Pre-order Black and Blue

So, I said in my previous post that my novel, Black and Blue, will be released on November 1. Well, it’s now officially available for pre-order. Huzzah!

You can find the eBook on Amazon, Apple Books, Kobo, Booktopia, Angus & Robertson, Barnes & Noble, Indigo and more.

Choose your preferred eBook retailer to pre-order Black and Blue.

The paperback listing has also popped up in a few places and I plan to offer direct sales of paperbacks soon. Anyone got any e-commerce tips? I mean, I could always go with some variation of “oi, message me and I’ll send you bank deets” but it would be nice to make it a little more formal. 😉

I also made a rough and ready book trailer, which might be a bit naff but whatevs.

Unfortunately, there’s no actual speech in the trailer, nor is it audio described — both of which would have required me to record some audio for it or find a super convincing synthetic voice — but in the interests of accessibility, here’s a text description of the video, presented as a list:

  • Trailer consists of black and white video and text with sad piano music playing in the background.
  • Scene: A young woman sits alone on stairs. 3 people can be seen chatting in the background.
  • Intertitle: ‘Jade wants to give up on life…’
  • Scene: Cuts back to woman on stairs. She looks off into the distance, then down to the floor.
  • Intertitle: ‘until she meets Rory…’
  • Scene: A man strums and tunes his acoustic guitar.
  • Intertitle: ‘but will Jade get what she needs?’
  • Scene: The woman clings to a net, looking out from behind.
  • Intertitle: A contemporary coming-of-age story about mental health, the power of music, and trying to find a place in the world.
  • Scene: The woman continues to look through the net at the camera, before looking off into the distance.
  • Video ends with an image of the front cover of Black and Blue by Lee-Ann Khoh.

Well… not long to go now. I’m excited but also really nervous.

The day after Halloween

We have locked in a release date for Black and Blue: November 1, 2021.

All Saints’ Day. The day after Halloween.

Neither of which has anything to do with why we landed on that date, but if you want to chow down some trick-or-treat candy while you read my book, I’m wholly supportive of that.

Speaking of supportive, I can’t speak highly enough of the support that VisAbility has given me over the past few years.

Check out the article about my upcoming book release on the VisAbility website — the results of a fun chat with a member of the marketing team, my publisher Ian, and me. Thanks for making me look and sound good. 😉

Anyway, the book’s coming out November 1, I’ve committed to the date, and I’ve just told everyone so I can’t back out now…

Not throwin’ away my shot

I have now received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and I feel awesome. 🙂

I’m also happy to have reached the “feeling awesome” stage, because I wasn’t in the days following my second shot.

I got Pfizer, and literally the only side effect I had from the first dose was a sore arm for a day. I was in the gym doing an upper body workout less than 48 hours later. I knew — and was also told by the nurse administering my vaccine — that side effects are more likely to be worse for the second dose of Pfizer. But it was still a bit of a shock to be out of commission for two days and have to call in sick to work. Then for the next few days I was functional but definitely not 100%.

But I’m all good now and I’d do it all again — short-term pain for long-term gain. And I already get the flu shot every year for work, so more jabs in the form of COVID boosters are no big deal to me.

Besides, it would be great to be able to supplement my income by offering additional services as a mobile hotspot. For the right price, I’m also open to walking past someone you don’t like in order to shed the vaccine virus at them. 😉

P.S. In case y’all missed the Hamilton reference in the blog title…

“My Shot” — Hamilton

Every Brilliant Thing review for Perth Walkabout

My review of Every Brilliant Thing — a funny play about depression, presented by Black Swan State Theatre Company — is now online.

Given the current state of the world, it’s also a very topical production…

Read my Every Brilliant Thing review at Perth Walkabout.

Why I chose indie publishing

There are basically two main reasons why I decided to go down the indie route for my debut novel, Black and Blue:

  1. My book
  2. Me

Let me explain.

First of all, Black and Blue kind of sits in the wilderness between young adult and adult fiction. Years ago, new adult fiction promised to bridge that gap but it didn’t really work out that way, and “new adult” ended up becoming shorthand for erotic college romance. Happy to be proven wrong though — in fact, book recommendations (new adult or otherwise) are always welcome.

Also, I’m not judging you if you dig erotic college romances. Okay, I am, but not in a “you’re a bad person” kind of way — more like a “you might not be my target audience” kind of way.

Anyway, the only traditionally published author I could think of in Australia who was focusing on characters in that post-high school to mid-20s age bracket was Rebecca James, whose books can be found in both the YA and adult fiction sections of the library. So I was already leaning away from traditional publishing after looking into what was and wasn’t happening in that space.

I was also advised by someone with a lot of industry experience that, for the best chance of success in the traditional market, my main character (who is 18 and has recently finished school) should either be around 15 years old (so the book can be promoted in schools), or aged up to around 25 (so it’s firmly in the adult fiction territory). Obviously both of those things would’ve made it a very different story. But I agreed with the assessment, which brings us to now.

The second reason relates to me as an author/person. And my desire for creative control. What can I say? Beneath this dowdy little librarian body is a raging control freak who just wants to shush the whole world. Just kidding. But on a more serious note, there are plenty of anxiety-inducing things in life that I know are out of my hands. The publication of my book, however, didn’t need to be one of them.

Having said that, I also appreciate good guidance and I’m open to feedback — so I didn’t completely go it alone. I’m really enjoying working with independent/hybrid publisher Leschenault Press on Black and Blue and I hope you’ll like what we’ve been doing.

There are things that would be easier if I had a traditional book deal (visibility, distribution, marketing reach, etc.) and I wouldn’t have upfront costs. But I’m confident I’ve made the right decision for myself and my book. 🙂

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