An Audiobook Kickstarter and Sneak Peek on Introgression Tree 🌳
I'm back, and also... back.
Notes from September 2026
Hey, Sill here! It’s been a while, but this is SUPPOSED to be a monthly to quarterly newsletter where I offer sneak peeks on my writing and the closest look and what’s going on under the surface. Early on, I promised to offer a level of honesty than I do on social media. That’s seemed... difficult. I’ve been silent a while, and I apologize. Because the truth is — for a little over a year now — I’ve been struggling. I wanted to wait until the worst was over before I reached out.
I mean… Red Demon has been selling and finding its audience. That isn’t the problem. I’m in at least 49 bookstores and 39 libraries right now, and hope to make that 50 bookstores by tomorrow. But mental health wise? Being on social media to market my books has not been good for me. Neither has writing profit margins. Even knowing the math going in, I expected I could write fast and beat sales odds all at once, and handle all the other phases of publishing concurrently. I just can’t. But I’ve thrown a lot at the wall in the last year, and am doubling down on what works, and letting go of what does not move my career and future small press forward.
A small, traditional press to highlight other great writing is still the goal. A bit up the road away... but the goal.
I’m a neurodivergent introvert who has chosen a core group of people to have around, to avoid feeling misunderstood or overwhelmed. I’ve been forced out of my comfort zone as I need to network and interface with a large number of people as an indie writer, and I’m adjusting. I’m not the same person I was a year ago, and I feel stronger for it.
The most important thing I’ve learned is that even though writing is a solitary pursuit, I CAN’T do it alone. I need a supportive community and networks of writers... a cluster of write-or-dies with shared values and goals. And I also need people around who value, understand, and accept me as a person, and not just for my writing skills. I will never be a cold professional with high walls. I never wish to be, because I am a more empathetic person if I remain open and vulnerable. Community is the most viable shield I have, and if I do not offer it along with my writing to others, I render my words meaningless.
Sometimes everything has to be shaken to its foundation for you to find your people. And I hope you have.
Now more than ever, I want to offer family to those who need it. That’s central to why I write. It always will be.
The Audiobook Kickstarter Launches 9/14!
High Gravity Productions has wrapped production on the Red Demon audiobook, and the Kickstarter is ready to launch! As a non-Amazon exclusive audiobook, I need some early direct sales to front costs. It’s important to me to make this available to libraries, and due to how Amazon handles exclusivity, I make very little from their platform. Direct-sold copies, which you can listen to on Bookfunnel or other audiobook apps, go about 4x further than an Audible credit. I can’t dedicate a book to people with unspoken trauma and expect them to afford an Audible membership. Small actions like reposting a post or book trailer when you stumble upon it on my social media can make a world of difference to my career and ability to write you more books.
Since my market research told me physical book Kickstarters perform better, I am also offering hand-painted hardcovers with fancy glow in the dark paint. When I apply the techniques I’ve honed over the last year, it looks just like the mycelium from the book.
The Kickstarter goes live 9/14 but you can follow beforehand to help boost visibility or be notified once you can place an order Buying through Kickstarter will also get you access one month early! Willing to help spread the word to help me not go broke? If you sign up here, I'll pass you some premade social media content you can share on social media. If you have any other ideas to help me get the word out and market more efficiently, I'll take all the advice and support i can get.
I am once again asking you to review Red Demon
And If Red Demon left a mark where it counts and you want to read more, please consider leaving a review, or crosspost a review to more than one review site. This is huge to boosting a debut author's credibility for bookstores and other ready readers. Here's some handy links to Red Demon on common review sites:
You can alos request the book at your local library. A five minute email or form can open up Red Demon to dozens if not hundreds of readers!
After the Kickstarter, I plan to cocoon for a bit, slowing events and social media while I finish drafting several works in process for the next year. Please DO NOT copy otherwise distribute the sneak peek text from these works in progress in my newsletters. It is exclusive to YOU (and people who stalk my blog, I suppose)
Introgression Tree will be a standalone romantasy / romantasci set in the universe of Red Demon, five centuries in the future. While some of these characters appear again in the main series, this story can be told alone without a prior introduction to the Oria Universe or having read Red Demon.
Disgruntled ex-farmer and disgraced noble Touhen Miyel is thrust back into empire politics, and he must adapt to a life he expected to preserve freedoms for others. Tsorei is the highest ranked noble at the Empire Academy, an accomplished spy and a confidante of the queen's inner circle. But prestigue does not mean joy.
Both need the other's skills and experience to protect the ones they love. Both know the other can be the death of them. And the best lies are the ones we tell ourselves to survive.
Expect something political and twisty, like City of Stairs meets Heartless Hunter.
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