Happy Friday!
I don’t know about you, but this week was exhausting. I’d say I’m happy for the weekend, but I’ve got to work on Saturday (part-time wedding photographer/videographer). It’s time to rally and keep pushing, both with this campaign and staying awake while interacting with humans. I find that when I get this rundown, I just got to focus on putting one foot in front of the other. I think that’s a good solution for a lot of things in life.
Campaign Update: We are 64 orders from making Quill! That is super exciting! We are still 5th in the contest. Help me out by recommending the book on Inkshares. It’s that cool black Recommend button next to those colorful social media icons at the top of The Living God page. While you’re there, why don’t you share on your social media as well?
And, this is really important! If you haven’t already, why don’t you leave a review? Its as easy as clicking the link right there and typing, "This book is really interesting! Check it out!"
Book Cover promotion is still going strong. If you haven’t yet placed a pre-order, and happen to need a flashy cover designed by a professional cover artist, a cover that isn’t pixilated or potentially going to get you sued for copyright infringement, I’m your girl. Here is just a PSA about copyright infringement. I point out the copyright thing because many authors don’t know that taking images from Google and using them in their promotions, whether as a book cover, a poster, or banner ad is illegal and it can really get you into trouble with copyright laws. I am part of a number of author web and Facebook groups and I can’t tell you the number of times I see copyrighted content being used by an author. This includes artwork found on Deviant Art (or any artist’s website). You have to have written permission (often a contract) to use artwork from an artist, and it often includes payment upfront or commission from book sales. Unless the artist is a friend, and then that is between you guys. Memes or GIFs are totally different and not included in this PSA, just images taken and passed off as belonging to some you or related to a work that you created, when in fact it was created for someone and something else. If you need imagery for your book or promotions I highly recommend stock photography websites. There are some free and some paid. My favorite free one is, I kid you not, Free Images.com. My favorite paid one is Deposit Photos.com, it is reasonably priced. Okay, end of PSA and sorry, that made this update got pretty long, but I thought it was something that would be helpful to you guys in the future.
Aleira Ritan
Aleira grew up in Adrid, on its border with Mavahan. When she was five her family tried to flee the poverty and civil war in Adrid as refugees, her family was slaughtered and she was captured during a border skirmish with Mavhan forces. Aleira was sold as a slave to a small facility that specified in training Champions and Challengers. Since she was small and frail, she was branded with the mark of a Sparring slave, and never meant to be anything other than disposable practice meat. But, Aleira did not die. She fought, she killed, she lived. She survived to become the reigning champion of the female Challengers and was later bought by the royal family and given to Xalen as a wife. She did not know Xalen’s kindness at the time, but saught to show him that she was no man’s property. She beat him senseless on his wedding night, which earned his respect as well as his admiration. They grew to love each other. After losing her child, Aleira vowed that she would make Mavahan pay and that, when the time came, every slave would taste freedom.
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(“Natural Collapse” - Design by Diogo Hornburg via threadless.com) 
