Welcome to Episode 17 of Turn the Page: The Indie Book Podcast!
The podcast is back and better than ever after a short break — and this episode is jam-packed with indie book goodness! - Find out why recent changes at Amazon could impact your indie book purchasing. - Discover my latest indie reads — from cozy fantasy escapes to steamy paranormal romances and fae fantasy adventures. - Don't miss the reveal of our next incredible indie author guest (you won’t want to miss this one!). Plus, I unbox a fantastic book box from one of our past indie author guests and spotlight the newest indie gems added to my TBR. Featuring books by R.K. Ashwick, Josie Jaffrey, Alice Winters, Eliot Grayson, Tess Carletta, and more. Listen Here:Show Notes:
Here are all the links included in this episode.
Music Credit: SigmaMusicArt Read the transcript:
Welcome to Episode 17 of Turn the Page: The Indie Book Podcast. First off, I just want to say a huge thank you to absolutely everyone who tuned into episode 16 where I chatted with the wonderful Ira Ribbon about her fantasy book, The Demon of Elderstay. This is our most listened to episode, ever, on YouTube, which has just blown me away, and Ira too.
So, I hope you've all been reading her wonderful book or listening to the audiobook, which is out now. Apologies also for the lack of episodes last month, but we are back now with a jam packed episode today covering all sorts of things from what I've been reading to some important news about indie books and a lovely treat I received from one of our previous guests. I'll also be revealing our next indie author guest, so do stay tuned for that. But as always, before we get into all of that, don't forget to hit subscribe on whatever platform you're listening on so you never miss an episode, and if you enjoy the show, please consider recommending it to your book-loving friends. Okay, let's get comfy, crack open those TBR trackers, and let's dive into today's episode. So, just a quick update from my writing cave before we get into the good stuff. I was really surprised and very happy to discover that my fantasy short story collection, Spellbound, had received a really lovely review over on Goodreads. I don't really hang out there much anymore, but I did happen to stumble on a review left by a reader back in February. It was so sweet and to read that I'm an "author that they'll be keeping an eye on", which is a direct quote, hopefully in a good way and not in a Joe Goldberg way, it was just so humbling, and the little girl who used to dream of being a writer someday really shed a tear over this review. So, thank you to that lovely reader. If you would like to read Spellbound, it's a collection of 10 super short fantasy stories and flash fiction. You'll find everything from vampires and werewolves to supernatural speed dating and Christmas in the underworld. It's 99 pence, or roughly 99 cents, I think pretty much everywhere now. It's available in eBook only just because it's really, really short. But if you'd like to check out what I do and you have sort of an hour-ish to spare, I'd love for you to check that out. I am continuing to work away on editing my paranormal romance novel, which I'm still hoping to release later this year, so more on that as soon as I can. For now, though, you won't find me on social media a huge amount as I'm just trying to focus on writing alongside podcasting, work, family life, and raising the puppy. I have also restarted my blog though, so feel free to check that out if you'd like. I post probably once a month or so. So, there's currently a poll up that you can vote on for your favorite paranormal creature. You can find that at kaymweston.com, so that's K-A-Y-M-W-E-S-T-O-N.com. I'll have the link for you in the show notes. This is the part of the podcast where I like to talk about some topical news, if there is any, and actually, since the last episode, there's been some pretty big news that's going to affect both indie authors and indie book readers. The two biggest things are centered around buying books. So, the first is that Apple have now been ordered by US courts to allow apps to link to external payment systems that fall outside of the app store, the US App Store. So, it used to be that every purchase made in an app downloaded from the app store would have to go through Apple, who would charge either the company or the user, or perhaps both, an additional fee, thus increasing costs sort of for everyone. For now though, unless Apple can appeal the ruling, which they are trying to do, that's no longer the case. So, Amazon Kindle app users, for example, should now see a 'buy book' button on the app, which previously you'd have seen a message that said something like, ' this app does not support purchasing of this content', and you'd have had to go to the Amazon website to purchase the book instead. Patreon and, I think, Spotify have also updated their apps. So, if you're supporting authors on Patreon or purchasing books via Spotify, you should now be able to manage that in app. The other big thing is going to affect print books purchased on Amazon. So, Amazon recently announced that they were cutting author royalties on print books that are priced below 9.99 US dollars from 60% to 50%, which is a fairly big decrease really. So, to combat this sudden drop in royalties, you can probably expect the cost of most paperbacks on Amazon to now jump above that 9.99 mark. It's probably not a huge deal for those of you who read mostly digital or those used to paying trade paperback prices, which are already much higher, but it's just something to bear in mind that the author isn't really going to be making more money by raising the price of their book, they're just gonna be reclaiming some of that same royalty rate. This is another reason why my book, Spellbound, is not available in print. It's far too small to be charging over 9.99 for it. So, there's literally almost no point, I'd make no money. So, a few changes there to both digital and physical indie book purchasing, just to be aware of. Okay, so now onto my reading update. In the last couple of months, I've actually done some reading. Not loads, but more than I think I usually do. So, I finished, A Captured Cauldron by R.K. Ashwick. This book was so good. I love a good cosy fantasy, as regular listeners will know, and this book really delivered. The cast of characters are multifaceted, diverse, and just intrinsically charming, and there's just enough danger and tension to really drive the plot forward with a boatload of magic to boot. It's also one of the first books with more than two POV characters that I actually enjoyed. Every time this has happened before in another book, I've really hated the additional POVs. But in this one, I really liked it. I liked that it built off the dual POV in the first book by adding a POV and relationship for one of the secondary characters. Sorry, abbreviating there, for anyone who doesn't know, POV is point of view. I don't want to give away spoilers if you haven't read the first book, so I won't say anything more about the plot, but there was a really fun secret code in this book that I honestly did not spot. I got to the end and there was a page that was like, 'did you solve the secret code?' And I was like, what secret code? So, I scoured the pages quickly and knew it had to have something to do with the set of illustrations, that are really pretty and really add to the story, that are just in the middle of the book. But I just wasn't sure what to do. I felt so dumb. So, I did some digging online and I think someone in a Goodreads review mentioned which particular illustration it was that I was meant to look at. So, I went back and spent like an hour in the garden, in the sunshine just trying to decode this clue. I'm embarrassed to say that it took me ages, but it was a lot of fun and a really genius idea by the author just to keep me engaged right at the end of the book. Once I found that code, I was then directed to the author's website for a little surprise. I won't say what as it's a bit spoilery, so you'll have to read the book if you want to find out, which I'd highly recommend anyway. And a quick note that this is book two in the Side Quest Row series, so you will need to read book one, which is A Rival Most Viral, first to understand what's going on and who everyone is. So, that book was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to reading the last book in the trilogy when it comes out, as well as exploring this author's other series at some point soon as well. I also read Fake Dates and Fanged Mistakes by Alice Winters. This is a paranormal m/m romance between a vampire and a werewolf. This isn't my first Alice Winter's book, and it delivers the author's same humor mixed with danger and romance that makes her books so much fun to read. The book centers around Julian, who's the son of an alpha werewolf and Cassimir, the leader of the vampires. Caught in the middle of a feud between the vampires and werewolves, and with someone else widening the divide by murdering both sides, Julian concocts a plan to fake date Cassimir to show both sides that they can peacefully coexist. What he doesn't count on though is pretty much everything that happens next. If you like the idea of a sunshiny stubborn werewolf and a bored, soft-in-the-middle, vampire, with a bit of bloodshed thrown in for good measure alongside silly hijinks, go and grab a copy of Fake Dates and Fanged Mistakes. I do seem to have been on a bit of a vampire/werewolf kick, to be honest, and I'll explain why in a minute, but it also led me to read Twice Bitten by Eliot Grayson recently. This is another m/m, paranormal romance, but it's a lot spicier, I think, than Fake Dates and Fanged Mistakes. It's book nine in the Mismatched Mates series, and it might be a novella, but I can't actually remember. It starts with a werewolf walking into a vampire bar on the hunt for his cheating, murderous mate and bumping into vampire enforcer, Angelo, who takes it upon himself to deal with the intruder. It was fun but short. It did a good job of fleshing out the characters and making me care about whether they'd get their happily ever after. I haven't read the previous books in the series so there was some characters mentioned where I felt a tiny bit like I was missing something from past books, but it wasn't enough for me to not enjoy the plot. There were magical attack scorpions in this one too, which I've not seen in a book before. So, it's always fun to discover something random and new like that. So, onto the reason why I've been on a vampire/werewolf kick, it's all because of a book I read years and years ago on Wattpad. The book was Bite Me by Alicia Wallace, and I remember loving it way back when, though I haven't read it since like 2019, I think it was. I reviewed it back then on my old book review blog, My Endless Shelf, if you want to check it out there, it is still live. But anyway, it popped back into my brain because I was scrolling Instagram and an ad popped up for WebToon featuring this graphic novel called Love Bites. And as I'm watching the ad I'm like, this storyline seems so familiar, and the reason for that obviously is that Love Bites is an adaptation of Bite Me by Alicia Wallace. So, it's really no surprise that it seemed so familiar since I'd already read the story. I was sort of intrigued to see it in graphic novel format though, so I joined WebToon and read however many episodes were available and I just wanted more, but I didn't want YA. I wanted sort of adult romance, so that's what I went searching for and is basically what I've spent my time mostly reading since the last episode. But that's not all I've been reading, which is making me feel somewhat proud of myself since I don't usually have loads to say in these segments as I'm a pretty slow mood reader for the most part. So, I have also been listening to The Demon of Elderstay audiobook by Ira Ribbon, narrated by John York. Ira was kind enough to give me a free audiobook after our podcast chat in March, and it is so, so good. Having read the books and had the voices for these characters in my head, I can honestly say that I just wish John York was narrating in my brain. He does such a good job of bringing the characters to life while also building on that danger and the shenanigans that the party find themselves in. The audiobook is now available to buy, so do go and check that out. And if you want to find out more about The Demon of Elderstay and you missed the last episode, do go back and give that a listen. Ira chats all about how Dungeons and Dragons helped to inspire the book and her main character, and how it's now shaping up to be a big fantasy series. Finally, since the last episode, I've also been reading Bride of the Fae Prince by Anastasis Blythe. I'm so sorry if I said that wrong. This is a fae/human romance about a shy, dutiful human princess and a cunning, vengeful fae prince. This one's really different to everything else I've read this month. The pacing feels really, really different. I like the story and I like the magic. The main character slightly aggravates me, but I think it's just because it's a different type of story than what I've been reading. She's a little bit, for a lot of the story, very reliant on other people and has no self-confidence, which you know, it's part of the story. I like my heroines with a bit more gumption. But yeah, so it's good and I'm enjoying it. I really like the dynamic between the two main characters, the fae prince and the human princess. I really like the danger element that's in there. There's a lot of family drama and politics in this. The ways that Magic Works is kind of fun. Obviously, it's fae magic, so there's glamors and all of that kind of stuff. But yeah, it's a really interesting world to be in and I'm very excited to finish this, 'cause I haven't yet, I'm most of the way through. I wanna see how it ends and I'm excited to read book two because I've already read the synopsis for book two, and that sounds really good as well. So yeah, different story. It's definitely not, so far, not spicy at all. So, it's a much more clean fantasy romance. I would say it was probably, I think, either young adult or new adults as well. So again, like I said, completely different kind of story to what I've been reading this month and I think that's what threw me off a little bit just at the start. But yeah, very much enjoying that, Bride of the Fae Prince by Anastasis Blythe. I will get it right at some point. As well as reading a fair bit this month, I've also added some fantastic new indie books to my TBR that I wanted to share with you. First up, I managed to catch the Indieverse group book sale on the last day that it ran, last month, because I always leave things to last minute, but I did manage to grab a ton of ebook bargains. I can't go through all of them, or I'd be here all day, but there are a few that I just wanted to mention because I'm really excited to dive into them. The first one is The Dark Friars by Ryan J. Hamshaw. This is the first book in an LGBT Young Adult fantasy series. It centers around 17-year-old Liam O'Connor who dreams of a student's murder only to find out, I think, that it's actually happened. This sounds really spooky and packed with dark magic, so I'm really looking forward to this one. It's also nominated for the Indieverse Book of the Year category. Scars Like Wings by Chelsea J. Leon was another that really stuck out to me. This is a lesbian fantasy romance about a character named Byrd Pierce, a young woman who lives in a magical library. That was literally enough to sell me on the story. Add in then dragons, witches, a plus size main character, and a sapphic romance, and I am all in. So, Scars Like Wings is also nominated for best book cover and it's seriously pretty, so do go and check that one out. An Appreciation of Cats by Des DeViVo is a dual POV slow burn, m/m romance. The reviews for this promise a wholesome, no spice book about finding love in later life, as a retiring veterinarian worries about his health and future. Honestly, I was drawn to this one at the mention of cats, but the story sounds really sweet and I'm looking forward to reading it. It's nominated for Best Novella at the Indieverse Awards. There really are so many great books up for awards in this year's Indieverse Awards, so do go and check them out. Get involved by reading as many as you want to, and then vote for your favorites in November. There's actually a fun Indieverse Awards Reading Challenge happening on StoryGraph to help you track the nominated books that you've read. Okay, I've still got lots more to get through, so I will move on. I decided to cancel my Butterfly Book Club subscription this month. It was purely a financial decision, as raising a large breed puppy who everyone is joking looks like a small horse at just four and a half months old, it's terrifying, is a tad more expensive than I anticipated, so I had to budget and sadly the book box just had to go for now. I did, however, receive a final box in April, which was a duology, so two books in one. The two books were Speak of the Demon and Dance with the Demon by Stacia Stark and are books one and two of the Deals with Demons series. This is a paranormal urban fantasy with lots of magic, mystery and danger. I haven't read the books yet, but I love the back to front design, with each individual story taking up half of the book. They did a great job with the flip design hard cover for each book, and then they added dual toned digital edges that just work really, really well. The only thing, this is the only thing that I didn't like about the design of this particular book, and I think, actually, I think out of all of the Butterfly Book Club books that I've had, this is the only one where I have a bit of an issue with the design, and it's the dust jacket. The dust jacket was laser cut to look like wings revealing the design underneath. Now, when I say that, in my own head it sounds amazing, and I can understand the idea behind it and the effect that they were going for. But it's so impractical because of all the little paper cut feathers. They snag on literally everything. Just getting it out of the bag that it arrived in was a nightmare, and then taking it off and on my bookshelves, just a couple of times, it's now pretty bent outta shape and just looks a bit of a mess. So, that's my only gripe with this one. Otherwise though, as with all of the Butterfly Book Club books that I've had, the designs are really pretty and I'm really looking forward to reading this one as well. The best book box that I received this month though wasn't one I purchased. It was sent to me by Josie Jaffrey, who I interviewed about her vampire books back in season three, episode four. Josie was really kind enough to send me an entire box of goodies, all based around her QuickSilver Book series. This is a brand new completed fantasy series of three books that are currently available to pre-order. Book one, Kill Me Quick releases next week on June 5th. Book two, A Quick Study, will be available in July, and book three, Quick and the Dead, will release in September. All will be followed by a special omnibus edition that's coming in October, and will contain all three books in the trilogy plus additional short stories. The box I received from Josie was insanely cool. As well as a copy of the Omnibus Edition of all three stories and the short story collection, there were tons of goodies, including a custom deck of playing cards featuring many of Josie's characters. It was so cool to see Jack Valentine in there who is my favorite character from Josie's, Mayday, book. There were also art cards and a bookmark, a signed book plate, a cute pin badge of the Quicksilver design from the book cover. There was also a bloody bath bomb, which was rose scented, of course, and a bleeding candle, which I have yet to try, and I can't wait. I've never had a bleeding candle before. Plus, my favorite item, which was a heavy parchment sealed with like a real wax seal. I didn't want to open it and ruin it, but when I did, it revealed a special document from the book that was customized with my signature, so that felt really special. If you do want to see exactly what was in the box, head to my Instagram channel @myendlessshelf to take a look. Again, the link will be in the show notes. The Quicksilver Trilogy is a completed dark fantasy series, and a sapphic vampire romance with both pirates and zombies. It's giving me sapphic Pirates of the Caribbean vibes, and I can't tell you how much that I love that it's an already completed series. Anyta Sunday has done this too with her new slow-burn fantasy romance series, and I am all here for it. As someone who starts the first book in a series and then completely forgets everything that happened by the time the next book comes out, I am so on board for series that are already completed and then released much faster. If you want to find out more about the QuickSilver Trilogy by Josie Jaffrey, go and check out the blurb on her website or wherever you buy your books. As far as I'm aware, she has a pre-order bonus running right now. So, if you pre-order any book in the series, in any format, whether it's eBook, hardback or paperback, you'll receive a free signed book plate and bookmark featuring character art from the book. That sounds really cool. So, do go and check that out. Thank you again to Josie for the lovely box and for the book, which I'm really excited to read. Also as a quick note, I did forget, that Anyta Sunday's new series, I think it starts with The King's Man, that is also now available. The first book in that series is now available. So, that, I picked up from Kindle Unlimited this month, even though I haven't started to read it yet. Another lovely gift that I received this month was an advanced reader copy of Goldheart by Tess Carletta. If you've been listening to this podcast for a while, you've probably heard me mention Tess's debut novel Kit and Basie more than a few times, which I loved, and I was so over the moon to receive a copy of Goldheart in my inbox last week. Goldheart is a queer adult romance set in a world plagued by sun sickness, and centers around the relationship between two royal guards from, I think, enemy territories or kingdoms/queendoms. The blurb promises terrifying monsters, plant magic, chosen family, and overcoming darkness, and I'm here for all of it. I want to find out what sun sickness is. I wanna find out what the plant magic looks like. I wanna see what the monsters are. I wanna see everything. I think this might be my next read to be honest, because I just can't wait to dive into this author's work and see what she's created now. Just after how much I loved her debut, I just really want to find out what she's done next. So yeah, I think that one might be next up. The last book, though that I've added to my TBR this month is the latest Indie Bites magazine, which is the Bards and Bargains edition. This is available now and features 11 fantasy short stories by a variety of authors. As always, the eBook is completely free and the print book is available at a very low cost. I think they just charge the print fee. Just head over to silversunbooks.com to get your copy. That leads us really nicely into the part of the show where I announce our next indie author guest, because our special guest is also the featured author in the latest Indie Bites magazine issue. So, next episode, I'll be chatting with the wonderful R.K. Ashwick, author of two cosy fantasy trilogies, The Lutesong series, and the Side Quest Row series. I am ridiculously excited to chat with R.K. Ashwick and pick her brain about my favorite characters from A Rival Most Vial and A Captured Cauldron, and I cannot wait to bring that episode to you next week. So, do look out for that wherever you listen to your podcasts, and remember to hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. And if you have any recommendations for books written by indie authors in the romance, fantasy, and paranormal genres, or if there's a particular indie author you'd love to hear on the podcast, do send them my way. As always, you can reach me at [email protected] or on Instagram and Threads @myendlessshelf As I've said already, all of the links will be in the show notes. But that's it for this episode of Turn the Page: The Indie Book Podcast. Thank you so much for tuning into this bumper episode. I'll be back next month with more indie book recommendations and another fantastic indie author guest. Until next time, happy reading and keep turning the page.
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