Today’s post is just for fun and to put a little dance magic in your step as you go about your day!
Magic taps into our need for a taste of the extraordinary, so it’s not surprising that so many songs have some sort of magic as the theme, be it the figurative ‘magic of something’ or the literal magic of wizards, spells and potions. Mix a little magic with music, which is capable of evoking a wide range of deep emotions, and you have something as potent as Merlin’s spells.
It was difficult for me to choose just three songs about magic – there are so many good ones! In the end, I chose three with supernatural magic themes. The first two songs below, Love Potion Number Nine and Devil Woman, are among my favourite songs of all-time. I grew up with this music and still prefer it to some modern music, so of course I had to include these two.
The third song, If I Had Magic, is from the movie Barbie and the Secret Door. I know, I know. What can I say? I have two young daughters and, I swear, this is how I first heard the song! It stuck in my head and I think it’s pretty cool, especially because the lyrics mention talking to your pets, which is among the things I, too, would make happen if I had magic.
Love Potion Number Nine – The Searchers
Devil Woman – Cliff Richard
If I Had Magic | Barbie and the Secret Door – Brittany McDonald
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It’s been a while since I shared a writing prompts video, and I still had two left from last year. It’s high time I share them!
The theme for today’s video writing prompts is magical lands. I hope these videos inspire some fantastic, creative stories! If you write anything inspired by these prompts, I’d love to showcase it on my blog.
Annoyingly, my blog refuses to embed the video, even though it’s set up in YouTube to allow embedding. Here’s the link:
If you enjoyed the video, please like it on YouTube and subscribe to the channel to be notified of upcoming videos. You will also find other writing prompt videos on my channel.
Forget what you’ve heard about epic quests – most magic is just a series of awkward mistakes and elaborate deceptions. Welcome to Sorcery & Subterfuge, a collection of short fantasy stories in which you will find ancient sceptres, mystical fogs, forbidden spells, impressive illusions, sneaky plans, daring rescues, stolen gold and sudden bursts of magic.
Join the adventures of an invisible prince, mischievous imps, an elf with ogre genes, a royal assassin, a peasant girl turned queen, a phoenix in human form, dwarf pirates, a familiar that isn’t quite what it seems, and the majestic ryokin – sentient winged sabretooth cats with magic flowing through their veins.
These 14 stories all reveal the same truths: Magic is rarely neat, is often dangerous, and almost always results in something unexpected. If you love magic and twists you won’t see coming, this book is for you.
First published in 2012, the extra stories in the latest edition of Sorcery & Subterfuge make it double its original length, and it also boasts an awesome new cover!
Yes, I used AI to create the cover, but the stories are 100% written by me. An AI image based on very specific prompts enables me to properly represent to readers what’s inside the book, and is a gazillion times better than my original (and that word is used lightly here) stock image cover (cringe):
As you can see, although the old cover (left) was created with a decent stock image, it’s very generic. Sure, you can see the book has to do with sorcery, but it gives no further information than that. The new cover (right) portrays characters from some of the stories, and no one else can legally use the images on it – whereas the old cover was a free royalty-free stock image that anyone else can also use. Not at all ideal.
I had to generate 200-odd images to get the perfect one for the cover – it’s not as quick and easy as some people think. At least, not if you want it exactly the way it is in your head. Still, I feel it’s worth the effort, especially considering how long it took to find a stock image that was ‘okay’.
For my Wizard of Ends book tour last year, Tim Maloney read one of the collection’s stories, Foretold Darkness. I loved it then and I love it now!
Today, we meet Julia Quay, author of Ultimatum in the Space Wizards short story anthology.
1. What’s the most ordinary, non-magical thing you did today?
Spent a quiet Sunday at home with my husband, eating tomatoes we grew in our garden. We’ve both worked our whole careers in food service, so a Sunday off together is actually major magic. (Considering the size and sweetness of those tomatoes, there’s possibly some magic going on in the backyard, too.)
2. What is your full-time job? Does it color your writing?
I now work as the baker and the nutritionist (a fun combination) for a nearby private school. It’s a delightful change from the last seven years, spent working in prison kitchens. Restaurants and food service come up in almost all my writing. Theater is a common theme too, which is what kitchen work really is. Three shows per day, produced by the most colorful characters ever.
3. If you aren’t writing, what are you probably doing instead?
Reading, talking about books, or baking. And baking is mostly a vehicle for spending time with an audiobook.
4. Which fictional world would you happily live in – even if it was dangerous?
Middle Earth. To live in Minas Tirith (I’m in love with cities), or spend a quiet vacation in Rivendell would be worth the danger. I now live near the Amish communities of Pennsylvania. The regular views of rolling hills, farmland, and families riding via horse-and-buggy are pretty close to experiencing Hobbiton.
5. Who would be your dream audio narrator?
Scott Brick and George Guidal are two of my favorites, especially for a story with real grit. And for a humorous story, I’d pick Jim Frangione. Bahni Turpin would be my dream narrator for a female character.
6. Do you prefer to write with no distractions or do you need something to help with creativity?
Rain and thunderstorm sounds from YouTube make my favorite writing soundtrack, followed closely by coffee shop background noise. I love listening to music, but I can’t write with it.
7. How did your story idea originally begin – as a joke, an image, a question?
This story was a contest entry in the NYC Midnight short story challenge. I had 48 hours to write a sci-fi story about a reptile and an immature character. My submission won honorable mention, but ultimately kept me from advancing to the final, fourth round. I kept working on it, and along came Space Wizards.
8. What part of the writing process do you secretly dread?
The marketing. Can’t stand it. I’m in awe of all the work that’s already gone into promoting this anthology. A video trailer? How cool is that! Other authors’ websites? So slick! But I know my limitations. Definitely a brand of magic I don’t have. Will be enrolling real wizards to help me tackle those dragons.
Prepare to be spellbound by this (mostly) light-hearted short story anthology offering a blend of science fiction and fantasy with one common theme: wizards and outer space. Imagine a galaxy in which magic is fused with machine, luxury space cruises run by cyborgs are the norm and familiars are a little… different.
Join the adventures of a powerful space wizard during wartime, a young wizard-in-training with her griffon familiar, and a time-travelling biker wizard who accidentally ends up in the future – well, sort of. Let’s not forget the caustic robot familiar cat, a faulty 3D printer causing magical havoc, spells gone wrong, space pirates, and a junior contract analyst who experiences a series of inexplicable, extremely inconvenient events as a result of a strange cube his team recovered as space debris.
That’s not all! A quantum conjuring that violates the laws of thermodynamics – check. A wizard in a Wild West-type setting – check. An ancient maths book that might hold the key to immortality – check. An adrenaline junkie smuggler and a daring rescue – check. Add an intergalactic circus with a shifty shifter, a bioship giving birth under dire circumstances and a moulting wyrmling with the potential to explode planets, and you have an anthology that is sure to enchant you until the last word and beyond.
Julia Quay’s stories have won the 2012 Highlights for Children Fiction Contest and placed in the top ten horror stories for the 2019 Writer’s Digest Genre Fiction Contest. She secretly wishes she’d run away with the circus, per her childhood daydreams. Instead, she spent her career in food service with her husband of thirty years, an experience which, she claims, was just as death-defying and entertaining, but infinitely more delicious. She lives in Pennsylvania with all the characters in her head. Her first book is close to publication, sometime before the century closes. Watch it all unfurl at http://www.juliaquay.com.
The answer to that question is limitless if I’m the one answering – but what better than real-life weirdness or legends?
Countless legends and folktales speak of objects believed to possess magical powers, from mystical swords to bulls’ hearts and healing cups, and everything in between. Some of them still exist today, and some might. Let’s look at three of these.
1. Sir Francis Drake’s drum
Explorer and pirate Sir Francis Drake was said to have owned a rather magical drum that would beat on its own if England was in danger. There have actually been some reports of this having happened. Napoleon claimed to have heard it, and it’s said to have beaten when WWI started. The drum is currently homed at Drake’s old home, Buckland Abbey.
2. The Nanteos Cup
The Nanteos Cup is an ancient wooden mazer cup that some consider to be the cup from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper. Since the 19th century, the cup is said to have the power to heal, and was used many times by people in need of healing. The cup is currently on display at the National Library of Wales.
3. Howard Carter’s magic ring
Howard Carter, one of the archaeologists who discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb, was rumoured to have had a magic ring that protected him from the tomb’s curse. Whether the curse existed is debatable – while many did indeed die, many more didn’t. However, rumour had it that the ring was the reason that Carter wasn’t afraid of the curse. The ring, known as the Ring of Ra, was said to have been discovered in an ancient priest’s tomb, and is believed to have been owned by a few other Egyptologists before Carter. No one knows where it is today, or if it even exists.
Today, I’m sharing my experience producing the Space Wizards short story anthology – something perhaps of interest to readers and authors alike.
Although I’ve been part of the production team for other anthologies, Space Wizards is the first anthology for which I’ve been lead. When I started, I fully expected to be doing everything other than writing the entire book myself. How wrong I was! I was stoked to discover that not only did we have a few handy skill sets among our contributors, but many of them also offered to help with things that saved me days of time. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start at the beginning.
When the idea for a ‘wizards in outer space’ anthology popped into my head, I let it float around for about a year before I put it into action. At first, I thought it was a nice idea that sounded like more work than I could manage alone. I didn’t actually think I would action it. However, instead of being drowned out by 20,000 other thoughts and projects, the idea continued to niggle until I could no longer ignore it – and I’m so glad it did!
I won’t bore you with details like how I spent hours creating lists and templates to make the process easier and keep track of everything. What I will say is that the experience was a mix of passion, frustration, irritation and fun… Yes, even though there were times when I felt like screaming, the overall experience was a lot of fun! The best part, of course, was reading the stories as they were submitted. We ended up with a fantastic mix of stories and authors. I summed them all up in our Space Wizards music video:
The Team
As I said, I ended up with a team behind me – many thanks to the contributing authors who went above and beyond to help make our anthology happen. Vanessa Wells, who, thanks to her experience with author contracts, made the contract drafting as painless as such a thing can be. The authors who helped me with the Space Wizards music for the music video (Tim Maloney and Juneta Key) saved me from multiple grey hairs. Writing the lyrics was the easy part – I had a very specific idea of what type of music I wanted and I was limited to one free song generation per month from the one generator I could find that allowed free users to use the songs for commercial purposes. It was frustrating as hell. Tim and Juneta generated a ton of songs from which I could choose. In fact, Juneta got hooked and ended up with a pro account at Suno (my bad). I must say, the paid version of the music generator was excellent, and we ended up using one of those songs for our music video. Tim also converted the anthology to EPUB and MOBI formats, helped with the interview questions, and did the voiceover for our book trailer and a video reading of Julia Quay’s Ultimatum. Another luck was one of our contributors being a retired proofreader with an extremely sharp eye for detail – James Field kindly offered to proofread the anthology, and also helped to compile the author interview questions and Twitter posts, and checked the EPUB and MOBI files for us, among other things. Merry Muhsman also helped with the interview questions, and some of the authors (Juneta, Merry, and Terri Demmons) provided all or some of their character art, which also saved me much time. Last, but not least, are those who sponsored some NightCafé credits to enable me to create the Space Wizards book trailer and music video – I literally could not have done it without their help. I won’t mention them by name, though, because I don’t want to ‘invite’ others to randomly approach them with requests for funding! You know who you are. Thank you!
Book trailer
Creating the book trailer was a big part of preparing for the Space Wizards launch. Every story in the anthology is represented in the trailer – creating the character images and generating the individual video clips was quite a task, I can tell you! When you’re playing around with AI image generations for fun, it’s not such a big deal, but, when you’re trying to create a very specific scene from a short story with limited credits, that’s a whole other ball game. Some of the AI video models take prompts quite literally, so you’d best not describe something as ‘donut shaped’ unless you want an actual donut somewhere in the image or video. The more complicated videos took many attempts to get right – such as the scene from The Mechanics of Witchcraft, in which a wizard sends a lightning bolt right through another character without harming her. In fact, that clip still isn’t exactly as I want it (which doesn’t mean it isn’t cool), but there came a point when I had to accept that only the extremely expensive models might get that completely right. In the end, to create a book trailer comprising 27 short clips, I had to generate a few hundred video clips. It was probably the most time-consuming (and expensive) part of the entire project, especially when coupled with the dance generations for the music video. Still, I have no regrets – not even after watching the book trailer and music video a few times a day since they were finished!
I had two major advantages when creating the Space Wizards book trailer compared to when I created my Wizard of Ends book trailer last year. One is that, this time, I had access to paid video generations (using NightCafé) in which I could include sound. This meant that I could recreate some of the scenes from the stories that included the characters’ speech. I think this enhanced the trailer greatly. Secondly, I didn’t have to waste hours of my life fighting to get an AI voice just right for the trailer narration, thanks to our resident voiceover guy, Tim, who did it for me (I don’t know for sure, but I got the impression that he did it in less than ten minutes). Oh yes, and I didn’t have to settle for watermarked video clips this time, thanks to my NightCafé pro account.
My greatest challenge when creating the book trailer (and music video) was putting it all together and creating the end credits. I wanted rolling credits. But do you think I could do this with ease? Oh no. Every programme that’s free to use refuses to work on my computer or any of my browsers – part of the problem was that I still have an older version of Windows, and I don’t want to change it, because I like it. The most infuriating part was that the programme I used for my Wizard of Ends trailer, ClipChamp (which created the rolling credits and didn’t add a watermark to your video), suddenly won’t work on any of my browsers. An early birthday gift (Windows Movie Maker Pro) from a friend who took pity on me sorted that problem. The free version of Movie Maker did the video perfectly, but added a HUGE ugly watermark on the entire video; having a registered version solved that problem (and meant that I didn’t have to redo the entire video, because I forgot to check for a watermark before making the video). However, not even Movie Maker did the credits perfectly (mind you, it would have been okay if my credits had been shorter or if I had space in the trailer to make the credits longer). In the end, I found an online generator that worked to create the rolling credits, but then it refused to export the file – which ended with a friend doing it for me.
The frustrations aside, creating the book trailer was one of the fun parts for me, and the final result was worth the effort:
The whole process would have been a lot less stressful if I didn’t also have to deal with finding new distributors for all of my books, and then delisting and republishing them (and obtaining new ISBNs for most of them). This, thanks to Draf2Digital showing us that retailers are their main focus and not authors (you can read about my experience in more detail here). I did eventually find a few – due to limited time and tight deadlines, I chose to move all of my books only to PubShare for now (other retailers will be added in time). PubShare has its own online store and also distributes to Goole Play Books, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble and Kobo, as well as to Overdrive via Kobo. More importantly, PubShare allows royalty splits, which means that getting Space Wizards authors’ royalties to them was as easy as adding them to the book project and designating a percentage to each one.
Needless to say, many long hours went into the production of Space Wizards, and I absolutely love the final results: a short story anthology filled with amazing sci-fi fantasy stories, complete with a cool book trailer and music video. Let’s not forget that none of it would have been possible without the 11 talented authors who contributed stories.
What’s next?
The audiobook! Tim is currently recording a Space Wizards audiobook, which we plan to distribute via Author’s Republic. We’re super-excited about the audiobook and hope that it will enable many more people to enjoy these stories! It’s also the first audiobook I will ever be publishing, and I expect it will open a whole new world of readers to us.
I might or might not make a ‘dud video’ showcasing some of the dud video clips that were unusable for the book trailer and music video – some of them are pretty funny! It all depends on my day job’s workload and how well the writing goes on Wizard of Ends, Book 4. That said, I’m kinda looking for an excuse to play around with the video programme some more…
Space Wizardsis available at the following retailers
Today, we meet James Field, author of Wizard of WAS in the Space Wizards short story anthology.
What’s one fact about you that might surprise people?
People are often surprised when I tell them I have Asperger’s. I suppose that’s because I’ve spent a lifetime learning how to mask it. I could probably write a whole book about how it has shaped my life. It would probably make you laugh in places and cry in others.
If you had the opportunity to live on a colony on Mars, would you go? Why/why not?
No! I live in Arctic Norway, where the temperature ranges from about 70°F (20°C) in summer to -4°F (-20°C) in winter. Mars ranges from about 70°F (20°C) down to a rather unfriendly -225°F (-153°C). That’s a bit too chilly, even for me.
What’s your favourite animal and why?
My favourite animal is a teddy bear, just like the one I had as a toddler. Winnie-the-Pooh is another treasured companion, and very wise too. One of my favourite quotes is:
“What day is it?” asked Pooh.
“It’s today,” squeaked Piglet.
“My favourite day,” said Pooh.”
Do you have any weird/funny quirks?
Perhaps because of my Asperger’s, I have clocks and thermometers all over the house. Even in my office, I have three thermometers (two digital and one old-fashioned mercury thermometer in case the batteries fail) and three clocks: my wristwatch, a large analogue wall clock, and a pendulum clock that chimes every half-hour.
Which author (living or dead) would you most like to have dinner with?
Roald Dahl has had a huge influence on my writing. I also discovered that his favourite meal was boiled cod eaten with the skin on. Scrumdiddlyumptious!
How would you describe your writing style to someone who’s never read your work?
My goal is always to make my prose invisible. I want readers to become so absorbed in the story that they forget they’re reading words on a page.
What themes do you seem to return to, whether you mean to or not?
Good overcoming evil. I also seem to return again and again to ordinary people finding themselves in extraordinary situations.
Do you plan everything in advance, or discover the story as you go?
I start with a simple idea, then use a 12-step story system to develop it, then write and rewrite it over and over again until it feels right. Then I start the real work—the editing stage.
What’s one thing you’ve learnt about writing that you wish you’d known earlier?
I started publishing as an indie author thirty years ago. I wish I knew then what I know today about marketing.
Do you hide foreshadowing or breadcrumbs in your writing?
Ha! This is the sort of question that makes someone like me with Asperger′s stop and frown. I take everything literally. I make a point not to eat while typing away at my PC. Breadcrumbs (or biscuit crumbs in my case) dropped into the keyboard would soon ruin it. So, no breadcrumbs in my writing. Foreshadowing, I understand, but why hide it? I’m not writing puzzle books. If readers notice it on a second read, that’s a bonus.
Your stories often mix humour with serious ideas. Why?
Because humour lowers a reader’s defences. Once they’re smiling, they’re more willing to explore ideas that are thoughtful, unsettling or emotional. I don’t use humour to distract from serious themes—I use it to help readers reach them.
You have the choice to go back to when you are young. Do you start writing earlier in life? Why/why not?
I learned the alphabet when I was four years old. By the time I was five, I could spell difficult words like ′skool′ and ′bisikel′. Seriously though, I had a period in my life when I was deeply depressed. (I wasn′t diagnosed with Asperger′s until a few years ago). What helped me out of that depression was to write a book about my childhood. It still brings tears to my eyes when I think about it. It was a sort of biography that really made me search into the hidden corners of my mind. That experience changed my life. I never published the book, but, afterwards, I simply couldn’t stop writing. So yeah, I wish I did this earlier in life; it might have saved me a lot of heartache. I bless my wife for sticking with me through the years.
What first drew you to contribute to Space Wizards?
This wonderful idea of mixing sci-fi with magic sparked my imagination in the most glorious way. I couldn′t resist.
What mood were you aiming for: wonder, humour, dread, or a mix?
Definitely wonder and humour; an irresistible combination.
What do you hope readers feel when they finish your story?
Intense relief that our real-world astronauts do not have to worry about accidentally turning the space station into a giant block of cheddar cheese.
Be honest: wizard hat – yes or no? Why/why not?
Only if it comes with built-in noise-cancelling headphones and doesn’t blow off on a motorcycle.
Prepare to be spellbound by this (mostly) light-hearted short story anthology offering a blend of science fiction and fantasy with one common theme: wizards and outer space. Imagine a galaxy in which magic is fused with machine, luxury space cruises run by cyborgs are the norm and familiars are a little… different.
Join the adventures of a powerful space wizard during wartime, a young wizard-in-training with her griffon familiar, and a time-travelling biker wizard who accidentally ends up in the future – well, sort of. Let’s not forget the caustic robot familiar cat, a faulty 3D printer causing magical havoc, spells gone wrong, space pirates, and a junior contract analyst who experiences a series of inexplicable, extremely inconvenient events as a result of a strange cube his team recovered as space debris.
That’s not all! A quantum conjuring that violates the laws of thermodynamics – check. A wizard in a Wild West-type setting – check. An ancient maths book that might hold the key to immortality – check. An adrenaline junkie smuggler and a daring rescue – check. Add an intergalactic circus with a shifty shifter, a bioship giving birth under dire circumstances and a moulting wyrmling with the potential to explode planets, and you have an anthology that is sure to enchant you until the last word and beyond.
James Field writes science fiction and fantasy with a strong dash of humour and a fondness for the absurd. His stories often explore hidden magical societies, eccentric characters, and worlds where advanced technology and ancient enchantments collide. He enjoys mixing the cosmic with the domestic, and believes firmly that even the end of the world should be at least a little bit funny.
Submissions are now open for Space Wizards, Volume 2!
We’re looking for short stories that blend science fiction and fantasy – specifically:
* Stories set in outer space or with a strong focus on outer space; and * In which a wizard is the main character or wizardry is the main plot point; and * In which a space wizard is stranded somewhere (e.g. on an alien planet after crash landing, or on a damaged spaceship in the depths of space); and * That combine other science fiction elements with fantasy elements.
* * Please take careful note of the above – if your story doesn’t contain all of the above elements, it won’t be accepted. * *
Examples of science fiction elements: aliens, alien worlds, robots and cyborgs, AI, space ships, futuristic Earth worlds, futuristic technology, time travel, and space travel or exploration
Examples of fantasy elements: magic, dragons, mythology, fantasy worlds, unicorns, fairies, trolls, elves, and an epic journey, prophecy or mission
Tip: Stories with a bit of humour sprinkled in will stand out and might get preference.
Submission guidelines
We’re looking for light-hearted stories that make readers smile, even if they cover deeper topics. A story with a twist will also grab our attention if it’s well executed.
Let your imagination run wild and have fun with the theme!
Remember, your story must contain a wizard/wizards, outer space, and a mix of science fiction and fantasy elements, and the main theme should be: a wizard stranded somewhere.
Deadline: 31 January 2027 Word count: 4,000 to 6,000
To submit your story, please e-mail it in an MS Word or Open Office document. Stories pasted into the body of an e-mail or in any other format will not be accepted. Please also give your story a title before submitting, and include your author name below the title in your manuscript. Also please download and fill out the Author Form to send with your e-mailed submission. Submissions that come without this form might not be responded to.
Format:Single spaced; one space between words; Times New Roman, size 12 font; do not use tabs to create indents – use your word processor’s indents function.
Not complying with the above formatting requirements can make formatting for publication a nightmare, so please follow these instructions. If you aren’t sure of anything, feel free to query it with me.
Please title your e-mail ‘Space Wizards submission’ – if your e-mail is titled anything else, it might be missed or mistaken for spam.
Submissions are free.
Note: The NightCafé generative AI image generator has been used to create the Space Wizards book cover, and generative AI will be used in some or all promotional graphics and videos. If you are against using AI for book covers and you do not want your writing to be linked to a book with an AI cover and AI-created promo materials, then Space Wizards is not the right fit for you.
Payment
All authors will receive a pro rata share of any royalties.
Rights
All authors retain the copyrights to their own stories.
Conditions for inclusion
Your submission must be your original work for which you own all copyrights.
Your submission must be 100% written by you, and AI should not be used in any way to have written your story. No AI-written or part-AI-written stories will be considered.
You must have a PubShare author account in order to receive royalty payments, the exact amount of which will be calculated and paid to you directly by PubShare (you will also have direct access to sales data). If you don’t already have an account, you can sign up for free.
Your story should not have been published anywhere else, including on your website.
No simultaneous submissions – if you have submitted your story somewhere else, please do not also submit it to Space Wizards.
We ask for exclusivity for a period of 12 months from the date of publication, after which you may publish your story elsewhere, but Space Wizards will retain the right to include your story indefinitely (for which entire time, you will earn royalties on any sales).
Your story will receive a professional edit (at no cost to you) and you might be asked to make some changes before publication.
Although it is not a requirement, you are strongly encouraged to help with the anthology’s promotion. The more we promote, the more copies we will sell. Remember, no one will buy a book that they don’t know exists. For example: If you have a blog, blog about it or offer to host one or two of the other Space Wizards (SW) authors. If you have a YouTube book or BookTok channel, share something there. If you see another SW author promoting the book, click ‘like’ and share it on social media. Keep your eyes open for opportunities – for example, if you come across a free book listing site, you could either submit the anthology or pass on the info to me. It doesn’t have to be anything extravagant or time-consuming – working together, we can promote the anthology effectively without it taking over our lives. In time, as more authors join the Space Wizards brand with each future volume, we will build up an army of book promoters that won’t cost a cent.
Response times
If your submission meets the guidelines, you can expect to receive a response within 2–4 weeks of the submission deadline. If your story is not accepted, you can expect a response within 4 weeks of submission.
If you have not received a response within this time frame, please check your submission – it could be that you didn’t follow the instructions exactly. While I will still respond to these if I can, I won’t if the response is overwhelming.
If your story is not chosen for Volume 2, but is a good fit for the anthology series, you might receive a request to include it in the next volume.
I’m thrilled to share the official Space Wizards music video with you today!
With lyrics written by me and music generated with Suno AI by Juneta Key, our Space Wizards theme song gives you a sneak peek into the stories in the anthology. Every story is mentioned in the lyrics, and the main characters are all included in the dance video.
I think the music video truly captures the essence of how much fun I had creating it! I hope you have just as much fun watching and listening to it.
We’d love to hear your thoughts once you’ve seen it. Feel free to leave comments and share your favourite moments! If you’re as excited as we are, spread the word and help us share the magic!
Discover a universe more magical than you ever imagined!
If you are a Draft2Digital (D2D) author who has to delist your books to avoid being out of pocket due to D2D’s new fee, this post is for you.
Since D2D’s announcement of their new fee for authors (but not the high earners, mind you) to publish their books, I’ve seen many authors on social media talking about giving up. I admit there were times throughout the process where it all felt too hard to fit in with my work and family responsibilities. I (very briefly) also considered giving up. I’m glad I didn’t. It worked out in the end, and it’s possible that D2D actually did me a favour (more on that later in this post).
Draft2Digital’s decision to implement fees couldn’t have come at a worse time for me. I only had until 15 August to delist all of my books – a monumental and seemingly impossible task, with 17 books distributed via D2D and our (at the time) upcoming Space Wizards anthology suddenly not having a home. It took me about four months to complete the process of delisting and republishing my books in between my day job, family responsibilities, finding new distribution partners and launching a new anthology. My last book was delisted on 7 August – just eight days before my deadline to avoid D2D’s new fee. It should go much faster for most of you, though, since you are hopefully not also launching a new book and creating book trailers and music videos at the same time!
My thoughts on D2D’s new fees
Right after hearing the news, I e-mailed Smashwords’ previous owner, Mark Coker, who is now D2D’s chief strategy officer. I expressed my feelings of having been sold out – and by someone I trusted to always have authors’ backs. I have sung his praises many times. No more. I won’t quote our e-mails, but I will tell you what I came to understand. Firstly, at least one library complained about wanting only top sellers. So authors whose books are not top sellers are being chased away from D2D by means of this new fee – because they’d look pretty bad if they were the ones doing the delisting of our books.
So they made it ‘our choice’ – but, for me, it wasn’t a choice. There was only one course of action: ‘break up’ with D2D. And those who stay? Well, you fill D2D’s pockets and get nothing in return that you can’t get elsewhere for free. Even though they denied it when I voiced my thoughts, I came to realise very clearly: Draft2Digital does not see authors as a priority or as their main customers – keeping libraries and retailers happy is their priority. I was a Smashwords author since 30 June 2011. Customer loyalty means nothing to some.
They tried to convince me that it was still ‘a good deal’. Really? Having a lower bank balance to pay someone else to earn from my books while I get nothing is a good deal in what world? How are they still in business if their top staff think that running at a loss is a good way to run a business? Which is exactly what I’m trying to make of my books, because that’s my path to writing full time one day.
I haven’t done much book marketing over the years – not consistently, anyway. I realised last year how vital consistency is in marketing. You can’t just market your books now and then. You have to do it regularly, weekly even – no one is going to buy a book they have not seen. My marketing preparations had only just started when D2D made the new fee announcement, so it was put on the back-burner out of necessity – it felt like there was no point until I had new buy links.
The hunt for new distribution partners
This was my biggest stress. I spent a few weeks researching book aggregators and distributors. I was limited in that two of my books are multi-author, so I could only sign up with someone who allowed for automatic royalty splits. I just don’t have it in me to hassle with that. I will share my research findings in an upcoming post; for now, I’ll share only the aggregator I chose to work with in the immediate future. I hope to add more distributors along the way.
I had the option to sell my books directly via many of the booksellers on D2D’s distribution list, but, in the end, I decided to publish only with PubShare for now – they distribute to some of the big ones, one of which isn’t part of the D2D distribution network (Google Play Books). Their distribution partners also include Nook, Apple Books, the hated Amazon, and Kobo, along with Kobo Plus and Overdrive through Kobo, and they also have their own PubShare store.
Now here’s where I’m starting to think that D2D did me a favour. Firstly, sales are up (and I have not yet started marketing my backlist properly). Secondly, every single sale comes from the new stores: PubShare and Google Play Books. It seems I was perhaps selling in the wrong places previously, my books lost among a ton of others who were given preference over mine because they were already selling more copies. I think it’s probably also partly because these books are now being published under new ISBNs and are treated as new releases.
So yes, it was a HUGE hassle, a nightmare of note, and it had me working seven days a week for months. I’m utterly exhausted.
But the sales are suddenly coming in.
Was it worth the hassle?
Yes.
Delisting my books at D2D
The delisting process itself was easy enough. I logged in, went to my list of books (the same page you go to publish a new book), clicked the book page and then clicked the ‘delist’ button near the bottom. I think they also have an option somewhere to delist all of your books at once.
Some of their distribution partners take forever and a day to delist books. From what I understand after querying final payments with D2D, if just one seller still has your books listed when your cut-off date arrives, you will be liable for the fee – however, it should (in theory) be automatically refunded once the book is finally delisted by that seller. I think this is idiotic and quite unfair – to hold on to our money because some of their chosen partners are slower than a sloth. But it is what it is. Keep an eye on this after you delist your books.
I also asked D2D to put a hold on my payments for now – with all of my books now delisted, the only payments coming in will be delayed payments from their distribution partners, which could take months to reflect on my account. With my account balance over the payment threshold, I didn’t want an automatic payment to be made to me, as that would mean I would never be able to get the balance of the payments if they didn’t add up to enough. With no way for me to see the payments due in advance, the requested hold on my payment seemed best to ensure that I get paid every last cent due to me.
Republishing my books
Part of the republishing process included obtaining new ISBNs for most of my books. I couldn’t use most of the existing ISBNs, as they were D2D-issued ISBNs and I was thus not allowed to use them for any book not distributed by D2D. Thankfully, the National Library of South Africa issues free ISBNs to South African publishers, and the process is usually relatively painless… except for the many forms I had to fill out (one per book, with a deadline of 14 days after publication), and the one lady at the library getting it into her head that I was ‘a new publisher who isn’t allowed more than 10 ISBNs at a time’ (groan).
The timing was a little trickier. I didn’t want my books to be ‘nowhere’ for too long. So I first reformatted my books one by one, and updated the front and end matter to remove any mention of Smashwords or D2D. Once that was done, I sent the Word file to a writer friend who had very kindly agreed to convert them to EPUB for me. That alone would have taken me hours of frustration – it’s not among my skill sets and my brain doesn’t like it. Once I’d sent it for conversion, I delisted it on D2D. I then kept track of when each book was delisted at the distributors that D2D shared with PubShare. Once they were, I could republish via PubShare.
Along the way, I realised I no longer had a book page to list all of my books in one place (PubShare doesn’t currently offer author pages), so I revamped my blog, adding a bookshop page that lists all of my books by genre. Each book now has its own dedicated page with purchase links, price, reviews and other info, accessible from the bookshop page.
Publishing with PubShare caused some frustration at the beginning, a lot of which I think was due to me being so stressed and just not thinking clearly, and some of which was due to system bugs or my Windows version being too old. One thing stands out:I have never before been so impressed with the high quality of customer service! PubShare’s owner, Chuck Heintzelman, was super-fast at responding to queries and fixing any bugs (usually within 24 hours). Even more amazing was that he didn’t sound the least bit irritated by my endless questions and was actually friendly (and not the fake friendly of a stupid bot or tired customer service person who wishes they were doing something else).
Ultimately, it’s relatively easy to publish via PubShare once you get the hang of it, and I was so impressed with the customer service that I’ve arranged to interview Chuck so that other authors can also see what PubShare is all about. (Subscribe to my blog if you don’t want to miss the upcoming interview.)
In conclusion
I obviously didn’t feel happy when I first heard about D2D’s decision to put libraries and booksellers before authors (you know, those people without whom none of the others would be relevant). However, now that my books are delisted and republished, I feel at peace with the move. It doesn’t hurt that sales are suddenly up thanks to the two new stores (PubShare and Google Play Books). All in all, it’s a win for me.
So, if you are a D2D or ex-D2D author who has given up or is thinking of giving up: don’t! Perhaps a change in sellers is all your books need (and perpetual marketing).
Speaking of which… How do you market your books?
If you have a different experience with a new publisher or aggregator, please feel free to share the details in the comments. I’m keen to slowly increase my distribution network and would be grateful for some leads!
