A Writer Gal Confession
A Writer Gal Confession
I have Coronapocalypse brain but also LOTS Of book news!
Mahalo,
I’m writing this edition of The Writer Gal Letter listening to utter silence. Seriously, even the birds have stopped chirping where I live, because we are in a severe lockdown again. True Story: Last year, when we went into lockdown here in Mumbai for the first time, it did my HEAD IN. And I coped by writing Lena and Shane’s story.
I honestly cannot say I am much better this time around. This would be our fifth lockdown, although it feels like I’ve been cooped up at home for the last 13 months. Do you feel the same too, Postmate? If you do, how are you doing? How are you coping?
Does reading my books and stories help you escape the hard world in any way?
Because I think…it does me. I’m HAPPIEST in my cave, phone turned off, music on, and all the scenes in my head that I can write for me and you. I am productive, unstressed, un-anxious, and ridiculously thrilled at being me, Writer Gal.
And that leads to the confession I want to make to you.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been overhauling SO many parts of the whole known as Aarti V Raman. Covers, blurbs, even stories have undergone minute changes. Release dates and publishing schedules have, FOR certain, undergone changes.
I’ll list them all out in just a minute but, you, Postmate, have been with me for a long time now, so you need to know WHY I am doing all of it.
What’s Changed @Aarti V Raman And WHY
The most obvious and simple reason I’m overhauling things is well, money. As much as your love and constant affection and support keep my soul alive, real-life bills have to be paid and folks have to be taken care of.
So, yeah, having a proper brand across Covers, Titles, Blurbs and pricing the book accordingly helps me pay those bills so I do not STRESS the fuck out and have meltdowns that freeze my plotting and writing brain which means I do not release the said books on schedules I share with you or even plan just for myself.
Let me confess this, STRESS IS NOT WRITER GAL’s Friend. I cannot write when I am anxious and this whole last year has been one long stress test, hasn’t it?
I am getting the really terrible confessions out of the way so you can jump around with me when I share ALL the cool stuff and awesome updates. I promise you, it’s coming in just a minute.
The second reason WHY I’m overhauling everything is so obvious, another less-stressed Writer Gal would have figured it out on day one.
An author brand GUARANTEES the kind of books you’ll read from them. It might be subtle, might be screamingly obvious. But everything, from the way I write my name to the hot men who grace the covers to the blurbs that create so much intrigue, EVERYTHING signifies to you, Postmate, what an Aarti V Raman book is.
And an Aarti V Raman book is complex. Layered. Emotional. Intense. Sexual, undeniably. Detailed and in-depth. It is improbable because the world, the settings are OTT. It is *REAL* because my characters are real. And there is always, always banter. People talk to each other because stories do not exist in a vacuum.
(I’d love it if you let me know if I missed out on anything or misrepresented myself in any way so write back to me?)
Most of all, an Aarti V Raman book will surprise and move you. Hopefully, make you cry buckets and throw your Kindle away because I killed off your fave character OR did something AWFUL to the heroine or the HERO broke his own heart!
God, just writing these things has me more excited than I’ve been in a long, long time.
But, the one thing these stories need is TIME. Time for me to properly think about them. Time to flesh out the world, the plots, the characters so they POP on the page.
And, definitely, time to bring it all together as a book - writing, editing and so on.
So, this brings me to the WHAT of it all.
I made a promise to myself that I’ll be releasing a book every month because you, Postmate, LOVED it when I did so with the Foes. But, it nearly made me lose my mind, my creativity, and energy when I did that till March.
So, the first change I’m making is Releases.
AARTI V RAMAN UPCOMING RELEASES
Instead of releasing a book every month, I’ll be doing one every seven-eight weeks. AND taking adequate time to edit and draft the best possible version of the story I want to tell and YOU want to read.
So, the schedule for the next few weeks is as follows:
Geek’s boxset with an exclusive Geeks’ origins novella comes on April 30, 2021.
The Millionaire Foes’ Reunion novella comes in the first half of May. (It is just part of the boxset now and will most likely come with an epilogue to top the epilogue!)
A …. novella comes in May 2021.
A … boxset comes in May 2021.
I also have awesome anthology news to share with you guys, which I will ASAP!
And for EVERYONE who has asked me about Nick & Lauren, Dan, and Nate’s story, YESSSS! It’s all happening in a brand-new series that begins with Nihaal Bhatnagar, the F1 racer we met in the Foes Reunion novella.
(Super secret note: They all belong in the same Geeks and Foes universe so, guess which recently-married billionaire hedge fund investor is ALSO a part of the series!)
IMPORTANT NOTES
IMPORTANT NOTE: I might not send BOOK RELEASE editions of The Writer Gal Letter every time, so PLEASE consider following me on Amazon so you do not miss any new release.
Amazon US, Amazon India, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, Amazon Australia
IMPORTANT NOTE 2: ALL books will have pre-order links so you don’t have to worry about them going live and missing out on reading on release day! And, if you’re in KU (I LOVE that you are, I am too) please do consider following me on Amazon so you don’t miss out.
Amazon US, Amazon India, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, Amazon Australia
IMPORTANT NOTE 3: I PROMISE to send you A Writer Gal Letter on the 10th and 25th of EVERY month from here on out to kingdom come (or you unsubscribe from me) regardless of releases! I am properly DYING to share series and title reveal, covers, quotes, teasers, and ALL things ABOUT THE NEW SERIES with you but I don’t want to spam!
IMPORTANT NOTE 4: I’m drastically reducing my time on Instagram because I would rather chat with you here, one-to-one! <3 And spend the rest of my time cooking up all of those delicious romances you devour so well.
PRESENTING More Millionaire Foes and re-covered Geeks!
Now that we have ALL of the big picture stuff out of the way, let me show you the goodies. The yummies I and my team have been working on!
First off, there are FOUR more books in the Millionaire Foes series now. And you have met a few of the characters in the Reunion novella - Jake, Gabriel, and Adrian.
Or, if you update/sync In Bed With Her Millionaire Foe, you’ll meet the next hero, Jake, in the epilogue!
If you can’t, write to me and I’ll happily send you the epilogues!
Here are the beautiful covers for the same!
NOTE: Marrying Her Millionaire Foe was previously titled as ‘More Than You Want’, Remember Her Millionaire Foe as 'Forgotten Husband’, Betraying Her Millionaire Foe as ‘Make-Believe Husband’, and Inherited by Her Millionaire Foe as ‘Roark.’ Marrying, Remembering and Betraying have brand-new epilogues.
And these are the sexy, SEXY covers for the Geeks! To match The Foes as well as The Geek’s Wedding novella!
NOTE: There is no change to Dev, Shiv, Kit and Bharat’s stories but you can absolutely share these new covers with your reader friends :)
Jordan’s EPILOGUE Sneak Peek
The man wore a suit like he was born to it, Jordan thought with no rancor, although he knew Jake’s beginnings were as humble as his own. He tried to remember Rachel Strand but couldn’t recall her face, exactly.
He did know that she’d won the Businesswoman of The Year Award back when she’d first opened her club, but hadn’t made the connection between her and Jake Cavanaugh.
Strange how the world worked, he mused.
And he really was curious to know how self-made Jake Cavanaugh and the flaky heiress Rachel Strand fell for each other…
His phone rang shrilly.
Jordan swiped answer on it before his brain computed the call. “Hello, Barry.”
Barry was in their kitchen, sweat dripping off her temple, something aromatic and no doubt delicious bubbling on the stove. “We’re almost out of sake wine. Can you get some when you come, Jordan?”
Jordan nodded. “Yes. Of course. Text me whatever else you need?”
She wiped a hand over her forehead, her hair so big it looked like it was in its own planet. She patted at it fruitlessly as she considered his very serious offer.
Jordan was a very conscientious and helpful partner. They split chores equally while they were in New York, no matter how hard he worked and regardless of the housekeeping service that came in daily to their apartment.
And Barry was always so grateful to him for doing the bare minimum that he felt just a bit guilty for working so late, sometimes.
“No,” she shook her head. Her ring, the ring he’d given her to love, honor, and cherish forevermore, glinted as she stirred the prawn curry. “Nothing comes to mind, right now. What time are you coming home?”
NOTE: This is an epilogue to In Bed With Her Millionaire Foe, which segues into the next book in the Millionaire Foes’ series - Marrying Her Millionaire Foe.
Writer Gal Recommends
This week, I’d love to recommend The Undoing - a brilliant suspense show. For its fantastic performance by Hugh Grant, our beloved underdog rom-com hero in a chilling new turn.
I’d ALSO love to showcase a book blog that one of my dearest reviewer friends publishes quite regularly. It’s called NJKinny’s Blog and has SO MANY recs for you, Postmate. You’ll love it. We share the same favorite authors, Nora and Nalini among others so I ALWAYS look forward to what she has to recommend. I hope you do too.
(Confession: She totally gushes about me all the time so it is only fair that I gush back about one of my very first OG reader friends!)
And my book rec for today is a HOT dark romance by a new author pal - Tess Summers. IGNITION is absolutely FREE to read and is a fantastic prequel to her world!
My second book rec is an anthology by amazing author friends, coming out in September. (The wait’s a bit long but SO worth it!) Here’s what it’s about:
𝟏𝟓 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝟏𝟓 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧.
𝟏𝟓 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝟏𝟓 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬.
𝟏𝟓 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝.
Pre-Order Fix Your Crown today. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to a charity for breast cancer. 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝟗𝟗 𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬→ www.fixyourcrownanthology.com
Pre-Ordered already? Grab your free digital coloring book here→ www.fixyourcrownanthology.com/coloringbook
This is all I have for you in today’s edition of The Writer Gal Letter. I’ll send the next Letter on 10th May. Be on the lookout for it.
Stay safe and awesome.
Till next time,
Aarti