Tag / My Work

by Lexine

Yes I Wrote That

Just published: my essay in the latest issue of Bi Women’s Quarterly! The theme for the current issue is “Childfree” (the theme was given back in the spring this year, and it means a lot more now), so if you’re not JD Vance or a crazy breeder, please give my piece a read! (Click on header pic) I actually submitted two pieces to the newsletter, and maybe I’ll share the other piece here another day.

Also, something I noticed: many of the other submissions in the current newsletter have the author’s profile pics as the header image. Kudos for BWQ for not doing that with my piece 😆 although it would’ve been hilarious and fitting if they caught me on a really bad day😆

by Lexine

Happy Birthday, Playgirl

The three faces of my first book, changed in the span of a few months. 😆

I published my first-ever novel a year ago on this day, and it’s been an interesting first year for The Playgirl, to say the least! I went through three book cover images. I accidentally uploaded the wrong manuscript to the first cover. I marketed it under the wrong genre. I used a promo service that I thought was legit until I found out the hard way that any “promo service” from IG should NOT be trusted. (Those accounts that DM you on your IG bump your follower count and do some promo after you pay them, but they’re not and will never be BookBub or any of these legit promo companies. At least I got some nice bots following me.) And, outside of mentioning it here and there, I’ve gotten lazy in promoting my book at the moment, which can explain its current sale rankings on Amazon, I know. (In fairness, other things outside of my control are keeping me from promoting it some more *cough*💰*cough*)

I definitely learned some things in my first year of being a self-published novelist, and I do wish my book’s debut and rollout went more smoothly than how it did. (I also wish I had more money for a proper editor/proofreader (best I could get was ProWritingAid lol), and I would have that if I didn’t have a little minor thing called “bills” to pay.) I still have hopes for my book in the long run, but as long as I can get some readers to enjoy the story for what it stands for (women proud to be strong-minded and owning their sexuality and refusing to submit to the patriarchy), then I’ve done my job. 

Happy birthday to my “first-born”! 🥳🎉And give her a read on her special day!

by Lexine

This Poem Of Mine (7.4.24)

I’ve been writing poems for almost all of my 200 39 years on this earth and have had a few of my pieces get published to newspapers and poetry anthologies. I have a Google Doc that holds all of the poems I’ve written since 2011 (none of them have been published elsewhere), and I’d like to share this poem I wrote two years ago today. It’s succinct and I think its message suits how I feel about this year as well. Share it if you like.

the realization poem (watermarked)

by Lexine

Happy Saturday

number 7 LGBT fiction ranking (yay)

It’s still Saturday where I’m at (for a few more minutes), and guess whose book is currently in the Top 10 of Free LGBT Fiction books on Amazon right now? 😀 That’s its highest ranking among all the charts it’s been on since its release, by the way. (It’s also currently in the Top 30 of Free Women’s Fiction books.) Now to figure out how to keep it up there when the book goes back to regular price tomorrow…🤔

All the credit to @TheBookTweeters, Freebooksy, and The Fussy Librarian for all the book promo this past few days. And starting next month, I’ll be going exclusive with KDP Select. (It won’t be immediately on October 1st, despite what I may have said before, as I have to delist my book from other sites, and that could take a while.) I’m intrigued over the idea of earning coins from page reads there, and hopefully things work out from the exclusivity. To Draft2Digital, Apple Books, Smashwords, Kobo, and B&N, all my thank-yous, and adios.

by Lexine

She’s Free (Again!)

playgirl cover (new silhouette didot 5)

Who wants a freebie? 😀 My work will be leaving Wide Distribution at the end of this month, as I’ll be going exclusive with Amazon’s KDP Select starting in October. (It’s temporary, but I’ll see how that works out for me for the time I’m with KDP Select.) For those who prefer getting their eBooks on non-Amazon sites, this is your last chance to get my book, and for free! (You can also get it at no charge on Amazon as well.)

This “Goodbye To Wide (Distribution)” sale (I know–not a catchy name) starts now and ends 11:59PM PDT 9/30/23.

Link to non-Amazon stores 

Link to Amazon (and I finally got my first rating there, and it’s not a bad one, too!)

by Lexine

More Changes…And Frustrations!

playgirl cover (new silhouette didot 5)

I finally made the genre change for my book. The simple process may have taken longer for me than it should have, but I was also working on another book cover for it. (And I also hit a busy period with my day job.) I also made some minor changes to the manuscript, which I had to do and I have my reasons why (I can be an edit slut who trips over trivial shit). Even though over 2K people now have my book (thanks to the free book promos from earlier this month) and I may be shooting myself in the foot here. Nonetheless, I’m finally FINALLY done with revising The Playgirl. It’s in the proper genres, the story is now truly to my liking (even though someone on Booksirens thinks otherwise–more on this later), and it’s got a cover I wish I could’ve gone with for its true debut back in July.

A little backstory to the cover: I selected that image as it was another one of my cover alternatives (you always need cover image backups). With my protagonist being a liberated, fun-loving woman, you don’t get more liberated than (an image of what appears to be) a nude woman enjoying herself. I chose the font design/arrangement because there’s something to the Didot font (that you see in the title and author name) that’s stylish and dramatic (and my story has elements of both). I also drew inspiration from the typography found in Harpers Bazaar magazines during the Tilberis-Baron days during the 1990s, and the result just pops. And, yes, I did that cover myself. Graphic design is starting to become my passion, haha.

*VENT ALERT!*

I have to say: I still feel like a total noob in this self-pub game. Here I am, still making some changes to a book I worked on for seven-plus years. I should’ve been fully ready with my shit when I clicked on Publish in late July this year, but I guess I wasn’t.  So I stumbled here and there with my debut. That said, it’s all a learning process. With my day job, I know I was a lot different in my craft when I started in my profession over 12 years ago than I am today. I’m sure I’ll be a totally different writer 12 years from now. Not in terms of content, though–I know what my forte is!

I plan on doing another freebie promo for the “new and improved yet again” Playgirl; it will likely be towards the end of this month. I’ll announce it at the same time I reveal my other bit of Important News. For those who got free copies of my book with its 1st and 2nd covers, you can get one more cover to add to your collection!😆

And, of course, get my book here (Amazon) and here (non-Amazon links).

by Lexine

Apologies From A Self-Pub Noob

Well, it was bound to happen: I made a mistake with my first eBook. Maybe you can’t tell from looking at it, but thanks to one of my friends (who was also the very first one to read my book), I realized that The Playgirl got listed in the wrong genre. Friend texted me Wednesday to call her to discuss what’s she read so far, and, during my lunch break, she clearly told me that it’s no Romance novel. Ack! She’s liking the book so far, but she ended up reading the last couple of chapters first before starting from the beginning and made the conclusion. (She also says she’s got a long ways to go before finishing the book; she, like me, works a full-time job with long hours, so it will be a while before her review.)

As I processed her criticism while at my day job, I began thinking about if my book was truly Romance or not. “Women’s Fiction” was the genre my friend suggested to me when switching genres. When I finally got home from work, I looked up the difference between Romance and Women’s Fiction. Articles like this and this were quite informative. It’s funny; in all those days leading up to releasing my first eBook back in late (a book that I’ve worked on for seven-plus years), the one thing I didn’t really put much effort into was finding out its proper genre. For the record, I did not choose Contemporary Romance to get a shot of earning the big bucks. I felt Contemporary Romance originally fit my book because of the romantic storyline between my protagonist and her love interest. Without giving too much away here, though, I was starting to understand why my friend suggested my book to be in the “Women’s Fiction” genre.

When it comes to my writing, I strive to make everything as near-perfect as possible. Alas…My noob status as a self-pub author is sooo on full display here. Maybe you can also tell I went on this book on my own without any outside input until after I released it in July. (I have my reasons why.) I’m aware of how avid Romance book readers can be, and for those who got my book and expected a Romance in the truest sense, all my sincerest apologies. I hope readers of my book will still enjoy its story for what it is. The genre changes will be made very soon. There’s also a good chance that my cover (which I’ve changed twice now) will also undergo yet another change to reflect its appropriate genre but also the tone of the story. *sighs* I really like my current cover, but it looks more suitable for the Steamy Romance section (which my book does have) as opposed to the Women’s Fiction section. (Unless if there’s a Steamy Women’s Fiction section I’m unaware of…)

The story will stay the same, by the way.

I should also should mention: in my Twitter, I posted “Important News” coming to my book very soon. This wasn’t it, and I’ll save that other news for another time.

Gah! I can kind of hear Phyllis from The Office telling me this: