Kawaii Sublime Studios

The books, the editing, and the stealing

Hello Precious Readers!

I’ve some good news and bad news. Since I always believe in ending on a high note, here’s the bad news:

My first book, Capture Me, was pirated by LibGen. If you haven’t heard, this last week all of the author world was abuzz over The Atlantic article that brought to light the massive META (Facebook/Zuck) data breach that was used to train AI programs. This included, 7.2 million authors’ hard work being stolen and used to populate the website LibGen, a place that allows people to download books for free. I spent an evening this week writing DCMA letters to the website from both the Author’s Guild template (which sends a template letter directly to the LibGen source), and a separate one from my email address.

I deeply ask for your support in not using LibGen to download books. They did not get permission from authors, and it leaves us smaller known authors out of our own income.

Plus, stealing is wrong.

The other bad news: There are a lot of Amazon boycotts happening. Believe me, I have thoughts about this. Since my books are still not available for purchase yet, it doesn’t directly affect me, but it affects so many other people. Without going into further detail, I simply highly recommend you purchase books directly from the author. It gives them more profit, you’re not susceptible to your license of the book being revoked by a big (virtual) box store, and you know that you’re supporting the author directly.

In some medium news: Pilot, Buddy Bacher, and I were super, super sick for the last two months straight. I’m not even kidding. Buddy Bacher started a half-kindergarten program this year and between him at school and Pilot in person at work, they both traded off bringing a bunch of viruses into our home. Pilot’s even descended into pneumonia (which, thank goodness is gone now).

We’re all still coughing a bit, but this last week was the first week all of us went back to our duties full time. I secured a new client for four drawings from my new illustration business, http://kawaiisublimestudios.com and have already delivered 1/4. Due to contract details, I cannot reveal the first work for a couple of months. In the meantime, I have some other drawings I’m working on to showcase on socials during the down time. If you’d like some art from me, check out my Kawaii Sublime Studios Instagram for samples, and check out my website. Contact me for any portraiture, memorialization, development of fan art or character design, book cover design, logo design, etc. The possibilities are endless!

NOW, THE GOOD NEWS!

I heard back from my Beta Readers for my first book Capture Me re-write, and now that I’m not down with the various plagues, I’m off to start re-editing book two: Crush On You while incorporating the feedback I received from Betas for book one.

Want to be a Beta Reader for Crush On You? Send me an email to KatherineBacher@gmail.com.

Admittedly, Crush On You was not my strongest work. I was crunched on a deadline and always wanted a chance to rewrite it. I’m deeply considering some major changes. I’m also considering changing the titles of the new books to make re-publishing easier for them. (No issues with copyright laws, even though the books are all mine again.) I’m still looking into how I can sell both print and e-books directly from my website to you as well. There’s a lot of tech work I’m unfamiliar with, and it also doesn’t come cheap if I can’t do it myself. I have a bit of a learning curve ahead of me right now.

With everything happening in America right now, I just want to wish you peace of mind and self-care during these times. If you haven’t figured out through my books and my blog, I’m grateful to be a blue dot in a blue county in a blue state. Many, many people are not so lucky.

Take care, know that you have my support, and keep an eye on my Instagram for more day-to-day updates.

Love and hugs,
KB

*CONTEST CLOSED* Giveaway! (Priorities, right?) Roxy, new and improved! The Middle Ages

Hello Precious Reader,

It’s funny how that sounds now, since the invention of Bridgerton the TV show (of which I’m obsessed, love #Polin, and btw #GiveUsMichael). Despite the neglect from me to you (clearly, I’ve made blogging a priority in my life… that was sarcasm), I do think to blog, then it’s late and I need sleep. Between some newer projects and restarting some old ones, it appears my plate only has so much space and this item fell by the wayside. Mostly it’s parenting a young child. Buddy Bacher is going through a phase of nightmares for the last year (they’re now FIVE years old, if you can believe it!), and what little sleep I do get is interrupted or poorly and I have to prioritize life.

This spring, I launched a new art and illustration business, Kawaii Sublime Studios and had a long-term contract client for several months through the spring. You can check out my work on my Instagram here. If there is any work you’re interested in where you need some drawing or design work done, please look me up at kawaii.sublime@gmail.com. You can check out my new logos on both Instagram pages. They’re extremely similar, but one is definitely writing while the other is drawing on my tablet. Let me know what you think!

That’s right! I draw! I write, I draw, I edit, I sing, raise my child, run my household, have been the Secretary for my “HOA” thing. My time with the HOA is up on Sept. 30th, and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity, but also relieved to pass the baton. (Ever watched a town hall meeting on the show “Parks and Recreation”? It’s kind of like that. A lot like that. I’m an odd combo of Donna and Leslie. My guy, Pilot is totally a blend of Joe + Ben, so it makes sense.

Being on the HOA was quite the time suck, and I’m grateful to have literal days/weeks back to myself. This includes continued launch of my art and illustration business and taking steps to relaunch my Roxy Summers Mystery Series.

You heard that correctly! I’ve spent the last several weeks going through Capture Me (Roxy Summers Mystery #1) and finished my run through of edits. I’m trying to find a way to afford an editor and decide if I’m going to resubmit to a new publisher or self-publish. I’m mostly looking towards self-publication, but I’m a total noob and the online advice is more generic instead of step-by-step instructions. It’s like instructions from textbooks from 1950s rather than video game walkthroughs. I love a good walkthrough. My ultimate (aggressive) goal is to get Capture Me (Roxy #1) back on the shelves on or by the end of 2024. I genuinely don’t know if I’ll make it, but I’m motivated.

One of the reasons of meeting this goal is, frankly, vanity. It’s September, and that means it’s MY BIRTHDAY MONTH! WHOO! In fact, it’s a milestone birthday. I’m turning 40! Officially joining the “Middle Aged Club” and I am SO excited! Seriously!

My 20s were spent unlearning a confusing and difficult childhood, learning how the world works, and discovering what healthy relationships actually look like.
My 30s were spent mostly healing from the traumas of my past, and to gain experiences to figure out who I actually was once the unlearning was finished. (Meaning, a lot of therapy.)

My 40? They’re going to be focused, no longer wasting time on things in the past that I can’t change. Instead, choosing to let it go (including making some difficult life decisions to remove toxic relationships from my life). Instead to spending my time CELEBRATING who I am, building a rooted life with Pilot and our child, and enjoying this precious short time of my kid’s childhood with building a healthy and strong foundation so they don’t spend their 20s wallowing and learn these lessons (hopefully) sooner than I ever did.

In celebration of all of these things, life resuming to somewhat-normal without the HOA, the relaunching of my Roxy Summers Mystery series, AND my 40th Birthday (whoo!), I realized that promised you a chance to win FREE BOOKS(*) and I would LOVE to ship some free books from Left Coast Crime to you since I genuinely forgot to post about it. There will be up to four (4) winners depending on the number of people who enter, 1 book per winner!

How to enter:
1) Like this post + Comment below with how you prefer to celebrate your birthday or share a funny birthday story.

+ 1 Additional entry if you FOLLOW my Kawaii Sublime Studios Instagram page and comment below your username so I can double-check and put in an extra entry for you.
+ 1 Additional entry if you share your favorite Roxy Summers Mystery Series character and why they’re your favorite.
+ 1 Additional entry if you share a photo of you with any of my books on Instagram AND tag @kdbacherauthor on the Instagram PHOTO itself. (Must complete this step in its entirety for the entry to count.)

(*) Contest Rules:

  1. No purchase necessary to win.
  2. Must be age 18 or older.
  3. WordPress is not a sponsor of this giveaway. Left Coast Crime is not a sponsor of this giveaway.
  4. Prizes are only available to ship within the continental United States of America. Cannot ship outside of the United States. Cannot ship beyond the continental United States. (Sorry, no Alaska or Hawaii. The charges are too high.)
  5. No P.O. Boxes or
  6. Contest ends on September 30th, 2024, at 11:59 PM (PACIFIC STANDARD TIME). Any entries beyond that date and time will not be accepted.
  7. Winner(s) will be notified on October 1, 2024, on or by 11:59 PM (PACIFIC STANDARD TIME).
  8. Within twenty-four (24) hours of winner announcement, winner(s) must send Katherine Bacher an email at katherinebacher@gmail.com with their name and mailing address to receive prizes (no P.O. Box addresses). If prize(s) goes unclaimed, winner forfeits their winnings, and the prize(s) will go to the next eligible candidate.

As always, love and hugs to you all and good luck with the contest!
– KB