Welcome, Adventurer!

Hello, my pretties… /insert maniacal cackle here/

I mean, uh, hi! Welcome to the new Books and Tea League! Or, should I say, welcome back?

That’s right. The Books and Tea League has returned to the motherland—my own website, the place where it was born. The original sojourn of the BATL here on TalenaWinters.com after I launched last year was pretty short before I moved it to Ream. But now, it’s back, baby, and better than ever.

Since you’re here, you might already know why I chose to bring the BATL back “home”, so to speak. In case you don’t and you’re curious, the short answer is that this fits better with the way I like to run my business, both as far as values and energy expenditure are concerned. It’s also easier to serve my readers the way I want this way. I’m hoping it will be a win-win for everyone, and I know it will be a model I’ll be happier with in the long term.

The good news is that this time, I’m using my hosting platform’s native subscription options (as opposed to the third-party app I was using to gate content when I launched here the first time), so the whole experience is much more cohesive. If there’s ever anything about navigating through my membership or the general experience of my website that trips you up, though, please let me know so I can fix it. (Contact me here.)

If you haven’t already taken the time to re-acquaint yourself with the League, please take the House Tour. And be sure to grab your copy of the new BATL art I included in my last post.

In this post, I want to give you an idea of what’s different and what’s coming down the pipeline in August and beyond.

Bonus Content for All Tiers

One of the conundrums I solved by moving the BATL “home” was a resistance I’d had to creating bonus content on someone else’s platform.

A recent poll I did of my readers showed the desire for types of bonus content I’d love to create, but that I didn’t want to be publicly searchable, per say—things like character interviews and art, for instance. However, this type of content is still time-intensive enough and evergreen enough that I didn’t want it hosted elsewhere, and I also wanted future readers to easily benefit from the work of creating it.

Other subscription platforms have few options for organizing this type of content in a cohesive way once there gets to be a lot of it. I intend to keep my bonuses easily searchable by using tags and categories, but I’ll also be creating indexes that will make finding this content in the future super easy to do.

As part of the move, I have restructured my benefits slightly. Here’s what’s new:

All bonus content is free (except audio bonus content, which I’ll talk about in a second). I’ll be posting all my “extras” that relate to my story worlds and characters right here on the Fireside Lounge blog. This includes character interviews, profiles, development posts, art, etc. It also includes world building posts and art, and other story-adjacent non-fiction bonus content I think of as I go.

Personal updates and general writing news will usually be posted on my publicly accessible Winters’ Day In blog. You can pop over there to see what’s new, subscribe to that feed separately to get email notifications about new posts (from the footer of any post), or check the Reading Nook in the BATL Community Spaces for the latest there.

At the moment, I have audio bonus content reserved for the Literati tier. (I’m still working out the details of what this will include. If you have ideas of things you’d like to experience via audio, please let me know.)

Fiction content is a premium benefit. This includes any short fiction I write (which I’ll include in Story Bites, accessible from Loyalist+), early access to projects-in-progress, and my book catalogues in eBook and audiobook (except the freebies you get when you join).

NOTE: There are a few Story Bites available in the Fireside Lounge blog from when I hosted my subscription here before. I’ve opted to keep these available for free. Future shorts and one-shots will be posted only in the Story Bites feed in the Loyalist room.

The Books & Inspiration Newsletter is now an extension of the BATL. As part of simplifying this process, I decided to modify my typical Books & Inspiration Newsletter content slightly to just include a “New in the BATL” section. You also need to have an active B&I subscription in order to download any of the books in the Books and Tea League. You can opt out of the B&I Newsletter at any time, but you’ll need to opt back in to access any future books and freebies, and you’ll need to make sure you’re regularly checking this blog to see what’s new for you.

Unfortunately, because the feed for the Fireside Lounge blog is hidden behind a paywall, I can’t set up an automatic email to send out new posts like I can with my Winters’ Day In blog. For now, including notifications in my regular newsletter is the best solution for me, and I hope it helps cut down on clutter in your inbox, too.

What’s Happening in August

After a relaxing July that included a lot of company and a week off to enjoy them, I’ve been back at my main projects in earnest. (And the BATL transition, of course.) Here’s what’s on my desk right now:

Final version of Every Bell that Rings (Librarian+)

Now that this project of bringing the BATL home is complete, revisions for Every Bell that Rings will be my top priority. Librarians and above will get access to the final eBook as soon as it’s available, which should be in the next few weeks.

At that point, I’ll begin the audiobook version of that book. The early access audiobook will be available to Literati+.

Wrapping up the Finding Heaven audiobook (Literati+)

I’m nearing the end of creating the digitally narrated audiobook for Finding Heaven. You can get a free preview here.

The early access version is unedited. Unfortunately, raw AI audio does not meet my standards as a finished product. (I don’t understand how people can say they created an AI audiobook “in minutes.” I care too much about the listening experience to let raw digital narration be the product I put on the market.)

I’ve been re-recording any error sections as I go, but they still need to be edited into the full chapter. On average, there are anywhere from eight to twenty errors per chapter that I’ll need to edit, so that’s going to be time-consuming. I honestly don’t know how soon the final version will be available, as I’ll need to focus on producing the audiobook for Every Bell right away if I’m going to hit my goal of a simultaneous release with the eBook and print versions. I’ll keep you posted.

What’s next in the BATL

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts (on Ream), once Every Bell that Rings is in the publishing and launch stages, I’ll be turning my attention in earnest to the next book in the Rise of the Grigori series. I’ve finished re-reading the series up to this point to remind me of what’s happening, and I’m working on organizing my notes to get my juices flowing.

It will likely take me a couple weeks to get my basic outline put together, and then I’ll start drafting. I’ll probably need to get a bit of the way into the first draft before I feel comfortable enough to start posting the early access version, but I’ll be putting up free behind-the-scenes posts in the meantime.

As we get closer to the launch of Every Bell, I’ll also be posting bonus content related to the Peace Country Romance series.

The BATL’s new Motto

While creating the new art for the league, I decided I wanted both a logo and a crest, and that organically led to the decision to adopt a motto for the league to include on it. I settled on "In tenebris lux”, which means “Shining a light in the darkness.” This fits very well with my general motto-slash-tagline of “Saving the world, one page at a time.”

And it feels fancy. :-)

Thank you so much for joining me here. I’m so glad you’ve decided to come along on this adventure with me. Let’s go make it a good one, eh?

Question of the week: What are you most looking forward to in September this year?

Please let me know in the comments!