Maggie Shayne's leap of faith takes off today with 'Twilight Guardians'
Maggie Shayne kicks off release day for Twilight Guardians today. She joins HEA to share her nerves and excitement …
Maggie: It was here on this blog that I first announced I was going indie. So it seemed only fitting to come here to announce the release of my first independently published full-length novel, Twilight Guardians, on this, its release day.
Of all the things I've written in 22 years, Wings in the Night, my vampire series, has been the most a part of me. The most intimate to me. The series I love best. So this is where I begin this exciting (and terrifying) new phase of my career. I call the new chapter of my vampire novels, Wings in the Night: Reborn. It could just as easily be called Maggie Shayne: Reborn, because that's what it is.
Book one, Twilight Guardians, releases today. My chief message for readers is that you can begin right here. It's intimidating to start a series with as much history behind it as Wings in the Night, the series that started the vampire romance craze. So Wings in the Night: Reborn gives newcomers a perfect place to begin, with no need to go back, only forward. At the same time, it is my absolute promise that everything all you longtime Wings fans have been waiting for, will be included in this and future books.
I'm more excited than I was when I published my first book, although this one is number 59. (Numbers 60 and 61, Innocent Prey and Deadly Obsession, Brown and de Luca thrillers, come out in October and November and represent my final two novels for Harlequin Mira.)
This process has been nothing less than exhilarating. I hired a photographer and had my own daughter Lisa pose as heroine Charlie O'Malley, a kick-butt character who is the granddaughter of a reader favorite from books gone by. We hand-picked everything from the background for the shot, to the owl who would play Olive. We asked our readers which cover shot was their favorite for the series, and rearranged it according to their opinions. We also asked reader opinion on the title, and our fans overwhelmingly preferred we keep the "twilight" titles we've been using since the very beginning.
These are the kinds of things I couldn't do before.
Now, on release day, I can only hope I've written a book that will please new readers, as well as the loyal fans of Wings in the Night who wept with me when the series "ended" two years ago. I finally realized I couldn't let it die and took the scariest leap of faith I've ever taken by continuing the series without a publisher behind it. Or as I like to call it, flying without a net.
Maybe I'll crash. Or maybe I'll sprout wings (in the night?) and soar. Either way, it sure will be an exciting ride! I hope you'll join me!
Check out the trailer for Twilight Guardians:
(If you can't see the video here, you can watch it on YouTube).
Find out more about Maggie and her books at maggieshayne.com.