Contest is Now Live!

Mistress of Legend is part of the TaleFlick Discovery contest. That means you can vote on which book you want to see adapted into TV/film. (Mine, of course!)

 

 

 

Opens: Wed, Jan 8 at 1 p.m. ET/noon CT/10 a.m. PT

Ends: Fri. Jan 10 at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT/4 p.m. PT

You can only vote once. Hurry! Contest ends Friday!

Thank you!

 

Help Bring Mistress of Legend to a Big (or Small) Screen Near You

Mistress of Legend is part of the TaleFlick Discovery contest. That means you can vote on which book you want to see adapted into TV/film. (Mine, of course!)

 

 

 

Opens: Wed, Jan 8 at 1 p.m. ET/noon CT/10 a.m. PT

Ends: Fri. Jan 10 at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT/4 p.m. PT

You can only vote once. Hurry! Contest ends Friday!

Thank you!

 

Mistress of Legend Takes Silver in the Readers Favorite Awards

September started off with pleasant news yesterday: Mistress of Legend was awarded the silver medal in the mythology category of the Reader’s Favorite Awards. As usual, I totally forgot I entered so that was a surprise to me! So thrilled that people are liking this book, even when it is read alone.

Surprise! Mistress of Legend Named Book of the Year by Author’s Circle

Wow, I got the shock of my life last night when I logged in to Facebook to see that I was tagged by Author’s Circle. I had entered their contest, so I was hoping for good news, but I certainly didn’t expect to see that Mistress of Legend was named Book of the Year!

This means that all three books in the Guinevere’s Tale Trilogy have received Book of the Year Awards: Daughter of Destiny from Chanticleer Reviews (2015) and Camelot’s Queen (2016) and Mistress of Legend (2018) from Author’s Circle. Author’s Circle also named The Once ad Future Queen: Guinevere in Arthurian Legend as their Non-Fiction Book of the Year in 2017.

This is my fourth Book of the Year award. When I received the first one I was absolutely shocked. The second I thought was a fluke. The third was just unbelievable. But four? That’s like beyond mind-blowing.

We Did It! The Guinevere’s Tale Trilogy is a USA Today Bestseller!

I cannot thank everyone enough for all of your help promoting The Guinevere’s Tale Trilogy last week. It paid off! We made the USA Today bestseller list at #148 and as one of only six sci-fi/fantasy books on this week’s list.

More details on how the book fared during the campaign are below, but first the mushy stuff. It may seem odd for me to say “we” but it is totally accurate. I may have written the book and did part of the promotion, but you are the reason my book is on this list. I could not have done this without my friends and fans. And for that there are not enough words in all of the languages on the planet for me to express my gratitude. Your outpouring of love and support online truly overwhelmed me; when I saw all the sharing on Facebook and Twitter and felt you genuinely rooting for me, it changed me for the better. I’ve always known theoretically that supporting others is good, but I’m an only child, and thus, rather self-absorbed (yes, even at nearly 40). By your example, you taught me just how powerful it is to support others, especially fellow writers. Beyond that, I have no doubt that without your purchases, shares, and well-wishes, this dream of mine would not have come true. This honor is as much yours as it is mine.

I want to say a special thank you to Nancy Bilyeau, Susanna Kearsley and Amy Collins for being willing to share my promotion with your fans. And also to James Conroyd Martin, Pat Whaler, Shauna Granger, Liv Raincourt, Courtney Marquez, Jeanne Felfe, my entire street team and a million other people for constantly sharing the graphics and links online. (If I didn’t list you by name, please don’t be offended. These are just the top people who came to mind. I’m going to try to compile a more complete list of people who shared when I go back to do my post-campaign measurement.) This accomplishment is truly a testament to the power of networking. When I met all of you, I never thought I would have something like this ask and I value our friendship first and foremost, but thank you for being willing to champion this book. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank BookBub for giving me the featured deal that made all of this possible.

As you may know, this is my first time on any bestseller list and is my first time “earning my letters,” as they say. (I have my USA and now only need my NYT. Someday!) It is particularly important to me that it was this book that got on the bestseller list. You see, when I first started imagining what was then called Guinevere’s Tale (hence the name of the series) way back in September 1999, I imagined it like this – one gigantic book to rival The Mists of Avalon. It was only in early 2008, when I began to realize what I was writing might actually be publishable that I learned I would likely have to break it up into several books for the publishing industry to even consider it from a debut author. I certainly don’t mind it being a trilogy, but in my mind it will always be one long story.

In case you weren’t following the flurry of photos on social media (and by God was it fun to watch the rankings rise), here’s a rundown of how The Guinevere’s Tale Trilogy did from Monday, July 8 through Monday, July 15:

Sales and Category Rankings

  • #1 in fantasy at Barnes and Noble
    • Held for 2.5 days
    • In top 15 for 4 days
    • Bestseller status for 5 days
  • #11 in ALL Nook ebooks
    • In Top 100 for 3 days
  • #1 in three subcategories on Amazon
    • Held for 2.5 days
  • #4 in Fantasy on Amazon
    • Held for 2 days
  • #5 in Sci-fi and Fantasy on Amazon
    • Held for 2 days
  • #40 in ALL Kindle ebooks
    • In Top 100 for 2.5 days
  • #8 in Sci-fi and Fantasy on iBooks (I only thought to look at this on Sunday, so I’m not sure if it was any higher. It likely was at least on Thursday.)
  • Outsold both George R. R. Martin (2 books) and Nora Roberts at certain points.

 

Amazon Author Rankings

  • In Top 100 authors for 4 days.

Nearly a Canadian bestseller.

I also thought it was interesting that it ranked in both book and ebook categories on Amazon even though only the ebook was on sale.

All this to say, wow, what a whirlwind. As Kate Quinn noted, I can now and forever more say I am a USA Today Bestselling author and no one can take that away from me. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart. And if there is ever any way I can repay you, all you have to do is ask.

For those who want to know the nitty-gritty of how all this happened, look out for another blog post on Thursday, August 1, in which I dissect every detail of the campaign, numbers and all. After all, if I did it, so can you!

Two Days Left to Help The Guinevere’s Tale Trilogy Hit the USA Today Bestseller List

I’ll post a full roundup next week after the promotion is over, but I just wanted to say THANK YOU and remind everyone that there are still two days left of The Guinevere’s Tale Trilogy promotion (the ads say Monday, but USA Today stops counting at midnight on Sunday).

Please help in any way you can: buying and/or sharing on social media or telling your friends. WORD OF MOUTH THIS SO IMPORTANT! Remember, this sale is 3 books for less than $1.

So far, we’ve ranked:

  • #1 in fantasy at Barnes and Noble
  • #11 in ALL Nook ebooks
  • #1 in three subcategories on Amazon
  • #4 in Fantasy on Amazon
  • #5 in Sci-fi and Fantasy on Amazon
  • #41 in ALL Kindle ebooks

Here’s a sample FB/Twitter post in case you want to share. More graphics are available here: https://nicoleevelina.com/new-sale-graphics-guineveres-tale-trilogy/

TIME IS RUNNING OUT to get this BESTSELLING trilogy for ONLY $0.99. Experience Camelot through Guinevere’s eyes. Buy links: https://nicoleevelina.com/the-books/historical-fiction/guineveres-tale-box-set/.

Mistress of Legend Takes Silver in the Foreword Indie Book Awards

Well, I came home to a wonderful surprise in my mailbox tonight: a certificate telling me Mistress of Legend won Silver in the Fantasy category of the Foreword Indie Book Awards. I didn’t even know they had held them already!

I am so glad because I am so proud of that book. I feel like it is the strongest in the series, yet I know it is difficult for judges to judge the final book in a trilogy when they haven’t read the first two. But the fact that this one won tells me I did my job in making the story make sense on its own.

Mistress of Legend Finals in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards

I am weeks behind on announcing this, but Mistress of Legend was a finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards in the fantasy category. These awards give out one gold medal to a category winner and 5-6 silver to the finalists. I may not have gotten gold this time, but I’m proud to have the silver!

Mistress of Legend Wins a Chaucer Award

Just a quick note that Mistress of Legend has won its first award! It took home first in category in the Chaucer Awards for historical fiction at the Chanticleer Book Awards, the same award Madame Presidentess won in 2016.

They say we should have our official winner’s seal by the end of the month, so for now I’m using the contest image.