I guess this is kind of a newsletter post?

This feels super weird, but...

I never thought I would be someone who would have a newsletter. I mean, I don't have a newsletter, but I mean I never thought I would be someone who would need to have a newsletter. What would I even say? 

Well, now I'm in the super weird position of needing to have one, but the thing is, I actually can't even just have one yet, because I don't have people to send it to. The reason I need to have one is because I've started participating in group promotions along with other indie authors. And what that means is that we all do our part to spread the word (share links) about the group promotions we're participating in, so that we all benefit from it.

Being in the uncomfortable position of not having a newsletter or people to send it to, doing my part means spreading the word in the only ways that I can, and right now that means using this blogpost as a placeholder newsletter until I have the pre-requisites to set one up.

So I guess... consider this my inaugural Newsletter Post? I do have news to share, in that yeah, I have some promotions going on, so let's start with that!

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🌟Zinnia Sherwood's Inner Landscape Newsletter🌟

Current Group Promotions

I'm participating in the All Genres Book Sale group promotion - on now (July 1) until August 1! This isn't just about me, it's about the indie author community and a selection of awesome books by other talented indie authors!

Click here to explore the offerings (including Maladaptive). Seriously, these books look fantastic, and I'm considering getting a few of these myself! This sale runs across multiple online retailers including Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and Smashwords. 

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And for the book reviewers... Check out the Calling All Readers Review Copy Promotion! 

All genres are available with a lot of incredible indie books to choose from, including Maladaptive! Click here to get your free review copies starting now until July 31 :)

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I have added an evergreen Promotions tab above where these events can be found and accessed at anytime once this post gets kicked off the front page, so be sure to bookmark it - I'll be updating it as promotions come and go!

Other Promotions

The Smashwords Summer/Winter 2026 Sale begins today and runs throughout July! The eBook version of Maladaptive will be discounted at 100% (so yeah, it's free!) from July 1-31.

Visit smashwords.com/sale to check out participating books and authors!

Click here to go directly to my listing and get a copy :)

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And in Other News...

(Geez, what do I say here? Ummm...)

Well... I'm still working on my next book, Sixty-Six. I'm nearly halfway through a wordsmithing and formatting pass. It's going a little slower than I'd hoped it would, but I'm keeping at it, when I can. 

I'm still trying to decide if I want to stick with the cover I illustrated myself, or get a professional designer involved. I do love the colors and the design I came up with, and the story itself supports a handmade looking cover, so it fits in that way... but I'm trying to imagine the reader response to it and I assume that it might just look unprofessional or amateurish.

What do you think? Keep it the way it is or see what it could look like with a professional designer's touch?

And today (July 1) is Canada Day! So a Happy Canada Day to any Canadians out there who see this. I haven't really said much about my own Canadianness, though anyone who has read Maladaptive might have picked up on it from the fact that Cara and Griffin are from Niagara Falls, Ontario.

I guess I didn't want to make a big thing about it? It's not that I'm not proud to be Canadian and living in Canada (I am, both of those things!), I think it's just that I don't specifically, intentionally write Canadian stories.

There are certainly Canadian things about them, but I haven't made that the focus. I'm writing the stories I want to tell, and if the characters happen to be Canadian or if the action (some of it) takes place in Canada, then that's just because it's part of my own experience and it's what I'm familiar with.

Sixty-Six is an international story, but it does have a couple of Canadian characters in a Canadian location (Toronto), so I should probably shout out to Vincent and Cleo here, too, even if I haven't formally introduced them yet (I should do that, soon!)

For the record, any Canadians who have read this blog or my books may be noticing now that I use American spelling. That was something I wrestled with. I don't know if I have a good reason for it, other than going back to the idea that my stories aren't trying to be for a Canadian audience only. There are people who do that really well, and I'm so glad they are representing Canada in their work by truly telling our stories. I think it's best if I leave that to them :)

Maybe that's a controversial take and I hope I don't make my fellow country-people annoyed with me on our national holiday!

🌟End of Newsletter🌟

How did I do for my first "newsletter" style blog post? I don't know yet how often I'll be doing these. I guess it's good practice for when I actually have people to send an actual newsletter to. In the meantime, this is how I'll be doing my part to support the other indie authors I'm participating in the group promotions with.

Regular blog mode returning in 3... 2... 1...