A General News Update, Plus a Discussion Regarding Vendor Payouts and Policies

Greetings, folks!

It is Thursday. I have two days (today, tomorrow) left of my vacation, but I’m taking a few minutes to discuss something that has come up a time or two recently: vendors, payouts, and releases.

This post exists because I want it to exist, and this is how I wish to spend my time.

To start the show, I’m going to go through the upcoming release schedule:

April 21, 2026: Death Dance (Lowrance Vampires #3.)

This will be the series finisher. However, if all three books end up fully paying their bills, I may do a continuation. I have a thread or two open to allow for it, albeit they are very minor threads readers may or may not identify as existing.

November 24, 2026: Game On (Magic, Mayhem, and the Law in Precinct #153)

Jace’s point of view. The turkey is back. So are the dragons, the other unicorns, and the game show people bitched wasn’t crammed into the super long first book. (Having the game show as its own book is so much better anyway.)

December 22, 2026: Winter Paradise (Royal States, Nevada, takes place muchly at a resort in Norway)

Spoiler alert: I will be setting up the preorder for Winter Paradise next week.

Things that are not up for preorder but very probably will release in 2026:

• Failed Colony (Pets in Space expansion novel)
• Murder Floof (Bernadette Franklin)

Things without a promised release date but are actively being worked on:

Super Sekrit Romantasy Project (This is the only hint you are receiving. No, it is NOT being released under the Pen & Page Publishing pen name.)

I am currently writing the book but I have no idea when it’ll be ready.

If you want to have this book, you can do the following:

1: You can play the scavenger hunt game I will be doing on my blog. I will be writing a short story. I do not know how the scavenger hunt will be working yet, but I’ll figure that out later.

2: You can follow my Patreon, as two weeks after release, the book will be put quietly on the shop without fanfare.

3: You can be a cindercorn or spicy pony with bite over at Patreon. Eligible subscribers will be receiving a message with their bookfunnel link. Because this is Super Sekrit Pen Name, there will NOT be ANY posts indicating anything.

4: You can fill out this form and select the “Sekrit Pen Names” option; when the limited print run special editions are prepared and the number of copies to be printed are being determined, you will be given a chance to preorder the special edition.

The Edge of Midnight – Declan #3, conclusion of the main Witch & Wolf story line.

I’m expecting early 2027 for this to be finished, but it could happen sooner. We’ll see. There are a lot of long books on the docket for 2026.

Purple Stained Sky – Dragon Themed Romantasy. Sign up for Leanne Hearst if you want the romantasy novels. Leanne Hearst will be my public romantasy pen name.

Why am I separating out the two romantasy pen names?

I want to.

I want a low pressure, for funsies, I don’t give a hoot if people like it pen name. I want to just enjoy writing, release it to be wild and free… if it does well, great. If it doesn’t do well, that’s also great.

The sekrit pen name is beholden to nobody whatsoever.

It’s not about the money. It’s about the love of writing.

Whispers – G.P. Robbins spin off series

I work on this as I have time and inclination. No ETA.

Now, onto the vendor discussion, because I’ve had some very confused people asking questions lately.

1: I will still be posting to audible, but audible is low priority. It is the worst paying vendor with the most restrictions. They treat creators like fucking garbage, and their policies are less than ideal.

I personally do not care if you use audible, but I am not prioritizing audible, okay?

If you want to support my creativity, please purchase the audiobooks on Patreon; I’m paid roughly 88-90% of the retail price from Patreon.

I am paid approximately 20% at Audible.

Oh, and Audible doesn’t like giving us the actual credit value for the books. If you want to set prices over at audible, you have to jump through hoops. (It’s a nightmare.

On average, I earn $2.20 a copy over at Audible. It’s significantly less if people are using their all you can listen to package. I’m in the package (for oldest titles only) because I do believe in accessibility… but I take huge losses.

Last time I checked, it was something like $0.50 a listen for the all inclusive package, if that.

Comparatively, Patreon pays me $10.40 for a $12.99 book.

Patreon funding is how / why I can still afford to release audiobooks.

If you’ve been chained to audible, there are numerous listening programs available on both android and iOS. (Or your operating system of choice.)

Cindercorns and Spicy Ponies with Bite receive all new audiobooks as part of their subscription with the exception of rerecords. Rerecords will, due to audible’s shitty policies, only be available on Patreon.

What is the shitty policy, you ask?

If I remove the old version from sale, if the user has to reset their device, etc, they run a high risk of not being able to access the audiobook they rightfully purchased.

This is the only vendor that actively steals purchased materials that were removed from sale.

Please purchase elsewhere so you actually have control over the money you spend.

Audible is not your friend, was never your friend, and will never be your friend.

With Patreon, you have lifetime access to the files, even if I remove it from sale.

That is how it SHOULD be.

For eBooks, Amazon is (once again) one of the worst paying vendors. Patreon pays the most with Smashwords a few pennies behind.

After that, Kobo and Barnes and Noble are tied neck and neck. Apple is a hair behind them because I use a third party source for them, but the royalty rate is the same as Kobo and B&N.

Amazon comes in last place of the major retailers.

Books purchased on Patreon can be loaded into kindle app as a doc, although it doesn’t offer series integration (as far as I know.)

Now, with all that out of the way… back up the files you rightfully purchased, because vendors should not be taking them away from you just because an author hit the unpublish button for any reason whatsoever.

I’m looking at you, Amazon/Audible.