Guest Post by Ashavan Doyon

Greetings. Thanks to Dani and the Love Bytes team for giving me this venue to help launch my new author newsletter ARDOR.

I launched ARDOR as a way to keep in touch with readers when I’m between books. Certainly I’m always happy to be launching a book as I did in July with Andrew’s Prayer. But when there isn’t a next book ready or there’s a long delay before the next one is slated to come out, I think it’s important to keep in contact with readers.

I like readers to know that I’m still there. That I love to talk about my books. I hope that excitement is infectious, that it really comes through in my interactions. But let’s face it: I’m not a big name in the genre. I can’t afford to write full time and there will often be a gap between a release and the next book. In a case like Andrew’s Prayer, where nothing is pending, that gap could be lengthier than I’d like.

So I came up with the idea of a newsletter to help keep up a presence between stories. I didn’t want to do a direct mail one in part because I wanted to do it right. I wanted slick covers. I wanted pretty, well-formatted text. This demanded learning InDesign. Worth it, but let me say, there is a steep learning curve.

After several months of work, I’m happy to say that ARDOR is here with its debut issue, and I will release new ones, for the time being, every other month. This means that the next issue will be December, and the cover is shaping up to be a beauty!

So as a reader what do you get?

First and probably most exciting for readers: Free fiction. Every issue will have some sort of short, either as part of a new original story, or expanding on the universe of my existing work. These will be brief, just a few pages, running 1500 to 3000 words.

Excerpts from my existing stories: Mostly these will highlight the most current stories, but sometimes they’ll be a highlight of a story I know is going on sale.

Editorials: These blog style posts will have thoughts on writing, my stories, the genre. Just about anything you might expect to see on an author blog in 500 words or less.

Work-in-progress: not to be confused with the short fiction, these are articles about characters and storylines in the fiction that I’m writing right now. For the debut issue I talk about why I selected Lawrence as the main character for the current WiP, Becoming Rory.

Where can you find ARDOR?

I have a new page on my author website dedicated to the newsletter, and the most current issue will always be found there: http://www.ashavandoyon.com/ardor.html

You can find my College Rose Romances at Torquere Press here (use code spooky15 to get 25% off through the end of October):
Loving Aidan
Steven’s Heart
Andrew’s Prayer

My most recent Dreamspinner Press release is Gerry’s Lion. The rest of my DSP releases can be found at my author page on their website.

Thanks again to Dani for having me and I hope you will enjoy ARDOR.