wanting peace between the wolves of the two countries. At Silas’s invitation, Tobias and his mate Kyle, along with their new guard Quinn Boucher, sole survivor of the North Dakota massacre, travel to Nova Scotia to put an end to the conflict. But not all wolves are interested in peace–and not all want Tobias to survive the trip.

This book includes discussions of past sexual assault and physical child abuse, homophobia including a French Canadian homophobic slur, a child character living with cancer, and depictions of grief and mourning. 

Publishing and Republishing

Posted on by karennacolcroft

As I posted a couple of weeks ago, I accidentally deleted my Amazon account–which resulted in my Kindle Direct Publishing account and all books disappearing from Amazon. (Two stories, Snow on Christmas Eve and Hooch and Howls, are available through other retailers, but the rest were Amazon exclusive.)

As of yesterday, I’ve created a new KDP account, as advised by their support team, and have republished books 1-5 of the Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat series. All five are available through Kindle Unlimited until August or September, but at that time I *might* be pulling them from KU so I can publish them through other retailers as well. (So if something like this ever happens again, at least my books will still be out there somewhere!) Next up will be Hooch and Howls, which is part of the Real Werewolves universe but not a direct part of the series and which has a connection to RWDEM 6, Take Some Tahini, which will be released in a few weeks.

Previously, I’d thought that in October, I would rerelease Dawn Over Dayfield, a previously-published suspense with romantic elements novel originally released in 2016. After thinking about it and looking at the in-universe timeline of Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat, I’ve decided to move Dawn Over Dayfield to April 2025. In October, I will be releasing Ebb and Flow, a new novel that connects to Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat and also to Hooch and Howls.

Meanwhile, I’ve been working on RWDEM 7, Bring On the Broccoli… but it isn’t going quite as well as I’d hoped. I keep running into roadblocks with the story, and having to go back and change things I’ve already written. I’m hoping to finish it within the next week or so and have it ready to release in January 2025, but those plans might change if Kyle (who is the narrator of this one) doesn’t start cooperating a little better with me.

Progress…Steady Progress…

Posted on by karennacolcroft

As I posted previously, on May 19, due to a combination of factors I won’t get into again, my Kindle Direct Publishing account and all books I’d published (22, across my three pen names) were deleted. KDP support was unable to restore the account or books, so I was told to set up a new account and republish everything.

I’ve been working on it. I republished Salad on the Side (Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat 1), which went live on May 25 after being uploaded on May 22. I spent a few days trying to get the formatting right on Veggie Burgers to Go (RWDEM 2) and uploaded that on May 27, figuring it would take a couple-few days to publish the way Salad had… only to have it go live three hours later. (I had to do some tweaking to the paperback format, though; the final paperback version went live on May 31.)

I’ve spent a few days formatting Hummus on Rye (RWDEM 3), and uploaded that for publishing today, June 1. We’ll see how long it takes Amazon to let this one go through.

Today, I’ll be checking the formatting on Try the Tofu (RWDEM 4). The good thing is that because Veggie Burgers published faster than I thought it would, I’m ahead on republishing the books that were lost, and *might* have all of them live again before I release Take Some Tahini (RWDEM 6), which will be available for preorder on June 27 and will release July 11. Though now that I think about it, I might hold back on A Fighting Chance, which was only out for 10 days before I lost the account; that book didn’t get much promotion or attention because there simply wasn’t time, so I might hold off on it and do a rerelease in August or September. I’ll ponder that…

I’ve also been working on Bring On the Broccoli (RWDEM 7). That book has lagged a bit, partly because of the traveling I’ve done (two trips to Canada in the space of two weeks, one to see my kid graduate veterinary school and help them get things underway to move back to the US, the other for the actual move because the planned moving assistance wasn’t available) and partly because I got stuck and had to go back to the beginning to do some tweaking and editing so I could unstick myself. I hope to have the first draft of this book finished within the next week or two, and it’s planned for publication in January 2025.

Meanwhile, my kid has now moved back to the US and is living with me and my husband, so we’re in the process of unpacking, fitting kid’s household stuff into our house, and figuring out how to coexist since they (the kid) haven’t lived with us full time since they were in high school–8 years ago. So things are a bit jumbled, but progress is being made.

Since Veggie Burgers to Go is available now, here’s the cover as a refresher. Fun fact: The background of this cover is a photo taken by my aforementioned kid.

So…I Screwed Up. Bigtime.

Posted on by karennacolcroft

I spent the week of May 12-18 in Canada, watching my younger kid graduate from veterinary school and be officially granted the title of Doctor! This was exciting, and I’m very thankful to have been able to not only witness it, but be a part of the ceremony presenting my kid with their white coat, the symbol that they have moved from student to professional. We also did some packing and planning for their move back to the US, which will be happening within the next few days.

On May 19, I sat down and said to myself, “I should close my Canadian Amazon Prime account, There’s no point in paying for it when I only had it so I could send things to my kid in Canada.”

What wound up happening, through a combination of unclear instructions and me not taking enough time to think things through (I own *most* of the responsibility here, but don’t take *all* of it since some was due to Amazon’s phrasing), was that I completely deleted my Canadian Amazon account, not just the Prime part. Which would have been fine… except that it ALSO deleted my US Amazon account. Which was connected to my Kindle Direct Publishing account. Which meant *that* account also vanished–along with all of my books. (As of today, some of the *paperbacks* still show up on Amazon if you search, but they’re listed as “out of print.” The Kindle versions are gone completely.)

I spent May 19 and 20 calling and emailing Amazon customer service and KDP Support. The final answer was “You deleted the account, and when the customer deletes it, we can’t restore it.” KDP Support tried everything they were able to do but couldn’t bring back the books, so a higher-up told me to create a new KDP account and republish the books. This unfortunately means the ratings and reviews are gone entirely, which I am sad about, but at least the books can exist again.

In order to avoid tripping Amazon’s “scammer/bot” button, I am republishing the books week-by-week. I discovered with Salad on the Side that it can take longer than I thought for the books to appear, so the dates below are Thursdays but the books might take until Friday or Saturday of that week to actually go live on Amazon. (I uploaded Salad on the Side on Wednesday evening; the paperback was available Friday evening, and the Kindle showed up sometime during Friday night. I’ll be uploading the rest of the books earlier in the week to try to actually hit the Thursdays listed below.)

My planned schedule for the Karenna Colcroft books:

Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat series:

Salad on the Side                       May 23

Veggie Burgers to Go             May 27

Hummus on Rye                       June 3

Try the Tofu                                June 7

Tempeh for Two                      June 10

TAKE SOME TAHINI        Preorder June 27; release July 11

Since Take Some Tahini is a new release, and is the first brand-new Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat novel since 2014, I will be focusing on releasing and promoting that book from June 27 until the end of July.

Non RWDEM books:

Fill the Empty Spaces        June 14

Hooch and Howls               June 17 (NOTE: This book was published “wide,” which means it is still available through retailers other than Amazon. The date here is *only* for Amazon; you can still buy this book elsewhere before this)

Chance Met                          June 21

A Fighting Chance           June 24

 

Currently, I do not plan to republish Alpha Receptor and Beta Test, the two heterosexual werewolf romances connected to Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat. Under the Karenna Colcroft name, at this point I’m focusing on male/male romance, and those books were not selling. (Also, Beta Test was heavily pirated as soon as it was released, which to be honest pisses me off.) If any readers would like copies of those two books, please feel free to email me at karennacolcroft @ karennacolcroft .com (remove the spaces) to request either an EPUB or PDF of them. I also have a very few paperback versions, which I would be happy to sign and send for the cost of postage (we can discuss it via email).

Salad on the Side is now available again! And since I had to republish it anyway, I chose to give it a new cover.