Dear Authors, we’re back after taking a couple of weeks off from Writerly Wednesday because we had writing deadlines!
In fact, before we get started, we should mention that going forward, Writerly Wednesday will be published roughly every other week, though we may send a quick email to remind you of deadlines as needed.
We have a lot to share today, so get ready and make yourself comfy. And maybe grab a snack. Shamrock Shakes are back at McDonald’s, so Miranda knows what she’s having as a treat! (For those who don’t know, these are alarmingly green, mint flavored milkshakes that you can only get in the weeks leading up to St. Patrick’s Day.) Since Miranda’s birthday is the day before St. Patrick’s Day, these have been an annual tradition for her since her first birthday!
Okay, got your snack? Great!
Let’s get to this week’s news!
First Big Sale of 2023
- This sale will run 5 days: March 24-March 28.
- Authors can include up to 3 books per pen name.
- The sale price points are: $0.99, $1.99, $2.99, $3.99 and $4.99
- If you’re listing your book at the $2.99 point or higher, the book must be at least a 50% discount off the regular price. That means perma 99c and $1.99 books are allowed, but if a book is listed for $2.99, it must have a regular price of $5.98 or higher.
- Books MUST be at their sale price in ALL marketplaces no later than noon EST on Thursday, March 23.
- NEW POLICY: If you get involved in this or any IHS sale going forward and then fail to discount your book by the deadline (which is always noon the day before the sale starts), you will not be allowed to participate in any other sales or special events for 90 days. Click here for more about this policy change.
Here’s the link to join the March sale: https://forms.gle/
The last day to submit a book is March 15th.
Foreign Translation Pirates
The pirates are still at it.
Jae has been keeping a diligent eye on the charts and when she spies new pirated versions, she notifies the author whenever possible.
She’s been kind enough to write a post to help authors identify pirated translations themselves. It’s well worth your time to protect your intellectual property, even if you don’t have plans at this time to produce translations of your own.
Sapphic Books in the Wild
On Saturdays, TB shares about her latest road trip adventures, including photos and facts about the place she visited. Readers like guessing where TB has been.
Miranda had a brilliant idea to add to TB’s adventures. Starting this month (as long as we don’t get any blizzards), we will begin taking a paperback copy of a sapphic book along for the ride and snapping photos of it somewhere in New England (or beyond!). We’re calling it Sapphic Books in the Wild.
Last Saturday, we kicked off Sapphic Books in the Wild and you can find the first installment here.
We’ve started receiving books and we’re working on a schedule to get them featured on the site!
If you’d like to send us a paperback copy of one of your books (or more than one book, as we’re not limiting how many we’ll feature), please send us an email ([email protected]) so we can provide the shipping details. It doesn’t have to be a signed copy, which means you can simply order it from Amazon or your publisher and have them send it to us if that’s easiest. (Please do not send to our PO Box as we don’t check it regularly. For privacy reasons, we’re not putting the shipping address on the internet where anyone can find it and potentially cause trouble.)
Not only will we include photos of your book in the Saturday post, but we’ll share the photo on social media, too. Afterwards, we’ll bring all the paperbacks we collect to local events such as Pride, library events, popup bookshop events, or other places where LGBTQ+ books would be appreciated. They will be used as part of our I Heart SapphFic table display, and the proceeds from any sales will go to supporting maintenance of the IHS website.
Writing Wisdom
Adrian’s back with more advice of how to tackle the dreaded comma splice, because she knows just saying the phrase sends shivers through TB. Today’s grammar tip covers COMMA SPLICE–Em dash. Check it out here.
In today’s Guest Post from an Expert, Virginia Black shares: Checklists For Writers, Part 1: Your First Draft
Virginia will be back next time with Part 2.
Have an idea for a guest post? If you have experience in something that is relevant to SapphFic authors and would like to submit an article about it, drop us a line!
Check back February 22 for more great advice and SapphFic publishing news.
Happy writing!
Miranda & TB
