News from Frances Ellen, author of The Asters Series, September 2022

Published: Tue, 09/20/22

Hi , and welcome to my September newsletter.

After the excitement of release day, it's back to business as usual this month. There's an update on what readers are making of From Fury Reborn; how to purchase print copies of my books, with a personalised message inside, direct from me; the spotlight on another one of the smartest dogs I've been training; and 3 new ways to discover new fantasy authors. It finishes with a new competition to win a set of my Aster Prequel bookmarks.

I hope you enjoy reading this email.

Thank you for being part of my publishing experience❤️

Best wishes

Frances

"OK, so when I say this book had everything I wanted

in a fantasy, I am not even joking"

This kicked off Alexandra's review of From Fury Reborn on GoodReads, and it warms my heart every time I read it. To have my book give someone such enjoyment is a dream come true for me. Other reviewers have highlighted the diversity of the characters, the world building, plot twists, and the care and friendship between the Asters. All agree that it is not necessary to read the prequel to understand the fantasy world and the background to From Fury Reborn (though they all recommend doing so anyway). All of which is what I was aiming for - phew! So far, all seems pretty good.

To see all the reviews on GoodReads, just click on the image and you'll be taken straight there🙂

From Fury Reborn is a BIG book - 540 pages - with lots going on in it, and it takes time to read, mull over, and draft a review. I am so so appreciative of the readers who take the time to share their love (and sometimes not!) of my books that they've read 😍

If you're interested in reviewing From Fury Reborn, there are a few slots left. Just respond to this email and I'll forward you the link and a code to download the book from BookSirens.

Your own paperback copy with a

personalised message inside?

My e-books are exclusively available on amazon stores and Kindle Unlimited, but the paperback versions can be ordered from all the usual online stores. Uniquely, though, thanks to my print-on-demand (POD) printer, it is possible to add a personalised text right at the front of my books. Maybe you would like to surprise someone with a personalised gift of my books? Or perhaps you just want to keep a special set for yourself.

There is no extra charge for this, nor for shipping - how is this possible? Because the extra page for the personalised message is included in the printing price, and the money I save from having to pay Amazon and the like a share of my sales, I can put towards covering the cost of shipping direct from the printer. What's not to like?

I use a service called Payhip to host my books in a very simple online storefront. It's so simple, however, that I have not been able to find a way to capture personalised messages in their order form template. So, I've come up with the work around at the bottom of this section.

Payhip accepts payment by credit card and Paypal. They send me any order details which I then submit to my POD printer. You might even get the books faster - and cheaper (I'm looking at you, bol.com) - than from an online bookstore. So even if you are not interested in a personalised message, it might be in your favour to buy your paperback copy direct from me.

If you'd like a paperback copy of my books with a personalised message, respond to this email with your message, and I'll send you the link to complete your order on Payhip.
Once I receive confirmation of your order, I'll get to work with my POD printer to get your (personalised) paperback printed and sent to you.

You can also order my books, without messaging, direct from my Payhip store.

The Day Job (for now?)

If you've come across my Author Bio you will know that I train guide dogs for the blind. This month I'm showcasing the brilliant Ravi, who blew me away last week with his super smarts. When given the instruction to "find the door" to a building, he recognised that there were 2 uneven steps in the way of a direct route to the door in question. Without any prompting, he looked for and found an obstruction-free path around the steps - to the left, up the incline, and then back again to the right, to bring me directly in front of the door. How cool is that? These dogs never cease to amaze me 🤩

Ravi has now moved on to the next phase of his training, to be "customised" to the needs of his new owner, by an experienced Instructor. Meanwhile, I am super happy to report that I have just passed phase 2 of my Trainers training, and I am now in the third and final phase. After that, if they think I am suitable I may then be invited to become an instructor, too. Or maybe I'll stay for a while and build up my experience as a Trainer, and possibly one day start training new Trainers-in-waiting - I'll be sure to share what happens in future newsletters 😊

Discover New Fantasy Reads

To find new readers for my books I work with fellow self-publishing authors to widen our readership by promoting our books to each other’s email list. We offer an e copy of a book, novella or custom story for free on sign-up to our newsletters, to help the reader decide if they want to keep following us.
This time I am sharing three new offers, for if you like romance in your fantasy read, for a range of sub-genres of fantasy, and a future fantastical mix of sci fi and fantasy (with a chance to win a gift card).

Interested? Just click on the images below to get to the web site, browse through the free books on offer, and take a punt. And feel free to share the link to friends and groups you know who may also be interested.

Before You Leave.....
...a bit of fun

Last time I challenged a reader to be the first to share the title of book 2 in the Original Series, which is mentioned at the end of From Fury Reborn. Well, in a similar vein, in the first printing of A Threat To Remain, I shared what I thought then would be the title of the first in the Asters original Series. Closer to reveal time, I realised that there were quite a few other books with the same title, so I changed my mind. And I'm glad I did, as there are NO other books with the title From Fury Reborn.....yet 😁 (incidentally, if the Amazon search engine is so good, how is it that when I search on A Queen To Come, the first book that comes up is always "A Queen Comes To Power".....? It's not even a direct match 🤔) Anyway, back to the matter in hand.....crucially for this competition, I only recently got around to updating the back matter of A Threat To Remain.

If you have an original copy of A Threat To Remain, flip through to the back pages and you will see the original title for From Fury Reborn - a set of my Aster Prequel bookmarks is yours if you are the first to email me back with the title🙂

If you know of someone who you think will be interested to follow my publishing journey with the Asters, please feel free to forward them to my newsletter sign-up page on BookFunnel, StoryOrigin, or MyBookCave, or to the sign-up form on my website.

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NETHERLANDS

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