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[swordarkeereon]

New Release: Salvation

What is living within the walls?

After fifteen long years, Tyler Reynolds moves back to Ridgeway, believing the nightmare of Amelia Doss is over. When his wife and their two young children begin having supernatural experiences in their new house, Tyler fears the worst. He enlists his best-friend, Danny, and the former sheriff of Ridgeway, James Abbott, to help him put together the pieces. When the murders start up again, there is no doubt that Amelia Doss is back.

Amelia emerges from the grave to discover a new set of powers, and new, dark friends. She has only one thing on her mind – kill Tyler Reynolds and whoever gets in her way.

BUY NOW

[swordarkeereon]

Autumn in Pictures

If she fits inside the fruit press bucket, she sits inside the fruit press bucket. ::sigh:: Cats.

We got a bumper crop of apples this year. 8 bags yielded 2.25 gallons of hard cider.

I did some water bath canning over the summer, but I did my tomatoes via oven canning. But only because they’re highly acidic. Don’t try this at home!

Autumn horror releases! Pick them up!

[swordarkeereon]

New Release: Preeminent Curse

While this was released earlier this year on my list, and list members enjoy more options for printed formats, The Preeminent Curse is now available in case wrap hardcover* for those in the general public. (*Please note that cover is different.)

The Preeminent Curse is a manual of Daemonic execration magick for traditional Daemonolaters. This book builds upon S. Connolly’s Curses, Hexes, & Crossings with Daemonolatry specific execration magick. The book includes curse work utilizing Goetic Daemons as well as the self-work that needs to be done before the execration magick.

GET IT HERE

[swordarkeereon]

New Release: Nightfall (Amelia Doss #2)

Nightfall (Amelia Doss 2) Horror/Thriller

How do you kill what’s not alive?

Tyler Reynolds longs for normalcy after surviving the brutal attacks that plagued his small town. Now, he and his best friend, Danny, have moved to the big city to start their college careers, believing the distance will keep them safe.

All is well . . . until a familiar pattern of murders begins to emerge around campus. The boys hesitate to jump to conclusions, but as the body count rises and the deaths inch closer, they must face a cold reality. She’s back.

For Amelia Doss, finishing the job is her only concern. She refuses to back down – no matter how much blood has to be spilled to get her revenge.

GET IT HERE

[swordarkeereon]

Cursed Vampire: A Second Chance Paranormal Romance

She was his best friend’s girl…

Quinton: Heading to Coventon with my progeny, I never expected to run into Melissa. A lifetime ago she was my best friend’s progeny and lover – and I was attracted to her then. Now, she’s here and she’s single — and I can’t stop thinking about her… wanting her. Then he showed up.

Melissa: Quinton was my maker’s best friend decades ago. When he showed up at Sanguine for the Vampire’s Samhain Ball I practically choked on my drink. He seemed more regal, built, and gorgeous than I remembered him – and I’m pretty sure he’s flirting with me even though he brought along some perky blonde. To make matters more difficult, my maker, James, just showed up, too – alone – and he’s trying to get back together with me. I know who I want, but I also have loyalties.

GET IT HERE

Find the rest of the series HERE.

[swordarkeereon]

Re-Released: TAMED

All bets are off.

When Trish is offered a second job by the gruff Master Hildolf, she accepts, knowing she’ll be in complete control. After all, how hard could performing at Mistress Antoinette’s High Protocol Ball possibly be?  She never expected she’d want the job full-time.

Master Hildolf was just trying to win a bet. He wasn’t prepared to fall in love. 

Formerly published as Taming Trish, this steamy, dark, contemporary romance is sure to keep you riveted to the end. Please note this is a consensual power exchange romance. 

GET IT NOW!

[swordarkeereon]

Daemon Directory Android App Released

Welcome to the latest project Darkerwood Publishing Group has been working on.

Daemon Directory, an official app from demonolatry.org, is a compendium of 100 daemons that traditional Daemonolaters work with most often. Entries for each daemon includes purposes, enns (invocations), correspondences, and more, as well as useful descriptions from author S. Connolly and the Goetia. A handy and essential reference for any Daemonolater, occultist, witch, or anyone curious about the dark arts. Entirely filterable by purpose, daemonic hierarchy, element, celestial correspondence, and month, enabling you to identify the proper daemon for your needs. Use it to honor the Daemons each month, as a study tool, or to plan ritual work.  If you agree and think it’s an indispensable reference, be sure to leave it a review! 

NOTE: Currently only for Android. If there is enough interest, we’ll have our developers put together an iOS version.

For a limited time, get this essential on-the-go reference for only $2.99  (No ads and no annoying pop-ups!)

GET IT HERE

[swordarkeereon]

Seven Lustful Sins!

SEVEN LUSTFUL SINS: Tales of Religious Debauchery

The most blasphemous book you’ll read this year.

Originally penned under the nom de plume Ella Marquis, Anne O’Connell’s Seven Lustful Sins is a collection of religious blasphemy and debauchery. In every tale meet lustful, sometimes pure maidens and kinky clerics overwrought with temptation. Anne O’Connell leaves none of the prominent religions untouched in this unholy collection.

Find out what the devil really can do with idle hands.

Includes: Spank Me For Jesus, Touch Me, Jesus, Thy Rod & Thy Staff, Muhammad Massaged Me, Monk Menage, Missionary Positioning, and Punishment.

Warning: This book contains some material readers may find objectionable. Sexual theme and content includes, MMF, FF, bondage, discipline, spanking, anal, Christian Domestic Discipline, first time intercourse, dubCon, authority figures taking advantage of lustful, pure maidens, May-December sexual relationships, scripture, and a great deal of creative religious blasphemy. May cause triggers!

AMAZON | NOOK | KOBO |

[swordarkeereon]

The Solitary Path

There is a reason they call the path of the magician a solitary path. Magick tends to show you the world on a different level. The practice of magick makes you analyze yourself, your nature, your own existence, your relationships with others, and your place in the world and universe. It makes you more carefully cultivate the people you surround yourself with. It makes one acutely aware of one’s individuality and differences(so you may feed disconnected from other people on a level you’ve never known before). It makes you realize just how significant and insignificant each of us is.

You see the cruelty and beauty of the world simultaneously. Some magicians react to this by becoming nihilists, others cope by adopting toxic positivity, and others still react by accepting the strange dichotomies of life. The wise magicians learn to change the things they can, and accept the things they can’t. They find beauty and joy where they can.

There are so many choices each magician will make- and no one else can make those choices for you. While others can sympathize with your path and what you need to go through to grow and change and live your Great Work, no one else will ever traverse the exact same path that you’re on or understand your exact situation or feelings. You are utterly alone in this magical journey. Just you and the elements and energies that make up the universe.

[swordarkeereon]

Interview with NF Reads

Check out my interview with NF Reads here! Learn more about my creative process and my advice to writers.

You can see a list of my other interviews on THIS PAGE.

[swordarkeereon]

Re-Released: CLAIMED (Doms of Black Lily #3)

CLAIMED (Doms of Black Lily #3) Anne O’Connell

Fear is bad for love.

Amy and Eric are in a rocky place in their relationship and a dark specter has been haunting the dungeons at Black Lily. When half the staff suddenly quits, Eric and Brad convince Amy and Kali to go in as temporary staff under the guidance of club manager, Master Hildolf.  it doesn’t take long for them to realize there’s something creepy going on in the dark corners of Black Lily. One by one the new employees start quitting and customers are frightened away.  Amy has no choice but to face her fears to find out if Black Lily is haunted, and if she and Eric’s relationship will survive. 

Formerly published as Black Lily, this steamy dark romantic thriller is sure to keep you riveted to the end. Please note this is a consensual power exchange romance. 

GET IT NOW

[swordarkeereon]

New Release: Deliciously Wicked!

Deliciously Wicked – Audrey Brice

Eye of newt, leg of frog…

Northrop’s annual baking contest has been sabotaged! I’m Elise Marybell Marple, owner of the magic shop, Wicked Ways. It’s up to me and my friends to figure out why the contestants are transforming before our eyes.  When the transformations start hitting a little too close to home, my demon boyfriend, who’s having infernal issues of his own, may need to help me out. Can we find the witch responsible? Or will some of the residents of Northrop be changed forever?

Get it NOW!

[swordarkeereon]

Re-Release: HUNTED (Doms of Black Lily 2)

The past has a way of catching up.

Kali and Brad are the ultimate power couple. She’s vivacious, intelligent, and has an attitude. But when her attitude suddenly changes, the relationship gets serious, and Kali clams up about her life in California, Brad finds himself on a mission to find out why.  He begins digging into her past only to discover that some secrets should stay buried. Now, it’s up to both of them to keep Kali alive long enough to put an end to her former life once and for all.

Formerly published as Switched, this steamy dark romantic thriller is sure to keep you riveted to the end. Please note this is a consensual power exchange romance.

GET IT NOW

[swordarkeereon]

Re-Release: CONFINED (Doms of Black Lily 1)

Some secrets should be left alone.

When Amy starts her new job at a book shop, she immediately senses her new bosses have something illegal going on in the back room. She’s never been allowed back there. Once she uncovers their secret, and faces punishment, her desire for more plunges her deeper into their world.  Now she has a choice – she can run back to the safety of her normal life and her abusive ex, or she can risk everything, including her life, to be with the man she loves. 

Formerly published as Training Amy, this steamy, dark romantic thriller is sure to keep you riveted to the end. Please note this is a consensual power exchange romance. 

GET IT NOW

[swordarkeereon]

New Release: Forbidden Vampire

In the Paranormal Underworld, some love is forbidden…

ELLA: It was only supposed to be a one-night-stand. Submitting to a stranger I only knew as Master was easy. I’d never met anyone who could take control and make me feel like I was his everything. I know he felt it, too. Then he ghosts me. How could everything change overnight?

TREY: She was the first submissive to bring out an uncontrollable mating urge in me. She would have made the perfect mate, if she wasn’t a vampire. I can’t stop thinking about her. I want her — need her… but my kind would never accept her. I’m crushed, but I have to walk away, don’t I?

GET IT NOW

[swordarkeereon]

12 Things to Know Before Starting Your Own Business

This month’s theme is sacrifice – or – to make sacred. There are a lot of things we make sacred when we go into business for ourselves. Our time, our energy, and our attention. This list kind of fits this theme. So here are a few of the things I wish I knew before I started my own business. Mind you, however, that knowing these things ahead of time I likely would have trudged forward anyway. It would have been great to have a heads-up though. 🙂

HIRE AN ACCOUNTANT: That way you know your taxes have been done right and you’ll stay out of hot water. I stopped doing my own taxes the minute my writing income breached $10K a year and I started feeling a bit nervous filling out all the new forms and having anxiety attacks wondering if I’d forgotten something. Yes, you have to sacrifice some money, but it’s totally worth it for the stress relief.

YOU CAN’T DO IT ALL YOURSELF: I hire editors and cover artists because those are two things I’ve never been able to do for myself and I knew that going in. Maybe your business is different. Maybe in the beginning you can do it all yourself, but as your business grows, you find you can’t manage to find the time to do the basic things your business does (like making widgets or producing content). That’s when it’s time to hire help. I resisted this for a lot of years until circumstances beyond my control forced me to give up some of the control and hire a few things out. I hired out my social media and hired a PA to deal with my email and scheduling Once I did that, I honestly wondered why I hadn’t done it sooner. I recovered SO MANY HOURS by doing this that I was able to produce more content and do more of what I love. I had to sacrifice my need to control every little thing (which was hard) for this one. This is another thing that also requires a sacrifice of money, but in the end, it’s money well spent. Also – don’t take on more than you can handle! Otherwise you’ll find yourself sprinting deadline to deadline at a dead run and you’ll never feel caught up.

MAKE TIME FOR YOUR PRIMARY BUSINESS EVERY DAY: That means, whatever the main function of your business is, make time for it every day. It’s easy to get caught up in the administration end of things to a point where you find yourself not doing any of the things that actually make money – producing the content or making the widgets. You can’t sell something you don’t have and all the marketing in the world won’t help you. I sacrificed more by spending too much time doing admin work than I did putting it off on the back burner. It will keep and I get to it after my content creation goals are met every day.

TAKE DAYS OFF: The self employed have this nasty habit of working 24/7. We become workaholics and control freaks (which is likely why we went into business for ourselves to begin with). This, however, can lead to burnout pretty damn quickly, as well as other health problems. You need self care. You need time off. If you have to – schedule it! Yes, you do sacrifice time where you could be getting more done, but at the same time, it’s better than burning out. I’ve been in burnout and it’s NOT fun. So right now – go into your schedule and set up office hours. Do not work outside those office hours if you can help it.

INVEST IN YOUR EDUCATION: Whether it’s by reading books or taking classes in your industry, lifelong learners are more successful business owners. Don’t skimp on your education. You sacrifice money, yes, but what you learn can increase your bottom line. I took some classes in advertising last year. Yes I sacrificed money. Yes, I sacrificed time. But I doubled my income as a result.

INVEST IN ADVERTISING: But only after you learn the ins and outs of the advertising platform you’re using. As the old saying goes: you have to spend money to make money. I resisted paid advertising for a lot of years, relying only on word of mouth. I would have thrown this miserly attitude out the window sooner had I realized how much better off I would be if more people were reading my stories. The sacrifice here is money.

STICK TO A SCHEDULE: I’ve never been one for schedules because they always seemed to get muddled up. But over the years I’ve noticed that sticking to a schedule has helped me to increase my overall bottom line. My family also has a very clear idea of when I’m working and when I’m not, making them feel more comfortable being able to plan family outings or get-togethers. Plus, it make it more motivating to get things done if you know you only have a limited number of working hours. Plus, a publishing schedule keeps readers happy. And while I still have some releases marked “Tentative”, I know that readers love the fact that they have something definite to look forward to with the books I have pre-scheduled (because they’re already done). The sacrifice here is spontaneity. But it’s for a good cause.

STOP COMPARING YOURSELF TO OTHER PEOPLE: You’re not them and they’re not you. You are two unique individuals. For example: In the writing world it’s common for writers to judge themselves based on the most prolific writer they know who’s releasing monthly or even twice a month. Know your limits and do you’re own thing. Comparing yourself to others is like comparing yourself to a fish and beating yourself up because you can’t breathe under water. We all have our limitations and our own speed of producing. Move at a comfortable speed where you’re not sacrificing quality and you won’t go wrong. The sacrifice here is accepting yourself and your capabilities.

DON’T RUSH TO GET BIG: People underestimate the idea of starting a business and staying small. Staying small (or even downsizing) has its advantages. Check out the book Company of One, which outlines a new movement where the self-employed don’t take on more than they can handle. If you have to have a waiting list — have a waiting list. Don’t burn yourself out by trying to go big if you really don’t want to get big. Otherwise you’re going to find you need to hire people to help you keep up – and if you refuse to give up control to someone else for some aspect of your business – you’ll eventually regret it. Also remember – you can’t do it all. The sacrifice here might be all the extra money you could be making, but at the cost of what? Your sanity? Your relationships with other people? Your health?

DON’T LISTEN TO YOUR CRITICS: (unless they’re not complete assholes) Everyone has their critics or naysayers. When it comes to criticism, ask yourself the following questions. Is the critic anyone worth listening to? What are their credentials? Is the criticism constructive, in that it offers kind and helpful suggestions for improvement? Constructive criticism comes from people who want to see you succeed – not those who would love to see your downfall. Is the criticism valid (i.e. you’ve heard the same criticism from multiple people)? Do you agree with the criticism? Can you improve the product? Is it worth improving or should it be shelved, or left as it is, and should you move forward and try to do better next time? Most criticism is just poisonous vitriol, or people who can’t see your vision. Had I listened to my critics on The Complete Book of Demonolatry, I would have stopped writing in that genre and wouldn’t have gone on to produce far better books. Had I listened to my early critics on Left Horse Black, I would have stopped writing fiction altogether. You sacrifice nothing for this.

NOTHING WILL EVER BE PERFECT: Perfection is a goal, but not always a reachable one. No product or content will be perfect for everyone. Mistakes (especially in books) happen. When I was younger, I would flip out when I found out there were typos in my books. Now I have a system for fixing them, and it means leaving the books in publication and not doing a re-edit/revision until the list of typos in a book reaches 5. (I have CBD in the queue for a complete revision for the 2nd Edition, for those who have asked). You have to sacrifice your perfectionism for this, and for a lot of folks, that’s easier said than done.

MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS: In a lot of industries, people get caught up in what their perceived “competitors” are doing. They shit talk them. Badmouth their ideas. Try to start fights with them. Criticize their products, services, or content. Don’t start it, and don’t fall into the game of reacting to people who do that. Mind your own business and do your own thing. Let other people waste their time doing stupid shit. I guarantee they’ll never reach the same level of success as the people who mind their own business. At most, you sacrifice wasted time, which is a good thing, right? Plus you keep your sanity and enthusiasm for your Great Work.

So that’s it. I hope you’ve found this pep talk useful and inspiring! See you next month!

[swordarkeereon]

No More Outside Publishers. Period.

I made a solid decision at the beginning of the year to no longer work with any outside publishers. There are two exceptions. The first being my friend Bernadette’s publishing house, 5 Prince Publishing, where Saving Sarah May (my first, and perhaps only, sweet romance) was published. The second, being my friend Andre Gonzalez publishing house, M4L Publishing, which publishes me and Andre’s co-authored Amelia Doss series.

What was the final straw, you ask? It wasn’t a straw really. It was more like I had a realization of what my work is actually worth, and that people were coming to me with TERRIBLE publishing deals and offering to pay me what professional writers were making back in 1990. YES – 30 years ago professional rates. I’ve been writing for almost 30 years, and I’m really not doing anything for other writers in the industry, or myself, by accepting anything less than .20 cents a word for an article (plus more if newsletters and videos are required).

Modern day, professional advances on non-fiction books are running $5,000 – $20,000 ($2,500 is noob, rock bottom), and I’ve had publishers contact me and offer me $500 -$700 and tell me that’s a professional rate. Uh, no. Sorry. Not for a professional writer who’s been at this game for over 30 years, and who is one of the foremost world experts on her subject matter. Advances on non-fiction haven’t been that low since the 90’s, and if you’re working for that — you’re fucking yourself.

What is even worse is when you know what these publishers are selling the books for, and that they’re only paying their authors $4-$5 per copy sold toward the advance of $700, and you know the publisher is making $36 a copy (after you deduct the $10 print cost). Yet — it was the AUTHOR who did all the work. Especially in occult publishing, I’ve learned, no one is hiring editors, and layout is often done by the publisher him/herself. I know this because I’ve later found mistakes in my own work published by certain publishers that any editor would have caught.

Frankly, coming to a professional author who isn’t just starting out, and offering them 1990’s rates for professional content, is FUCKING INSULTING. And between last year and this year, I’ve been insulted enough to realize – hey – I’m worth getting paid professional rates!

Especially when I can publish my own work, do a fantastic job, AND make 100% of the profit without having to include a middle man, and not only make my professional rate, but also the publisher’s cut (minus printing, editorial, and formatting fees). But still, the difference is huge. Let me just spell it out for you.

ARTICLES: A 7,000 word article at .20 cents a word (which is the rock bottom professional NF rate in 2021) is $1,400.00. If you’re writing NF articles for someone and they’re paying you less than that…. WTF are you doing? The last one I did has barely netted me .10 cents a word, which is what I was being paid to write articles for a trade magazine back in 1996. Not kidding.

BOOKS: Let’s specifically talk the economics of limited edition hardcovers (LEH). Let’s say a publisher prints 250 LEH. They offer the author a $700 advance with an 8% royalty toward that advance (that means you have to sell at least 175 books before you earn out that advance and start actually making money, of which there is approximately only $300 more to make.) This means you’re being paid, AT MOST, $1000 to write a content rich book at a minimum of about 30,000 to 40,000 words. SERIOUSLY. Now, take into account that the publisher is likely only paying about $2,500 in printing (including shipping, taxes, etc) and the book, with all copies sold, the book stands to bring the publisher $12,500. Even if the publisher hires an editor for about $400, that means it’s only $4000 out of his pocket. The author gets $1000. The printer and editor get $3000 between them. The publisher walks away with over $8,000. Seems a bit predatory to me since without the author, you don’t have the book. Period.

Now I’m not saying the publisher shouldn’t make money. After all, they have to hire the editor, format it, get it printed and do the distribution, marketing, etc… But honestly — that’s the easy part nowadays. I know because I’ve been indie publishing since 2006. The hardest part is learning how to format or finding a formatter, where to find editors, where to find a printer, and how you’re going to distribute it. Once you have those things set up – you sit back and delegate. You line up orders, you package them and ship them out. Hell, you don’t even have to leave your home office to do that. You can print your own mailing labels directly from most point of sale systems, or via USPS online. USPS will deliver your mailing material, and they’ll pick that shit up for you if you arrange it. After the initial rush of sales on a book, your time spent packaging orders is minimal (unless you do that as your primary business).

There are some publishers that are doing better splits with authors, but the sad fact remains that many of them are just putting out the up front money to have the books printed, hoping the author ran it by a few friends who edited it, they quickly format it via word (which literally takes maybe an hour depending on length), and distribute it. For that, they’re taking half, or more. They don’t edit. They don’t market. (They’ll tell you they do, but they don’t. One post on their social media page doesn’t count.)

I published one book with a publisher who honestly didn’t know how to sell my books. We did have a 50/50 split, but this guy was HORRIBLE at selling the books. I got the first few royalty payments okay, but then, like a lot of small publishers do when they start to go under because they don’t know what they’re doing, he started spending the money as it came in and when it was all said and done, he owed me a little under $1000 and basically whined that it was my fault the book wasn’t selling. That I wasn’t well-known enough and the books were worthless to him. (All this so he could get out of paying me my $950 or whatever.) So I told him that instead of cash, he could send me the books he couldn’t sell. He did. I made well over that $950 he owed me on those books. A lot over, actually. I had no problem selling them. He couldn’t figure it out. ::shrug:: To this day, I don’t know what was so difficult about selling them and my only guess is HE wasn’t putting forth any effort to market them, and was expecting me to do it. And so I did and I ended up doing well on that book.

So — there’s that. Not all publishers know what they’re doing beyond distribution, and if they want to pay an author peanuts for a book and expect the author to do all the marketing — well seriously, fuck that. Let’s not even get into the hourly rate you’re making. If you make $1000, divide by the minimum wage in your state (it’s almost 12.50 in Colorado) — that means you have to be able to write a full book in 80 hours (two weeks) just to make minimum wage. That means all outlining and research, all the writing, and all the revision. 80 hours. Considering most NF books can take authors six months to a year to write — how much you think authors are actually making per hour at $1,000.00 for a book? Even for a 30,000 word book at .20 cents a word – the author should be making a minimum of $6,000.00. That at least pays the author for 480 hours, which covers twelve 40 hour work weeks at minimum wage (12.50 an hour), or three months of their time. (I could write a solid 30K book in 3 months).

Then the question is — if you’re going to do the bulk of the work anyhow, why not just add managing the project and distribution to the mix and do it yourself? You can have readers fund the printing costs through paid pre-orders. You only need 50 people to pre-order to pay for a 250 print run. 56 if you want to hire an editor. At least then you’re the one making the eight to ten-thousand dollars. Yes, you’ll have earned every cent with writing, hiring editors, formatting, dealing with printers, and doing your own marketing and distribution, but you won’t feel used – like a cheap whore.

If you are a professional writer, you charge professional rates because you’re WORTH PRO RATES. End of story.

Is there an instance where I would consider a traditional contract? Absolutely. The contract would require the following:

Contract limit of 3-5 years, at which time 100% of all rights revert back to me.

It better be a million dollar book deal.

I get full creative license.

HAHA — contracts like that don’t exist. But if I can do what a publisher can do, and I could do it better and actually make what I’m worth, then why wouldn’t I? That said, I don’t often deal in LEH anymore. I prefer my books to be affordable for readers which means ebook, paperback, and hardcovers that won’t break the bank. Which means I do make a lot less than the above example, but at least I’m not handing most of my wages to a middle man who is basically my pimp while I do the bulk of the work. If I’m doing the bulk of the work anyway — I’m doing IT ALL. Eventually each book will earn out the work I put into it. Some books it happens faster – others it happens slower.

Okay, I’ll quit bitching. I am simply fed up with being offered insulting contracts.