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A sneak peek at the next new miniseries to be released... Draoithe: War Dogs
Preview He walked in the door after work. It was the last fucking place on earth that he wanted to be. He had stayed gone the rest of the weekend. The house he shared with Sruthan was a hateful reminder of his loss. If he had been a dragon, he would have burnt it to ash already. It was a little after four in the afternoon. Clove hung in the air faintly, but it was not old. It was fresh. Had Valerie been there? Why? He followed the smell. It led to Sruthan’s bedroom. Why? It was faint. It confused him. Nothing made sense or added up in his mind.He knocked at the door to his best friend’s bedroom in confusion. Sruthan answered it in a towel. His hair was still wet from the shower. Leo pushed past him into the room still hunting clove. He followed the elusive scent to the laundry hamper in Sruthan’s closet. Sruthan had been with Valerie? He turned back to look at his friend. Sruthan had been washing away the evidence of his betrayal. The light traced over him, and Leo shifted into his war dog. Two inch claws, three inch fangs, and two hundred and twenty pounds of the largest canine to ever walk on earth. Sruthan was on the floor looking into the eyes of his death snarling back at him a minute later. Why? After all the centuries, why? That pain crushed his broken heart. “My king, it is not what you think.” Sruthan wheezed as Leo’s claws pressed into his throat. It’s not? Really? Because I think you smell like my everything. The growl was low and menacing as the Druid mind-speak slammed into Sruthan’s mind. The dragon winced. Some days it was good to be the War Dog King. Then in that case, it is what you think. Nevermind. Sruthan did not try to deny the truth that the evidence revealed. What you need to tell me is, why? The snarl that echoed through the room was loud as it always had been in battle. Three hundred years of playing at being a businessman had not made him less of the war dog he really was.

In keeping with my new publishing plan, this title will be released as a short read miniseries. If I want to publish quickly, this is the route to take. I will try to publish it as fast as I can and I would hope that it will be complete by the end of May. If I can go faster than that, I will. There is another brand new miniseries waiting to be released immediately after War Dogs as well as a possible extra quick read series like Draoithe: Smoke of the Fire. I want to get started publishing Past in the Present as soon as I finish with War Dogs. So bear with me. I will try to get it all done. Time is running short for me though. Things will likely slow down after that as I must step out of the dream. I promise not to give up. I will finish the series. I promise, Peter Elliot will get what's coming to him! LOL.

I am still building the Instagram following. If y'all use Instagram, find me there. I could always use more followers, and I would love to connect with you there. You can see more information about the books there as I have begun adding things to my story.
If you enjoy Youtube, subscribe to my channel to get the latest videos, book trailers, storyboard previews, and audio readings. I am going to be posting more audio content as well as more videos soon.
I can't ever express often enough how humbled I am that y'all read my stories. Thank you! Please don't hesitate to ask me questions, leave comments, or even make suggestions. As an author, sometimes it's the random and the mundane that sparks the next idea for the stories of the dream.
I love to hear what you think of my stories! So please be kind and leave reviews. They help me get better as much as they help other readers choose quality books that they will enjoy reading. 
I have to get back to publishing.
Be careful!
Happy reading,
​Ophelia Kee!

#indieauthors #writerslife #amwritingromance #RomanceReaders #paranormalromance

​The trilogy Draoithe: Smoke of the Fire got a facelift and a complete volume has been posted to Amazon as well. If you have not met Fuego and Anaiz, check out their flaming romance now for only $1.97 for the whole story! As always, all of my stories are FREE with Kindle Unlimited! I have also always made all of my work shareable on Amazon. Please feel free to share my work with others who might be interested. The dream is only enhanced each time someone new steps into it.

Memes and Merch. These ideas  are still works in progress. I have not given up on any of it. It just takes a lot of time to get things set up and to work out the bugs. I had to put the merchandise on hold because the Printful integration with Weebly was nowhere near as smooth as I thought it would be. It worked well right up until I actually attempted to create an item for sale. Then it would never create a storefront even after I set up all the banking side of things. That turned out to be very frustrating. Weebly is so plug and play user friendly, but there is a huge disconnect between Weebly and the Printful app. It makes me sad that none of the tutorials available seemed to be up to date or able to resolve the issue. 
That dampened my enthusiasm for the quotes, one liners, and memes. Admit it though, lines like this from books are just awesome! 
Maybe I will discover another way that works. I just need it to be simple. I don't write computer code, nor do I understand 99% of the jargon, so I need applications that are actually simple, not just claim to be. LOL. 

Audiobooks in some form! The remodeling of a walkin closet into a recording studio has begun. Y'all cross your fingers. Now that I have got the books reduced to manageable parts, I think this could actually happen. I am going to try to read the short reads one page at a time and then string the recordings together as a giant edit, one scene at a time. I think my Corel program will work for it. It might not be high enough quality at first, but I will still try to post to YouTube if for no other reason than the amusement! 

I must be off. If you write, consider short reads! If you read, please be kind and leave your reviews. 
Be Careful!
Happy reading,
​Ophelia Kee

#indieauthors #writerslife #amwritingromance #RomanceReaders #paranormalromance

The Thread was the first story to get a brand new look and a rerelease. The Free PDF still has the old cover on it, but the new and improved version has been updated on Amazon. I also took a few moments to update the manuscript and send it through Grammarly for a better reading experience. Meet Luke and Eli before they meet one another.

​Weaver's Tale is going live as we speak with its brand new cover. I have also released a complete volume ebook which includes all four of the original short reads titles in one volume for only $2.99. It has also been sent through Grammarly for a more polished reading experience. Araack Kniid is a spider shifter from the Netherworld. He holds Eidolon magic and rules a small outpost kingdom in the Dorcha known as the Longest Purple, but for nearly a thousand years he has believed a lie. Can he overcome the betrayals of his past to finally live?

There are nine reasons that short reads are better than trying to publish full-length novels that I touched on in the last blog. But there is another reason why I personally want to publish the stories as short reads. It might be a more important reason not just to me, but also to many who need to hear books read rather than just read them.
See, I want to attempt recording the stories as audio reads. As an Independent Author, I would like to upload my recorded books as for sale audiobooks, but a novel is so long that it would be hundreds possibly thousands of hours of read time to get just the currently published works recorded. If they were shorter, it would be easier to manage with the programs I already own. No out of pocket expense and easier workload could make audiobooks a possible task.  
So while I am pushing Project Publish as Much as I Can, there are multiple reasons why. 

If you have not dropped into The Dream group on Facebook, make yourself known. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, please bother me. I love to hear from readers. If you read, Please be kind and leave your review. I have to get back to my regular Sunday chores. The laundry is calling my name! 
Be Careful!
Happy reading,
Ophelia Kee

#indieauthors #writerslife #amwritingromance #RomanceReaders #paranormalromance

Eyrie Iolair: Prodigal Sons short read miniseries is now LIVE on Amazon. FREE with Kindle Unlimited! Montane MacGuire was a typical college student chasing his master’s degree in 2016 until he met Rory Highwell at the beginning of the spring semester. The eagle man is convinced that Monty is the foretold leader of the kings of a fabled kingdom from atop a mountain, and he has the evidence to back up his claims. When Monty has an accident while on a mission trip to Guatemala the truth of who he is and how he has lived most of his adult life comes to light. If he is going to help his friends and take his rightful place as the Lord of the Skies, his life will have to change drastically. Struggling to understand the prophecy surrounding him, protect his sister, save his friends, and claim his mate leads him on a series of adventures that almost puts him at odds with a far more powerful magic force affecting the dream until his life axiom of ‘Don’t Tell Mom’ finally saves the day for him and everyone he protects. (Sorry, I just had to plug my latest publication.

 As many of you know my ability to remain in the dream full time is rapidly coming to an end. Financially, it is a bit impossible to maintain my current level of immersion. My authorwalk has taken many twisting turns, and this is yet one more. But I made the decision to attempt to publish as many of my doc files finished stories as I can before the dream must become my part time escape once again. Having made that decision. it is important to inform my readers of how I intend to speed the process. Short reads! They are far easier to produce than full length novels. The stories are already written. So why not? My shorter stories like the duet book Still Waters were what gave me the idea. They were just hanging out in my docs files collecting the electronic dust and pestering the novels so I decided to put them to work by publishing them. 

Short reads do not need all the extra details that I feel must be included in a novel.
1)No table of contents required when the title was not going to have more than 6 or 7 scenes at the most.
Some might have only one or two long chapters, but with fewer pages this seems silly.
2)Easier to use online grammar tools to obtain a smoother reading experience. 
Grammarly is awesome, but past a few chapters it gets clunky and slows down dramatically.
3)No need to craft pagination and footers. Each title is only about 50 pages long.
This is really only necessary for paperback books as ebooks lack this feature, but paperbacks give ebooks legitimacy. So crafting it just got easier.
4)No need for a title page when a short intro will suffice. 
No one expects a title page with a short story unless it is a collection of stories.
5)Readers get straight to the story.
Full length novels have a certain appeal to them like no other style of writing, but if you want to be able to publish prolifically, then short reads are better. 
6)When the work has been out for a while, it won't be hard to combine as a single volume and market as such. The hard part like formatting and editing will have already been completed. (So the novel readers won't be disillusioned or disappointed.)
7) There is less competition in short read categories than in other categories, so authors have a better chance of getting their work noticed. 
8) The audience is different for short reads than for other works, so an author has more opportunity to market and promote their book to a wider readership by publishing that way first. 
9) Writing a short read series also aids in deleting the 'lull spots'. All stories have parts that are not as interesting no matter how important. Each part of a short read series would have at least one 'impact scene' aiding the reader in maintaining their interest in the story. (In short, writing short makes an author a better one!)

Sneak Peak at Eyrie Iolair: Sky Dreams
Jerrick 
The three of them arrived at the house in the Waco suburbs just before midnight. Risk had made it clear that there were hostages that needed to be handled with kid gloves. Nimravus was a word that had made them all agitated. The Druid kings of Leinster had dealt with the darkness by bringing the ‘little demons’ into existence. Little demons actually desired the dark appetites of their kings. The Druids in Connacht were worse. They had turned women as Caladrius and kept them as enslaved concubines that traded the darkness in their kings for a light that negated some of the negative effects of Netherworld magic on the man born touching it in the Leaindeail.Perhaps the twisted fools of Ulster had to be the worst. They twisted the soul of a woman together with a wildcat to create a werecat sex slave. The Nimravus. The Druid kings then tethered the women to them and leached the shadow magic from them to grant themselves immortality. Nimravus lacked the ability to turn other werecats as they were a strange hybrid of a human and a cat. But leaching their shadows damaged the minds of the women making them little more than vegetable grotesques. After being used by the kings for a period of years, they tended to fade leaving the Druid in need of a replacement. Arne had been unlucky enough to meet one once and had then studied the magic carefully. Had the Druids not siphoned the shadows from the werecat, she could have survived so long as she remained tethered to her magical host. Rune had wondered if the host had been immortal or held light magic if that would have balanced the shadows for the werecat and stabilized them considering that light magic tended to be attracted to dark magic, but the question had never been decided. Jerrick led the three-man team into the house shaking off his thoughts on werecats. They just needed to aid whoever they might find if it was possible. They moved through the first floor of a very neat well-kept house. Nothing looked out of place. There were no weapons, magical paraphernalia, or other clues to the possibility of sex slavery. Anyone visiting would never know. Rune was the one who located the basement door. It was locked. They looked for a key, but not finding it, Arne simply let the grey flames melt the catch away. When the door opened, the three walked down a set of stairs that emerged into a dark hallway. There were four doors. The first one was open and empty. It was set up as a bedroom with an ensuite. It looked rather ordinary until Rune opened the chest.  Inside instead of clothing, they found sex toys. The chest held a sadist’s wet dream of flails, whips, floggers, etc… Jerrick looked at the other dragons. “He was torturing them?” “Or turning them?” Rune asked from the bathroom. He carried a travel pet carrier out of the room. It held a very angry wildcat. “You best set it free outside,” Arne suggested. Rune carried the animal up the stairs and returned after a couple of minutes while he and Arne continued their investigation into the room. The cat was freed. Jerrick felt relieved. At least that one had not been mutilated. They found a book they had not wanted to find in the bedside table. Deanamh Nimravus, The Making of Nimravus, was the title of the slim handwritten text carefully embossed in the leather cover. Inside the pages had been carefully transcribed from the demon tongue into English. The process for how to change a woman into a werecat was explicitly detailed and included drawings. The dragons had seen one before. They had read and studied a similar volume centuries ago. It was not good. “He was going to make the princess into a sex slave and likely sell her like a prized possession.” Arne hissed the words. Before they could continue their expedition into the basement, the front door opened. The three of them stilled. Footsteps were heard above indicating that several people were entering the home. Rune turned out the lights and unscrewed the bulb to give them an advantage. They waited. Whoever these people were, they were trespassing into Iolair. It had been centuries since the three of them had served as true dragon knights of the realm, but they were once more oath sworn to a Ri ruirech. The house they were in, belonged to that king. These men would be turned as dragonsworn servants for a year for their crimes. Then they heard the words. “Max left it open just as he said. Have you made your choice?” It was a man’s voice. “The blonde. She will do.” Another voice answered. “I prefer the brunette with green eyes. I always liked green-eyed whores. They just look like mischief. It makes me want to punish her more.” Another voice was speaking. “Personally, I don’t care. The shadows are all that I really want. The rest is just a bonus.” Another man noted. The footsteps above were moving through the house toward the basement. Four men had entered the house. The dragons waited until they started down the stairs. “Why is it so damn dark?” The fourth man’s voice. “The bulb must have burned out in the hall. I will lead you to the rooms and then fix it,” the first man answered. The whole group passed the empty room that the dragons had stopped in. Jerrick gave the signal. Arne and Rune took the men unaware. Jerrick bit them all one by one. A year was not enough. They would serve for eternity for attempting to sell and purchase sex slaves on Iolair soil. It took only a few minutes. Rune switched the lights back on, and the three of them set to work mutilating the offensive parties, erasing their names, and turning them complete with oaths and the mark of the slave of the House of Iolair. It felt good to be a dragon. Rune texted Dustin about the additional dragonsworn as Jerrick finished with the last man. Five new servants in one night was a bit of a record. The Eyrie would put them to work soon enough. They left the four kneeling naked on the floor waiting for orders with the lights on. The dark would see them going into the night as nothing more than dust in the wind. Light dragons turned men as servants without magic, but like primitive vampires that feared the sun, dragonsworn servants crafted by light dragons feared the dark. Jerrick nodded to his brothers to move forward with their mission. They would deal with the servants later. Rune took one door. Arne opened another. Jerrick opened the last. It was worse than he expected. The wild cat’s body was dead fur and a skeleton. It looked out of sightless eyes as it lay on the floor of the cage. The clawed paw of one foot had been severed and used on the woman. The poor animal had served its purpose. Its soul had been merged with that of the woman’s. The black-haired woman chained to the bed stared back at him with the elliptical pupils of the cat. There was no question that the ritual was nearly complete. It was too far gone to be able to reverse any of the magic. She was thirsty. It had to be the third day. That was what the men had come for. Tethering happened on the third day. Knowing that she had been abused angered Jerrick. He wanted to burn things.  “Please, master?” Her words were a whisper that eased the anger away. She was beautiful and broken. He saw her fangs. She was dying. She needed to be tethered to her host, or she would have suffered the pain and torture for nothing. She begged him for help that she could not understand. Jerrick was a light dragon. But he was a free dragon. He had the right to claim a slave if he intended to claim her as treasure. Monty had told them all that they could claim their Valkyrie. He wanted to bleed for her. This woman would be his. Jerrick would fly as a mated bonded dragon. She would aid him. “Speak your name.” He demanded it of her. The light magic tickled his scales beneath his skin. The grey fire itched to dance with her shadows. Even broken and damaged, Jerrick desired the woman for himself. She had been made to be a sex slave for a Druid king, but Nimravus held shadows that drew the fire from light magic wielders. “Lexy Vanderkline. Please. I thirst.” She begged him again. The pleading lilt of her voice stroked the dragon’s need to give her what she wanted. The dragon did not deny its mate. The fire traced over his fingers as he reached out to touch her face. Her blue eyes closed as she leaned her face into his palm. She purred as her shadows danced with his fire. His magic felt good to her as hers felt to him. His cock hardened at the sound that vibrated into his heart. “Consent to be mine. I will claim you as my Valkyrie. You will be a slave to Jerrick Luisne, Dragon Knight serving the House of Iolair. Surrender yourself into my control. I will erase your thirst, and you will be mine.” “As you desire it. I consent. Please.” The blue eyes sought his gaze once more. Jerrick was lost. His arms encircled her, and he pulled her close. Her head nestled against his shoulder. “Bite me, and drink.” He whispered the words. Shadows and fire swirled around them both as her teeth sank into his throat. The euphoria negated the pain. The dragon longed to please its mate. She drank deep. Dragon blood was powerful. She would thirst no more. She was Nimravus. Like a leash, his fire was braided with her shadows connecting them together as she quenched her thirst from his vein. The magic tethered her to him forever chaining her to her master. Forever she would need to be near him, desire to be controlled by him, wish to taste her dragon. But Jerrick would take care of her. Jerrick was a light dragon. He breathed the grey flames of the Ainglean. He could not leech her shadows, only twist them into his fire and hold her close. He would feed her need. Her eyes closed, and she fell back against the pillow. Her marks at his throat felt good. He did nothing to erase her claim on him. The trickles of blood he left to dry on his skin. The light magic of the dragon seeking to heal its mate reached out to her, but it was too late to stop what had been done. The cat’s soul was bound into Lexy. His magic would let her rest, but she was a werecat. She was a wild treasure, and Jerrick would hoard her. He called two servants to him and ordered them to dress. One was ordered to turn on the lights of the house then secure all the doors and windows against intruders. The other he sent to prepare a room for his Valkyrie upstairs. Jerrick released her from the chains and gently lifted her. As he carried her up the stairs, he decided to have the one who had not cared what she looked like to serve her forever. But he would never see her face or touch her. He gave the commands and set the fool to serving his Valkyrie. Jerrick was hungry and found himself in the kitchen seeking food. The more magic he used, the more food he needed to eat. Max Robertson had been a canine shifter before Risk got a hold of him. Surely the man had food. Rune found a servant next. He too had marks at his throat. “Her name is Jade Leitner. She agreed. I wish to keep her.” Jerrick was not about to argue with Rune over that idea. So long as he got to keep Lexy, what his brother decided about Jade did not matter.When Arne stepped into the kitchen, he ordered the fourth servant to set the table. "Saffron Desmond has blonde hair and pale grey eyes. Mine, mine, all mine.” Arne grinned. Jerrick laughed with Rune. Arne had always dreamed that his Valkyrie looked that way. His wish seemed to have come true. Steak and shrimp along with french fries and rolls satisfied the appetites of the dragons while they waited for the women to sleep off the lingering effects of the magic. Jerrick called Dustin. “We are taking over the house in Waco,” Jerrick informed him. “Why?” Dustin asked confused. “There is a treasure beyond measure here. We intend to claim it. Risk was right. They were converted to Nimravus. It was the third day. The men responsible for instigating that were all immortal shifters. They now serve the Valkyrie. Max Robertson must have been on the hunt for his next victim. The place was set up to do this as an ongoing money-making endeavor. My guess is he conditioned them first. Then when he grew bored, he converted them and sold them off to the highest bidder.” Dustin laughed. “Only fools harm the treasure of dragons. I will explain the situation to Rory. Iolair rises gentlemen. Congratulations.” Dustin hung up. The mission to meet with the Phoenix in the four corners might need to be rescheduled. The dragons left the servants to keep watch and sought their own rest in the presence of everything.

Thanks for reading my words and hearing my voice. If you have only barely stumbled over Ophelia Kee, I am happy you found the dream. If you have been a regular visitor for a while, thank you even more! I truly want to write and share my stories with lovers of adult fantasy and PNR. If you like immortals, magic, shifters, and paranormal abilities, the dream just might be home for you too. Even if you don't hear from me daily, I am always working on my stories. Soon, I plan on publishing a lot more titles including the Eyrie Iolair: Sky Dreams short read mini series. I will also be updating several of my older titles. Check back often. As always if you read, please be kind and leave your review.
Be Careful!
Happy reading,
Ophelia Kee
​

#indieauthors #writerslife #amwritingromance #RomanceReaders #paranormalromance

To everyone who has been following my Independent Authorwalk, I want to say Thank you! I am so humbled that you would read my stories and enjoy an escape into the dream. If you are just barely stumbling over me, hang out on my site and check it out. You have found the dream! I hope you come to love it too!
I have been publishing backlogged stories for a few days now. I pushed the release dates for Dread Allies up two months and have gotten all 14 titles on Amazon. I am currently publishing the Eyrie Iolair short read miniseres. It will actually contain at least three different story lines with for sure one story that connects the miniseries book group back to the Draoithe Prequel: Tantalu and possibly even Synner and Sainte.

The Storyboard Preview for Precious Treasures has been released and is live on YouTube! I am stoked to be working on the upcoming book trailers and Storyboards for the next novel in the Draoithe series. War Dogs is really good. If you liked all the others, you will love this one too!
I know I am in a bit of a hurry, but I already know that production will significantly slow down once I am forced out of the dream and must rejoin the professional world. So I am trying to get as much accomplished as I can.
I am pushing forward with my plans to work on creating audio recordings of many of my stories. I have no time frame on that, but I have learned a lot about it. It is less daunting than I once believed.
​I am continuing my efforts to market and promote on social media. If you have not joined my Facebook group The Dream yet, head on over and add yourself to the circle. I can't wait to connect with you. I love to answer questions, hear your thoughts. Sometimes they are inspirational. 

I know I am always requesting reviews and hoping that my readers will be kind and leave them, but Amazon has been glitching out lately in that department. If you still want to leave a review for any of my work, drop me a line somewhere and I will add your thoughts to the editorial reviews on my author central page. It matters what readers think more than anyone imagines. Your experience with a story is valid and should be recognized. Leaving a review is the ink on the wall that proclaims "I was here, and I experienced ..." We all want that.

Here in Longview, we had terrible storms yesterday. It's time I got my yard picked up. Until I can get back to this, Thank You for reading my words. I hope that they may be of some benefit to you.
Be Careful!
Happy reading,
​Ophelia Kee

I am pushing forward with my ambitious project to get as much of my back list published as possible before I must step out of the dream. I have been successful in getting all of the Dread Allies short read miniseries uploaded to Amazon. The paperbacks are all live. The ebooks are all either published or pending pre-order. All titles in this series will remain at $.99 and are FREE with Kindle Unlimited. The timeline for their inevitable publishing release has been moved forward, and the entire series will finish before mid-May. The dream is darker and colder in the Netherworld. Dive in and meet the Demon princes of Eaglafonn.

​I have published the thirteenth full-length novel in the Draoithe series. Precious Treasures is live on Amazon and Free with Kindle Unlimited! Anger management takes on a whole new meaning with dragons. Find out what happens when Kindling and SIlver are forced to work together to repair the damage they have done as well as to complete the missions Luke sets them on.

The Storyboard Preview for Precious Treasures is on its way. I would love to have it published Tomorrow! Watch for it! Up next for publishing is Eyrie Iolair: Prodigal Son short read miniseries. It is an 8 part story that I would like to publish in its entirety. It has to go through one last edit and polish, but it could be available by the end of April. Also, I would love to get War Dogs out. The fourteenth novel in the Draoithe series is good. I can't wait to share that with you all. I would like to have it available by the first of May. Y'all cross your fingers and pray that I can get it all out. Once they lift the shelter in place rules, I do need to make some serious changes to my life. I love to write, but I also wish to continue my lifestyle. I need to get some work done.
If you read, please be kind and leave your reviews. 
Be Careful!
Happy reading,
Ophelia Kee

#indieauthors #writerslife #amwritingromance #RomanceReaders #paranormalromance

Draoithe: Precious Treasures Book 13 is LIVE! I got it everyone. It took time and I pushed through, skipped the whole pre-order business and published the next book early! It likely is not necessarily good business sense to do this, but as I must step out of the dream soon, I feel it is best to try to get as much of my docs files unpublished titles published as soon as possible. So Book 13 is live. I have a whole lot left to learn in this business. I will eventually learn it! Until then though, what I love to do is write. What I have to do is pay my bills, keep my home, and live in reality. That means that I have to pause most of my efforts to promote temporarily and focus on just publishing. No one but me can read my docs files unless I publish, right?

I am currently working to get the entire Dread Allies series on Amazon. Each short read title will still be published and sold for only $.99, but I would like to have it all available to read by June rather than my original July date. The reason for that is because I have another short read miniseries that I would like to publish as well. When you write for years without knowing enough about publishing, you wind up with a lot of stories. LOL. I want to take this opportunity to thank all of my readers. I can never tell you enough how humbled i am that you would read my stories. It is still so very amazing to me that others like them and want to read them.

I don't have as much time as I once had. I will still try to blog as often as possible, but it will likely go back to once a week. The authorwalk continues only the dream is interrupted! If you read, please be kind and leave reviews. Other readers ad the authors you love will surely appreciate you!
Be Careful!
Happy reading,
​Ophelia Kee

#indieauthors #writerslife #amwritingromance #RomanceReaders #paranormalromance

​Aside from the obvious things, there are also a few other things that I feel are necessary in a book. I include these in every full length novel even if I know that some of it will not appear in the ebook format. The first detail is the subscript with pagination. I prefer a book to feel like a book. I also want my book's pages to remind the reader of my author name. It helps with the 7/11 rule (see blogs about marketing) and makes it easier for a reader to choose another of my stories if they like them in the future. Also pagination is rather important. It is nice to read and know where you are in that process. Ereaders keep your place, but page numbers are still the rule in paperback or hardback.  In this example from A Pack Forms, you can see the title of the book the page number and my name. It's easy to set a doc file up to auto fill this in the footer. But it makes for a much more professional appearance and a better finished product. 

Other things that are important are The First Pages: the table of contents, a title page, and art pages. These were once end pages in a hardback book. In the realm of ebooks, this art might be illustrative of some aspect of the story like a story map or a family tree etc... Don't forget to add your table of contents, especially in a longer work with many scenes. Readers like to see that the book is broken down into parts. It adds to the idea that the story is well defined.
I also add a list of other books available from my library. It is a bit of monetization, but it also allows the reader to see that I do have other works. Personally, I will not buy a short series until it is completely published. I know I am not the only one. I also will not buy into a longer series if several books are not already available to aid me in getting my fix. (Hello, my name is Ophelia, and I am an addict. No, I am not seeking rehabilitation. Thanks but no thanks. I will die a bookworm. I am good with that.)
With the Last Pages at the end of each book, I also include my about the author page with links to all my social media, and all my contacts along with a link to the next book in the series. If a reader has time and wants to continue reading. I do not want the end of a book to be the reason they have to stop. Links make it easier for readers to leave comments or ask questions, and also allows the experience to continue uninterrupted. That is the beautiful part about worldbuilding. When a world is crafted well, it remains in the reader's mind for a long time even when they finish a good book. It is nice to be able to expand the way the dream feels by offering other ways to experience it such as the videos on Youtube and Facebook.

I hope you enjoyed my trip through The Details. My authorwalk has been fantastic fun. I have learned a lot about how to publish and market my books. It continues to be a grand adventure. I truly appreciate the support I have received from all of you who have enjoyed my books. It has been an amazing experience. I have a bit of sad news though. I will have to give up the full time authorwalk soon. Real life is pulling me out of the dream. Bills must get paid. While I love to write and publish my stories, I have never lied about the fact that they do not make enough money for me to remain free of the professional world yet. So once again I find that I will need to embrace a day job and put my love of books on the back burner.
I have made enormous progress since October of last year. But knowing that it will likely be several more years before I can get back to a full time journey into writing, I have made the decision to focus on getting my backlist of books published before I must step out of the dream. That will allow me the freedom to focus more of my attention on writing new stories and maybe doing a bit of part time marketing.
I will be abandoning the idea of pre orders when the Dread Allies miniseries finishes as it is too complicated to set and meet the deadlines. I am also going to try to speed up the process on a few more of my completed novels and add all the details to be able to publish the next four full length novels over the next few weeks. Cross your fingers.
The Eyrie Iolair short read miniseries will likely be published in its entirety within the next two months as well. If you are not following me on Amazon or have not subscribed to opheliakee.com, now would be a good time to do that. That way, you do not have to miss it when one of my books comes out. I won't have as much time to announce everything soon. So I will need to rely on a weekly blog, Amazon, and perhaps a Saturday only kind of promotion. 
I have to get busy. If you read, be kind and leave your review.
Be Careful!
Happy reading,
​Ophelia Kee

#indieauthors #writerslife #amwritingromance #RomanceReaders #paranormalromance

I have published fourteen full length novels to date. That is a lot of words. It is also a seriously good story, but I digress. Someone asked me recently to explain what I mean by 'details' exactly when I refer to publishing. So I will try to list the process for adding the 'details' to books to make a manuscript story an actual book. I apologize for never having written how to write a book. I think other better qualified people should try answering that one because I can only tell you how I do it, and I am sure that it is not the proper way. (Also, I am not really sure exactly how I write the stories. I simply write. That is hard for many to grasp so I will stick to what I can reveal easily.)

When I write I have a process to polish my story that I have spoken about in other blogs. Here, I want to focus on what happens after I think the story is 'done'. What happens to get the book ready to publish? The way I decided what needed to happen was rather simple. I had a story, but that was not a book. (Trying to publish a book on Amazon and getting to the need to upload a cover made me realize that my story was missing things a book would have. LOL) That was when I went and found a few paperbacks and hardback books to look at. I was not reading them. I was analyzing how they were put together and comparing what I found in them with what I had in a digital form on my computer.

'There is even a note here about a book that has not been published as I write this blog. Precious Treasures should be launching sometime in April of 2020, but I have not got that nailed down yet. I incorporated the necessary text from that book into Filth and Death so that the book would not be missing anything, but it does tend to drag you off into wondering about Kindling and Silver. I felt it was only right to warn people. 
I have to craft this page for each one of my books. This is one of the 'details' that I add after I finish the story. But what book would be complete without it? If you write, you must decide how it reads, and if you will place notes to your readers or dedications in your books. If you read, you might skip over this part, but it is worth noting that the small details still add to the experience.

Dread Allies Shadow King part 2 launched today! If you have started the fast paced short read miniseries, you can get your fix today and discover what happens next in Alexio and Sumeye's story. The dream is colder and darker in the Netherworld, but the imbalance of magic is just as sinister. When the demon princes of Eaglafonn ally themselves with Draoithe, Luke's influence as an alpha pack leader begins to influence that realm as well. The magic seeks the balance, and the demons respond to that demand. FREE with Kindle Unlimited! Only $.99 from Amazon.
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I hope you enjoyed this look at the behind the scenes of the dream and a small slice of my authorwalk. In other news, the merchandising took a turn for the worse. I did actually design a couple of t-shirts and a few mugs and hats, but then the technology part messed with me. I got in over my head again so it is back to the drawing board on the merchandise. I am still intent on making it a reality. Check back to find out what else about my authorwalk goes a little haywire. If you read, don't forget to be kind and review.
I have to get some work done and get back to figuring out the merchandise. 
Be Careful,
Happy Reading,
Ophelia Kee

#indieauthors #writerslife #amwritingromance #RomanceReaders #paranormalromance

I am pretty excited about the merchandise, but I am also very pleased, finally, with how my first audio story came out. I hope it goes over well. I am posting the fireside read from an excerpt from A Pack Forms to Youtube as soon as I finish the last four pieces. I liked it. Y'all tell me what you think. I love hearing from you. Questions, comments, or suggestions are alway welcome. 
I know I have been looking into the audio scene for a while, but it is a bit complex to me. If I find a way to break into that realm without an enormous outlay of expense upfront, I promise, that will be the new frontier.
I personally am still a paper reader if I can be. I love the way a real book feels. So all my books are also paperback from Amazon. A Pack Forms is still only $2.99 as an e-book and FREE with Kindle Unlimited! But I do love the paperback version. There is nothing like the feel of a book.

Well, it's Sunday again. I have to do the laundry and upload another short read to Amazon, so I better get going on that. The work of the dream never stops, but it is fun. Someone asked me to outline the steps in the process to get a book ready to publish. I don't know exactly what other authors do, but I can explain what I do as a pure Indie Author. So beginning next week, I will try to go in depth a bit on each or the steps I have mentioned before and explain the how and why behind what I do to get my books ready to publish. It may not be the way others do it or the way you would do it, but it is definitely an integral part of how Draoithe goes from a manuscript to a book you read on your Kindle. A gentle reminder that if you are fortunate enough to read, I hope you might choose one of my books, but no matter what you read, be kind and leave your review. They really help other readers and the authors whose works you truly enjoy. Don't forget to take a chance and scroll on past the first couple of pages on the bestseller list to discover new talented authors. You never know when what you read will be the next great thing, and you will know you found it first!
Be Careful!
Happy Reading,
Ophelia Kee