Bookcast Episode 54: September has already been a long month

This episode is a MONSTER! I just kept talking. I love it all. You will too!
I talked a bit about the books I read in August (I will do my monthly wrap up in my planner tomorrow with the breakdown), I went over release week for the new baby and a couple of promotions I took part in last week.

AUDIOBOOK SALE A few of my audiobooks are on sale at select stores. Snatch them up HERE before they're gone!

Through September 5th, I have my first in series audiobooks FREE, and the books in those series are AT LEAST  50% off when you grab the audiobook. Shop at my site here before they go back to regular price.

Keep your eyes and ears open for the next STUFF YOUR EREADER and STUFF YOUR EARBUDS events! Book mark romancebookworms and audioromancebookworms.

My latest newsletter can be foundhere.   Join my newsletter here.

I had to buy a new laptop, so if you LOVE me or this podcast, toss a few dollars of support on my support site HERE!

CHAPTERS
0:15  Bookcast Episode 54

17:21 Book Recommendations, Reviews, and Q&A

27:41 Audio Books Impact on Pandemic

40:17 Newsletter, Book Promotions, Laptop Issue

55:13 Book Content and Future Projects Discussion

Transcript

DL White [00:00:01]:

Is this thing on Chow? It has been a week over here. Let me tell you all about it. I don't even know if I am ready to record. I just pulled up a bunch of stuff and I pressed record. Such a professional production over here. I am you. I have a little rundown that I go through when I do a podcast to make sure I don't forget things. But I didn't finish my rundown.

DL White [00:00:35]:

But I'm opening it anyway because I did start it. Welcome to the bookcast. Hi. Oh, it's chaos over here. It's chaos. This is my platform for sharing short fiction and updates on what I'm reading and writing. I am your host. I am DL.

DL White [00:00:57]:

White. I am author of romantic fiction novels featuring black men and women. I am also a big fan of books. So we normally begin with the book report. Then we talk about writing and reading and happenings in author world, reader world, book world. It's a good time. I am currently on a writing break until the middle of September and I am happy about it because I've just been shoving books into my face and we are going to talk about that. If you would like to support this podcast, please visit my support site@buymeaccoffee.com, booksbydialwhite.

DL White [00:01:39]:

There you can offer a one time or recurring monthly gift and I would be so appreciative if you would show your support that way. If you can't be an athletic supporter, it's my favorite line from Greece. The other way you can support is to buy the books, man. Buy the books. Booksbydiahwaite.com slash Books has all of the good stuff, including my new release. It's elysium a black diamond vacation romance. We will talk about that book release today. It is currently only available in ebook.

DL White [00:02:17]:

I am working on the print edition. I had to redo my cover because I got a little too wild and crazy with how big the title and the subtitle was and drafted. Digital said hey girl, your title about to be cut off and you got to fix this. So I had to redo that. As soon as I get my proof back, I can go ahead and release the print edition and get some copies here at the house to stock to sign and send out to the good citizens who order a book directly from me. So select titles are available in ebook, print and audio directly from me. You can go to booksbydlwhite.com. Slash books.

DL White [00:03:03]:

Every book has a landing page where you can choose ebook, print, audio, add it to goodreads. Read a sample, read those samples, y'all, I work hard to put those up there. Or you can go directly at payhip combooksbydlwhite. When you buy direct from me, it puts the money directly into my pocket with virtually no middleman taking 30% to 70% of the retail price. If you prefer to buy them retail, which you are more than welcome to. My books are not for sale anywhere I don't want them to be. If that's where you want to buy them, I implore you to do so. You can do that at Amazon.

DL White [00:03:40]:

Barnes and Noble. Apple Books. Kobo books. Google Play. They are also available via subscription sites like Scribd and COPO Plus. And they're available to request at your local library, and you can order them in print. Some may be signed from Resist Booksellers. You can go into the store down there in Petersburg, Virginia.

DL White [00:04:01]:

It's right outside of Richmond. And you can go in store browse there. It's a beautiful, really, really beautiful location. Or you can order them online. They'll ship it right out. I swear it's faster than Amazon these days. I love to hear that my books are added to circulation at your library, so when it pops up for you, shout me out. A holla.

DL White [00:04:24]:

I love that. So they're available to I want to say rent, but that's not the word borrow at your library via Libby or Hoopla. And I did just get notification yesterday that Elysium has been added to overdrive. So you can request that book at your local library. So go forth and do that. Please request it when it comes in, borrow it, maybe read it and turn it back in it'll. Just give me some borrowship and a little bit of clout with the library. So if you have my books on your shelves, please send them to me or tag me in it, or try to tag me in it.

DL White [00:05:04]:

Let me know that you tried to tag me in it. I turn my tags off because I get a lot of spam, like people, like post us and then tag like 99 people in it. And no, I cannot handle any of that. So no. So yay, it's episode 54. We will start with the book report, as always. And I want to talk about Elysium, the whole release process and a bunch of promo stuff I was doing and how's it going and did I have to buy a whole new laptop? Yes, I did. I'm going to tell you that whole story because I know you want to hear it.

DL White [00:05:43]:

I want to talk about it. Today is Saturday, September 2, 2023. How is it already September, people? It is a grayish day in Atlanta, but I suppose the sun will come out eventually. I have a mic. I'm ready to dig in. But first, I really need this coffee. My coffee is drinkable today, so I got in some big gulps and it's delicious. I can't wait to finish this podcast so I can drink the rest of my coffee.

DL White [00:06:28]:

So let's start with the book report. Because I am a book head, if I do anything, it's read. I would rather read than do anything else in life, seriously. So I am at 118 of 150 books read. I'm 79% of the way through the 2023 Reading Challenge. I do think I need to increase my goal. I might bump it up to like, 175 and then leave it there and just see how far above 175 I can get. It's September.

DL White [00:07:08]:

I'm 18 books ahead of schedule. I mean, it's ridiculous. I'm clearly going to hit my goal. So we'll see. And I'll bump it up maybe tomorrow we'll see how that goes. So I'm just going to do like, an overview of the books because I have been so all out of sorts with trying to put this book out to track what I read and when I read it and how many of what I read, I don't know. But I can tell you that I read 14 books in August. Tomorrow I'm going to sit down with my bookish planner.

DL White [00:07:48]:

I use the always fully booked Planner from Little Inklings Design to go through all of my reads from August. Then I identify books by black women, books by black men, books by authors who are not white. I also track ebooks versus audiobooks. Speaking of ebooks versus audiobooks, I have a couple of Q A questions, and I am going to try not to forget them before I sign off. So. Hang in there, Audra. I'm going to answer your questions because I want to. Yeah.

DL White [00:08:28]:

So tomorrow is when I'm going to do my August wrap up in my planner. And I usually post that on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. If you're interested in the breakdown of what I'm reading, how I read, and how it fits into what I aim to read every year I do every year, aim to read more black men, but the black women just be so prolific. I have a list of black male writers that I need to read, and I just never get to them because the books by black women, they sing. They call out to me. It's a siren's call. I must answer it. The book looks so pretty, I have to read it.

DL White [00:09:11]:

I'm also going to try to break down what I read, like romance versus other tropes. I read a lot of romance when I'm writing romance because I like to keep myself in the mood and keep myself really thinking loving thoughts when I am reading a police procedural. But writing love, my writing gets real stiff and pointed and short choppy sentences. It's not sexy. It's not sexy. So I try to stay in the lovey mood. It also gives me lots of ideas, and it just keeps a certain aura around me. I know a lot of writers that can't read the genre that they're writing in, and I'm not that kind of girl.

DL White [00:10:05]:

I got to read while I'm writing. The reading never stops. I read to warm up for writing. I read to cool down from writing. I read in between writing. I don't ever feel like I'm jacking somebody's style. I don't ever feel like somebody's words creeps into my prose. I have my own voice.

DL White [00:10:30]:

I have my own. I know my style. I know when I read something, if it sounds like me, and if I read something that doesn't sound like me, that's a problem, and I edit that out. I am not a person that doesn't read other authors because I'm afraid I'll plagiarize them. I have said before, I feel like that's a cop out. I feel like it's an excuse that people use to not read. I said it. I think if your voice is strong enough, you know your own style, you know your own voice, you know how you write, and you know you you know you when you read it, and you know good writing when you read it.

DL White [00:11:13]:

I feel like it would be hard for me to jack somebody's style. Do I get ideas from reading other people? Yes. Am I reminded of how full and how immersive a work needs to be in order to be considered good? Yes. When I read like a NIA Forrester or a Tasha L. Harrison or a Sharon C. Cooper or a Delaney Diamond, who I have her latest in my Kindle, and when I sign off, I am going to dig right into it. I am reminded of all of the senses of okay, in this chapter, she talks about the sound of, the smell of, the scent of the feel of. And I need to remember to incorporate that into the book.

DL White [00:12:01]:

And so I might read through what I have so far and be like, okay, here. I feel like I could bring out the salt in the air. They're having lunch. What are they having? I don't want to say they're having steak and shrimp. I want to say the aroma of sizzling steak and shrimp made my mouth water. That kind of thing. It helps me with the show versus tell. So for me, when I'm reading, it keeps me on that path.

DL White [00:12:30]:

It keeps me in the mood. It keeps my mind open. So if I'm reading a police procedural, which tends to be very direct short sentences, it's descriptive, but it's a little bit passive. I find that I pick that up a little bit in my writing. My my sentences become more passive. My conversations become short, choppy, direct, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and not blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's not lilting. It's not tempting.

DL White [00:13:09]:

It's not sexy. It's not happy. It's like mer. We don't want. We want. That made zero sense. That only made sense in my head anyway. So tomorrow when I do my breakdown, I'm going to try to know how much I read of what.

DL White [00:13:33]:

And romance is always reigning supreme because it is a soft place to land for me. But I also really like some gritty stuff. So I did read 14 books in August. Not all of them were awesome, but I did have a darn good time. My favorites were the Secret to a Southern Wedding by Cynthia Williams. I just love her work. I just love her work. Just a Girl by Alyssa Cole.

DL White [00:14:04]:

This was an Amazon original. It's an ebook. And in audio, it's a short. Oh my goodness. I just could not stop reading. I was in Chicago reading this book and they were like, hey, Dom, we're going to here and I'm like, yes, book in my ear. Okay, let's go. Just get in the car.

DL White [00:14:22]:

I'm just listening to an audiobook right now. I just could not stop listening. Favorite read of the month is When Crack Was King a People's History of a Misunderstood Era by Donovan X. Ramsey. Fabulous. It's nonfiction, which is so surprising. Hush, Dr. Raymond.

DL White [00:14:43]:

I already know I am going to get a message in my DMs about this, but nonfiction, really fabulous job. I heard him on the Stacks podcast. Tracy Thomas interviewed him, was so impressed with it. I'm a person that listens to a podcast and then I want to read the book. I'm not a person that reads the book and then listens to a podcast because I already read your book. But I get interested in books by hearing about books. So I listened to him on the podcast and I already had an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley. But I missed the launch date because I was trying to release a book.

DL White [00:15:24]:

And really well done. It's like you follow the progression of Crack through the history you follow the progression of the history of Crack through different stories of people. And so you follow the trajectory of these people before, during, and after. They are kind of in the hands, like dwelling deep in the world of Crack. And then in between, interspersed is the actual non history, the narrative of what's happening behind the scenes. And then you read about how it's affecting these people and these stories that we're really, really well done. And I listened to it on audio and it was gripping. It was really well done.

DL White [00:16:22]:

The other book I read was After That Night by Karen Slaughter. If you have followed me for any length of time, you know I am a big Karen Slaughter fan and I am an even bigger fan of the Will Trent series. This is Will Trent. Number eleven. I don't know if you guys are watching the Will Trent TV show, but it is so good. It took about two episodes to get me. The first episode was a little rough, but I have really enjoyed it. I might rewatch it.

DL White [00:16:56]:

Hopefully season two is coming if this strike lets up. But after that Night, it's book number eleven. Listen, if you have not read Karen Slaughter, this is not the book to start with. If you have not I mean, it's book eleven of a series. Don't start with this one. If you have not read Karen Slaughter in a minute, this is probably a book to skip. If you are very sensitive to triggering storylines. This was a rough read.

DL White [00:17:33]:

A rough read. All of the trigger warnings, all of them, every trigger warning that exists, put it on this book. Just be ready. It is very well done. I thought it's classic Karen Slaughter, and she releases one book a year, maybe two. And before every book, I really have to prepare myself because it's Karen Slaughter. She is like Sean Cosby. She pulls no punches.

DL White [00:18:04]:

And you just have to be ready when you go in. You just know it's going to be rough. You're going to be triggered. It's going to be uncomfortable. And it was. But so good. Oh my goodness. It was good.

DL White [00:18:17]:

Really good. I don't want to spoil anything, so I won't get into nitty gritty. I will just say it's good. I'm not really a person that can be deep and pontificate about meaning and symbolism and intent and blah, blah, blah. I'm not that analytical. A book was good or it wasn't. This was good. Just be ready.

DL White [00:18:44]:

Be ready when you go. In the other books I read Elysium, I read that old thing. It was pretty good. And then I read some other thrillers because I had been holding them back while I was reading Romance yesterday I read well, yesterday was September. But anyway, I read a book called sure, I'll Join Your Cult. It was a memoir by Maria Bamford. Didn't enjoy it. I didn't.

DL White [00:19:11]:

You know what happened? You know what I did? I saw the word cult, and I thought it was going to be like a gritty expose about cults. And it was a memoir about mental illness. And I was like, why did I get this book? Why did I ask for this book? Oh, Lord. So that book's out on Tuesday, I think I ended up giving it three stars. It's not my fault that I didn't read the blurb or the title of the book before I requested it. And then when I went to read it, I'm like listening to it. And I'm like, so when is she going to get to the cult? And then I actually read through the table of contents, and I read the blurb for the book and the entire title, and I was like, oh, this book is not about cults. Yeah, it's a memoir of mental illness and the quest to belong anywhere.

DL White [00:20:06]:

Now, if you enjoy Maria Bamford, a couple of people in the Stacks pack, which is the patreon that is attached to the Stacks Podcast Book Club, a couple of people said they really enjoy Maria Bamford. She is kind of an acquired taste, but they love her humor. And I feel like if you are used to her, that her humor probably comes out in the text. But it was very self deprecating. It was a lot of jokey, joke, ha. Oops, I'm a fuck up. A lot of that. And I just could not I just could not not my jam.

DL White [00:20:43]:

I did not downrate it because it is not the author's fault that I can't read or I refuse to read. But that comes out on Tuesday if you want to read it. That glowing review. So what am I reading? A lot of stuff I am currently reading. I'm looking through my goodreads list right now. One of my most favorite favorite, favorite authors on the planet. I think you guys have heard me talk about him. Paul Cleave.

DL White [00:21:14]:

He is a New Zealand noir thriller writer. My favorite series of his is the Theodore Tate series. He's a detective. It's set in Christchurch, New Zealand. There's a book called The Cleaner. I think that's book one in Theodore Tate series. My God, if you like thrillers, just put Paul Cleave into your face. Anyway, around 2018, I was super excited about a book and was talking about it on Twitter.

DL White [00:21:50]:

And he sent me a DM. And he's like, hey, I just want to let you know my US publisher dropped me. And so I'm not sure if this book is going to come out, but let me know if you're having trouble finding it. I will send you a copy. So he ended up sending me a copy of the book. I enjoyed the absolute toast out of it, and we just have been DMing back and forth ever since. He offered to read one of my books, and I said, Bro, you write people killing other people. I do not think you're going to be remotely interested in warm Southern fiction set in Georgia, so don't worry about it at all.

DL White [00:22:29]:

And he hasn't mentioned it. I don't think he's read it. It's fine if he doesn't, but it was so nice of him to offer anyway. So he has been sending me an advanced copy of his books before they are published since then, and I really enjoy that. I'm very honored. I'm super pleased to be on his roster of people. He asks for an honest opinion. I have a couple of authors that are like, hey, can you read this? I just want to get a feel for it.

DL White [00:23:01]:

Super love that. I only do that for certain people. So don't email me and ask me to read an early copy of nothing. Nothing. So he sent me a copy of a book that's coming out in September. Is it September? No, it's not September. Later this fall. It's coming.

DL White [00:23:22]:

But it's called his favorite graves. And it is already so freaking good. I'm 45% in. I do not know where this book is going, and I love that for me, super into it. So I'm reading that. I'm also going to read forever again. It's the next book in the Cordoba agency series by Delaney Diamond. I love this series to absolute pieces.

DL White [00:23:49]:

It's so good. The heroine or the main protagonist in this book is a woman. I just love a woman assassin, a woman mercenary, I love a female detective. I'm all over it. All the heck over it. So this book just came out, I think, September 1 or August 29, august 30, one of those days. This week it came out and I've been trying to get my arcs out of the way so I can read this book. So I have that one.

DL White [00:24:27]:

And then I have a book called Coleman Hill by Kim Coleman Foot that's coming out on Tuesday, so I have to get that read and reviewed by Tuesday. This one is about something about the Great Migration exhilarating story of two American families whose fates become intertwined in the wake of the Great Migration braiding fact and fiction. It's a remarkable character. Rich tour de force exploring the tides that bind three generations. So this sounds super good. I'm really looking forward to it. I might put that on my to read list for Sunday because I want to get to that Delaney Diamond book. And then I've been picking up the random Melinda Lee or Kendra Elliott book just for a quick jolt of thrillers mysteries.

DL White [00:25:19]:

I love a police procedural. So hard. Just love it so hard. So I got an email. Anyway, so those are the books that I'm digging right now. Like I said, I will do my wrap up tomorrow and I'm kind of looking forward to it, to look back and see what I actually read in August. Because to be honest, I don't remember. I was busy releasing a book.

DL White [00:25:45]:

Let me do my Q and A super quick before I forget because it would be like a really nice transition. So I put out a call for people who had any questions because I was light on topics last week and then I recorded early and so I didn't get the questions until after I recorded. And then Audra was like, hey, I submitted questions and I didn't hear you answer them, so I'm going to answer questions. She submitted two questions. The first is, why do you like flats and not drums? And obviously it's because flats are superior. Now, let me just tell you, all chicken wing parts matter. I would prefer to have a whole wing, but if I'm going to have wing pieces, I prefer a flat to a drum. There's something about that itty bitty drumstick and you're like holding it and you're trying to chew chicken off of it.

DL White [00:26:38]:

I don't like it. I don't like it. I feel like flats to me are easier to dip in your ranch or your blue cheese or your honey mustard or whatever you're dipping them into. I like them. I don't feel like there's more meat, but I feel like it's easier to get to. It's easier for me to eat. And if you serve me drums and they are fried crispy and they're just deliciously golden brown, I will eat it. I will not turn down a chicken wing.

DL White [00:27:14]:

But if you ask if I prefer flats or drums if you let me choose. If I can get flats or drums, I'm going to choose flats every time with some ranch and a side of celery and carrots, if you please. The other question Audra asked was why do you like audiobooks? And was I an avid reader before audio? Yes, I was an avid reader before audio. I have always been. I just really dig books. I started getting deep into audio probably around the pandemic. Before the pandemic actually. Audio wasn't a huge thing for romance authors until maybe 2019.

DL White [00:27:59]:

And I don't want to say I started the trend or nothing, but when I put out Rubies there weren't a whole lot of indies putting out audiobooks in romance. A lot of them were being bought by Tantor and put up Know. I think Jacinta Howard has had her books out in audio through Know. A few of them had their books purchased and put out Brunch at Rubies in Audio. Not by myself because I had Sheryl Palmer who actually did the recording and the editing and the putting up of it. But I put out a bunch at Ruby's. And then after I put out that book, I saw a lot of indies hop on that train. And because there were more audiobooks available to read, I had more audiobooks to listen to.

DL White [00:28:55]:

I have always loved them. If it's a great production, I am all into it. But right around the pandemic. And they sent us home in March of 2020 and said, hey, don't come back here until we tell you to. I was sitting here. I work primarily by myself. Unless I'm in a meeting, I'm not talking to anybody. Even when I am in the office, it's just me.

DL White [00:29:14]:

I'm at my desk working. I'm an email, I'm doing reports, I'm getting stuff done, I'm setting things up, I'm doing things. And so I like to have something in my ear, I like to have something to listen to, something to occupy my time, something to make the time go faster. Audiobooks have become my way to still keep reading but also keep working. And also during that time I was getting really obsessed with infection numbers and death numbers and I just was looking at the numbers every day. Are they rising? Are they falling? They were updating numbers like twice a day. And I was always on that website. I was watching Cuomo's New York daily briefing about how many deaths they had and I'm an obsessive person and I was getting like my ulcers were coming back.

DL White [00:30:08]:

And at the time my manager said you have got to find something to occupy your time. Stay off those websites, check them like once a week. You're not going to see a huge bump or drop daily, but check it like once a week if you need to keep an eye on the curve. But you are driving yourself crazy. This is a long game and you're going to make yourself sick. I was worried about my job, and I was worried about the restaurants. And he's like, don't worry about them. Restaurants, the people that own these restaurants fly private.

DL White [00:30:43]:

They're running orders through drive through. Their labor is on the floor. They're making money hand over fist in beverages. Don't worry about them. People, don't worry about it. You can't save them if they were going under. So find something to occupy your time. And so that's why in 2020, I released two books.

DL White [00:31:05]:

I put out an audiobook. I started a podcast. I think I really started digging into audiobooks. I had to occupy my time. And when I am listening to a book, my hands have to be busy. I am never going to just sit on the couch and start up an audiobook and stare into space while I'm listening to it. My hands have to be busy. It's something that I am listening to while I'm working, while I'm doing laundry, while I'm cleaning, while I'm washing my face, while I am doing anything, I will always have an audiobook or a podcast running.

DL White [00:31:38]:

I like having something in my ears. I like having a story told to me. If it's a good production, I am in, I feel like I'm in the story. It's playing like a movie in my head. So that is my deal with audiobooks. Let me tell you about this week. Last week I released Elysium. So I recorded my podcast early because I knew that I was going to get my edits back.

DL White [00:32:06]:

And I wanted to spend all day Saturday on completing my edits and getting my book ready to release. I recorded on Friday. I got my edits back late Friday night. I got up early Saturday morning and I started editing. I did not have really much to update. A lot of minor details. A comma here. This needs to be an M dash fixed spacing.

DL White [00:32:35]:

Because I had been going over and over and over, and we did two passes. So we did one pass. That was like a superficial pass. Let's fix the big issues and then let's go back and refine. In hindsight, it went great. I am just impatient. I'm a very impatient person. So I don't know how I'm going to survive future editing sessions.

DL White [00:32:58]:

But I got through it. Got through my edits, got the book ready to get up. I had a grandiose plans of kind of piecing it out. First putting it up at my site and waiting a bit, and then putting it up at retail. But I'll tell you, I'm a coward. I just felt like nobody was going to buy it if it wasn't up on retail. So I put it up on retail sites. It went up on Amazon super quickly.

DL White [00:33:26]:

It went up at Barnes and Noble super quickly. I put it up at Google Play. That took a bit. Took a minute to go up. But. It takes a few days really for it to distribute but all the while was available on my website for purchase in ebook only. I am, like I said, still waiting on the print proof just to make sure it looks good before I tell people that it's available and I start selling copies here through my store. So released the book.

DL White [00:34:00]:

Let me look at my sales I sold. Let me see if I can look through it. This needs to be last month. I use a software, a website called Scribecount to track my sales across all platforms except for Audible because they're still really trying to figure out the interface between Scribe, Count and Audible. But my audiobooks that I sell through Findaway are tracked through Scribe Count now. So that's awesome. Looks like I have two versions of Elysium. 28 plus 22 is what, like 50? I sold 50 copies of Elysium in ebook across all platforms.

DL White [00:34:55]:

To be honest real truthful, it's a disappointment. It's a disappointment. 50 copies of a book in a week is not a lot of books. There's not really a good way to spin that. Am I proud of the book? Yes proud of it. I did a damn good job on this book. It is very good to me. This is why to me it's important to like it before it leaves my computer because other people might not it might not be people's cup of tea.

DL White [00:35:31]:

So I moved 50 copies. Reviews are slow to come in. There were no reviews at Amazon when I looked yesterday there were two reviews at Goodreads when I looked yesterday and somebody had rated the book one star so it dropped my rating down to 3.83. So that's what I'm dealing with right now. My only consolation is that Beach Thing was a sleeper. Beach Thing was a real sleeper and I did push 18 copies of Beach Thing and I gave away like 2500 copies of the audiobook. I participated in the Stuff Your Earbuds event and I put my first in series Audiobooks on sale which they are still on sale through Tuesday. I'm taking them off free on Tuesday so they are free in my store.

DL White [00:36:30]:

Only the first in series audiobook that's brunch at Ruby's Beach Thing and Leslie's Curl and Die in audio. They are free. So go snatch them up if you're listening to this, they will be free until Tuesday. I'm taking them off free and then the first and then all of the books in those series are 50% off. So if you haven't bought those books yet, now is the time to go snatch those up because they go back to regular price on Tuesday. I also have a few audiobooks through retail sites are 50% off through September 30. If you go to Booksbydlwhite.com Audio sale all the links are there I think like Dinner at Sam's, I don't know, the guy next door, they're like 399. You can also pick those up at Chirp, so they're on sale there.

DL White [00:37:29]:

So I participated in that. Speaking of the stuff, your ereader event is coming back up September 20 through the 22nd. So keep your eyes and ears open. There's going to be a grip of authors who are offering free ebooks for the span of those two days. It is always a huge event. I did put one book in that sale, but if you are already an avid reader, you already have it. But I just would like everyone to please spread the word that it's coming, because you may have friends that have not read me and word of mouth sells books. So if you would please tell people that I am going to have a book in that sale.

DL White [00:38:12]:

Not only me, but I am encouraging all black authors. Sign up closes September eigth. If you are not in the it's the Zoe Bub or the ebook Blast, or the Stuff Your Ebook event or the romance bookworms event, all of those are the same thing. You need to be in the Facebook group. Yes, it's Facebook. I don't care if you haven't been to Facebook since 2017. If you want to participate, complain to your bestie, join the group, get into the sign up form so your books can be added to the giveaway or the event, I should say. So that's coming September 20 through 22nd.

DL White [00:38:59]:

There's another Stuff Your Earbuds event, which is Free audiobooks that's coming in November and I will have dates on that later on in the fall. Anyhow, so I did give away a grip of Beach Thing Audiobooks and hopefully Elysium being book two in the Black Diamond series will spur people to pick up book one. They'll read book One and then want to read Book know. I did see a lot of people picking up Beach Thing so they could read that before they read Elysium. It's not necessary to read beach thing before Elysium. It is a series in that the books are set in the same place, but there are no recurring characters in this book. We will see Wade and Amina come back in book three though, and hopefully we will see Vance and Athena dip in and out of book three. But I am not writing that until next year.

DL White [00:39:56]:

So just trying to think of what else I wanted to share about. Release out. I sent out a newsletter, so if you're on my newsletter, look for that. I'll put a link up in my have like a little link in bio thing. If you go to my bio on Twitter or on Instagram, and I think there's a link to my newsletter in there, it's like the start page, whatever. My little one page thing. There is a link to my most recent newsletter in there. I'll try to link to it elsewhere in the show notes, just so you can take a look at it.

DL White [00:40:46]:

There's nothing in there that I haven't talked about here though, because I am looking through it right now just to make sure that I cover everything I wanted to talk about. I feel like I forgot something because once again, I did not do a rundown for this week's show. I did want to note that I did participate in the Stuff Your Earbuds event, which is an offshoot of the Stuff Your Ereader event. And I do have some learnings. First of all, Findaway Voices says I pushed 952 books. I only had my book available via Barnes and Noble. On the retail side, on my site, I had about 2300 downloads. Not much for sales so far.

DL White [00:41:30]:

The drawback to being one of the few non white people pushing books in this group is that people don't shop, they don't think, they'll find books that they'll relate to. So they grab the free book and they go. I would like to be among people who know that that's their jam, that's their genre, that's what they are looking for. And so they actually shopped the site. And I tried to draw attention to the books that I put on sale, the related books in those series, basically people, they're just freebie seekers. So yesterday or not yesterday, but the other day I emailed everybody who snagged a free book from my site and then I asked if they would like to join my newsletter. I sent them to link the link to subscribe with teasers to the upcoming sales I'm going to have the sales I still have on my books at my site and the Stuff Your Ereader event and the upcoming Stuff Your Earbuds event. And then I'm going to dump the list probably in a few days because I don't believe that those are my readers.

DL White [00:42:32]:

Those are people looking for a free book. The people that are going to join my newsletter list are my readers. So I'm not going to email like 2500 people randomly. Those aren't my readers. So I did get hits on the new release because it's book two of the free book and then the free first in series audiobooks. As part of that event, about 2% of the people clicked on the subscribe button and I actually got like a 50% open rate on that email. So I should. No, I shouldn't.

DL White [00:43:10]:

I was going to say I should randomly email people, but that's actually actively illegal. I wish my regular newsletter got that kind of open rate. So it was actually really good. So a couple of learnings. I need to set my books to go up for free earlier. I don't want them to be free for weeks at a time. But I did miss out on early international sales because Barnes and Noble didn't go free until the night before. The site went live early so we could get international sales, which left all the hits going to my Pay Hip store, which was fine.

DL White [00:43:45]:

But then Bookfunnel had some delays. We got half a million hits on that site that day. And so it was a heavy, heavy load. I need to fix my listings. I set my audiobook as a physical item and not as a digital item. So now my store thinks I need to ship 2500 or something and I don't, and I have to clear them out one by one. This is not a fun thing. I'm down to like, 1900 something.

DL White [00:44:12]:

But honestly, I put out an audiobook and then I just put myself on automatic and I've just been clearing, like, 100 a day. 100 a day. It is not fun. Number three, encourage other authors to join in. I don't want to be the novelty. Like I said, people don't shop when they don't think they'll find something that they can relate to. They grab the free book and go. I want people who will look around, who will consider some deals.

DL White [00:44:41]:

My books are already dirt cheap. And so me putting them at 50% off means I am not making hardly anything. I ain't doing this for me, people. Readers of Black books should eat them up. And I really only got a few nibbles, which I think is a shame. I think it's a shame. So goals this week is to just keep pushing the book. Like I said, beach thing was a real sleeper.

DL White [00:45:07]:

It wasn't until last summer when Summer decided to read it for her birthday and a bunch of people jumped in and then everybody fell in love with Wade. And I was like, oh, maybe I could write two in that series. Maybe Elysium will be a sleeper. I know people have told me that they bought it and they're going to read it. If I am being honest and vulnerable, I wish I was the type of author where people shove everything aside and like, oh, DL. White has a new book out. Let me stop reading, stop whatever I'm doing, and I'm going to drop everything and read this book. I'm just not that kind of author.

DL White [00:45:46]:

People buy it and kind of put it away, put it for a rainy day. I admit I can be that type of person, too. I save it. And I know I told Robert Justice this, and now I am realizing much later why he was like, what? I said that I was saving one of his books. I was savoring it. But to be real, Robert, I had an advanced copy and I was saving it until right before release because I knew I was going to have a moment when I needed the perfect book to read. And I was so looking forward to it and I wanted to savor it. I didn't want to gobble it up and then forget it.

DL White [00:46:36]:

And then, oh, that book came out. I read it six months ago. I hate that. I hate it. I can't read it too early. So I know people grabbed this book and kind of put it away for later. And I know Audra has told me that she has some of my books that she is waiting to read. And I get Know for like, oh, it's the perfect time to read this book.

DL White [00:47:02]:

Oh, I've been saving this book. Oh, it's cold and it's gray and it's raining. I have the perfect book I've been saving for just this moment. Let me get some coffee, let me get my blanket, let me get my snacks, and I'm going to read. Like, that is a perfect moment to me. So I get it. I absolutely get it. The selfish, vulnerable side of me really wants the people that can't resist that have to crack it open and read it.

DL White [00:47:30]:

I know Julisa Reeds said she popped it open and she's like, oh, it's giving, but I can't read this yet. And so she closed it. And so I like the anticipation. I do like the delayed gratification. I do like the tease. So there are two sides of me are warring. I like it, but I don't. I love it, but I don't.

DL White [00:47:55]:

Release week was a bit of a disappointment, but actually it's still chugging. Like, I am getting sales every day and didn't break any records. It's not an instant hit. It's not anybody's best seller, but it's out and I adore it. I love Vance and Athena. I absolutely love Vance and Athena and has nothing to do with the fact that they are both my age and I might be like, projecting through them. Would I like to meet a handsome hunky dude know falls in love with me from afar and wants to fly me to an island so we could meet and love all up on each other? I don't know. Maybe.

DL White [00:48:46]:

Perhaps. I think I got to everything. If I didn't, I'll pick it up next week. Oh, goodness. You know what I didn't talk about? You know what I didn't talk about? My laptop. Rest in peace, Mac George, 2017 to 2023. My goodness, he fought the good fight. So you all remember in December when I went to release Hay Lover, I couldn't log into my machine.

DL White [00:49:15]:

We think like an update, didn't update all the way, and something happened, but I couldn't log into it, so I had to completely wipe it and start all over. And then I couldn't log into Vellum, so I had to format the book on readsy, which was okay, but not my favorite. And that whole debacle. Well, nine months later, I used my machine on Sunday, and then I closed it, and I feel like I ran the battery down. Something happened, I don't know. But I opened the machine back up on Tuesday. Now, I released the book on Saturday, so it did wait until Tuesday to crap out, but I went to plug in the laptop on Monday night because I knew I was going to use it on Tuesday. It would not charge.

DL White [00:50:12]:

No light on the MagSafe charger. Nothing wouldn't turn on. It wouldn't charge. I'm like, what the heck? So I tried all the tricks. Got on the internet, spent hours on the internet. How do I turn my mac on? Nothing. So I made an appointment with Apple, I took it in. They're like, I don't know.

DL White [00:50:32]:

They're like, I don't know. Could be this, could be that. We could send it in if you like. This is probably going to be the estimate. This is the most expensive thing that could be wrong with it. If it's not, they'll tell you what it is. And I just looked at that and I was like, this machine is almost six years old. It's already given me problems.

DL White [00:50:51]:

The D key already wasn't working. I was already looking at newer machines. I feel like the ghost of Steve Jobs said, watch this, and took my machine from me. I just felt like I was going to spend as much on a new machine. I putting new in air quotes because I always buy a refurbished, Apple certified refurbished machine, as I would have spent on repairing a machine that's five years old and the D key doesn't work. So I was like, you know what, I'm going to hold this. I might get it repaired, I might not, but I'm going to hold this. I am going directly home to the Apple Store site to look for a machine.

DL White [00:51:38]:

So me and my friend Terita, she is my little money spending partner in crime, got on the website, found a machine that would work for me, ordered it on up, and it came the next day. So I am actually recording on the new baby. He's a little more updated, I think. This is a 2020, it's a MacBook Air. I write on MacBooks because the programs that I use to publish are Mac only. Vellum is Mac only. I used to use scrivener. I don't anymore.

DL White [00:52:14]:

Everything else I use is in the cloud. But it just works better. It's easier for me on a Mac machine. So thankfully I had a backup. But it is super old. It's like a 2014 and it's like a little eleven inch MacBook Air and no. So I did not want to go back to using that one. That was why I bought the 2017.

DL White [00:52:41]:

So I have a new machine and a big old bill to pay this off. So once again, if you'd like to support this podcast, or me as an author, or if you'd like to help me pay off this machine, buy the books, buy the audiobooks, and you can also throw me any dollar amount as a love offering@buymeaccoffee.com. Booksbydl white. Because mama has a laptop that she needs to pay off. So I do love it. I do love it. It moves faster. It's a little more updated than my last machine.

DL White [00:53:21]:

The D key works, so that's fantastic. But yesterday I went to go test the new machine because I knew I had to record this podcast. And I go to plug in my mic, it's a USB mic. And I was like, this machine does not have any USB ports. It's USB four, which is the Thunderbolt whatever. So real quick I had to go on over to the overlord and get a little USB C to USB adapter thing to be able to plug in my mic because I can use my work computer but I don't like to use my work computer for like I'm not going to record my podcast on my work computer because no. So I have a new machine. And to their benefit, I ordered this yesterday afternoon about four and it was here at 07:41 A.m..

DL White [00:54:23]:

So say what you will about the overlord, but when you absolutely, positively need it overnight, it will be here. Thanks, Jeff Bezos. I believe that I have rambled for quite enough time. Yes, I said I was going to stop clockwatching, but this is a long episode. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed recording it. I do love talking to myself about myself. I hope you enjoyed it.

DL White [00:54:52]:

I hope you have a deep desire to go out and buy all of my books, booksbydiawhite.com, books. The new book is called Elysium a black diamond vacation romance. It is decadent, it is sexy, it is grown up. It is for the grown folks in the room. If you don't like sex scenes, skip the first two chapters. They are to set the scene, to set the mood. The book begins begins on chapter three, but I needed to set the scene. And so that's what those first two chapters are there to do.

DL White [00:55:30]:

And I feel like maybe people are turned off by those first two chapters, but the people that I want to read that book love those first two chapters. So you know what I'm saying? It's targeted is what I'm saying. So that, my dears, my bookish friends, brings us to the end of today's episode. Thank you for joining me for this episode of the bookcast. I will be back next week with a reading update. I hope not a writing update because I am on a break. I do want to start planning my next book. I start writing that book like mid September.

DL White [00:56:06]:

And I also have a little fan fiction project that I'm going to work on. But for this weekend, the main goal is just to read. I'm just going to read my face off and plan a little bit. That said, please enjoy your weekend, have a superlative week and we'll chat again next weekend. Bye.