On October 10th, The Hartvane Chronicles Book I: The Outcast and the Chosen One, your new favorite mermaid pirate novel, will be available in ebook and audiobook forms! (We’ll talk about physical books later.) And right now, you can pre-order it at these places!
itch.io: This is the best place to buy my book! itch.io is very creator-friendly and buyer-friendly, since it gives me the chance to send you add-on goodies as they’re available (and there will be add-on goodies coming!), plus it lets me bundle the ebook and audiobook in with the same purchase, along with providing the EPUB and PDF formats for the ebook. The audiobook is somewhat more expensive ($9.99 vs. $5.99), but if you get the audiobook, then you get the ebook with it. Neat!
If you’re not familiar with itch.io, I recommend them highly. They’re mostly known for video games and TTRPGs, but they are willing and able to host books and take only a small piece of my pie (they let you pick how much they take! Their default is 10%, which is very generous of them compared with most places, so I’m using that), so I’m taking advantage of their hospitality!
Barnes & Noble (ebook only): This is an okay place to buy my book! They leave me 70% of the royalites, which is fairly standard, and they have more customer service/reputation available than itch.io, so I’m happy with you buying it here. Be warned that this version will only work with Barnes & Noble apps and such! If you’re okay with that, more power to you!
Amazon (Kindle version): This is not the best place to buy my book! Amazon technically offers 70% of the royalties, but they subtract “delivery fees” for the download size, and those fees are grossly exaggerated. Plus, I mean, it’s Amazon. They offer more money if you sign an exclusivity contract with them, but there’s no way I was going to do that! If you absolutely have to, you can get it on your Kindle, but I’d much prefer it if you got it from somewhere that cares about you or me. đź’š
Audible: Not available yet! They still need time to process it. It’ll probably be more expensive than the price I have it listed at on itch.io, though! And you won’t get the ebook version bundled in with it, either. I’ll give a shout when it’s available, but I’m only putting it here because I know there are people who won’t find audiobooks anywhere else. The royalties I get are awful, and generally, nobody’s happy about it.
Okay! Those are the places you can pre-order it!
Why no paperback edition? I want to have a beautiful set when the full Hartvane Chronicles are complete, and I don’t want anyone to feel bad that they got an old version that doesn’t fit in with the finished set when it’s done. Also, designing a paperback takes time, and I didn’t allot it for myself! If you tell me you want a phyiscal edition, I’ll certainly look into it more, but I want to know that there’s demand for it before I put in the time there. Your voice matters! Really!
What is The Hartvane Chronicles?
The Hartvane Chronicles Book I: The Outcast and the Chosen One is the first in a four-part series, and is packed full of swordfighting, smooching, betrayal, magic, and burnt meals. When the fate of the world is on their shoulders, will the Hartvanes find a way to save it?
With the title of Chosen One up for grabs, the Hartvane sisters have trained and studied at Shadecoral’s temple to the merfolken gods for as long as they can remember. Harmonia, who works with her Papa in the kelp fields, makes up for what she lacks in focus with her enthusiasm, while Melodika helps Father in Shadecoral’s cozy library and has read most of the books in it, to the detriment of her social life in town. When the day of judgment arrives a few months shy of their twenty-fifth birthday and the twin mermaid sisters are separated by the naming of the Chosen One, both are flung into their own adventures, separated from each other. One sister follows the path set before her under the overbearing eye of a cruel mayor, while the other takes her fate into her own hands, making herself an outcast to her hometown forever as she does. In their own way, whether they know it or not, they are both are working to make the ocean a safer place.
Meanwhile, above the waves on the Elven continent, the queen has announced that she is expecting a child. This means that the current youngest and heir to the throne, the spirited Princess Prudence, in need of a new direction in life. At just sixty years old, she finds herself caught between not knowing enough to get by on her own and too old to want to rely on her family’s guidance. Not content with her mother’s plans for her, she decides to set out as a pirate and try her fortunes on the seas. When Prudence encounters one of the Hartvane sisters at sea, she feels an instant connection, though perhaps there’s something deeper at work than either of them realizes. And what about the hot first mate who’s flirting with both of them?
Can I read a preview of the first two chapters that you posted almost a year ago?
Yeah, okay! Follow this link!
Josh Closs Comics and Stories 