Dear readers part 2 / Dear shipmates

Oh my goodness, thank you all so much! Within hours of my blog post I saw so many thoughtful, delightful reviews of Legacies posted to Amazon, it was pretty overwhelming for me. Thanks to all of you, there's now a counterpoint there, enough that I hope readers still considering whether to embark on the series will not be deterred.

That's what I worried about most, when I thought I'd killed the whole series by leaving in the dreams -- I really wanted to write this whole series, but I feared I'd turned everyone off of it. Whether people liked the dreams or were lukewarm on them, I think what I heard pretty resoundingly was yes, get back to work on book 3!

So thank you most of all for that. I've come to think of us all as shipmates on what I jokingly refer to as HMS Constant Love, hopefully on a voyage together all the way through to book 7. Writing can be a lonely occupation, which I don't mind, normally, but it does really help to know you're all out there, and that you're enjoying it.

And what I hope your reviews will do is help others who are looking for a series like this to find it. There's such a wide range of JAFF out there, and I set out trying to write stories that I would have wanted to read, because I could never find enough of what I wanted to read. I don't know how you all have found my work, but I think that has resonated with many of you, and I hope your reviews will help more people who are looking for it to join us as "shipmates."

With even more love for you all,
-Sophie

Dear readers (with emphasis on the dear),

I knew I was taking a risk when I kept the dream sequences in within A Change of Legacies. The "safe" thing to do would have been to take them out, or reduce them to summaries, and then only those who had read the story during its posting online would even know they had ever been there in the first place.

I actually went back through all of my online feedback, before publication, to better quantify the for- and against-dreams camps, and the for camp was significantly larger. Obviously, I wrote them, and I was in the for camp. I had always felt that they enhanced the main story: Georgiana's guilt in her dream was the inverse of Darcy's in the real world; Darcy's fate in the dream world contrasts what is happening in the real world, where he is married and his heir is born; Elizabeth's "fixing" of Georgiana's dream greatly enhances the emotional moments between Elizabeth and Darcy in the real world. And for Georgiana, her dreams help her understand and process better what it is she wants in life; she will continue to use this knowledge in the future, even beyond this book. Thus far, at least on Amazon, opinions of them have been very split, and it's a pretty dramatic split.

I don't mind 1- or 2- star reviews, as long as I'm getting constructive feedback as a writer. What really made me sad about them was that I felt like I had let those readers down, disappointing them with a book that's been a year coming. If any of you reading this have felt disappointed by Legacies, I am truly sorry.  I know how it feels to anticipate a book, and for that book to not be what you expected, and I never wanted to be the cause of this feeling for readers.

I will tell you all that I was pretty near giving up on the series last week. I don't really know if the book's current star rating is affecting sales, or this is simply how a JAFF sequel sells. I got a couple good pep talks and heard from some readers who enjoyed the dreams, and that has me mostly back on track -- I at least don't feel that I've let everyone down, now.

My day job keeps me from writing as much as I would like, but the flip side of it is that it means I can continue, regardless of how this book sells. If I was a writer entirely reliant on this income, I would probably have to stop the series at this point, so I'm glad that's not the case. I love to read a series, to have that sensation of returning to your literary "friends," to spend more time with them. I've always wanted to have a chance to give others that feeling, and that is why I wanted to continue on, after the first book. It's possible there will only be a handful of us left by the time I get to book seven, but as long as I know that handful is enjoying the series, I'll keep writing. And I hope that if you didn't enjoy all of Legacies, that you are still at least invested enough in the characters's arcs to give me a chance with book 3, which will not use the story-within-a-story structure (it's got way too much to cover, just in the main story).

Sometimes people ask what they can do to support my writing, and there are many ways to do it -- purchasing the books, of course; providing feedback when it's posted for online beta; and participating in a proofreading squad. But always at the top of that list is leaving a review, and I could really use your help with that, now.

If you have read Legacies and did enjoy the dream aspect of the book, or even if you weren't a huge fan of the dreams but felt they didn't cause the complete and utter ruination of the whole story, I could really use your voices on Goodreads and Amazon (particularly Amazon) right now.

For those of you who have already done so, THANK YOU. You've reminded me of why I write this series -- so that wonderful people like you can read it.

With much love to you all,
-Sophie

A Change of Legacies

It's here! The wait is finally over, and A Change of Legacies is now live for paperback, and Kindle. Updated to add that the Nook version is now live as well.

It's also listed on Goodreads, and I'd welcome you all to join in there and friend me (if you haven't already).

It took a lot longer than I expected, but I hope it ends up being a more enjoyable read for everyone as a result!

Another of the songs from A Change of Legacies

Here is another of the songs from A Change of Legacies. Not surprisingly, it is a piano and cello duet, Beethoven's Sonata for cello and piano no. 2 in G minor:

Blog giveaway winner

The giveaway winner for A Change of Legacies is Maura. Congratulations, Maura, and I hope you enjoy the story!

For those who didn't win, there will be a few more opportunities at other blogs, which I'll post as they go live. If you have interest in the paperback, there will be Goodreads giveaways for paperback copies of both A Constant Love and A Change of Legacies. They activate Sunday the 17th, and you can access them either via the widgets below or the Goodreads site.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

A Constant Love

by Sophie Turner

Giveaway ends April 30, 2016.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Goodreads Book Giveaway

A Change of Legacies

by Sophie Turner

Giveaway ends April 30, 2016.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Interview at Just Jane 1813

Hello, dear readers! If you head over to Just Jane 1813, you'll find an interview with me, including details about A Change of Legacies, and the entire Constant Love series.

A Change of Legacies launch date + giveaway

It is almost here! I'm pleased to let you all know that the launch date for A Change of Legacies is going to be April 20, 2016. It is already available for Kindle pre-order, and paperback and Nook will be released on or around that date as well.

To celebrate, there will be a variety of giveaways and some visits I'm making to other blogs, which I'll link to here, but I wanted to start out with a giveaway just for my direct followers. So if you're reading this, please comment on the blog, on the Facebook post, or @ tweet me for your chance to win a copy in your choice of formats before midnight USA eastern time, on April 14, 2016. I'll announce the winner following that.

Some of you are already entered to win thanks to my previous giveaway of Less Proud and More Persuasive, where I entered anyone who already had the story in advance for this giveaway. If you comment again, though, I'll enter you a second time!

One of the songs from A Change of Legacies

As we get closer to the publication of A Change of Legacies, I thought I'd post one of the songs that will feature in the story, Mozart's 12 Variations of "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman." I'll follow up with another soon, as well as an announcement!