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Welcome to the online home of author Stephanie Feagan/Trinity Faegen.
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I care. A lot. And the truth is, my lovely friends and readers, I don’t know when my next book will be out. I’ve had a bad year. Very bad. It’s ironic because I began with so many plans and so much energy and hope. I semi-retired from being a CPA so I would have more time to write. But in February, I had to have a medical procedure that led to a hysterectomy in August that turned into cancer. In March, I had a colonoscopy – not because I had a problem, but because my gyno nagged me to get one because I’m at that age when doctors say you should get one. I went in for a routine exam that became another health issue and began a year-long roller coaster – sick, very sick, then better, then very sick again. I mean the kind of sick where you can’t get out of bed, the miserable kind of Just Fucking Kill Me Now kind of sick. I’m having surgery later this week to fix the problem. I anticipate kicking this to the curb and emerging triumphant. Like Brunhilde.
You Go Girl!
Okay, so I now have no uterus – and no cancer! Lemonade of hysterectomy is that they also took out all the cancer. It had not invaded any muscle, so I was diagnosed and cured in a week. Dude! That’s righteous.
This week, I’ll have the part of my colon that hates me removed from my body and I’ve asked the doctor to step on it, burn it, curse it, and throw it in the alley. He won’t, because he’s a professional, but man, oh man, I’d like to murder it because it has been a ginormous pain in the ass – literally – almost this whole year.
What does all this mean for my writing schedule? It means I’m incredibly far behind. It means I am nowhere close to done with Mephisto 5 or the second historical romance in my Lennox series. I had such grand plans for this year. It just goes to show that you never know what’s right around the corner. All you can do is make the best of things and enjoy your life as much as possible. I have had some real bad luck, but at the same time, I am so lucky. I have a loving and supportive husband, two wonderful daughters, insurance to get the health care I need, and a brain. I figure I’m always good to go so long as I have a functioning brain. I mean, I could be an idiot. That’d be real tragic. Or maybe not – do stupid people know?
Anyway, I wanted to let my readers know. I am so extremely sorry. I’m absolutely devastated to disappoint you, especially when you’ve been so patient and supportive. I hope so much you’ll be patient a little longer and not give up on me or my books. As soon as I get rid of this body part, I am certain I’ll have a new lease on life and be dying to get back to writing. I miss my daily routine. I miss my characters. I miss the world I’ve built, and I am lost without that escape. Real life is sometimes just way too real.
My love to all of you and my deepest most sincere thanks to you for your patience and kindness and especially your eagerness for another story. It is truly humbling.
I promise I will update as soon as I have my life back, when I have a writing schedule I know I can keep.
Have a Very Happy Holiday. Be safe, be happy, go out there and rock it with all the love in your soul!
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Giveaway ends February 14, 2015.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
Fourth in the Mephisto Covenant series, Crazy For You is Zee’s story.
After the tragic death of her twin, British concert pianist Euri begins channeling a stranger in America, an otherworldly guy who leads an extraordinary life and shares her deep love of music. She hears him play, listens to his thoughts, knows his loneliness, and understands his yearning for love and acceptance. She’s simply not sure if Zee is real, or a construct of her mind, so when she’s given an opportunity to tour America, Euri jumps at the chance. Already half in love with him, she’s overjoyed to find Zee in real life, but becomes frustrated with his determination to keep his distance, in spite of how much he wants and needs her.
An immortal son of Hell, Zee is the mad Mephisto brother, plagued by a keen sixth sense that helps in their search for those who’ve sold their soul to their oldest brother, Eryx, but is a curse to Zee because his mind is an open door to the pain of humanity. He’s known all of his life that he will never have a mate, even if he found an Anabo meant for him. She might be born without Original Sin and have the ability to love a son of Hell, but she would never be happy with him. He’s at times violent, sometimes catatonic, and always oversexed. Worst of all, he has dreamed, every single night for a thousand years, of a tall blonde whom he loves and kills. He hates sleep, despises the dream, because it always ends the same. When he begins hearing a soft, British voice in his head, he’s astonished to discover it’s a real girl, an Anabo meant for him, but his elation quickly turns to horror when he realizes Euri is the girl in his dream. The one and only woman who can love him, who can save him, is the one he can never have.
Coming in December 2014 – For notification on Release Day, please sign up for our newsletter. It’s over there on the sidebar. Yes. Right there. I’ve sent out exactly one newsletter since I set up the newsletter over a year ago. Pinkie swear you won’t be inundated. I’ll just let you know when the latest Stephanie Feagan book is available. Thanks for stopping by! I hope you love this cover – I sure do! Many thanks to Selina Kolokytha for the beautiful photograph, and Kim Killion for the design.
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The Not-Really-Christmas-It’s-Just-That-Time-Of-Year-But-You-Can-Call-It-A-Christmas-Giveaway-If-You-Want-To Giveaway
or
I’m Giving Away A CrapTon of Books Giveaway
Every day from December 16 until December 20, that’s Monday through Friday, I’ll give something away (see schedule below.) On Sunday, December 22, I’ll give away a Ginormous YA package and a Sorta Ginormous Romance package to 2 different people. To enter the random drawings, be sure to sign up for my newsletter. It’s easy – just look on the sidebar of the website. No worries that you’ll be inundated with newsletters – so far, I’ve sent one, and that was to announce the release of The Mephisto Mark, which was then changed to Only You, so maybe I should have sent another newsletter, but I didn’t want to bug people. See how considerate I am? You totally want to sign up. No, really. I intend to do a couple of giveaways in the coming year of Amazon Kindles, and I have some bonus content and some other things you might find interesting. So sign up and you’re automatically entered in this week’s giveaways PLUS you will get fascinating and witty newsletters from me next year. Win! If you’ve already been awesome and already signed up for my newsletter, you don’t have to do anything but sit there and be awesome – you’re already entered. Go You!
I’ll email you if your name is drawn to get your snail mail. How will I know your email? Because it’s the one you use to sign up for the newsletter. International friends are welcome to enter, but if your name is drawn for the Big Prizes, I reserve the right to send you a gift card to Amazon and I will mail bookplates with the book bag. Deal? Okay, let’s get started!
A picture’s worth a thousand words, so here you go!
Schedule:
Monday December 16
Tuesday December 17
Wednesday December 18 – This Day’s Winner will also received a Mystery Box of Goodies – who knows what it will be??? Enter and find out. *Spoiler Alert* You will want what’s in the mystery box.
Thursday December 19
Friday December 20
Saturday December 21 – Nothing this day. I’ll be at my nephew’s wedding eating cake and making merry.
Sunday December 22
TWO in ONE DAY! I know, the mind, it boggles.
You can win the YA Package (books in the tall stack are all signed; the others are not.) This includes a Pink Publishing book bag. Your friends will be jelly. I’ll also send you a Mephisto candle and Mephisto matches and one of the cool fabric bookmarks the owner of Alamosa Books in Albuquerque made for me when I had a signing there.
OR You can win the Romance Package – all books are signed! I’ll send you a Pink Publishing Book Bag AND an Amazon gift card for $25.
So what are you waiting for? Sign up for my newsletter and enter to win some stuff. You never know…
Read MoreRemember that time I was so certain changing the cover of the third Mephisto book was the thing to do? Remember that time I was wrong? (Okay, so I’ve been wrong lots of times – that’s not the point.)
The thing is, response to the new cover, which looks like this
has been about 50/50. Some love it, some hate it. I think the review comment that resonated most was the one that said she would never give this a second look, that it’s like every other paranormal romance cover out there. This must be a pervasive feeling, because sales have gone down to zero. Literally no one is buying this book. I dropped the eBook price to $3.99 – no sales. Damaris Cardinali at Good Choice Reading, blogger extraordinaire, graciously offered to do a cover reveal blog tour for me when I decided to change the cover. She put it together in record time and so many extremely wonderful bloggers jumped on board and posted the reveal. We did a giveaway that had over 4500 entries. Since the cover changed, I’ve sold 23 copies. All that and just 23 copies. But hey, it is what it is. I absolutely do not see this as a critique of the book. I like this book. I think it’s a good story. I just seriously suck at selling it.
The point of all this?
As much as I like the new cover, I’m still madly in love with Paula Kubiak’s photograph, and it pained me to change it.
So, even though the couple on the new cover look just as I imagine Phoenix and Mariah, I’ve decided….
…
…
…
…
…
…
to do this:
It’s uploading to Amazon right now and is already live at Kobo and Barnes & Noble. It will be available in print very soon. I’m waiting for CreateSpace to clear the files for publication, and then I’ll need to proof it, and then it’ll be up and available. I pinkie swear and kiss my elbow this will be the last change. I’ve done all I can for this book, and now it’ll either sink or swim on its own. I am stepping back to work on my historical romance project, and then the fourth Mephisto book, which will have a similar cover to this, and if it screams Young Adult, as someone told me this one does, I’m going to be okay with that, even though it’s not Young Adult. Why? Because I’ve just learned that if a cover screams anything at all, someone will hear it. If it’s not saying much, no one notices.
I’m embarrassed about all this. I like being one of those Sure Of Herself kind of women, who boldly goes forth and conquers stuff. Like publishing a book. I won’t lie – this has set me back on my heels and humbled me in a way I can’t describe except to say, I have seriously considered taking up smoking again. Or giving up writing. Or running away to join the circus. But, then I thought, nah, I don’t want to smoke – too expensive and that shit will kill you. I don’t even like the circus, so why would I join one? And as for quitting writing, I may as well be dead. Writing is what I do. It’s what makes me complete, so do or die, succeed or fail, I’m going to keep writing books.
Thanks to everyone for your generosity, your help in spreading the word, and your unfathomable kindness. It makes all of this so much easier to get through and I love you for it.
Onward!
Read MoreRemember when I published the third Mephisto book? It seems so long ago…
Actually, just three weeks.
Yes, I’m completely serious, and don’t call me Shirley. Well, here’s the thing. It was slow coming out of the gate, and things have only gotten worse.
Yes, really. I’ve been through a whole smorgasbord of emotions the past few weeks. First, there was
Then there was
Followed quickly by
And then,
Still, I held out hope. I mean, the book had LOTS of requests on NetGalley, which was promising, right?
And it kept racking up 5-star ratings over at Goodreads, which made my heart beat faster and my joy endless.
But over on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, it was kind of a different story. And I began to wonder if
Then, one day last week, I actually had negative sales. I had no ebook sales on Amazon that day, but two people returned books, so yes, I had negative two sales. I had to face reality.
But what gives here? How can all those readers on Goodreads and NetGalley give this book 5 stars and write amazing reviews, but the book completely tank? I mean,
I decided I love the Mephisto too much to let them go, and selling negative two books in a day means I can’t afford to write any more. It’s reality, and sadly, I am not a trust fund baby.
So, I did some thinking, and decided the problem is marketing. You guys read the third Mephisto book because you read the first two – you’re kind of invested. But other people, those readers who shop for new books online and are looking for a certain kind of book, like, say a paranormal romance with hot boys and a kickass heroine and some sexy times and lots of angsty romancey banter and hijinks, will never look at the third book in this series. They won’t click the cover – even though it’s beautiful – because it screams Young Adult Novel. An author friend said she didn’t know it was a romance. She’d seen me post about The Mephisto Mark and thought it was an international spy novel.
International spy novels are awesome – but this isn’t that. So, I decided to be brave (again) and try something different, to see if perhaps this book will appeal to more romance readers.
No, no – not rewriting the book. Nothing in the story will change. The cover will change, and the title, and… the author. I decided to republish this book as me.
I LOVE my readers, and I hope you will understand why I’m doing this. I want SO much to write all the books in this series. And I want to have them edited, and proofread, and then I need to advertise them. All that costs money, and right now, I’m still way in the red on the third Mephisto book. I’m not avaricious – but practical.
You may be asking, What kind of moron changes cover, title and author 3 weeks after release day?
Me. I’m the moron. But maybe not as idiotic as it seems. When I decided to self-publish the third Mephisto book and make it New Adult with sexy times and more grown-up-y angst, I gave serious consideration to doing this to start with, but couldn’t decide, and so I asked author friends for their advice and they unequivocally said I should keep Trinity Faegen as the author, use the same font for the title, and the same general theme of the cover. Continue the package and branding.
So I did. And it’s beautiful – I love the cover of The Mephisto Mark. But most people have never heard of the Mephisto Covenant series, so they don’t know – or care – that this book is all matchy-matchy with the previous books.
So no new readers are jumping on board. And readers of the first two assume this will be like those, but it’s not. Even the writing is different. Book 1 & 2 are in third person, alternating POV and this one is in first person alternating POV. This one has more language and adult themes and is not anything close to a YA.
It’s New Adult – except not about somebody in college. Just college age. It’s a romance novel, pure and simple. It’s a sad story, a hopeful tale, a love story with a happy ending – like all romance novels.
The first two Mephistos were romances. Young Adult romance, but romances just the same. This book, the third Mephisto, with a new title and cover, written as Real Me, the romance writer, will hopefully find its place on the right bookshelf, and people who love romance novels will find it and enjoy it. Should I have done this to begin with?
Well, yeah, but who knew? That’s the beauty of self-publishing! You can climb down off the horse in the middle of the stream and get on another horse. Or swim to shore and take a bus.
Are you still with me? Or are you
I am hopeful about this change, and will post again soon to let you know how it’s going. I hope you will go along with me on this crazy wackadoodle journey I began when I decided to self publish.
The new title for the third Mephisto book is Only You. And without further ado, here is the new cover. It’s sexy, yes, but pretty, and it definitely says, This Is A Romance.
(If you click the cover, it’ll take you to a page with the book description.)
I’m so thankful and appreciative of your support – to everyone who bought the book already, I love you like whoa and damn.
Well, not THAT kind of love. More like
To celebrate a new beginning, I’m giving away a $100 gift card to either Amazon or Barnes & Noble – your choice. So enter and hopefully you’ll win. You’re all already winners to me – THANK YOU!!!!
$100 Gift Card Giveaway!
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