Back in August, I sat down for a Zoom interview with Ian Hooper, executive director of Leschenault Press and The Book Reality Experience.
That interview is now up on YouTube:
Book Realities vodcast interview with Lee-Ann Khoh
I’m a little awkward but hey, it’s my first recorded interview. Awkwardness is on brand for me anyway. 😄
You can also get a sneak peek – or should I say, sneak listen – of Chapter One of Black and Blue:
A reading from Black and Blue by Lee-Ann Khoh
If you’re wondering why I intro’d and outro’d this while standing at the door, it’s because hearing my own voice usually causes me to make a quick getaway. Just kidding… but seriously.
Be sure to check out the other author interviews on the Book Realities podcast… ’cause there are plenty of interesting writers who aren’t me! In fact, most of the interesting writers on the planet are not me. 😛
Anyway, my recent interview with Mady Joshi at AllAuthor has now been published and you can check it out below:
Author of Black and Blue, Lee-Ann Khoh grew up in Perth, Western Australia. She used to spend entire weekends just reading books when she was growing up. She studied journalism before deciding to write her own stories. She has also written a story titled “Aiden’s Flowers” in the collection, Flash Fiction Magazine – Issue 1. She is a sucker for beautiful bookish things. Read full interview…
Now, you might be thinking, “Biatch, I already bought your book!”
In which case, you may be interested in some adhesive bookplates, which I can sign and you can stick in your copy of the book if you so choose.
Unboxing paperback copies of Black and Blue
Let me know if you experience any issues with the store. I’ve never had an online shop before but if anything is wrong, I obviously want to know about it and hopefully fix it.
I’m currently only set up to take Big Cartel orders within Australia, but if you’re interested and outside of Oz, get in touch with me so I can find out:
a) if parcels from Australia are currently being delivered to your country, and
b) how much it’ll cost.
You can still find a paperback from a retailer closer to you via Books2Read. If I’m ever significant enough to do a book signing where you are, I’ll be happy to scribble on it for you. 🙂
My book has been out for a week now and gosh, that feels weird to say! I kind of just let it drop without doing a book launch event because… well, frankly, I wanted to enjoy my book release. And spending the lead-up to it organising an event all about me would definitely not have been my idea of a good time. Your mileage may vary, of course. Someone recently described me as “very unassuming”, which might be a euphemism for “wussy” but that’s okay. 😛
Anyway, what I did do was post a rather silly mock birth notice for Black and Blue on social media because I’m a massive dork. Obviously publishing a book is nothing like giving birth to an actual human baby. But I have no real babies planned in the foreseeable future and thought I’d have some fun with this. 🙂
Cute clones of my book baby are available online as an eBook or paperback. An audiobook is in progress but I don’t have a release date yet.
Lee-Ann cradling her new book baby.
So what now?
Well, if you do read Black and Blue, I’d love an honest rating and review at the place of purchase and/or Goodreads. As an unknown indie author, word of mouth is my best friend at the moment so feel free to tell people about the book if you think they might be interested.
And if you want to give my book cover some love, I’m still in the running for AllAuthor’s Cover of the Month so drop me a vote!
I hope to make some signed books and bookplates available in time for Christmas — well, in Australia because it’s already very close to the cut-off date for international deliveries to arrive in time. But we might get lucky.
In the longer term… there will be a second novel. At this stage, it’s a standalone in a contemporary setting with multiple viewpoints (unlike Black and Blue, where we just see Jade’s perspective), though everything could change. But I will write it and finish it — I’m putting that out there now so I’ll look foolish if nothing eventuates. 😀
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.
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.
Lee-Ann Khoh 