Wow.

So I’ve been super, super bad at keeping up with this blog. Like really, I should be ashamed of myself with how bad I’ve been about keeping up with this blog.

There has been a lot going on in my camp and while it’s been exhausting for me, it’s pretty much all good news for my faithful readership. You guys have some amazing things coming in the near future. Some of which I can talk about, some of which I won’t. At least, not just yet.

First off, rolling my books out of KU has been going pretty well. The first seven books of the Sacred Hearts MC have all successfully had their covers updated for the electronic copies and the process has begun for Broken & Burned for the paperback versions.

As I have been updating the paperbacks, the interiors have been getting updates as well, it’s slow going because having an editor go over them is both expensive, but also, time-consuming as she has to stop in the middle of the old books to take on the new ones. It’s a priority thing.

For example, she had to stop in the middle of Shattered & Scarred to deal with A Brother At My back so I could get it released, then the Secret Squirrel Project held her up during Broken & Burned and I’m about to halt her progress on Cracked & Crushed to deal with A Low Blue Flame.

There really are so many projects and so little time, not only for her but for me, too. It’s not a bad thing, it just means that we are relegated to the land of slow progress is better than no progress. I am okay with that. Not to mention, playing inside Kindle Unlimited’s boundaries slows us down some, too. I’m also okay with that. I can’t pull everything right away, spew them out all at once to the other platforms and expect to continue making enough to survive off the bat like that.

This gradual transition is definitely a study in my patience as I’m really glad to be expanding my readership and introducing my worlds to new people. I am super excited about it, in fact, and am really enjoying the newfound readers out there on iBooks, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, Kobo, Google, and Smash Words. I wish I could give you all the words and give them all to you right now, but I also understand, at the end of the day, I’m a business, and that I need to do things carefully. Doing what I want to do doesn’t always equate good business sense, so for now steady as she goes.

I have a lot of eager messages coming in asking about when and what I am going to release next. The next plan is A Low Blue Flame, book three in the Indigo Knights MC series. Now, for those of you that read His Cold Blue Command and didn’t like it because of the BDSM aspect of it, I’ll tell you right now you have nothing to worry about with A Low Blue Flame.

I had a massive amount of fun writing A Low Blue Flame. Backdraft and Lil are unlike any other characters I have written. Wholesome, for the most part, shy and careful of one another, these two just clicked. Snapped together like they belonged and their bond is a strong one. I can’t wait to get them to you guys and while I don’t have a solid date yet, it’s looking like late May or early June. I’m pushing really hard for it to be May.

It will have its 90-day stint in KU, which is all I am giving this series. I am well aware that those of you in the Kindle Unlimited program gave me the solid foundation from which to launch this full time writing career and there’s no way I am willing to leave you out in the cold. I just can’t stay in Kindle Unlimited with the way it is treating its authors by allowing the rampant fraud of book stuffing and click farming to continue.

This month I am taking a break from creating new things and am refocusing my energy on two of my ancient PNR titles and reforging them into something better and stronger than their original incarnations. One is getting completely overhauled, the guts fleshed out, the cover redid, a new title, the whole nine yards. The other, I am perfectly happy with the cover and the title, I just want to go back through and flesh out the story, strengthen the ending, and both of them need a thorough scrubbing by my fabulous editor, Barbara J. Bailey. When they’re done, they will be leaving A.J. Downey’s repertoire and will be strengthening the pen name the Secret Squirrel Project is under.

Yeah. I’ll be writing under a new pen name. Separating out future PNR and Fantasy titles from my contemporary romances. It’s a business decision more than anything. I have been doing my PNR’s a disservice by neglecting them wholly under this name and damn it, they’re good strong stories that deserve some attention. So I’m going to give that a go.

To be clear, I’m not going to be hiding the new pen name forever, you’ll get to know what it is as soon as A Low Blue Flame goes live. I have no intentions of hiding that she and I are the same people, I just won’t go around screaming it from the rooftops. Think Jessica Jones on Netflix. She doesn’t hide her superpowers, but she doesn’t go around advertising them, either.

So Heaven, Hell, and the Love In Between will be getting a new title and cover before making the move, and Hunter’s Choice will be doing the same.

Eventually, I will do something with Exit Stage Six but it’s contemporary and will be staying under the A.J. Downey name. As for the Moon Forged Trilogy, alas, they will be staying put along with Airs & Graces under A.J. Downey. They have paperbacks running around out there so it would be too difficult to make the switch for them. Heaven, Hell, and the Love In Between & Hunter’s Choice have always ever been electronic versions, so it’s easier making the switch with them.

I’ve pretty much said all I can about that sordid mess for now. There is plenty more than that going on, but nothing I am willing to let the cat out of the bag over yet.

I need me some chocolate and wine, so I’m off for the rest of tonight. Much love, ladies, and gents. Keep an eye out for a news letter with release dates soon.

 

XoXo,

A.J.

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