Burnout? That’s what we’re trying to avoid.

Honesty time? I’m struggling.

And it’s time for some changes.

Before you get worried, I want to reassure you that I’m mostly doing great. My physical and mental health is good. My family’s health is good (knock on all the wood) and I love my job. Most of the stress I’ve been under is completely self-inflicted.

I can’t control family weddings, car crashes (everyone is fine!) or random roof leaks because of winter storms, but all those things have happened! And that’s life, right? BUT as all those things have been happening, I’ve also been trying to keep a full workload, doubling up, in fact, when you consider that I’ve started a direct sales store in the last six months. Which is going well! But it’s a lot of work.

So what’s going on?

I’ve been editing older books for release (Turning Up the Heat), drafting new books (Tin God) and polishing other books for submission (the dragon book) all while trying to have an active presence on social media, split off a new romance pen name (all the Lizzy Hunter stuff), and work on my advertising so my books don’t get lost in a sea of fictional content.

Let’s break it down.

1. Turning Up the Heat 

TUTH is my newest contemporary romance book, and I was pushing really hard to get it out this month. It was supposed to be a serial fiction story, but then I wasn’t happy with the serial fiction publishing options that I saw out there, so I decided that I’d just revise the whole thing and edit it and put it out.

I was trying SUPER HARD for April, but it’s going to be out middle of May. Probably May 14th. There’s just no way to effectively market a new book these days without some lead time, so I’m giving myself a little less than a month and that’s still cutting it close.

The good news is that I’m doing a preorder for the ebook at Amazon, a preorder for the paperback at Barnes & Noble, and I’m also going to put up a DIRECT preorder for non-Amazon readers so they can get the book too. This book is going into Kindle Unlimited, so the ebook has to be exclusive, but you’ll be able to buy it directly from me a day early, like I did with Dust Born last fall.

2. Tin God

Writing Tin God has actually been fantastic. It was going super fast and really smoothly, and then life, weddings, unexpected winter storms, car crashes (really, I promise my son is fine) a leaky roof, a failing water heater, tax season, and various other chaotic things happened and kind of blew my schedule to hell. 

Writing is not the problem, but finding time to write has been really difficult. And I don’t want to write this book when I’m distracted and then have it be bad. Carwyn, Brigid, Ben, and Tenzin deserve my undivided attention, and I haven’t been able to give it to them.

So I’m taking a breath. I wanted to get Tin God out a month early in June, but that’s also the same month I’m going to Dallas for Book Bonanza. A June release was always going to be complicated, so I’m going to stick with the original release date of July 16, 2024. That makes it a little longer wait for vampire fans, but I want the book to be its best. You can PREORDER THE EBOOK at all major retailers if you click on the link, or preorder it DIRECT FROM ME also.

3. The Birth of Lizzy Hunter

Breaking off my romance books to a new pen name is a good marketing decision and probably something that I should have done a long time ago. I didn’t want to make it some secret thing, but for branding, advertising, and stuff like that, it’s going to be better to have my fantasy and my romance separate.

What does this mean for readers who prefer fantasy? Well, it means that my main newsletter will be less romance focused and more fantasy focused.

What does it mean for readers who like all my books? I highly advise signing up for the Lizzy Hunter List: http://eepurl.com/iLXGGM to make sure you don’t miss any news about new books. I’ll still be mentioning the new romance releases in my regular newsletter, but you won’t get the bonus content for the romance stuff that you’ll get with the Lizzy Hunter newsletter.

It’s complicated to start a new pen name! In so many ways, it feels like starting from scratch as a writer, and it means new social media (find all the links here: https://linktr.ee/lizzyhunterromance) new newsletter list and new covers on older books.

Be assured, you’ll still be able to find all my romance books under Elizabeth Hunter in the stores, but for social media and advertising, I’m using the new pen name.

4. Marketing older series.

Advertising, marketing, brand awareness, all of that has always been important, but in a book market that is WILDLY of-the-minute, where readers are extremely plugged in but have very short attention spans, algorithms dominate sales, and word of mouth is harder and harder to come by, I have had to adjust my business to try to remain relevant and find new readers, as well as maintain connections with my existing audience. 

I am not a born advertiser. Some people are fantastic at marketing themselves and their books, but it does not come naturally for me and it never has. So it’s difficult and it takes a lot out of me, but it’s the only way I can continue to still have this be my full-time job.

SO.

deep breath

I am pressing pause on my self-imposed deadlines. I love my job. I love writing. But I have been putting these deadlines on myself that are keeping me from sleeping at night and making me work twelve to fourteen hour days, and that is a very fast path to burnout askmehowIknow.

I do this to myself, and I need to stop. I need to have faith that my older books will continue to find readers and keep paying the bills until the new books are ready to go and are at their best.

I cannot keep working the way I have. If for no other reason than my hands hurt kind of all the time now. I have to take care of myself, mentally and physically, so I am grateful for your patience while I try to find a new balance in this ever-evolving book world.

Thank you for your support, your love, your encouragement, and everything you have done to make the Elizabeth Hunter book community an amazing place I want to be. My readers are the best in the world, and I am so grateful for all of you.

Love you guys, Elizabeth