Isso não acabou! Trecho do capítulo quatro de Boudicca: a Rainha Breta dos Icenos .

Boudicca é a primeira biografia que escrevi. Verdadeira história da grande rainha Iceni, a biografia leva o relato de sua história pelo historiador romano Tácito e vai além, acrescentando o que sabemos da arqueologia. Profundamente religiosa, com fortes laços com os druidas de Ynys Mon (noroeste do País de Gales), Boudicca enfrentou os romanos quando ninguém mais o faria.

Nesta cena do final do capítulo quatro, Boudicca enfrenta as atrocidades romanas contra si mesma, sua família e seu povo com a coragem que torna seu nome e sua vida verdadeiramente imortais.

Certos de sua vitória e sem mais serem desafiados pelo povo, os soldados romanos entraram em cada casa, tomando tudo que eles considerassem valioso, rendendo qualquer um ainda vivo dentre a nobreza icena, e esmagando muitas das coisas que eles não podiam ou queriam levar. Com as tochas, eles atiçavam fogo sobre os telhados de palha, incendiando metade da vila.

Finalmente, eles prestaram atenção em Boudicca e suas filhas, ainda amarradas e amordaçadas,e sob controle de Marcus’, embora as três se esforçassem para se libertar. Marcus desdenhando de Boudicca, “O nosso governador me diz que uma vez você foi escrava dentre os Éduos – é verdade?”

“Eu sou a rainha dos Icenos, a escolhida de Cathubodva,” proclamou a rainha.

“Tanto fogo e ira,” percebeu Marcus. “Apenas um escravo sente tal ódio.”

“Ou uma mulher,” refutou Boudicca.

“Escrava, mulher, bárbara – qual é a diferença?  Você, Boudicca, é todas as três!”

“Há um ditado em meu povo, Centurião. Cuidado com a guerreira cuja causa é justa – mas se aterrorize com a mulher abandonada e pronta para a batalha. Pois a sua força é a maior de todas!”

“Verdade?” riu Marcus, fazendo um sinal para os dois soldados. Arrastando Alys e Morgan para onde todos as pudessem ver, os Romanos bateram até que caíssem, machucando-as e fazendo-as sangrar antes de arrebatá-las e estuprá-las.

Marcus riu e observou na raiva de Boudicca, “Com ciúme, escrava?”   

“Você convida a ira de todas as suas deusas e deuses. Chamam-nos bárbaros?  Estou sem palavras para a violência e a brutalidade do que têm feito a eles!”

“Fizemos? Acabei de começar.  Talvez eu deveria tornar você minha escravo pessoal para meus aposentos, hein?” considerou Marcus, cruelmente.  “Não… Acho que não. Um escravo adequado sabe o seu lugar. Eu tenho uma ideia melhor!” Com um movimento do pulso, ele acenou para Boudicca ser amarrada a um poste carbonizado, o que fora outrora a sua linda e luxuosa casa.  Forçando Alys e Morgan a assistir, ele pessoalmente açoitou a rainha com trinta chicotadas, esperando que ela gritasse de dor.

Orgulhosamente, Boudicca recusou-se a gritar.  Olhando para sua vítima e agora certo que também s submeteria a ele, Marcus pegou Alys e Morgan e as levou, junto com outros cativos, e saqueou, deixando Boudicca sozinha com os restos de seu reino.

Logo que os Romanos não eram mais vistos e não havia telespectadores, uma garotinha veio até Boudicca, portando uma faca, que utilizou para cortar as amarras de sua rainha, “Sua Alteza, o que devemos fazer?”

“Primeiro, nós temos que curar os nossos ferimentos. Veja alguém livre e forte o bastante para procurar panos de linho ou algodão limpos para podermos usar no auxílio aos feridos. Veja se os Romanos nos deixaram mel e grãos de aveia que possamos usar nos ferimentos. Logo que a gente parar os sangramentos e estabilizar os feridos, devemos verificar os nossos suprimentos de alimentos e garantir que todos hoje comam – especialmente os feridos. Estamos apenas tão fortes quanto os mais fracos. Agora é hora onde devemos todos nos unir,” ordenou Boudicca.

“Mas e quanto aos Romanos?  Nós não podemos deixá-los impunes com nosso povo assim.”

“Se pudermos libertá-los, faremos – mas não hoje. Nós não temos forças. Precisamos nos curar, recobrar as nossas forças. Depois, uma vez prontos, eu juro que nos vingaremos. Deixe os corvos de Cathubodva vir até nós, deixe que o seu poder nos encha!  Nós não estamos derrotados. Isto não é o fim!”

Encontre este livro na Apple, Amazon e Everand

First lines: Biographies by Laurel A. Rockefeller

If you still use twitter, you may have noticed discussions among the writing community regarding how best to start your latest work in progress. Lots of theories prevail, but often the best way to get ideas on how to “break the ice” on a story is simply to read the opening lines of existing books.

For me, I tend to use two or three strategies, depending on the book. Most of my biographies employ Prologues as introductions. These are usually set after the death of the biography subject (the exception being “Empress Matilda of England” which opens with Thomas Becket arriving at the White Tower to visit his pal, King Henry II Plantagenet). The biography subject is introduced in these prologues through discussion between historical persons, many of them part of another biography I’ve written – but not always! When I do not use a prologue, I open with an original poem. When you realize my first publications were poetry, this makes complete sense.

Here then are the first lines for each of my biographies. All of these books are available in both digital and paperback editions at a retailer near you. Many also available in English language audio edition. See applicable audio links with each book.

Boudicca: Britain’s Queen of the Iceni.

Audio edition available.

“Tell me a story, Mother?” asked an eight-year-old girl with curly dark hair and dark eyes.

“What story would you have me tell, Moira?” asked Keita as she heated milk over the hearth fire, the sleeves of her green woolen tunic dress rolled up neatly and out of the way as she stirred.

Watching her mother, Moira handed her the rennet from a lamb slaughtered the day before, “Tell me about our people.”

Catherine de Valois: French Princess, Tudor Matriarch.

Audio edition available.

“I Margaret take thee Edmund to be my lawfully wedded husband,” vowed Margaret Beaufort in front of the door of the small chapel in Bletsoe Castle in Bedfordshire where she was born and raised as the daughter of the duke of Somerset, John Beaufort and his wife, Margaret Beauchamp .  At just twelve years old, Margaret’s tiny frame complimented that of her Welsh bridegroom, the twenty-three year old Edmund Tudor whose bloodline as a descendant of the Welsh prince Gruffydd ap Rhys radiated in his dark hair and blue eyes.  The wedding vows taken, their priest opened the big red door into the chapel for the wedding mass.

Mary Queen of the Scots: the Forgotten Reign.

Audio edition available.

Woe to Thee, Oh Scotland

Woe to thee, oh Scotland

Our Pictish mothers’ tears like highland rain

For the queens of old are forgotten

Their valour now seen as depraved.

Where is your love for your queens

For Picts and Scots, Gaels and Brigantes?

For fair Mary your queen — cast aside

And praised instead the Puritan’s hateful hand.

You drove the fairest queen far away

To die disgraced on an English axe

Spilling the fairest and most Scottish blood of all.

And with her died the Scottish heart: brave and free.

Queen Elizabeth Tudor: Journey to Gloriana.

Audio edition available.

The white sails of the Abigail shined brightly from its three tallest masts.  As the crew readied the ship to depart Plymouth and as the ship’s final passengers boarded, Edward Drinker, a lad of thirteen years from Sussex looked at the water with a mix of excitement and fear.  What would life in the New World be like?  Were things really so bad in England so as to be worth risking so many lives on a four month voyage to Massachusetts Bay Colony?  What would the other passengers think of his family’s Quaker values and beliefs?  Would they be accepted for choosing to worship without a priest or formal clergy, praying together in silence as they waited for inspiration and wisdom from the Holy Spirit?

Empress Wu Zetian.

Audio edition available.

“Miss?  Miss, where do you think you are going?” asked the British soldier gruffly, grabbing the arm of the well-dressed teenaged girl walking down Dongjiaomin Lane, her dark brown hair contrasting against her ruby-encrusted hair pin.

“Hands off me, barbarian!” snarled Hua-Lin with fire in her green eyes.  “I am no coolie, no slave!  Who do you think you are grabbing me as if I were some animal?”

Three soldiers joined the first soldier, surrounding Hua-Lin menacingly. Closing in close to her body, they fondled the silk of her finely embroidered Manchu gown, its design marking her as a great-granddaughter of the Qianlong Emperor.  Laughing, the youngest of the soldiers unbuttoned two of the buttons over her chest securing her gown together while the others pinned her arms behind her back, his intent only too clear to the noble Hua-Lin, “May the ravens and falcons of Abka Hehe devour your heart!”

Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd: the Warrior Princess of Deheubarth.

Gwenllian’s Tears

Cry out for me, my people.

Where my blood was spilt, let your voices be heard forever more.

Cymru in all your glory: 

Deheubarth, Gwynedd, Ceredigion, Powys, Dyfed

Ynys Môn where I was born!

Let not these conquerors go unanswered

Swear to me you shall never forget.

We are Cymraeg.

We are forever.

Empress Matilda of England.

Audio edition available.

Thomas Becket glided up the Thames to the White Tower, the polished white stones of the castle shining in the light rain. As the boat docked he carefully strode up the path to the heavy gate. Instantly recognized by the guards he walked through confidently, navigating the palace expertly.  Princess Matilda greeted him playfully, “Thomas!  You are back!”

“I am. How are you and your brothers?”

“Father is cross with Richard again.”

Becket laughed, “I’m not surprised.  How old is he now?”

“Four.”

“And you are five now, Matilda?”

“I’m almost six.  I’m a big girl,” proclaimed Matilda proudly.

Becket laughed, “And so you are, Matilda.  And so you are!”

Hypatia of Alexandria.

Audio edition available.

“Magistra, the books you wished to borrow have arrived!” knelt the young novice as her prioress tended a patient at Disibodenberg in Naheland in west-central Germany.

Prioress Hildegard rose and wiped her hands on a towel, “Excellent. Did the brother specify how long I may borrow them?”

“No, Magistra.”

Hildegard headed towards the priory library, “Well then I will have to ask him myself before he departs.”

“May I ask—what is so important about these particular books?”

“They are the writings of ancient Greek mathematicians and astronomers.  Wisdom of the ancient world, a world that was very different from the one we live in today,” answered Hildegard.

Cleopatra VII: Egypt’s Last Pharaoh.

Synesius of Cyrene meandered casually through the library at the Serapeum, its massive domed roof a reminder that this was a Greek, not Egyptian, architectural masterpiece.  Every few yards he stopped and looked at the shelf labels near him. Finally, after about twenty minutes he saw the small figure of his mistress standing next to a distant shelf as she organized the scrolls upon it. Smiling, Synesius approached her with a reverent bow, “Salve, August Mistress!”

Hypatia turned to him and motioned for him to rise, “What brings you to the library so early in the morning, Synesius? I thought you had reading to complete before our class this afternoon.”

Margaret of Wessex: Mother, Saint, and Queen of Scots.

Audio edition available.

The White Tower of London rose up against the foggy Thames River, its glistening white limestone walls concealing its true purpose as a symbol of conquest and dominion over the Saxons and its ruling House Wessex. A royal barge glided up to the Tower from the Thames. Four royal guards marched from the Tower to meet the docking barge as two more guards on the boat rose expectantly. Soberly the princess royal, Matilda, Kaiserin of the Empire of the Romans, stepped onto English soil for the first time in fifteen years. Ceremoniously the guards marched the unwilling princess from the Thames to King Henry’s throne room.

Bowing, Kaiserin Matilda found herself face to face at last with the father she barely knew as a child, “Salve Henrice rege Angliae et Normaniae.”

“Salve Matilde, imperatrix romanorum!” saluted King Henry in return. “Welcome home, Matilda. How was your journey?” asked King Henry.

Hildegard von Bingen.

Audio edition available.

Katharina von Bora rose from her bed wearily to the sound of church bells tolling matins, the cloudy sky outside concealed in the early morning darkness as snow flurried across Nimbschen monastery near Grimma in Saxony.  Easing herself into greater wakefulness, she changed into her simple undyed wool tunic dress that was the foundation of her nun’s habit. Combing her short hair gently and without the benefit of a mirror to guide her hand, Katharina poured herself a cup of water from a stoneware pitcher and quenched her thirst before covering her hair with her veil, slipping on her plain leather shoes, and navigating her way through the cloister.

Reaching the church sanctuary she found herself late, the hall already filled with Gregorian chant, “Ave Maria, O auctrix vite, reedificando salutem, que mortem conturbasti et serpentem contrivisti, ad quem se Eva erexit erecta cervice cum sufflatu superbie.”

Katharina von Bora: First Lady of the Reformation.

Audio edition available.

“C’est un rempart que notre Dieu, Une invincible armure, Notre délivrance en tout lieu, Notre défense sûre,“ sang Anne Rochefeuille as she played on the harpsichord at the Château in Avignon. Next to her were scattered open books gleaned from the château’s massive library.

Drawn to the music, Bishop Armand-Jean du Plessis, brother to the Seigneur de Richelieu, sat down near her to listen.  Though the song was heretical in any language, or, more exactly, by a heretic, he loved his Anne’s singing dearly. Putting an arm around Anne, he kissed the back of her neck affectionately, “Bon matins, ma chérie.”

Anne stopped the music to turn and kiss him properly, “Bon matins, Armand.”

Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Eleanor, Fairest Eleanor

Tell me tales of romance and chivalry!

Beautiful ladies in elegant castles

Wooed by knights filled with courtesy and poetry!

Robin Hood fighting for justice!

For her, the troubadours did first sing!

Eleanor, fairest Eleanor!

Forever shall we sing of thee!

Tell me about the real Eleanor!

The daughter who inherited her father’s wealth and lands

More than enough to make her queen of France.

Falconer. Dancer, Singer

Crusader. Lover. Queen. Mother

Ah Eleanor, we do love thee!

More than Matilda’s daughter-in-law.

More than Henry II’s estranged wife

More than mother to kings of England

Eleanor, fairest Eleanor!

Forever shall we sing of thee!

His Red Eminence, Armand-Jean du Plessis de Richelieu.

A Good Man?

Dreams of red fill my heart

Where once the dry bones of history lay.

The dazzling red velvet cappa magna.

The zucchetto covering his crown.

The sly words spoken in secret.

The blood spilled by his word.

Long ago there lived a cardinal made villainous by a book

An adventurous novel made of cloaks and corsets, swords and pistols.

A Scot whose voice echoes with the ages as he plays the cardinal on screen.

Black leather to make a good man seem villainous.

Who was the real man behind these veils?

The First Minister of France?

A dutiful son?

A man of peace who led armies to victory on the battlefield?

Was he simply the French version of David Beaton or Thomas Wolsey,

Rightfully hated and despised as Dumas teaches us to regard him?

Or was he something more?

A reluctant priest.

His majesty’s servant.

A diplomat.

A good man.

Fourteen biographies with fourteen beginnings! Are you excited to read more? Find links to the Legendary Women of World History series and to His Red Eminence on this blog.

All of these books are available in multiple languages including your choice of French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, and Italian. Both Boudicca and Gwenllian are also available in Welsh, part of my commitment to preserving the Welsh language for centuries to come.

Book Trailers: the Peers of Beinan series

If you follow the writing communities on both facebook and twitter, book trailers are often treated as one of the best tools for showcasing an independent author’s books – along with 3D cover art.

Here then are the trailers I made with Rachel Boswick for each of the Peers of Beinan series books.

Good-bye A672E92 Quintus

Say Good-bye to the Beinarian home world.

The Poisoned Ground

The Poisoned Ground. Based in part on conditions in western Pennsylvania.

The Great Succession Crisis

The Great Succession Crisis.

Ghosts of the Past

The Ghosts of the Past is a dystopic adventure set in another galaxy filled with murder, terrorism, and hope despite the world falling apart.

Princess Anyu Returns

What dangers will Princess Anyu face on the hostile D425E25 Tertius?

Youtube videos featuring original music for the Peers of Beinan series.

Music and lyrics by Laurel A. Rockefeller. Performed by Laurel A. Rockefeller

My Lady Fairest Queen. Theme song for “The Great Succession Crisis.”

“I shall Always Find You” from “Ghosts of the Past.”

The hopeful song Lord Elendir hears when he visits the memorial dedicated to the healing center bombing that killed his mother.

“Here Lays My Father and My Lord” from “Ghosts of the Past.”

Princess Constance finds her father King Kendric murdered. Her musical response.

“Coronation Hymn” from “Princess Anyu Returns”

Beinan celebrates the coronation of Princess Anyu as their new queen.

Enjoy all these songs performed in the audio edition of Songs of the Beinarian Court.

Corann Meets His Father. Excerpt from The Great Succession Crisis

Prince Yubi from “Benji, Zax, and the Alien Prince.”

Long before I devoted my life to history education I was a novelist. Yeah, that seems far fetched to me too! But from 2010 to 2012 I actually wrote a science fiction romance. It was intended to be fan fiction for “Benji, Zax, and the Alien Prince,” that beloved part of my youth. Instead The Great Succession Crisis grew into a five (six if you count The First King flash fiction) book series: The Peers of Beinan.

In this scene Lord Knight Corann, now Anlei’s knight-protector, faces his father for the first time since he abandoned Corann and his mother, many yen-ars ago.

Corann Meets His Father. Excerpt from Chapter Five: The Great Masquerade.

“Make way.  Make way for her Royal Highness, Anlei, Crown Princess of Beinan,” cried the herald as Anlei entered the state dining room where the reception for the most important suitors was already in full swing.  Lord Corann kept a single pace behind her, visibly protecting her and yet not overly obtrusively.  Anlei could feel the warmth of his body near her as she moved and felt glad for it in this intimidating setting filled with so many richly dressed Beinarians representing so much power and prestige.

Gazing around the room, she saw her parents, and then noticed several groupings of young men, many with their fathers.  As her presence became noticed, Anlei attended to the posture and disposition of these men.  Many of them were richly dressed with crimson belts, embroidery, and trims to their tunics.  As a group they seemed to be somewhere between thirty and seventy yen-ars with an air of self-confidence and ego, mostly in their physical appearance, she could tell, by the way they preened and showed off as she passed.  These men were obviously interested in a trophy wife, not her.

Overwhelmed by what felt like a wall of men wanting to devour her, Anlei clutched Corann’s arm, trying to conceal her fear.  Corann put his hand over hers, trying to both comfort her and cover the fear in her hand, transforming the grasp into a secure escorting hold.  “Courage,” he whispered into her ear.

Navigating away from the first group of young men as far as she could in the crowd, Anlei bowed courteously but did not approach them too closely.  Suddenly an older gentleman wearing a Ten-Arian broad sword turned into her path, stopping her in her tracks.  His eyes were a bright grey and his hair was a medium brown that curled into wavy locks.  He was 56.8 cun 寸 tall and very athletic in build, his muscles well defined under his fine pale-yellow wool tunic embroidered in silver symbols.  Just as stunning to Princess Anlei was the way his face and the way he carried himself reminded her of Corann. Suddenly she realized who he was, “Good afternoon, my lord.  Would I have the honor of speaking to none other than Lord Cariadoc of House Ten-Ar?”

Lord Cariadoc bowed graciously, “Indeed, Your Highness…but it is House Shem that I represent in your fair hall.  Many yen-ars ago I gave my soul to the Shemai; though I am a brother of Ten-Ar, it is my devotion to my faith that calls my heart first and foremost thanks to my lady wife. I am blessed, Your Highness, to be the father of and extend my name to many sons and daughters.”

“Not all, my lord,” corrected Lord Corann from behind Anlei.  He knew it was against protocol to speak now, but he was eye to eye with his father for the first time in his adult life.  Surely Cariadoc knew from his face who he was. “You have a son, your first born – and he is a Knight of Ten-Ar.”

Cariadoc eyed Corann with veiled contempt, “You are Corann, I presume?”

“I am.”

“What are you doing here?  Are you courting the princess?” demanded Cariadoc.

“I am vowed to her side as knight protector.  No man shall harm her as long as I am alive.  I have a sacred trust to fulfill, to stand always at her side in friendship and in service to her.  Her highness is my dearest friend for whom I would gladly lay down my life if called upon to do so as a true knight of Ten-Ar,” declared Lord Corann with pride.

“A beautiful woman of House Miyoo is a dangerous creature, Lord Knight Corann, I would be careful of falling to the magic of your charge.  You may find yourself in regret one beinor.”

“Is that why you avoid me, Father?  You feel some sort of regret that I exist?”

“You have no father, young one.  All you have is a witch’s spell that entrapped an honorable man into dishonorable lust until you were made of that abomination. “

“I was more than a yen-ar old when you left, Father.  You knew me as an infant and yet you chose to leave.  Do not blame the prayers of House Miyoo for your actions.  No one made you leave.  Nor did anyone make you ignore me all these yen-ars.   How many yen-ars did I train in the monastery – ever once did you speak to me, did you say my name, or admit that I am your son?  I never asked much of you, only that you admit that you sired me.”

“The Shemai help us all that such a spell was cast over my body, that I ever laid with your mother, boy.  Did I lay with your mother, the Lady Cordelia, until you were born of that lust?  You want me to say it?  YES.  I did – for it there has never been a beinor of my life I have not felt the judgment of The Shemai on my head.  He will judge all of Beinan for it; destroy us all because of my lust, because I was too weak to prevent your making.  I have sinned and I can never undo my sin.  This is why I never acknowledged you.  You are a mark of shame upon my flesh, Lord Corann.  You are an abomination before the god I worship.  I beg my wife every beinor to forgive your making and in penance, I have given her many children, only some of whom have survived.  My eldest sons, Kaleb and Janus are here.  THEY are the sons of my hopes and dreams,” asserted Lord Cariadoc.

Anlei felt Corann’s slow temper rising.  It was very difficult to stir Corann to anger, she knew, but this time she could tell, Lord Knight Cariadoc was actually insulting him enough to do it.  Fearing for her friend for whom she cared deeply, her many yen-ars of training and practice asserted themselves, “Perhaps, Lord Knight Cariadoc, in a less formal setting the three of us may re-convene in a quieter place to discuss the past in more serene and genial environments.  Perhaps this is not the best setting for healing old wounds which clearly need to be healed.  Not speaking after all these yen-ars have obviously wounded both of you.  If you are amenable, I would be happy to serve as arbiter in your dispute and help end this misunderstanding between you.  I understand, my lords, that the past is unpleasant for both of you.  But we ARE civilized Beinarian nobles, are we not?  Have we learned nothing from the beinors of clan warfare when such misunderstandings were resolved at the points of blades and arrows, with generations of clan feuds, endless and needless bloodshed?”

Cariadoc tried to suppress a laugh and failed, his guffaw escaping his lips against his will, “Well, young one, you have trained your princess well.  Perhaps this can be settled in more genial environments.  That is, if you really do want a few xiao-shirs of clearing the air between us?”

“Lord Knight Cariadoc – father – I have wanted little else from you in all my life.  Just to sit and TALK to you for a bit.  I am sixty yen-ars old; I do not need a father per se.  But I would like to know who you are and how you have lived your life since you left Lady

Cordelia and me.  And I would like it very much if you would take some miniscule interest in some part of my life.  Right or wrong in what she did; I am innocent in this.  I had no choice in how I was made or why,” answered Lord Corann.

Cariadoc softened, “No you had no choice, you are right.  Your Highness, if you are willing to arbitrate, I am willing conference with your protector in, say, ten beinors?”

“Agreed,” answered Anlei.

“Agreed,” answered Corann.

“Until then,” bowed Cariadoc, leaving them both.

Corann and Anlei tried to recover mentally from the confrontation with Cariadoc which, by this xiao-shir, had left them both with headaches.  Before either could move from their spot, even to look for refreshments, Prince Anwell, her younger brother, rushed up behind her, “There you are.  Where have you been?”

“I might ask the same thing of you, Anwell.  You were not at grandmother’s dinner when father, Corann, and I came back from the Ten-Arian monastery.  I’m surprised grandmother did not have your hide.  You know how grandmother feels about those formal dinners.  You – you – you….”  Anlei could not finish her sentence.

Corann laughed behind her, “My dear friend, can I reasonably presume this is your brother Anwell?  You’ve grown since last I saw you.”

“Friend?  Or lover boy?” teased Anwell.  “Father told me you two were kissing back there in house Ten-Ar.  Any truth, Lord Knight?”

Anlei eyed her brother with contempt, “Lord Corann, this is indeed my younger brother by seven yen-ars, Prince Anwell the Unready, 37 yen-ars old and still acting 17.”

Anwell returned her dirty look as Corann addressed him, “What is true, Your Highness is that I am the sworn protector of your sister and that it is my job to lay down my life in her personal defense should either honor or physical danger be threatened.  I would hate to use my sword on someone as royal as your person, Your Highness, but as I said, my vow to her includes Her Highnesses honor.” Corann met his eyes steely, scaring the irresponsible prince.

“You wouldn’t….” implied Prince Anwell.

Corann put his dominant left hand on the hint and drew the sword two cun 寸 to demonstrate his intent, “I would if you pressed the matter.  Do you intend to keep pressing it, Your Highness?”

Convinced at last, Anwell backed off, “NO SIR!”

Corann smiled and returned the blade to its natural position in its sheath, “I did not think so.”

Lord Prince Bevin, from a few zhang across the room, naturally saw the slight drawing of the Ten-Arian sword and joined the conversation, “Is there a problem here?”

Corann answered him, “Your son does not respect house Ten-Ar, Your Highness.  I had to teach him a small lesson in…respect.”

Bevin laughed, “Well done, my lord. Carry on.”  He strode off to resume his conversations with the fathers of candidates for Anlei’s hand.

Love this scene? Read more in The Great Succession Crisis. Available at a retailer near you including Apple, Amazon, Smashwords, Everand, and Barnes/Noble.

The Peers of Beinan series is (in chronological order):

Good-bye A672E92 Quintus

The First King (written first and integrated into “Good-bye,” it has its own audio edition)

The Poisoned Ground

The Great Succession Crisis

The Ghosts of the Past

Princess Anyu Returns

The Complete Series

The Legacy of Princess Anlei (The Great Succession Crisis, Ghosts of the Past, Princess Anyu Returns)

The Complete Data Files

The Lost Tales

Related Peers of Beinan posts

The Peers of Beinan: a Literary Journey

Peers of Beinan Book Descriptions and Links

The Knighting of a Squire

Excerpt from The Great Succession Crisis: Meeting Lord Cariadoc

Beinarian Slatkos

Serious about Series: Retail Links to your favorite series by Laurel A. Rockefeller

If you love to read or love to write for that matter, you know that book series are all the rage. But how do you find all the books in the series you love?

Many, but not all retailers, collect or at least tag books that come from the same series. In my experience these pages are often incomplete – which is why this blog includes all the books from each series in specific posts so dedicated. But what if you don’t want to scroll through all of that here? Easy: browse this post and you will find links to each retailer’s page for each series. Know of any pages I haven’t found (yet)? Comment with those links and I will check them out!

The Peers of Beinan series

genres: science fiction, paranormal romance, social scifi,

Explore a civilization in peril as blood feuds, political corruption, and tyranny seek to rip apart Beinarian society. Strongly influenced by Frank Herbert’s “Dune” series, Gene Roddenbury’s “Star Trek,” Glen Larson’s “Battlestar Galactica,” JRR Tolkien, and Dorothy “DC” Fontana, The Peers of Beinan takes you to a far away galaxy that feels just like home. Social issues explored include climate change, pollution, abortion, terrorism, domestic violence, and many more.

Amazon, Kobo, Smashwords

The Legendary Women of World History

genres: non-fiction history, narrative history, historical fiction, biography, women’s history

Begun in response to a lack of basic historical literacy in western Pennsylvania, the Legendary Women of World History seeks to improve history literacy for readers of all ages. With more than 75% available in audio format, many titles are accessible to children as young as four years old (use parental discretion in deciding age appropriateness). The series spans antiquity through the early 17th century. Most books are translated into multiple languages including Welsh, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, and Italian.

Amazon, Audible (minus newer releases Mary Queen of the Scots and Margaret of Wessex), Smashwords, Kobo.

Legendary Women of World History Textbooks

genres: history, narrative history, textbook, social studies, world history, ancient history, women’s history

The Legendary Women of World History Textbooks presents the same core content as the original Legendary Women of World History biographies – but with the addition of study questions after every chapter. These questions are exactly the same sort of questions that were presented in my textbooks in junior high and high school and are designed to promote both home school and public school learning, and augment existing curriculae.

In audio format, only two textbook editions are available: Hypatia of Alexandria Student-Teacher in English and Aliénor d’Aquitaine (Eleanor of Aquitaine in French edition). For reasons unknown, Audible is not offering Alienor, but you can find it on Apple Audiobooks. On Alienor, the student questions appear at the end of the book.

Find the Legendary Women of World History Textbooks series pages at Amazon and Smashwords.

Life with Cockatiels

genres: pet birds, pet guides, cockatiels, budgerigars, parrots, biographies, nature, science

More than any other books, the Life with Cockatiels is the most personal. Grounded in over 40 years of daily experience living with parrots, these books share what works, what doesn’t, and how to achieve a long, happy, and healthy life with your birds. The series starts with “Preparing for My First Cockatiel” which breaks down exactly what you need to buy to prepare your home for what cockatiels need, along with scientific data helping you understand who and what cockatiels are. “Preparing for My Senior Cockatiel” centers on nutrition and changes that come as your bird ages and develops age-related challenges like sight loss, along with practical suggestions on how to make needed adjustments. “Mithril and Me” is a biography for all my birds starting with my first bird, Luke, whom I bought in the third grade, through all my budgerigars and cockatiels from the early 1980s to its publication date in 2021.

All of these are filled with photos, including personal snapshots, to help guide you into a long, happy life with your birds.

Amazon, Kobo, Smashwords, Audible

Life in America

genres: American history, modern history, American Revolution, Early Republic, political science, women’s history, patriarchy, women’s rights, poverty

The Life in America series is all things American history. Beginning with the flash fiction “A New Start In the Niobrara for Mr. and Mrs. O’Malley,” the series steps outside of Laurel A. Rockefeller’s medieval history comfort zone. American Poverty and American Patriarchy are topically arranged, beginning with essays whose problems are then addressed in part two of each book with analysis and data from such sources as Forbes, Inc., Feeding America, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and the Bureau of Justice. The history of patriarchy and the resulting women’s rights movements are explored in depth with many surprises when it comes to women’s legal rights (including reproductive rights and abortion) in the United States. In Founding Mothers the lives of twelve women from diverse backgrounds are explored – both the famous and the largely forgotten. Music enters the series with Founding Mothers in a special appendix showcasing songs popular in colonial America and the Early Republic. Hear those songs sung in the audio edition.

Amazon, Smashwords

Notable Books Not in any series

Two of my books are not in series: the award-winning “His Red Eminence, Armand-Jean du Plessis de Richelieu,” and “The Arban and the Saman.” Both are historical in nature. Eminence is narrative history just like the Legendary Women of World History whereas Arban/Saman is a straight historical romance with some supernatural elements to it. Find links to these on this blog.

Find books and audiobooks by Laurel A. Rockefeller at your favorite retailer.

Amazon, Audible, Apple Books, Apple Audiobooks, Chirp, Everand, Barnes/Noble, Books A Million, BookBub, Good Reads, and YouTube.

Find books by Laurel A. Rockefeller on the series pages on this blog:

Peers of Beinan

Legendary Women of World History

Legendary Women of World History Textbooks

Legendary Women of World History and Peers of Beinan Dramas

Life in America

Life with Cockatiels

Audiobooks by Laurel A. Rockefeller

News from Spain. Excerpt from Eleanor of Aquitaine: a Play in Four Acts

Alienor d’Aquitaine is one of the most famous women in medieval history. The well-educated daughter of Duke William IX of Aquitaine, her father’s death made her the most eligible heiress in medieval Europe.

In this scene Eleanor learns of her father’s death.

Act I, Scene I

1137. April. Fields outside of Bordeaux, Aquitaine. ELEANOR is hunting with FALCONER near a beautiful lake. BIRD SONG chirps, quacks, and otherwise fills our ears melodiously.  Eleanor feeds her peregrine, Belle, from her gauntlet.

FALCONER

That’s a huge meal you are letting her have right now. She won’t want to take down another bird if you let her have so much at once.

ELEANOR

I don’t need another kill this morning. Besides, she hasn’t hunted since we left Poitiers and been forced to eat the mice we brought along for her. She deserves an extra-large meal this morning. This is our first opportunity to hunt since we arrived.

FALCONER

 I noticed Petronilla decided not to join us.

ELEANOR

Petronilla does not like outdoor pursuits.  Then again, she has no responsibilities to the duchy as I do. I take much more after my father. I love falconry, hunting, and riding in addition to the more indoor and womanly pursuits taught to noble women like dancing, spinning, weaving, and needlework. My father being a wise man, I’m also very well-schooled in household management and finance so that when he or, in time, my husband, is away the family estates will not suffer for lack of a proper administrator. Men may claim superiority to women in all things, but at the end of the day when men are off to war or pilgrimage or some other errand they think beneath the abilities of women it is the woman of the house who maintains each household, great or small, so that there is always money for the essentials of life.

FALCONER

 Like Belle’s food for the long journey here.

Eleanor puts Belle’s hood over her head and tightens it gently.

ELEANOR

Exactly like that.

HERALD ENTERS stage right and rushes to Eleanor.

HERALD

My lady, come quickly!

ELEANOR

What news?

HERALD

 Your father is dead, my lady. A bout of dysentery or poison has killed him. On his deathbed he made King Louis VI le Gros guardian over both your person and your inheritance.

ELEANOR

 Under what terms?

HERALD

 I do not know all the details, Your Grace. Except that you have inherited your father’s title, along with all of his lands and most of his money, all of it to be controlled by King Louis until he finds a suitable husband to transfer it permanently to.

ELEANOR

Messages between Bordeaux and Paris will take at least two weeks. I suggest we all return to the archbishop’s mansion. There is much to do and I cannot accomplish it from here.

(END OF SCENE)

Love this scene? Buy the full play at a retailer near you including Apple, Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes/Noble.

Self-Publishing: Book Earnings and Royalty Payment Timing

You finally published your latest literary masterpiece. The hard part of the process is done. Now it’s time to publish, get sales, and finally receive that royalty payment for your book.

But how and when you get paid for a sale varies greatly by the publishing platform and retailer selling your book. Here is a look at the timing between when someone buys your book (ebook, paperback, hard cover, and/or audiobook) and when you can expect to actually receive your royalty payment.

Kindle Direct Publishing (kindle books, paperbacks, hard cover books)

Kindle Direct Publishing (abbreviated KDP) pays you 60 days after the last day of every month. This is usually direct deposit into your bank. For example: books sold between December 1st and December 2023 were paid between February 29th and March 2nd, 2024. The difference in the date comes from currency conversions with your bank. This is because Amazon pays each “channel” (their word for the Amazon sites in each different country) separately and in the country-of-sale’s local currency. Sales in Germany are paid in Euros. Sales in Canada are paid in Canadian dollars. Sales in the UK are paid in British Pounds Sterling. You get the idea. Funds leave Amazon on the same date across the board – usually the 29th in every month (or February 28th most years) – but banks usually have to convert these other currencies and that takes time. Hence the three or four day window for all payments to be received, acknowledged, and credited to your bank account.

This 60 day payment lag applies to both kindle books and any paperbacks or hard cover books you publish through KDP. Payments are only sent when they exceed the minimum threshold for direct deposit – usually $10 USD if you live in the United States – otherwise they roll over to the next month and so on until the minimum is met.

Draft2Digital (ebooks, paperbacks)

Draft2Digital is KDP’s leading competitor for paperback books and now, through its acquisition of Smashwords, ebooks. Paperbacks are sent to the exact same retailers that KDP sends paperbacks to. Whereas ebooks are sent to ebook retailers such as Apple, Barnes/Noble, Kobo, and Everand. Whether paperback or digital, each of these retailers reports and pays earnings on its own schedule. According to Draft2Digital, “The stores that payout to you on a 3-month delay would be Kobo, Amazon, and Baker & Taylor. The stores that payout to you on a 2-month delay would be Apple, Barnes and Noble, OverDrive, Hoopla, Bibliotheca, Scribd, and Tolino. D2D Print-on-Demand (paperbacks) can take 3-4 months to verify royalties.

“Verified royalties are paid out to you on the next available payment date after having been added to your account given that the amount owed to you is greater than the payment threshold set on your payment method.

“Please keep in mind it takes 2-3 months to receive your first payment. Many of our stores are reporting the month after the sale and paid to you the following month but we do have stores that pay to us on a 2-month delay and are paid to you the following month.”

ACX (audiobooks)

ACX is Amazon’s audiobook publishing platform. It offers authors both exclusive and non-exclusive distribution contracts and both royalty share and per finished hour payment options. A royalty share contract limits publication to Amazon, Audible, and Apple retail sites. Under royalty share, the narrator and author each receive 20% of the net retail for each book sold. Per finished hour contracts pay the narrator at the time of project completion and can be either exclusive or non-exclusive, each option paying different royalty rates. Exclusive limits publication to Amazon, Audible, and Apple and pays 40% of net retail (same rate as royalty share, but author keeps all of the royalties here instead of sharing it). Non-exclusive pays just 25% of net retail, but allows for broader distribution.

ACX pays 30 days after the completion of each month. For example, sales between January 1st and January 31st, 2024 paid on February 27th, 2024 through direct deposit. As with KDP, if a specific month’s earnings does not exceed the minimum threshold for direct deposit, the earnings for that month roll over until the minimum is met.

Find Away Voices (audiobooks)

Find Away Voices (abbreviated FAV) is ACX’s leading competitor. Featuring expanded distribution to over 50 different retailers, including all of the aggregates used by public libraries and libraries for the blind, FAV puts your audiobooks in more retailers than ACX and pays a much higher royalty rate as well, usually between 50% and 80%, depending on the retailer. With Spotify’s recent acquisition of FAV, all audiobooks posted through FAV are by default available on Spotify. Authors choose which retailers from FAV’s extensive list to publish – or not publish – to.

Since FAV distributes audiobooks to Barnes/Noble, Everand, Apple, Kobo, etc. they receive earned royalties from those retailers on the same schedule as Draft2Digital.

Like KDP and ACX, FAV pays through direct deposit to your bank and generally requires a minimum of $10 USD before it pays royalties. Earn less than $10 USD in a given month and your earnings roll over until you reach that threshold.

Self-publishing can be a tough business. But armed with a little information and a lot of persistence, authors can succeed in this dynamic industry.

For more information about the publishing business please see:

The 3 “P”s of Audiobook Narrators

The 3 Ps of Audiobook Narrators Part Two

Find Away Voices Sales Report: A Detailed Look At “New Start in the Niobrara” audiobook

Why my newest releases are not available for kindle on Amazon.

How to Format Paperbacks Without Createspace’s Interior Templates

Babelcube beware: what authors need to know before signing a Babelcube contract

Going Global: A Look at Translation Options for Independent Authors

Last lines: Biographies by Laurel A. Rockefeller

If you still use twitter, you may have noticed a recent discussion among the writing community regarding how best to end your latest book. After all, you have spent weeks or months, sometimes years writing your book, but how then do you best end it?

I like to end my books on a high note – which is odd when you realize that biographies necessarily end with the death of the biography subject. But death doesn’t have to be sad; every one of the people whose stories I am telling have a legacy, an impact on both the lives of those who knew them and on us today.

Here then are the final lines for each of my biographies. All of these books are available in both digital and paperback editions at a retailer near you.

Boudicca: Britain’s Queen of the Iceni.

Audio edition available.

Moira sat and looked intently at her mother, letting her eyes un-focus and letting herself go into the trance that marked the Sight, “You were my mother before.”

“I was.”

“Are we finally together again?  Have I finally found you?”

“Yes, Alys, you have.”

Catherine de Valois: French Princess, Tudor Matriarch.

Audio edition available.

“In time, Jasper and I were allowed to enter King Henry’s service where we all became the best of friends – just as she wanted us to be from the beginning.”

Henry hugged Edmund affectionately, “And so we are.  No brothers can be closer than we are.  Mum would be proud.”

Mary Queen of the Scots: the Forgotten Reign.

Audio edition available.

Nineteen years of imprisonment in England followed.  Nineteen years of sorrow and pain.  Until at last she fell victim to her own envy for Elizabeth’s crown, falling into a trap made for her by English spymaster William Cecil.  In October fifteen eighty-six the nobles of England tried Queen Mary for treason against Queen Elizabeth, the verdict and sentence decided before the trial began.  For weeks Queen Elizabeth debated, delaying the sentence of death.  Until at last on the eighth of February fifteen eighty-seven Queen Mary stood proudly to face her death as the queen she was.  Words of compassion she spoke that morning.  Gifts she gave to all those who were kind to her.  Beneath her black velvet gown she wore crimson, the colour of Catholic martyrs.  She died that day with grace and charm. “In my end is my beginning,” was her life-long motto.  All those who hated her in life came to love her in death with memory warm and glowing. 

And so with love conclude we this tale of love, of courage, of Scotland.

Queen Elizabeth Tudor: Journey to Gloriana.

Audio edition available.

“The final years of Elizabeth’s reign became known as the ‘Golden Age’ with the queen now called ‘Gloriana’ in honour of her triumph.  Theatre and arts expanded, England grew rich, and the Spanish Empire waned. On the twenty-fourth of March sixteen hundred and three Queen Elizabeth died in her palace in Richmond.  News immediately spread to King James of Scotland, Queen Mary’s beloved son, who was quickly proclaimed King James the First of England, the first king to rule over England, Scotland, and Wales.  The first King of Great Britain.”

“Do you think the divide between England and Scotland will ever heal?” asked Elizabeth.

“Only time will tell, my friend. We may never know.  But think of this:  we will be one of the first from England to live in the new world.  To that I say, let the adventure begin!”

Empress Wu Zetian.

Audio edition available.

“There are people who are smarter, more educated, perhaps wiser in China and around the world.  But this no one can deny:  the world is a better place because she dared defy traditional ideas of womanhood. She dared do what is right, not just for herself, but for all people.”

Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd: the Warrior Princess of Deheubarth.

Years passed in constant warfare with the English.  In time Gwenllian’s brother Owain Gwynedd became king after their father.  In Deheubarth younger son Rhys ap Gruffydd became Gwenllian’s greatest legacy.  For from his bloodline flowed the great hope for Wales when Owain ap Maredudd ap Tudur was born in Ynys Môn. And though the castle where Princess Gwenllian was born did not survive to Owain’s time her life was still remembered in Gwynedd, in Deheubarth, and across all of Wales.  As Owain helped King Henry the Fifth win against French at the Battle of Agincourt and as he secretly wed the dowager queen Catherine de Valois years later, the story of his foremother Princess Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd stayed ever dear to his heart. Did his grandson, Henry Tudor remember the valour of Princess Gwenllian as he killed King Richard III in fourteen eighty five at the Battle of Bosworth Field?  Who is to say?

The world is a strange place and history has a funny way of making right the evil deeds done against the innocent.  And so one must think that surely in some place beyond this physical world, Princess Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd, the warrior princess of Deheubarth watched the coronation of Queen Elizabeth Tudor, a woman born of her blood and legacy, and smiled.

Empress Matilda of England.

Audio edition available.

“Eleanor is right,” added Matilda. “Sooner or later Thomas would have to choose between his duties to the pope and his duties to England. Maybe not now, or this year, or even this decade, but eventually the subject will come up. Right now Becket is your man, your servant, and no one else’s.”

“My mind is made up on this matter,” declared King Henry. “You will be ordained as a priest and elevated as my archbishop of Canterbury.”

Thomas Becket paced before meeting the king’s eyes, “Very well then. Your wish is my command.  But do not say you were not warned by the wisest women in all of England!”

Hypatia of Alexandria.

Audio edition available.

“Hypatia’s murder had a chilling effect on intellectual life in Alexandria. Though it did not immediately end advanced learning in the city, Cyril’s increase in power and authority sent a clear message that anyone who challenged the teachings of the Church, no matter how unintentionally, could expect the same fate.

“What about Bede? Does this mean his books are worthless?”

“Bede was first and foremost a monk,” explained Prioress Hildegard.  “His loyalties were first to mother Church. For all must submit to the rulings of our church leaders and profess agreement with them, no matter if they are right or wrong. To fail to do so is to risk being burned as a heretic. Who will risk that when it is far easier to obey the Holy Father in Rome? And yet … I cannot obey.  The visions God gives me supersedes everything. Popes, bishops, archbishops are all men!  I do not know yet what the answer is to the problem, but this I do know:  I will find the answer!”

Cleopatra VII: Egypt’s Last Pharaoh.

Hypatia shook her head, “More tragic is that these books here in Alexandria are the only records that contradict Octavian and those who sought his favour like Plutarch, books no doubt the Patriarch of Alexandria will see burned at the soonest opportunity.

“Remember that tyranny always comes at the expense of the Truth.  Never forget that. And above all else, never stop resisting those who offer the most convenient explanations for why things are as they are. Be kind and patient with others, civil in your disagreements. Question everything you see and hear. Verify every story. Seek the Truth and the Truth will find you—if you are wise and if your heart is kind.”

Margaret of Wessex: Mother, Saint, and Queen of Scots.

Audio edition available.

“It was my mother who commissioned a proper biography of her, you know. She made sure that everyone who knew and remembered my mother told their story to be recorded. She was such a pious woman, even though in her piety she took away long cherished customs and traditions. And if this new clan system that is rising up in opposition to royal authority endures, then we must count that too as part of Margaret’s legacy.  For it was out of love for her that Malcolm took away so much cherished heritage.  The Picts never wrote things down, you see, unlike the Welsh.  What was lost because of Malcolm’s love for Margaret will never be restored. Alba may endure, but it is a changed land forever,” remembered Matilda.

“We can only go forward, Your Highness. Never back. And though you grieve, rightly, for the loss of your beloved husband Heinrich, surely you must understand:  you too will heal. For you are the hope of many queens and kings. You are the blood unbroken of Princess Bethoc of House Dunkeld of Alba. You are the blood unbroken of Æfgifu of York of House Wessex. And you are the heiress of the Angevin dynasty through your father. Whatever the future holds for you, milady, your legacy, and therefore your grandmother’s, will endure forever.”

Hildegard von Bingen.

Audio edition available.

“But it was not simply the number of books that remains impressive, Katharina. She challenged the severe restrictions put on women, especially by the Church, and won most of the time.  She revolutionized the role of women and won improvements in the lives of women that even today are difficult to catalogue thanks to her wisdom and hard-earned respect from secular rulers. Few people in history have made greater contributions to our society and culture. She did it all through peaceful means. Her sword was her pen, her well-earned reputation as a wise woman, and her willingness to serve God by serving others,” finished Abbess Johanna.

“A true role model for all of us –women and men, religious and secular,” concluded Katharina.

“Do not forget Hildegard, Sister Katharina.  For her example will serve you well if you join Martin Luther’s reformation of the Church.”

“I will not forget and shall apply these lessons for all of my life.  God asks nothing less. Her legacy shall live in my heart. Now and always. A-men.”

Katharina von Bora: First Lady of the Reformation.

Audio edition available.

“Disease broke out in Saxony. In December 1552 Katharina fled to nearby Torgau, hoping to escape the Black Death.  Falling, she broke her hip and died. She was buried in St. Mary’s Church in Torgau where she is remembered and honoured as few women are.

“Without seeking power or glory for herself, without high birth or wealth, Katharina von Bora changed our world through the power of love and the power of living her Faith instead of talking about it. Conscious of the attention she received as Martin Luther’s wife, she strove to be the model pastor’s wife, the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31.  She succeeded beyond all imagination.”

Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Youngest son John Lackland ascended the English throne, taking a new wife, also named Isabella, after Isabella of Gloucester secured her annulment from him. Together John and Isabella of Angoulême had five children, despite John’s continued infidelities and persistent agitations. In 1215 John’s agitations towards his clergy and nobility culminated in the Great Charter – the Magna Carta – John’s most enduring legacy.

For Eleanor’s part she spent the remaining years of her life in retirement in Anjou, cared for by the nuns at Fonteyrault Abbey near Chinon. In 1204 she died and was buried there at the abbey.  She was eighty-two years old.

His Red Eminence, Armand-Jean du Plessis de Richelieu.

The world was readying itself for Armand’s exit from the stage of life. Without Anne’s steady hand, Armand found it harder to fight off his illnesses. Often, despite the happiness of his bird’s company, he dreamed of her and remembered the vision of her spirit he saw as she died. The Phoenix, glorious phoenix—and the angel she said was what his spirit looked like. As the usual lethal plots raged and old enemies died off, Armand prepared to die, remembering his Anne and pondering many of the things she said.

Tuberculosis set in, making it hard to breathe. The final illness, these final pains. He was ready. For heaven? For another life as a human being? The Hour of Becomings? A wedding among the standing stones in France? Wales? England? Scotland? He did not know. But he hoped with all his heart that everything that Anne sensed and told him was true—that he would see her soon somehow, somewhere, by some divine plan his humanity could not comprehend. To serve together in government. To teach. To learn. To wed. But most of all to love. 

Fourteen biographies with fourteen endings! Are you excited to read more? Find links to the Legendary Women of World History series and to His Red Eminence on this blog.

All of these books are available in multiple languages including your choice of French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, and Italian. Both Boudicca and Gwenllian are also available in Welsh, part of my commitment to preserving the Welsh language for centuries to come.

The Knighting of a Squire. Excerpt from The Great Succession Crisis

Prince Yubi from “Benji, Zax, and the Alien Prince.”

Long before I devoted my life to history education I was a novelist. Yeah, that seems far fetched to me too! But from 2010 to 2012 I actually wrote a science fiction romance. It was intended to be fan fiction for “Benji, Zax, and the Alien Prince,” that beloved part of my youth. Instead The Great Succession Crisis grew into a five (six if you count The First King flash fiction) book series.

In this scene Princess Anlei accompanies her father, a Knight of Ten-Ar, to the ceremony elevating Squire Corann into knighthood.

The Knighting of a Squire. Excerpt from Chapter Two: A Knightly Education for Princess Anlei.

The knighting of a squire was one of the oldest and grandest ceremonies for the Knights of Ten-Ar—and proudest.  In a cavern-like ceremonial chamber that resembled a temple built slightly underground, Lord Culain, Lord Prince Bevin, and several of the more academically accomplished squires of Ten-Ar processed to flutes, zithers, and the Beinarian version of a soprano shawm, a light, sweet double-reeded instrument.  In the amphitheater-like setting sat Princess Anlei in a place of honor among other dignitaries.  Behind her were many of Corann’s classmates, all dressed in their finest fabrics and brightest colours.  As Bevin and Culain took their ritual places, the music changed to a heraldic tone, signaling those in attendance to rise.  Corann glided in his processional in a crimson tunic and trousers, his clothing unbelted and unmarked in any way; even his soft black leather shoes were unremarkable.

Though his heart soared, especially when he dared to look at Anlei in her lavender gown, he maintained the composure of a man who had been in vigil all beinor long and endured many trials and tribulations to reach this point.  As much as his spiritual abilities allowed him to survey the soft contours of her soft body, he refused to show anything, though deep in his heart and even reaching his conscious mind, he felt pleased at her beauty.  He noticed the way Anlei had braided and ornamented her hair in silver ribbons and white pearls around and through her crown braid.  Silver and lavender ribbon streamers fell out of the pins placed in her hair and a white rose-like flower with the softest and most alluring fragrance served as a center piece comb at the center back of the braid, just above it and anchoring just under it.

Anlei was … breath taking.

Almost against his will, Corann smiled at her as he reached his assigned ceremonial spot.  Anlei smiled back.  Composing himself once more, he knelt and looked into Lord Culain’s green eyes.  Lord Culain laid his hands on the crown of Corann’s head, “Corann, son of Cariadoc, for many yen-ars have you studied and suffered, enduring the trials set before you of mind, body, heart, and spirit.  Now the journey’s end has come and a choice lies before you.  Do you choose to join the brotherhood of Knights of Ten-Ar as is your birth right by your father, Lord Cariadoc – or leave this monastery for the temple that is also, through your mother, your birth right?”

Corann’s grey eyes beamed with spiritual devotion as he grasped Culain’s wrists ceremoniously, “Master, hear me now before these witnesses.  I choose as I have always chosen all my life:  to dedicate my mind, body, heart, and soul to this house and this place.  If the brotherhood will have me, I vow myself to be, now and for forevermore, sword brother and peer, a lord of Ten-Ar.”

Lord Culain removed his hands from Corann’s head and anointed the center of his brow with fragrant sacred oil, “Then in the name of the Knights of Ten-Ar and as your master, I confer on you the rank of Knight and Lord of Ten-Ar.” With a nod, one of the squires knelt nearby, bearing a great sword in a gold and silver scabbard and on a strong leather belt in a bright green.  Kneeling, Lord Culain girt it about Lord Corann’s waist.

Rising, Culain turned to Bevin who in turn turned to a second squire bearing a narrow silver-like circlet on a cushion.   At the front center of the very narrow band was a great marquise-like cut Beinarian sapphire with strong, triangular corners that sparkled like an earth diamond and displayed a pattern of light onto other objects when the Beinarian sunlight shone strongly upon it.  Lord Prince Bevin picked up this circlet and handed it to Culain who ritually held it over Lord Corann’s head, “Lord Corann, Knight of Ten-Ar, this, as much as your sword, is the sacred symbol of our house.  As your sword aids in obtaining the peace, let this blue stone of wisdom guide you in keeping the peace.  May your soul always travel in harmony with the goddesses and may they always help you find paths that will unite, and never divide, our people,” Corann’s grey eyes met his as the circlet softly

lowered onto his head and into his hair.  He felt the weight and the stone’s energies at once as Lord Culain kissed his forehead like a father and with his forearm raised him up from his long kneeling position.  “Brothers of Ten-Ar, nobles of many houses, I give you Lord Corann, Knight of Ten-Ar.”

Realizing he was on his feet and fully initiated, Corann allowed himself to smile, but his gaze quickly wandered to Princess Anlei who smiled at him discretely like a shrewd political princess.  As the gathering rushed to greet him and congratulate him, he noticed that she did not, waiting and keeping her gaze as far from the crowd as she could.  Lord Corann could not help but to recognize the training and allowed the crowd to thin on him before he made his own moves towards her direction.  Food and drink by now were being served as part of a formal reception.  Lord Corann grabbed two glasses of something that resembled a sparkling wine and walked to Anlei, extending a glass to her, “You look like you were waiting for something to happen…or perhaps someone.”

“A princess does not need to rush into the fray like some starving creature, but moves deliberately, with a purpose.  I did not think for a moment that this gathering would end without you speaking to me at some point,” she smiled, accepting the glass and taking a sip.

“You know me well for someone who has only known me a few xiao-shir,” smiled Corann.

“You forget, I’ve seen you around the palace many times.  Do you really think that you and grandmother were completely alone during all those meetings?  Grandmother let me get away with more things than you realize.”

Corann laughed, thinking about times at the palace as a youth when High Priestess Wehe tutored him, “People think your grandmother is the evil queen at times, but she’s really not that bad.  She can be a real kind and generous soul.  I would not be surprised at all if you turned out more like her than people guess.”

Anlei laughed, “Who me?  Like my grandmother? Her royal priestessness?  Perish the thought.  I’m a woman of science, not faith.  I am not sure any of these goddesses are real at all…and I don’t see any point in this religious mumbo jumbo.  Why anyone would confuse her and I beyond the obvious genetic similarities is beyond me.”

Corann tilted his head and opened his mind psychically, allowing himself to sense her more deeply.  This was, after all, his first real time alone with Anlei to speak to her as two people.  He blushed from what he sensed.  What is it with her to enchant him so?  Such a soul.  Could any soul be more beautiful?  Why did she try to cloak it with this faux atheism?  Or could it be that she did not herself realize how much she actually believed in the goddesses? “Maybe on some level you think all that is religious nonsense.  But I wonder if perhaps your adverse opinion of religion has more to do with the practice of religion than with divinity itself, Anlei.  It’s important not to confuse the two.  One may see the faults with the way that people worship or talk about religion and see abuses in our religious system—and these are valid.  But the system and practice is not the same thing as theology or the beings behind it.  They say that on many other worlds, other cultures struggle with these issues. It is not just you remotely.”

“You surprise me, Lord Corann.  I know you are a student of my grandmother’s, but I did not think of theology as the first subject of interest to any knight of Ten-Ar.”

Corann smiled softly, “You might be surprised how we knights of Ten-Ar are actually educated.  In arts of war, yes, certainly, but that is only perhaps 20% of our education now.  Hundreds of yen-ars ago…yes, it was much more about fighting and defense of our people.  But now we understand that the best way to defend our people is with clear thought and strong minds.  We are a house of peace more than war.  It should really not be so surprising my father Lord Cariadoc fell in lust with one of the most powerful priestesses in the temple…well, so they say. “

Anlei smiled back, “You mean as my grandfather fell in lust with my grandmother?”

“Something like that yes.  Isn’t it strange how we both owe our existence to the lust of some man over some powerful priestess – and that same priestess’s willingness to use his desire to attain something she wanted?  Your grandmother wanted to become queen and bear legitimate heirs to the throne.  My mother wanted to stay in the temple, but bear some powerful son who would merge two powerful lines and still have the right to be part of this noble house.  I am sure that even the best efforts to protect the innocence of a princess have not kept you from hearing of that most unfortunate custom among the houses regarding the best way to disgrace a rival house—or rival individual for that matter?” Lord Corann spoke carefully now, particularly of such a delicate subject, no doubt, to a woman now entering prime age to be victimized.

Anlei looked into his eyes, suddenly afraid and vulnerable, “I am aware of it, yes.”

Corann met her eyes.  Perhaps it was his training, and perhaps it was an immediate effect of his elevation; he felt this overwhelming need to protect her, “Do not fear it from me, Your Highness.”  Taking her hand, he knelt, “I pledge to you, my princess, ever shall I serve you.  The sovereignty of your house is in my heart.  I pledge by my life and by my death as a knight of Ten-Ar, never shall a man place a hand on you in violence or hate—or if he should and evade my sword at the time, I swear by my life and death to avenge you.”  Turning her hand, he kissed her palm to seal his vow, then kissed her palm twice more very tenderly out of desire.  Anlei felt a wave of spiritual energy crawl up her arm from his kiss, stealing her breath.  She stumbled by a step.  Instinctively, Lord Corann steadied her with his hand softly on her delicate waist.  The soft fabric caressed his fingers.  The sweetness of her body for just that tiny instant enraptured him.

Steadied by him, Anlei regained her footing and with her hand tugged on Corann to rise again.  “Thank you,” she whispered in his ear. Resuming a more appropriate distance of two friends talking, she replied, “Your service is accepted, Lord Knight Corann.  Gladly will I take you as my protector.  Keep your vow to me always, Lord Knight Corann and never let anyone—not yourself, not a friend, not a foe — common, noble, or royal — lay a hand on my body except in kindness, friendship, or love.  As daughter of Queen Isabelle, I charge you with this task for all the beinors of your life and mine.”

Lord Corann drew his sword.  It gleamed brightly and sharply in the hidden lights, “From this moment until death, I am yours: protector, friend, and servant.”

Love this scene? Read more in The Great Succession Crisis. Available at a retailer near you including Apple, Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes/Noble.

The Peers of Beinan series is (in chronological order):

Good-bye A672E92 Quintus

The First King (written first and integrated into “Good-bye,” it has its own audio edition)

The Poisoned Ground

The Great Succession Crisis

The Ghosts of the Past

Princess Anyu Returns

Companion book: The Complete Data Files

Related Peers of Beinan series posts

Excerpt from The Great Succession Crisis: Meeting Lord Cariadoc

The Peers of Beinan: a Literary Journey

Peers of Beinan Book Descriptions and Retail Links

Recipe: Beinarian Slatkos

Malcolm Romances Margaret. Excerpt from “Margaret of Wessex: A Play in Four Acts”

The 11th century was a perilous time, especially for England’s last Saxon princess, Margaret of Wessex. After escaping England, Margaret and her family takes refuge at the court of King Máel Coluim mac Donnchadh in Dunfermline – better known in English as Malcolm III Canmore, king of the Scots. In this excerpt from the stage drama, Malcolm expresses his romantic interest in the beautiful Margaret for the very first time.

Dunfermline Palace today

Act III, Scene III

1068. Dunfermline Palace. Courtyard. Midnight. MALCOLM ALBA leans against the parapet on the outside wall and looks down into the courtyard. MARGARET WESSEX ENTERS and wanders around the courtyard. Malcolm notices her and climbs down the stone steps to her while she looks up at the night sky. The light around him is very dim, rendering him almost invisible until he speaks to Margaret.

MALCOLM ALBA

You can’t sleep either.

MARGARET WESSEX

(startled)

Your Majesty!

MALCOLM ALBA

 Máel Coluim. At least here you can call me that.  There are no guards, no court, no protocol to follow—or none I will tolerate right now. I’m just a man, a man who cannot sleep tonight.

MARGARET WESSEX

 One does not usually think of kings as normal men.

MALCOLM ALBA

 Odd for you to say so given you spent the last few years in King Edward the Confessor’s court and count your grandfather as king of England.

MARGARET WESSEX

 A man I never knew….

MALCOLM ALBA

 Regardless, you are granddaughter of a king; that his reign was brief matters not. You are royal, same as me.

MARGARET WESSEX

 Forgive me, Sire, I know very little about you—beyond your hospitality which is far more than I deserve.

MALCOLM ALBA

 More than you deserve? Why on earth would you think that?

MARGARET WESSEX

 I am but a woman and as a daughter of Eve, flawed to my core.

MALCOLM ALBA

(stepping up to her and kissing her)

Yes, you are a woman! A very beautiful woman, especially with your hair unbound and uncovered by your veils.

MARGARET WESSEX

 What do you want of me, Sire?

MALCOLM ALBA

 Your love.

MARGARET WESSEX

 So soon?

MALCOLM ALBA

(kissing her again)

 Yes.

MARGARET WESSEX

 Why me?

MALCOLM ALBA

 I don’t know. Perhaps I recognize something in your soul that makes it clear to me that you belong at my side as my bride. I know it doesn’t make sense given the brevity of our acquaintance and no doubt my son would be unhappy if he knew my feelings tonight.  But that is my instinct towards you, Margaret. If I dared, I would ask your brother’s permission to wed you.

MARGARET WESSEX

 If you dared? I thought warriors never hesitated in taking what they want.

MALCOLM ALBA

 This is different. When I killed MacBheatha mac Fhionnlaigh at the Battle of Lumphanan and then his stepson Lulach a year later, I was avenging my father and fulfilling my duties as heir to my father’s throne. I did what I did because I had to. War is like that. But this is different. This with you is much more personal. I would be a fool if I rushed into it without thinking first.

MARGARET WESSEX

 You call kissing me after only a few days as your guest not rushing?

MALCOLM ALBA

Relatively speaking. If we are to be fully honest with each other, I think I wanted to marry you the very instant I first laid my eyes upon you. It didn’t matter you were tired, hungry, a bit filthy from travel, and smelled like you spent time sleeping far too close to fish!

MARGARET WESSEX

Now I’m self-conscious.  Was I really such a mess when I arrived?

MALCOLM ALBA

 For a princess meeting a king for the first time, yes, but then you did come unannounced and I was eager to meet you.  I could have easily deferred our first audience until your rooms were ready and you’d bathed and changed into fresh clothes.

MARGARET WESSEX

 You were that curious about me?

MALCOLM ALBA

(kissing her)

I was, yes.

MARGARET WESSEX

 You seem to like to kiss me.

MALCOLM ALBA

 Do you mind?

MARGARET WESSEX

 Depends on what you expect to come of it tonight.

MALCOLM ALBA

No more than good dreams of me after you lay back down to sleep.

MARGARET WESSEX

 You are not expecting me to—

MALCOLM ALBA

No! Not that! Not that I would not like that. I am a widow and it’s been a long time since I had such things—but no! I prefer to only taste such delights when you are my queen. Nothing less.

MARGARET WESSEX

 Have you taken no mistresses in all this time?

MALCOLM ALBA

 I have remained completely chaste since Queen Ingibiorg’s death. Fornication may be the prerogative of kings, but it is still a sin and hardly the path to God’s favour. I have lain with but one woman since my wedding and that was with my wife and queen. God clearly approves: our son Donnchadh is strong and healthy. My only sorrow is that his mother died so soon after his birth.  He’s never known what it is to have a mother.

MARGARET WESSEX

 Donnchadh? Named after your father?

MALCOLM ALBA

 Yes! Seems appropriate, don’t you think?

MARGARET WESSEX

 Yes.

MALCOLM ALBA

 Please tell me you approve of me?

MARGARET WESSEX

I do. You are a good man, Máel Coluim mac Donnchadh.

MALCOLM ALBA

(kissing her)

Oidhche mhath! Good night. Think well of me!

(END OF SCENE)

Love this scene? Buy the full play at a retailer near you including Apple, Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes/Noble.

Where to Find Audiobooks by Laurel A. Rockefeller

Audiobooks are my passion. Since 2014 I have invested heavily in audiobook productions across all four available audiobook languages: English, Spanish, French, and German. From 2014 to mid 2022 these audiobooks were produced for exclusive publication on Amazon, Audible, and Apple retail sites. Since September 2022 audiobook productions have expanded to include Spotify, LibroFM, Chirp, Everand, Barnes/Noble, Audiobooks.com, Hoopla, Overdrive, and many more. Audible offers series pages for the Life with Cockatiels and for the Legendary Women of World History (excluding newer releases Mary Queen of the Scots and Margaret of Wessex).

Though many of my blog posts include applicable links to audio editions, sometimes it helps to browse a single post devoted to audiobooks focusing on retail links. If you are looking for your next great listen, feel free to scroll through this post. On the newest releases (September 2022 to present) you will find at least four retail links for each book. Odds are heavy there are dozens more retailers offering them too. If you don’t find a link to your favorite retailer, feel free to consult that retailer’s website or simply contact customer service! We all want you to find something great to listen to.

Available Audiobooks in Alphabetical Order:

A New Start in the Niobrara for Mr. and Mrs. O’Malley

Run time: 4 minutes

Take a train ride through 1880s Nebraska. Apple, Audible, Audiobooks, LibroFM, Chirp, Spotify.

Genres: flash fiction, historical fiction, western

Aliénor d’Aquitaine

Run time: 1 hour, 59 minutes

Plus qu’une duchesse. Plus qu’une reine. Sa vie a transformé l’Europe médiévale d’une manière que nous ne pourrons jamais comprendre pleinement. Apple, Audiobooks, Everand, LibroFM, Hoopla, Spotify, Kobo/Walmart.

Genres: biography, medieval history

American Patriarchy

Run time: 1 hour, 59 minutes

Modeled after “American Poverty” in structure, American Patriarchy explores the challenges women face in American society. Cultural history is explored in this personal and thought-provoking micro-history. Apple, Audible, Everand, Hoopla, LibroFM, Chirp, Spotify, Everand, Kobo/Walmart.

Genres: American history, modern history, social issues.

American Poverty

Run time: 1 hour, 47 minutes

Occupy Wall Street, the Great Recession, and poverty in rural Pennsylvania all come together in historian Laurel A. Rockefeller’s historical analysis focusing on American History and politics. Apple, Audible.

Genres: American history, public policy, political science.

The Arban and the Saman

Run time: 1 hour, 51 minutes

Experience the mystery, majesty, and mysticism of medieval China as the Mongol hordes conquer the world. Features music performed in English and Chinese by Laurel A. Rockefeller. Apple, Audible.

Genres: historical fiction, romance, paranormal romance.

Boudicca: Britain’s Queen of the Iceni

Run time: 50 minutes

She alone stood up to the might of Rome. English (Apple, Audible), French (Apple, Audible), Spanish (Apple, Audible), and German (Apple, Audible).

Genres: biography, Roman Britain, ancient history

Catherine de Valois: French Princess, Tudor Matriarch

Run time: 1 hour, 9 minutes

More than Henry V’s trophy wife, she overcame her father’s mental illness and Henry’s warmongering to become matriarch to House Lancaster and its emerging Tudor dynasty. Spanish edition features music performed by Laurel A. Rockefeller.

English (Apple, Audible), French (Apple, Audible), Spanish (Apple, Audible), and German (Apple, Audible).

Cleopatra VII: La última faraona de Egipto

Run time: 2 hours, 22 minutes

Calificada de puta y seductora, la verdadera Cleopatra VII fue una de las mentes más brillantes de su época y el único faraón ptolemaico que hablaba, leía y escribía en egipcio. Conoce a la verdadera mujer que creías conocer. Apple, Audible.

Genres: ancient history, biography

Empress Matilda of England

Run time: 2 hours, 28 minutes

The roaring lioness of England! Born the daughter of Henry I of England, Matilda was married off to Kaiser Heinrich V, a man 16 years her elder. But when the White Ship Disaster made her the sole surviving legitimate child of her parents, Matilda became more than Imperatrix Romanorum. She became the bridge between the Angevin and Plantagenet dynasties. Discover her true story in English (Apple, Audible) and German (Apple, Audible).

Genres: medieval history, biography

Empress Wu Zetian

Run time: 1 hour, 5 minutes

The most infamous ruler of the Tang dynasty, her reign still touches our lives today. English (Apple, Audible), French (Apple, Audible), Spanish (Apple, Audible), German (Apple, Audible)

Genres: biography, Chinese history, medieval history

The First King

Run time: 4 minutes.

The flash fiction story that became Good-bye A672E92 Quintus. Apple, Hoopla, LibroFM, Chirp, Spotify, Google Play.

Genre: flash fiction, science fiction

Founding Mothers

Run time: 2 hours, 29 minutes

They forged two nations – but do you know their stories? Apple, Everand, Barnes/Noble, LibroFM, Chirp, Spotify, kobo, Hoopla. Features early American music in a special appendix, including “Chester,” “We Gather Together,” “Hail Columbia,” and “The Star Spangled Banner.”

Genres: American history, colonial American history, Jewish American history, Native American history.

Good-bye A672E92 Quintus

Run time: 52 minutes

Available in English (Apple/Audible) and French (Apple, Audible), Good-bye is the prequel to the Peers of Beinan series novels exploring the final yen-ars (Beinarian years) on the Beinarian home world: A672E92 Quintus. A romantic adventure story, the two greatest legends in Beinarian history meet and the foundations for life on Beinan are laid.

Genres: science fiction, romance,

Hildegard von Bingen

Run time: 1 hour, 42 minutes

Narrated by Steven Vox, this musical biography explores the life of Hildegard von Bingen, the German mystic who transformed life for medieval German women. A renown visionary, healer, and musical composer, Hildegard could barely read or write and depended heavily on her secretary Brother Volmar. This is her remarkable life story. Apple, Audible.

Genres: biography, medieval history, early music

Hypatia of Alexandria

Run time: 1 hour, 40 minutes

When darkness came, she dared defend the light!

Born in 355 CE in the aftermath of Constantine’s reign, Hypatia of Alexandria lived in a collapsing Roman Empire, a world where obedience to religious authorities trumped science, where reason and logic threatened the new world order. It was a world on the edge of the Dark Ages, a world deciding the question of science verses religion, freedom verses orthodoxy, tolerance verses hate. Available in English (Apple, Audible), and Spanish (Apple, Audible).

Genres: biography, ancient history, women scientists, Greek scientists

Hypatia of Alexandria – Student/Teacher Edition

Run time: 1 hour, 52 minutes

The Hypatia of Alexandria audiobook – with the addition of study questions after every chapter. Apple, Audible

Genres: biography, ancient history, women scientists, Greek scientists

Katharina von Bora: First Lady of the Reformation

Run time: 1 hour, 21 minutes

Born in 1499, Katharina started her education at first the convent at Brehna, then continued it in Kloster Nimbschen where she took vows as a nun at the age of sixteen and expected to live the whole of her life. God, however, had other plans. On Easter Eve 1523 she escaped with eleven other nuns to Wittenberg, a move meant to be temporary until a more permanent home could be found for her. What happened next changed the world in this family story filled with music in the original German and expertly sung by Steven Vox. Apple, Audible

Genres: biography, Protestant Reformation, German history, church history

Margaret of Wessex: Mother, Saint, and Queen of Scots

Run time: 2 hours, 13 minutes

The 11th century was a dangerous time to be of the line unbroken of King Æthelred II Unread and his first queen, Æfgifu of York. Born in Hungary after King Canute III’s failed attempt to murder her father, Edward the Exile, Margaret found her life turned upside down by King Edward the Confessor’s discovery of her father’s survival — and the resulting recall of her family to England.

Now a political hostage only kept alive for as long as it served powerful men’s interests, Margaret and her family found King Máel Coluim mac Donnchadh Ceann Mhor (Malcolm III Canmore)’s invitation to his court in Dunfermline the long-awaited answer to her prayers.

Scotland would never be the same again.

Apple, Audible, Audiobooks, LibroFM, Chirp, Spotify, Everand Hoopla.

Genres: biography, Scottish history, medieval history, Anglo-Saxons, Norman Conquest

Mary Queen of the Scots: the Forgotten Reign.

Run time: 1 hour, 14 minutes

Queen Mary Stuart was one of the most beloved and controversial women in Scottish history. The granddaughter of King James IV and his wife Margaret Tudor, Queen Mary’s status as heiress-apparent to Queen Elizabeth’s throne in England paired with the violence of the Scottish Reformation set the stage for one of the most dramatic and poorly understood lives of the 16th century.

Mary Queen of the Scots tells Mary’s true story, focusing primarily on her reign as queen of Scotland, celebrating her life more than her death and showing us all why she was truly a woman ahead of her time. Features period music including “Depairte, Depairte” in Auld Scots. English: Apple, Audible, Hoopla, LibroFM, Chirp, Spotify, Everand. Spanish: Apple, Audible

Genres: biography, Scottish history, early music

Mithril and Me: A Love Story

Run time: 2 hours, 21 minutes

Mithril and Me is the true story of the special bond that forms between human and bird. Beginning with her first bird, a budgerigar (parakeet) named Luke and across the decades since, Laurel A. Rockefeller takes you on a special journey as only she can, learning and growing as a person along the way and loving each bird that comes into her life. Perfect for the animal lover in your life. Apple, Audible

Genres: memoirs, biography, cockatiels, pet birds

The Poisoned Ground

Run time: 1 hour, 3 minutes

A mysterious plague is spreading across Nan-li City. When Abbess Cara comes to investigate she discovers there is much more happening than simply the poisoned ground. Based on real conditions in western Pennsylvania. Apple, Audible

Genre: science fiction.

Preparing For My First Cockatiel

Run time: 59 minutes

What is involved when you bring home a new cockatiel (or similar parrot). Helpful step by step guidance demystifies these beautiful and popular “pet” cockatoos. Explanations of everything you need to get your home ready. Apple, Audible

Genre: Non-fiction, pet guides, pet birds

Preparing For My Senior Cockatiel

Run time: 59 minutes

Congratulations! Your cockatiel is now reached or surpassed her tenth birthday. But as with any animal, her needs have changed with age. In this guide you discover ways to help your bird live for many more years. Extensive section on food. Apple, Audible.

Genre: Non-fiction, pet guides, pet birds

Queen Elizabeth Tudor: Journey to Gloriana

Run time: 1 hour, 27 minutes

In this beautiful narrative biography you explore Elizabeth’s path from “Lady Elizabeth” to “Gloriana” through the lens of her relationship with Robert Dudley, a relationship far more contentious than most people believe. Politics and religion collide, provoking Elizabeth to console herself with her music, and a hard decision lays before her as plots against her life threatens her throne. English (Apple, Audible). German (Apple, Audible)

Genres: biography, Tudor dynasty, early music

Songs of the Beinarian Court

Run time: 10 minutes

The songs and poetry of the Peers of Beinan series come together in one beautiful audiobook. Original music performed by Laurel A. Rockefeller. Apple, Audible

Genres: science fiction, music

Related Blog Posts

Audiolibros en Espanol

Livres audio en francais

Hörbücher auf Deutsch: Buchbeschreibungen und Einzelhandelslinks

Who were the Medieval Queens?

The Legendary Women of World History covers (to date) thirteen fascinating and historically influential women from antiquity through the turn of the 17th century (this will expand about 100 years in 2025 or 2026). These women represent the three main eras in European/Asian history covered by the Legendary Women of World History series: antiquity, European middle ages, and the Renaissance.

To date, four boxed sets group the first twelve books together. The only book not in one of these sets: book thirteen, “Eleanor of Aquitaine.”

The second of these boxed sets (chronologically) is entitled “Medieval Queens.” The volume collects together three books. These are: Empress Wu Zetian; Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd: the Warrior Princess of Deheubarth; and Empress Matilda of England.

But who were these women and why should you read their biographies? Let’s take a look at each one.

Empress Wu Zetian

Born in 624 CE, just over six years after the Sui dynasty fell and the Tang dynasty commenced, Empress Wu Zetian is one of the most famous women in all of Chinese history. Hated by wealthy and powerful contemporaries, she transformed Chinese society in ways we still feel today.

Much of what people associate with Chinese culture comes from Empress Wu’s wisdom and strong leadership. Unafraid to challenge powerful men and the nepotism of previous generations, Wu created the meritorious civil service exam system based on learning and scholarship that endured until the 20th century. Instead of government jobs requiring knowing and being in favor with someone already holding wealth and power, Wu’s exam system assigned jobs based on a series of test scores. The higher level the test, the higher level the job one could be considered for. These tests were available to anyone who paid the testing fee. Families pooled together money for scholarships. Education became the path to success. The son of a farmer could become advisor to the emperor himself if he studied hard and performed well on the tests.

That was just one many of her revolutionary innovations. Her life is even more interesting.

Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd: the Warrior Princess of Deheubarth

Unless you really know your medieval European history – or you live in Wales – you probably have never heard of Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd or the kingdom/principality of Deheubarth. Often called the “Welsh Maid Marion” and the likely historical basis for the character in the Robin Hood stories, Gwenllian is considered the national heroine of Wales.

Born in 1097 in Aberffraw on the isle of Ynys Môn in Gwynedd, Gwenllian’s life reads as if it were ripped from the pages of a historical romance. She was just 16 when Prince Gruffydd ap Rhys of Deheubarth sought shelter in Aberffraw after evading the English and returning from exile in Ireland.

The two quickly fell in love – but were forbidden at first to marry by Gwenllian’s father, King Gruffydd ap Cynan. With Normans seeking to conquer and wipe out the Welsh kingdoms and principalities, the needs of war came first.

Eventually, love prevailed. Gwenllian left her Ynys Môn home to become co-sovereign of Deheubarth. The rest is history ….

Empress Matilda of England

Many people know that I rather enjoy cross-pollinating my biographies with historical persons from other biographies, primarily through the books’ prologues and epilogues. Bishop Armand-Jean du Plessis and Anne Rochefeuille from “His Red Eminence, Armand-Jean du Plessis de Richelieu introduce “Katharina von Bora: First Lady of the Reformation” through Martin Luther’s music. Boudicca gets mentioned in the prologue to “Empress Wu Zetian.”

And then there is Empress Matilda, granddaughter of Margaret of Wessex and kinswoman to Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd through Gruffydd ap Rhys’ sister Nest. In the Margaret of Wessex biography, Matilda introduces her story. In her own biography, Matilda continues Gwenllian’s legacy and shows us what happened in Wales after Gwenllian’s death.

But Matilda was so much more. Sent to Mainz as a child to marry Kaiser Heinrich V, a man nearly 16 years older than her, she gave to love her beloved German empire and its people. After his death to cancer, Matilda’s father Henry I of England recalled her to London and married her off to Geoffrey Plantagenet, a man she despised.

Many adventures followed, leaving Matilda one of the most pivotal women in medieval history. Yet true to the biases in our education system, few remember her nor know just how important she really was in shaping the world we know today.

Want to read more? Find Medieval Queens at your favorite retailer including Amazon, Apple, Smashwords, and Barnes and Noble.

Individual books are also available!

Empress Wu Zetian. Available in many languages, including English, Spanish, German, French, and Italian. English: Amazon, Apple, Smashwords, Everand, Barnes/Noble. Audio editions in English (Apple, Audible), French (Apple, Audible), German (Apple, Audible), and Spanish (Apple, Audible)

Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd. Available in many languages, including Welsh. English editions: Amazon, Apple, Smashwords, Everand, Barnes/Noble.

Empress Matilda of England. Available in your choice of English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian. English: Amazon, Apple, Smashwords, Everand, Barnes/Noble. Audio editions in English (Apple, Audible) and German (Apple, Audible)

Martin Luther writes to Hieronymus Baumgartner (1524). Excerpt from Katharina von Bora: A Play in Three Acts

Martin Luther is one of the most famous theologians in the western world. But how well do you know the story of his relationship with and courtship towards his wife Katharina von Bora?

In “Katharina von Bora: First Lady of the Reformation” and its stage adaptation, “Katharina von Bora: A Play in Three Acts” historian Laurel A. Rockefeller explores Katharina’s life, beginning with her escape from Kloster Nimbschen in April 1523.

In the following scene we read the actual letter that Martin Luther wrote in 1524 to Hieronymus Baumgartener, Katharina’s most famous suitor before Martin decided to pursue her.

Act II, Scene II

1524, 12^th October.  Martin Luther’s office in the Black Cloister in Wittenberg MARTIN sits at his desk and composes a letter as ANNE ROCHEFEUILLE narrates from downstage right.

ANNE ROCHEFEUILLE

Months passed.  Despite writing letters to Hieronymus’ parents urging them to change their mind about Katharina, Martin found his well-reasoned and sometimes passionate arguments on Katharina’s behalf falling on deaf ears. Saddened to see his dear friend’s hopes for love dashed by his parents’ stubbornness to accept her, Martin wrote this letter to Hieronymus on the 12th of October, 1524.

MARTIN

To Hieronymus Baumgartner, Nurnberg. October 12, 1524. Grace and peace in the Lord! I must ask your services, dear Hieronymus, on behalf of this poor young man, Gregorius Keser. He wishes to settle, and asked me to introduce him to someone in Nurnberg. Although I could not give him much hope, for I know every place is full, still I bade him God-speed, in God’s name, who feeds the ravens. Moreover, if you intend marrying Katherine vou Bora, make haste before she is given to someone else, for C. Glatz, pastor in Orlamunde, is ready waiting. She has not yet got over her love for you. I wish that you two were married. Farewell. Martin Luther.

(END OF SCENE)

Find Katharina von Bora: a Play in Three Acts at your favourite retailer, including Apple, Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes/Noble. The original version of Katharina is also available at Apple, Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes/Noble.

Audio edition available at Apple and Audible features performances of all the songs in both the play and the biography.

Repost: 3 Tips to Help You Spend Your Book Marketing Money Better

Earlier this week I received this wonderful article called “3 Tips to Help You Spend Your Book Marketing Money Better” in my email from Book Marketing Tools.  Great advice, especially for indie authors just starting to get into the business.  To these three tips I want to add one more of my own:  invest in multiple language editions of your books crafted by quality translators.

 

Here is “3 Tips to Help You Spend Your Book Marketing Money Better” in full as presented in the newsletter I received.

“Episode 108 of The Author Hangout Podcast featured this amazing advice from bestselling author Ernie Lindsey: Don’t be afraid to spend money early on on good covers, excellent editors, excellent proofreaders. Don’t be afraid to spend money on looking professional. If you don’t have it to spend early on, save it. Save up until you can. Four years ago, we didn’t know that it was going to get to this point. We didn’t know how professional the indie author community was going to get. So make it a top quality product before you even get it out the door.

Ernie is absolutely right — today’s indie authors need to keep up with an industry that’s producing books that are becoming increasingly indistinguishable from the big-time publishers’ output.

But you’re an indie author, which means that you probably need to make a limited marketing budget stretch as far as possible.

So where should you spend your money to make the biggest impact?

Here are three great tips!

Original cover for “Catherine de Valois” (English edition). The cover is good because it’s genre appropriate and features a lady contemporary to Princess Catherine and wearing the same style of gown she wore.

The small addition of a subtitle to the original cover makes it stand out more and provides more information to potential readers, moving it from simply good to GREAT.

#1 — Cover Design

“Dont’ judge a book by its cover” is great advice for everyday life, but it’s terrible advice when it comes to your books!

People are going to judge your book by its cover, no matter how much effort you’ve put into writing your masterpiece, so we recommend spending any extra money you have on professional, market- and genre-appropriate cover design.

This is really important, especially when you consider the way people browse books online these days!

For more info, check out episode 73 of The Author Hangout with guest Jim Palmer, who shared some great thoughts about how you should prioritize cover design, how much you should spend and who you should hire (not Fiverr!!!)

#2 — Hire an Editor

Maybe you’ve been using your spouse, significant other, close friend or family member to give your books a look before you publish. Or perhaps you’ve been relying on feedback from your writer’s group to polish your prose.

There’s nothing wrong with these methods of getting additional sets of eyes on your work, but we recommend that you hire a professional editor to give your book a thorough scrubbing!

Professional editors can be costly — don’t be surprised to get quotes for more than $1,000 — but an experienced, reputable editor can mean the difference between a bestseller and an also ran.

One of the best ways to locate an editor is to check the credits and thank-yous of books that you’ve enjoyed to see who your favorite writers turn to for editing. Don’t be afraid to reach out!

For more detailed advice on finding an editor, read this article from our friend Jane Friedman.

#3 — Supercharge Your Website

Your website is one of the cornerstones of your author platform, and it’s one of the foremost representations of your brand on the internet. So if it doesn’t look good and help you build your fan base, it can actually hurt your business.

Spend as much money as you afford to make it look great and ensure that it provides users with a satisfying experience. If possible, hire an experienced SEO writer to create copy that drives traffic to your site.

And don’t forget to make your site mobile friendly!

-Shawn & R.J. from Book Marketing Tools

http://bookmarketingtools.com“

Babelcube beware: what authors need to know before signing a Babelcube contract

The German edition of Boudicca was beautifully translated by Christina Loew. Thanks to frequent communication and Ms. Loew’s professionalism, the translation process was smooth and easy — exactly what most authors are looking for when joining Babelcube.

If you subscribe to this blog you know that in 2016 I took my books deeper into the global market.  After an exasperating fore into the Chinese market via Fiberead, I had high hopes for Babelcube, a platform for translation that mirrors many of the features familiar to authors who use Amazon’s ACX.com site for audio production.  But as with ACX, successful production and publication requires understanding the system and knowing how — and when — to walk away from something that is not working.

The ability to walk away is important for independent authors because a poorly translated book is damaging to the author’s brand; it reflects on the author as much if not more so than the original editions written by the author in her or his native language.  Therefore an author’s career is at stake each time the author signs a translation contract.  Don’t mess with this, my friends.  As much as you want to be sweet and nice when it comes to dealing with potential translators your life depends on you being picky and walking away when you can from any deal or possible deal that doesn’t uphold your author brand.

The first place you can walk away is when a translator first sends you an offer to translate.  This is the best time to fully vet the candidate.  Don’t skimp on this and do not feel obligated to accept any particular offer. We all want to be nice and we want to give people their break into a new career.  The problem with doing that is you may end up with poor quality work because the person has never been tested in the professional world as a translator.  Before signing anything TALK TO THE TRANSLATOR — don’t just look at the profile and give the person the benefit of the doubt because s/he seems likable.  Remember that this is a form of job interview and treat it as seriously as any job interview you’ve been on.  If anything does not smell right or you aren’t sure of anything at all politely decline.

But let’s say you’ve accepted the contract.  The next place and final place you can walk away is when the translator submits the first ten pages. In evaluating these, don’t just look at the words on the page but the FORMATTING because, as with your own books you self-publish, the formatting and editorial can make or break the book.  If anything seems like you would not submit those ten pages as a stand alone, polished work DECLINE THEM — this is your last and ONLY chance to get out of the contract.  Despite what you may see in the system, this is the actual point of no return for you.  Once those ten pages are accepted you are committed to publishing the book — no matter the quality of the final product you are given.

And this is the part that no one ever mentions to you:  you cannot decline to publish a completed book on Babelcube — even though there is a button in the review process that says “decline this translation.”

What happens if you do hit the “decline” button?  Firstly you are asked to confirm and warned that confirming the decline will open a dispute with Babelcube.  What this means is that they will investigate and make a ruling.  If they rule for you, the translator has to fix the errors.  If they rule against you then you owe the translator an undisclosed amount of money.  But the system doesn’t tell you that.  I found out by asking via email after I reviewed the final document on one of my books and deemed it of such poor quality that I was not comfortable with continuing.

In essence you have to approve the final book.  You can ask for some changes (hit “return” and then send a message to the translator to do so), but you actually DO have to hit “accept translation” and then publish the book. “Reject translation” means you are willing to pay for the translator’s time for a book that you will not publish.

For most people it’s far cheaper to enlist the help of someone outside of Babelcube’s system to help you fix the document so you can publish — which is exactly what I am doing right now.

This is why it is critically important that you wait until each translation is complete before signing another contract with a translator. Even after publishing one or two books all the way through the process (meaning the book is live Amazon, iBooks, Scribd, etc.) with a translator, my experience shows that it is best to only contract one book at a time with a specific translator.  Life happens and schedules change.  Limiting yourself to one contract at a time per translator helps everyone balance time and priorities to the satisfaction of all parties and empower everyone to create the best work possible.

In summary, Babelcube can be an excellent platform for translating books into multiple languages.  But success with it requires the author always beware of its inner workings and courageous enough to walk away from any project that does not meet expectations either before the contract is signed or when receiving the first ten pages.

This is your brand.  Protect it.

Going Global: A Look at Translation Options for Independent Authors

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received as an author was to publish as many books in as many places as possible and to sell on as many websites as possible.  The writing profession is a numbers game.  To win it (meaning making a living as a writer) you need to be where the customers are and sell what they want to read.  You cannot achieve it with a single kindle book sold exclusively on Amazon.  It won’t happen — or perhaps it could but your chances of winning the lottery or becoming president of the United States are greater if you lay only the one literary egg and sell it from a single basket.

One efficient way of maximising your exposure is to publish in multiple languages, opening your books for sale in more markets with more readers.  As popular as English is with Americans, the reality is that globally there are far more readers outside of the United States, readers who prefer to read in their native languages — not English. For independent authors, there are three primary methods of reaching this global audience in the form of translated editions 1) contract with a traditional publisher offering translation services, 2) Utilize a royalty share-based translation platform, and 3) hire an independent and professionally certified translator. I personally use all three.  Here are the pros and cons of each.

Traditional Publisher

My Chinese language editions are published with Fiberead, a Beijing-based fusion  publisher slash translation service using royalty share to pay the translation team.  It works similar to many self-publishing platforms.  You fill out a form about your book, provide Fiberead with both the current and blank versions of your cover art, and upload it to their system.  A team of translators is recruited and eventually your book is published in Chinese.

blank copy of the cover for Ghosts of the Past that was submitted to Fiberead.

Pros:  Getting a contract is relatively painless.  It’s a straight forward process setting up your title with them. Publishes to Amazon China, iBooks, and several Asia market retailers unknown to most Americans. No upfront costs to the authors. All the technical details of the publishing process is handled by the publisher; once submitted the author does not touch her book again. Cover art is done by in-house designers from the blank cover provided by the author. Cons:  Once your title is set up, you have little to no control over the book.  Author has no input on the translators chosen or quality of the translation.  Contract empowers Fiberead with broad editorial powers, including over book content (they can re-write your book if they wish to). Royalty share rate is (currently) 30% for the author — forever.  Fiberead forbids translators from providing authors with copies of the final work.  Authors cannot control or even suggest the sale price.  So for example Boudicca, Britain’s Queen of the Iceni sells for just 1 RMB. Converted to USD the sale price on Amazon China is about 12 cents.  At 30% of 12 cents, the per copy payment to me is 3.6 cents USD.  It takes 55 copies sold to equal the royalty paid on just 1 copy of the book in English on Amazon.com.  Once a book sells, Fiberead does not release any funds to the author until the author earns $50 USD.  As you can see from the above figure, that takes a long time.  Fiberead does not promote your book either — that’s your responsibility.  And if you want a copy to quote from, you must buy it yourself.

Royalty Share Translation Program – Babelcube

The second option for independent authors is to use a royalty share translation platform such as Babelcube which is what I use.  Very similar in format to Amazon’s ACX audiobook publishing platform, authors fill out a form with book details and the book copy for consideration by translators in several languages including Spanish, French, Italian, German, Japanese, and Portuguese.  Not every language is offered, notably Chinese, but authors are able to upload books published in any language so long as the book is sold on Amazon. Once the book is completed and approved, authors initiate the publication process on both digital (primary) and paperback options.

Babelcube’s incremental payment scale.

Pros: royalty share works on an incremental scale based on royalties earned, no upfront costs to the author, creative control over the final published work, ability to edit pricing and other details by re-publishing after the initial publication, some control over who translates the work. Authors are able to leave reviews for each translation. Cons: authors need the technical ability to custom format their own work and correct certain errors that can come up in the publishing process. Not all the translators are professionally certified nor in possession of appropriate technical skills. Not all desired languages are available.  Some languages offer very few translator choices.

Independent Translator

The third and final option is, in most respects, the most traditional. Translators are available globally and discoverable online through search engines, social media, or in the case of my work with Gwenlli Haf of Cyfieithu Amnis Translation, through a personal recommendation from a mutual professional acquaintance.  Translation fees are typically word count based, a format familiar to authors who hire professional editors.  A down payment is typically required at the time both parties sign the contract.  At project completion translators then invoice the author for the balance due.  Only upon payment in full is the work released to the author for self publication. Pros: translators are typically professionally certified with some level of guarantee built into the contract. Authors and translators are able to negotiate precise terms for the project so the details (such as publishing rights) are clear before the work begins. Upfront payment to translator; the author keeps all royalties upon payment of the invoice unless other terms are specified in the contract.  Creative control across the entire process. Cons:  word counts in different languages are not uniform, making it easy for the author to underestimate the final word count for the translation.  Translators and authors are typically residents of different countries and using different currencies with exchange rates and currency exchange fees varying widely.

Analysis/Summary

Independent authors benefit greatly from expanding into larger, more global marketplaces by offering their books in multiple languages.  In my personal experience with all three options, hiring a translator offered me the most flexibility and creative control which I, like many independent authors, tend to value. The professionally certified skills of independent translators offers security and confidence in the quality of work offered.  However as with any upfront professional service such as editors and illustrators, this option requires considerable pre-publication investment.  Of the royalty share options, the translation publication platform offers a balanced approach.  Though great care must be taken in choosing the translator, the author is able to avoid upfront costs while maintaining creative control.  The royalty share split is typically fair to both author and translator. One important lesson learned from all of this:  traditional publishing contracts offer less and less value to independent authors.  Therefore 21st century authors seeking to prosper in the new publishing market increasingly thrive by handling as much of the publishing process as possible rather than defer to traditional publishers whose contracts increasingly work against the author’s interest, costing authors more while offering less value.

Repost: Book Pricing Tips

The following just arrived in my email from Book Marketing Tools.  I think it contains excellent analysis and information.

————–

Book Pricing Tips

Many self-published authors tend to price themselves out of sales.

This happens because:

1) You know how much time you spent to write the book, time or money spent on editing, time or money spent on the cover, time spent on learning to self-publish, plus the priceless view you have of your own work (rightfully so), all which combine to make you put a higher price tag on your book,

2) Self-publishers aren’t making many sales, so they often price their book higher to earn more per sale since their sales are infrequent. We get that… but we’ve always been a proponent of the fact that you can sell more books with a lower price, and while you’ll earn less per book, you will make more in aggregate than you would with a higher price book.

Now we have proof, with numbers directly from Amazon!

Amazon is usually pretty guarded with their stats. They don’t share much, but they recently shared some numbers regarding book sales at different price ranges here.

Here is the quote relevant to book pricing:

“It’s also important to understand that e-books are highly price-elastic. This means that when the price goes up, customers buy much less. We’ve quantified the price elasticity of e-books from repeated measurements across many titles. For every copy an e-book would sell at $14.99, it would sell 1.74 copies if priced at $9.99. So, for example, if customers would buy 100,000 copies of a particular e-book at $14.99, then customers would buy 174,000 copies of that same e-book at $9.99. Total revenue at $14.99 would be $1,499,000. Total revenue at $9.99 is $1,738,000. The important thing to note here is that at the lower price, total revenue increases 16%. This is good for all the parties involved.”

This is directly from the largest marketplace in the world, who specializes in ebooks. How much clearer can it get?

Sure, we would all love to sell at $14.99 or even $9.99, but that’s not the reality for the self-published author. But, you can still make good money selling at $0.99, $1.99, $2.99. Especially for the new author, with so much competition out there, you don’t want price to be the reason people aren’t willing to give you and your books a shot.

Once you have a strong following of readers who love your books and want to buy more (you’re building that mailing list, right?), then, you can experiment with $3.99, $4.99, even $5.99. Many self-published authors are now able to command those prices, but they were not always able to sell their books for those prices. If you try to start at that price, for whatever reason, and you have very few reviews and hardly any fans, you’re going to continue to not sell many books, and you will earn less than you would with a lower price point.

Your goal is to reach as many readers as possible, and to get them to want to buy every other book you come out with in the future. The bigger fan base you are able to build now, the easier it will be to sell books in the future with every new book you write.

Get people in the door with a lower price, build a readership, get them to fall in love with you and your books, THEN price your books higher.

Here’s to selling more books!

-Shawn & R.J. from Book Marketing Tools

http://bookmarketingtools.com

Reblog: How to Get Bloggers to Review your Book

One of the best strategies for marketing books is to get as many people OTHER THAN YOU THE AUTHOR to write about and review your books for you.  In this, bloggers are key.  Today’s reblog comes from BookDaily.com offering some very helpful advice.

How to Get Bloggers to Review your Book

How do you get bloggers to review your novel? That is the magic question. Allow me to discuss the strategies that worked for me and that I believe can work for you.

Querying Bloggers

Speaking as a blogger and a former newspaper reviewer, it’s really annoying when an author sends a form letter seeking a review. It’s also kind of insulting. You want a blogger to spend how many hours reading your book and then writing a review, and the most you can personalize your letter is by adding the person’s name (and not always that)? Oh, no, no, no.

Requesting a review is not unlike querying a literary agent. A certain set of parameters apply to the situation. Well, they do if you want to see results.

#1-How to find book blogs.
If you’re a YA author, your life will be made much easier by the YA Book Blog Directory. If not, that’s okay. Do a search on Google or your favorite social network and try to find a blog that caters specifically to your genre. Most blogs have blogrolls (either a list of links or a cluster of badges that link to other blogs). The blogroll displays blogs that the blog site you are on enjoys—that’s a mouthful! Chances are, the blogs linked in the blogroll will review similar kinds of books. Most blogs have a pretty robust blogroll, which means finding one blog can lead to dozens and dozens of others. It’s a tangled web, but it will get you to your destination.

#2-Approach the right bloggers!
This should go without saying, but, sadly, it doesn’t. Most book blogs have a review policy in place. A little digging through the menu bar or side bar will easily reveal it. If the blogger doesn’t have an explicit review policy, take the time to read through their past book reviews to determine if your book is a good fit for the site. If a blogger says they do not accept your genre, don’t push it. Don’t write a letter that says, “listen, I know you said you hate romance novels, but I think you’ll really love my novel, because… (insert narcissistic idiocy here).” That’s so not cool.

#3-Construct a query letter. Personalize it for each blogger.
Aw, but that seems like a lot of work! It is a lot of work, but again, you’re asking bloggers to spend somewhere in the neighborhood of 10+ hours to read and review your book. You can spend 10 minutes looking around their sites and showing that you care. Really. This is much like querying an agent. You should construct a basic form letter with the relevant information about your book, and then personalize a portion of it. Include the blogger’s name in the title. I even include the blog name in the subject of the email to signal to the blogger skimming his or her email that, yes, this letter was written just for you—it’s not a mass mailing.

I have a template of the letter I sent out to recruit for my tour. It worked very well and may give you some ideas on how to write your own. Click here to see the example.

#4. Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow on social media sites!
Notice how I said “I’m now following you on XYZ sites?” Bloggers often include links to their Facebook, Twitter, and BookDaily accounts on their sites. Whenever I see a link to connect via social media, I do it. I also make it a point to follow any blogs I visit via Google Friend Connect (or G+). This is yet another way to show bloggers that you spent time on them, and as they see your name popping up on their follow and friend lists, that query you sent will become more ingrained in their memory. Besides which, if a blogger is just too busy to feature you or your book now, they’re now connected with you and might (okay, it’s a long shot, but they might) remember the offer and approach you later.

Social Media

Although contacting bloggers through the above query method is extremely time-consuming, it’s far more effective than recruitment via social media. Why? Because you are specifically targeting bloggers who enjoy your genre!

I’ve had pretty good success recruiting via social media as well, but the bloggers I acquired through that method are not die-hard fans of my genre like the ones I got through the query method. That being said, recruiting through social media is super fast and easy, but… it might not be so fast and easy if you have a small following. Yet another reason to build your social media presence, methinks!

Alright, that’s all I have for you today. I might write a post about organizing your own blog tour, if that’s something you guys want. Just let me know!

Editor’s Note: To read Emlyn’s full article click here.

About the Author:
Emlyn Chand is the president of Novel Publicity and a YA author. She loves to hear and tell stories and emerged from the womb with a fountain pen grasped firmly in her left hand (true story). Her first novel Farsighted released in late 2011 and is of the YA genre. Learn more about Emlyn at www.emlynchand.com or by connecting with her on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.

Reblog: What Are the REAL Odds of Being a Successful Author?

Okay, you have your new year’s resolution all set!  Now you are ready to go make a splash professionally.  Before you look at site statistics and let yourself feel overwhelmed, please take a look at what Kristen Lamb has to say about the odds of your success and how much control you really have over it.

 

I do not agree with everything in this article, but it is certainly worth thinking about.

What Are the REAL Odds of Being a Successful Author?

didn’t even consider becoming a writer until 1999 after my father passed away suddenly. Funny how death can make us take a hard look at life, right? Anyway, I recall feeling soooo overwhelmed. I mean my odds of even getting published were about as good as winning the lottery. And the odds of becoming a best-selling author? Well, mathematically speaking, I had a slightly greater chance of being mauled by a black bear and polar bear on the same day.

It was all I could do not to give up before I began.

But, after over 14 years doing this “writer thing,” I have a new perspective. Often it feels like we are the victims of fate, at the mercy of the universe, when actually it is pretty shocking how much of our own destiny we control.The good news is that if we can get in a habit of making good choices, it is staggering how certain habits can tip the odds of success in our favor.

Time to take a REAL look at our odds of success. Just so you know, this is highly unscientific, but I still think it will paint a pretty accurate picture. I will show you a bit of my own journey. And, to be blunt, this DOES NOT ONLY APPLY TO WRITERS.

Did you know most entrepreneurs fail at least three times before getting traction? Most new businesses don’t make it a year. They are fortunate to survive THREE years and if they can hit The Golden Six? Smoother from there. But WHY?

The 5% Rule

It has been statistically demonstrated that only 5% of any population is capable of sustained change.

I remember when I was a rather young writer and NYTBSA Bob Mayer introduced me to this idea. I was AGHAST! No, writers just needed nurturing, cuddling, and help. Trust me, it pains me to say he was/is right.

***But Bob is generally right and that is often why it ticks me off to admit this.***

I worked for years with self-professed writers who refused to learn, listen or even work. They had the skin of a grape and wanted to make it in an often undervalued profession that is NO place for the idle or thin-skinned.

Thus, with that in mind…

When we start out wanting to write, we are up against presumably millions of other people who want the same dream. We very literally have better odds of being elected to Congress than hitting the NY Times best-selling list. But I think that statement is biased and doesn’t take into account the choices we make.

As I just said, in the beginning, we are up against presumably millions of others who desire to write. Yes, millions. It is estimated that over ¾ of Americans say that they would one day like to write a book. And that is only ONE continent. Much of Europe, Australia and New Zealand are burgeoning markets in the new digital paradigm.

That’s a LOT of people. Ah, but how many do? How many decide to look beyond that day job? How many dare to take that next step?

Statistically? 5%

So only 5% of the millions of people who desire to write will ever even take the notion seriously. This brings us to the hundreds of thousands. But of the hundreds of thousands, how many who start writing a book will actually FINISH a book? How many will be able to take their dream seriously enough to lay boundaries for friends and family and hold themselves to a self-imposed deadline?

Statistically? 5%

Of that 5%, how many will join a critique group—A GOOD ONE—and learn instead of sulking?

5%

Okay, well now we are down to the tens of thousands. Looking a bit better. But, finishing a book isn’t all that is required. We have to be able to write a book that is publishable and meets industry/reader standards. When I first started writing, I thought that everyone who attended a writing critique group would be published. I mean they were saying they wanted to be best-selling authors.

But did they?

Or, were they more in love with the idea of being a best-selling author than actually doing whatever it took to succeed? I would love to say that I was a doer and not a talker, but I don’t want to get hit by lightning. There were a number of years that I grew very comfortable with being in a writing group as a writer…but not necessarily a professional writer.

I was still querying the same book that had been rejected time and time and time again.  I wrote when I felt inspired and didn’t approach my craft like a professional. I was, at best, a hobbyist and, at worst, hopelessly delusional.

I didn’t need craft books *snort* I spoke English, so I knew how to write. Geesh! *rolls eyes*

I was a member of two writing groups, and had grown very fond of this “writer life.” We hung out at I-Hop and drank lots of coffee. We’d all chat about what we’d do with our millions once we were bigger than Dan Brown. We talked about new ideas for books that never seemed to get written. Or if we ever did sit to write one of these ideas, we would get about 30,000 words in and then hit a wall.

Hmmm…and I thought that idea had so much promise.

Yet, after four years hearing the same talk from the same people shopping the same novels, I had a rude awakening. Maybe I didn’t know as much as I thought I knew. Maybe being a copy writer and technical writer and editor didn’t automatically make me a novel-writing genius. Maybe I needed to take this dream of being a best-selling writer a tad more seriously and not rely on bluster, BS and glitter. Maybe I needed to read craft books and scrape up enough money to go to a conference.

So, of the tens of thousands of writers who write a novel, how many read craft books and get serious enough to take classes, listen to thoughtful critique, and attend conferences?

You guys are good….5%

And of those who attend a conference (and want to traditionally publish), who are asked to send in page requests, how many follow through?

Likely, 5%

How many will land an agent right away?

5%

And of all of those authors rejected, how many writers, determined to impress, are willing to GUT their novel and wage wholesale slaughter on entire villages of Little Darlings? How many are willing to put that first novel in a drawer, learn from the experience and move forward with a new book…which they FINISH?

5%

And of the writers who land an agent or are brave enough to go indie or self-publish, how many of them get dead-serious about building a large social media platform?

Again? Probably 5%.

And of those writers who are published and doing social media, how many of them are effectively branding their names so their name alone will become a bankable asset (versus taking the easy way and spamming everyone in sight)?

5%

Of those who self-publish, how many will keep writing more books and better books until they hit a tipping point for success? (versus beating marketing one book to death)

5%

Of writers who self-publish, how many will invest in professional editing and cover art?

5%

Thus, when we really put this dream under some scrutiny, it is shocking to see all the different legs we control.

We control:

Taking the Decision Seriously

Writing the Book

Editing the Book

Finishing the Book

Learning the Craft

Developing RHINO SKIN

Networking

Following Through

Not Giving Up in the Face of Rejection

Writing Books

Writing More Books

Yes, Writing Even MORE Books

Doing Everything in Our Power to Lay a Foundation for a Successful Career

I am not saying that finishing a book is easy. None of this is easy.

This job is a lot of hard work and sacrifice, which is exactly why most people will never be genuine competition. When we start out and see all the millions of other writers I think we are in danger of giving up or getting overwhelmed. Actually, if we focus on the decisions we control, our odds improve drastically.

This job is like one giant funnel. Toss in a few million people with a dream and only a handful will shake out at the end. Is it because fortune smiled on them? A few, yes. But, for most, the harder they worked, the “luckier” they got. They stuck it out and made the tough choices.

In the Sahara there is a particularly long stretch of desert that is completely flat. There are no distinguishing landmarks and it is very easy to get lost. To combat the problem, the French Foreign Legion placed large black oil drums every mile so that travelers could find their way across this massive expanse of wasteland one oil drum at a time.

 

Want to be a successful author?

Take it one oil drum at a time.

What are some oil drums you now see ahead? Does your journey to author success seem easier now? What makes you feel overwhelmed? What inspires you?

Reblog: B&N Testing Espresso Book Machines

Yesterday I found this article about “Espresso” Book Machines on Publisher’s Weekly.

 

For those unfamiliar with the term, espresso book machines are essentially print-on-demand kiosks located in traditional book-and-mortar bookstores.  That Barnes and Noble is testing these machines at their Union Square store in Manhattan doesn’t surprise me at all.  It is a very long time coming and a market trend I saw as the future of paperback publishing many months ago.  As a former Brooklynite, I appreciate the specific store B/N is testing these at.  It’s a great location (right next to Petco) that gets extra traffic from the famous Union Square farmer’s market which is always crowded and directly across from Beth Israel hospital.

 

Here is the Publisher’s Weekly text in full:

Barnes & Noble is the latest bricks-and-mortar bookselling operation to become involved with the Espresso Book Machine. The country’s largest bookstore chain recently began a test of the system at three of its outlets—its New York City store at Union Square plus stores in Paramus, N.J, and Willow Grove, Pa.

According to a company spokesperson, customers will be able to make a physical print book of a hard-to-find book, a public domain title or self publish a book. “The purpose of the test,” the spokesperson said, “is to gauge consumer interest.”

“[The pilot] is part of our continued program to grow our base of machines. We’re delighted to be testing our machines in Barnes & Noble. We’ve gone from indies to multi-retailers,” said Dane Neller, CEO of EBM maker On Demand Books.

Books-A-Million installed two Espresso machines last November and the print-on-demand system has been used by a number of independent booksellers for several years, although some store owners have replaced the Espresso with other options.

Neller told PW that On Demand will continue to look at other retail channels, including those outside the book business. By the end of the year he anticipates having close to 100 machines in retail stores.