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Broken Melody is Out Today!

Broken Melody Book Graphic

Broken Melody Book Graphic

Broken Melody is out today, which means that you can now get it as both ebook and paperback!

Happy Release Day to me!

I’m celebrating on a beach on Crete right now, but that does not mean it wouldn’t make everything just a little better if I see some numbers on the sales report when I get time to check in.

Is that enough of a hint or do I need to try harder?

Go buy the book.

You can get it at Amazon and a lot of other places. I expect even more vendors will follow in the coming days, so there should be plenty of options.

For now, I will enjoy a well-earned break in the Greek sun. But I look forward to coming back to the online community I have grossly neglected over the past couple of months, so don’t completely give up on me!

…Now go buy my book.

 

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Broken Melody Releases on 10th September

Broken Melody Book Cover Graphic

Yep, Broken Melody will be out on 10th September as both ebook and paperback.

Hopefully some of you out there are looking forward to reading the fifth book in the Angel’s Voice series… because someone has to pay for all the caffeine that’s gone into writing it. Really, I was basically vibrating through the last few chapters.

Dangerous caffeine levels aside, I’m really excited to get this book out there. I’m on a roll and already halfway through the first draft of the aixth book in the series, and spoilers, I somehow managed to sneak a dragon into the plot.

I really love dragons, guys.

Anyway! 10th September, mark your calendars. Dragons, people.

 

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Editing at the Louring House

Editing Owl

As you might be aware, I’m currently hard at work, either editing Broken Melody or procrastinating from editing Broken Melody.

My editing process usually involves three rounds of going through the book myself before handing it over to beta readers.

Each time I read the draft I change the font and font size of the book. If the text looks different every time, you tend to catch different mistakes on each read-through. This time around I even went as far as to betray everything I stand for as a web and graphic designer and did one round of editing in Comic Sans.

Shudder

No one can say I haven’t suffered for this book.

But I also change the way I edit every time.

The first round is basically just a read-through where I replace all the placeholders and go through my editing notes on what to fix. It’s the round that takes the draft from a complete trainwreck that only I understand, to something actually resembling a book.

The second round (where I’m currently at) is where I read the entire book out loud to catch weird phrasing. This would be very simple, if I didn’t live with a tiny, judgmental owl that insists on giving his input. My reading today has sounded like this:

“Orrell tackled her to the gound as the explosion went off — shut up — shielding her with his body as the ceiling — shut up — above the door blew to pieces and — jesus christ, Artemis, mind your own business!”

My window is open, so I’m fairly certain my neighbors think I’m insane.

Editing Owl

The third and last round before throwing the damn book at the beta readers is simply running it through grammar software like Grammarly and ProWritingAid, and have a computer tell me how crappy my writing is. But unlike with Artemis, these judgmental bastards at least give me suggestions on how to fix it.

That’s a general overview of my editing process.

And, of course, it’s important to remember to procrastinate by stopping in the middle of editing to write a blog post about editing!

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Smashwords’ Summer/Winter Sale 2020

Book Covers Michelle Louring

Book Covers Michelle Louring

It’s time for another Smashwords’ Summer/Winter sale!

For the entire month of July, the ebook store Smashwords will have thousands of discounted and free ebooks.

I hope all of you in the Northern Hemisphere are enjoying the weather and getting a lot of reading done, and not – like me – up to your ears in thistles while trying to weed the garden. Summer does have its disadvantages.

But it’s all worth it when you get to sit outside in the evening sun with a good book and a cold drink! My library is well-stocked for once, but that won’t stop me from checking out every book sale I come across. You never know when you might need those 57 new books…

Of course I’m an author as well as a reader, so as always, my own books are to be found among the discounted titles on Smashwords. I’m not telling you to go download them, but…

You should go download them.

All kidding aside, I’m truly hoping to find some great deals this year. As you probably know, I’m fond of Fantasy and Horror, but I might give some other genres a try if I see something interesting.

Readers, feel free to post your favorite Summer/Winter Sale finds in the comments!

Smashwords’ Summer/Winter Sale

1. July – 31. July 2020

Resounding Echo Michelle Louring cover
Resounding Echo – FREE
Silent Sound Michelle Louring cover
Silent Sound – 75% OFF
Quiet Whisper Michelle Louring cover
Quiet Whisper – 75% OFF
Ghostly Scream Michelle Louring cover
Ghostly Scream – 75% OFF
Redesign Fantasy Cover
Huntress – FREE
Book Cover Demon
Demon’s Dance – FREE
Song of Angels Book Cover
Song of Angels – 75% OFF
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Cover Reveal – Broken Melody

Broken Melody Michelle Louring Cover

As promised, here you have the cover for my upcoming book Broken Melody.

As it’s the fifth in the Angel’s Voice series, it obviously matches the covers of the other books. We’re just going orange this time.

Broken Melody Michelle Louring Cover

It was pointed out to me at a convention that I had the colors of all the Hogwarts houses, except for Hufflepuff, and several Hufflepuffers (Hufflers? Puffers…? I’m not sure what they call themselves) found this completely unacceptable. However, I did not actually have a yellow version of the artwork, so I’m hoping orange will do.

(I checked my own set of Harry Potter books – there’s no yellow book either, but there ARE blue, green, red and orange…)

I’m quite sure I have my arguments in order if I get cornered at the next convention. I can hear you laughing, but geeks – even the nice ones – are surprisingly fierce when they feel wronged. One memorable game of World of Warcraft Trivial Pursuit once led to me getting beaten up by prop weapons made from thermoplastic and I have been tackled by cosplayers more times than I’d like to think about.

I bet you thought this post was about a book cover, huh? But nope, it’s really about why I wear footwear suitable for running when I sell books at conventions…