Newsletters, Cursed Manuscripts, and Cover Art

Back in July I blogged about my Short Story Dilemma. I was collecting rejection slips not for bad writing, but because of the bad economy. Even worse, I had previously-published rights-reverted stories sitting on my hard drive doing nothing. The solution for me was to get some cover art and prepare to put those stories up through Smashwords and Amazon.

It was that or keep sending out my Cursed Manuscript and watch the collapse of modern society as it's dark powers destroyed small ezines. I figure Amazon won't collapse under the curse. If it does, I'm sorry.

Several eagle-eyed readers already spotted the cover for SEVENTY up on the Published Works page. It isn't for sale yet. The original story was published in M-BRANE and was very lean. I'm editing and adding back in a few scenes that took the story over word count originally, but that I want back in the book. Call it bonus content for the extended edition.

This morning I had more cover art in my in-box, this time for a contemporary short story. There are a few niggling details I need to fix (a dated reference to when the story was written that I may or may not leave) and that story will be made available.

That's where things get exciting for you. The blog now has a newsletter attached (look to the left under the search bar) and the newsletter means free stuff for you. I'm grateful for all the support and encouragement blog readers have given me over the years. There are days when a positive comment on the blog is the difference between wallowing in misery and drying my tears and writing the next draft.

Sending out freebies like coupons or newsletter-only giveaways seems like a good way to repay you. So feel free to sign-up (or not), and keep watching for cover art reveals later this month.

- Liana