Happy 2nd Author Anniversary ♡

Two years ago today, I published my first book. Deepest Obsession was a wild, messy ride, and to be honest, that just about sums up my author career so far. It’s been incredibly messy. I’ve made many mistakes, some of which I’m still trying to fix.

But some of those mistakes ended up being blessings. Dare I say it, without some of those mistakes, I wouldn’t be nearly as successful (even if I’m not successful by a lot of people’s standards) as I am today.

There have been a lot of high highs and a lot of low lows. But when it comes down to it, there are very few things I’d change.

Writing a six book series at the start of my career? Yeah, I’d do it again.

Halting my ongoing series to write a smutty novella about three guys with butterfly tattoos and a bookworm barista? Oh, most definitely.

Rapid releasing? Yeah no, this one sucked. I’m not sure if I’d do it again. On the other hand, I don’t know if I would’ve been able to make a full-time income if I hadn’t rapid released. I guess we’ll never really know.

Recently, I’ve spent a lot of time looking back on the past couple years. There are so many mistakes I regret (not-so-good covers, choosing the wrong paperback size and getting stuck with it, not taking more time for outlining/developmental editing, etc.). But overall, I’m really proud of myself.

I’m also endlessly grateful because I got really fucking lucky.

Blissful Masquerade took off (at least by my standards) in 2022, and the Ruthless Desires Series is still doing well almost two years after I published that first novella. This series pays my bills, guys. My books pay my bills. That’s wild to me.

Anyway, back to what I was saying. I got really fucking lucky. I’ve learned so much while writing the Ruthless Desires books. There’s no denying that I was winging it at first. Yet my readers have stuck with me through it all, and I’ve been able to make a full-time income off my writing since spring/summer of 2022.

Out of all the amazing things that have happened over the past two years, that’s the one that boggles my mind the most. I got paid to stumble around, fuck up, and learn as I wrote.

That’s not really how being an author goes.

I could sit here and try to give all the reasons for why my books did well off the bat. I’m white, I had a digital marketing background coming into this, my books are super smutty, and by the time the smut lets up, you’re helplessly attached to the characters, etc. But that’s not really the point of this post.

This is a celebration of sorts, I suppose, and a long-winded thank you to everyone who’s supported me and worked with me. I appreciate you all more than you know. You literally changed my life. I know indie authors say that a lot, but that’s because it’s true. My partner was able to stop working because of the money I’m making. I have more money in my savings account than I ever have in my life. I made more in the past two months than I did in my entire first year working (granted, I made very little my first year working, because… well, that’s food service for you).

But that’s the thing. The only work experience I have is food service, a tiny bit of management, and writing (I did freelancing and blogging before I turned to fiction writing, which is where I got the digital marketing background from). I never thought I’d be able to make this much money writing. Of course, I hoped, but everyone always says writers don’t make money. And now here I am, with no college degree, a homeschool diploma, and absolutely no “real job” experience, and I’m making so much money that I feel like I’m a millionaire (which I most certainly am not lol).

This is not to deny the privilege I have, because I have a lot of it, and I am fully aware of how much that’s affected where I’ve ended up in life. I grew up rich, and that right there had me starting off way better than a lot of people. And that’s only one aspect of said privilege.

All this to say—thank you, thank you, thank you. I can’t deny the stress that’s come with the past two years, but I can’t deny the joy and relief, either.

Look at this! This is because of you all!

Speaking of joy, I’m hoping to make more of that. As I step into year three of being an author, my priorities are different. My income is more reliable (I think, anyway. We’ll see.), and that means it’s time to focus on all the things that come after that.

I worked a lot in 2023. Way too much. Like, 12+ hour days.

I hated it.

I don’t really want to get into the why, but the general idea is that I was too stressed to stop working. I was too worried that if I took a break, I’d lose everything I built. For reasons, I realized at the end of 2023 that that’s simply not the case. Everything isn’t going to fall apart.

That means that in 2024, I’m changing my focus. I’ll still be writing and publishing and marketing and doing all the things, of course, but I’m finally going to start prioritizing my health—mental and physical. I didn’t feel like I could last year, mostly because of my very out-of-control anxiety (gonna work on that, too, don’t worry). 

As for things that are more relevant to everyone reading this, I’m going to be changing some things about my already-published books and the books I haven’t published yet.

Let’s get into that.

Paperback Sizing

As I mentioned above, my paperbacks are the wrong size. They’re 6” x 9”. (Are they really too big? No. They’re the “standard” for self-published books, but I think they’re too big, and I don’t like the size they’re at.)

When I updated Moonflower’s cover, I made the paperback what I consider to be the standard (5.5” x 8.5”). I’m going to be doing that for the Ruthless Desires books too, and I’m probably going to be changing the covers from glossy to matte as long as they look okay. I’m not sure when, other than soon. Preferably before spring, but I want to give people time to grab the paperbacks if they already have some in the current size.

I’m Unpublishing the Dark Luxuries Trilogy Temporarily

If you love Deepest Obsession, I love you and appreciate you endlessly. I, however, can’t stand the book. As for the other two in the series, they could be a lot better—especially Twisted Redemption. The books don’t live up to their full potential, and I personally think Deepest Obsession is bad enough that I refuse to promote the series at all.

I don’t like that.

I put a lot of work and time into those books, and I also love the characters. I want them to be better. So I’ll be unpublishing the books very soon to rewrite them. When I republish them, they’ll be under slightly different titles (I think) because I don’t want them matching up with the current versions on Goodreads, Amazon, etc. The plots will be changing enough that it won’t make sense to keep them under the same titles.

If you love this series as-is and want the books forever, you can still grab the ebooks. The second editions will not replace the first ones if you buy the current ebooks. As for the paperbacks, they’re currently still available, and I’ll make an announcement soon on the actual date that they’re coming down.

When will I republish the books? I’d love to say 2024, but it might be 2025. We’ll see.

I’m not Releasing a Publishing Schedule

I also don’t have anything up for preorder, and it’s staying that way for a while. While I was writing Ruthless Desires, I felt trapped. I was so in love with the characters, but I was also incredibly burned out.

I put the last few books up for preorder in an attempt to not lose readers, which worked out all right from a financial standpoint. From a mental health standpoint, though, it was a disaster. I thought I gave myself enough time to write the last three books in the series, but I struggled so much.

So I’m not giving myself deadlines. I’m not forcing myself to write any particular story. I’m going to write what I want and let myself have a breather from the stress of tight deadlines.

“Why not just give yourself longer deadlines, Elira?” some of you are probably asking.

Because I don’t know what the future holds. And I’m done with being stressed out, dammit.

I’m Starting Another Firethorn Pen Name

If you read Beneath the Tree, you’re probably already aware of this. I’ve started writing under the pen name E. Firethorn. This pen name is different in that it’s for short-form erotica and smutty romance novellas. I just don’t want readers to go from a full-length novel to a short story and end up disappointed (or vice versa). This way, everything is organized and separated.

If I’d had any amount of foresight, I would’ve published Moonflower under E. Firethorn. Hell, if I had foresight, Ruthless Desires wouldn’t be six damn books long.

What did I say earlier? Wild and messy.

Hopefully that’ll change. I think I’m getting more organized. But I’m still pretty chaotic.

Currently, Beneath the Tree is the only thing under the E. Firethorn pen name. That’ll probably change in 2024. I have many story ideas, including more adventures with Harper (the main character in Beneath the Tree).

I’m Taking My Time

I know you all are waiting on some stories from me. Felix and Willow, Liling and Ryan, Finn and [redacted], Axel, etc. They’re coming, I promise. Felix’s and Liling’s books won’t be coming until after Dark Luxuries is republished. Finn’s will come eventually, too.

But I’m not rushing things, especially for Finn’s and Liling’s books. I need to handle their stories very carefully. I’ve caused harm with my books before (and fixed it), and I’d prefer not to do it again. I’ve never written a main character of color before, and I want to write Liling with care and respect. Finn’s book also needs to be handled delicately, but I can’t tell you why yet because spoilers.

The general point here is that I want to write as responsibly as possible. That means giving myself time to rest so I’m not researching and writing while burned out. Been there, done that. It causes a lot of problems. It also means giving myself time to adequately research, consult, write, and rewrite. I’m not rushing this.

Whew. I think that’s everything I have to say.

To sum it all up, yet again, I’m incredibly grateful for you all. One of my readers put together a digital thank you card that they got a ton of my readers to sign, and I’m tearing up right now thinking about it. It made me feel so special. It made me feel seen. I will never, ever forget that.

I won’t forget the emails or the comments or the DMs, either. (Even if I don’t respond to you, I usually read them all. And I do try to respond. I’m just very bad at it. It might take me six months, but I promise I try.)

One last time—thank you all so much.

I hope your 2024 is peaceful, lovely, and everything you’ve been dreaming of. ♡