The big Half-Price Sale continues at Smashwords through January 1. Get the four-book Waterspell Boxed Set for only $4.47!
Readers call it:
“Riveting”
“Unforgettable”
“Marvelously complex and captivating”
“A must-read”
The Waterspell fantasy series follows the story of Carin, a lost traveler who embarks on a journey to discover her true identity and learn where she belongs. When she falls captive to a hot-tempered, secretive wizard, he draws her into schemes of magical power and possible murder. There’s a world to save, even if it costs Carin her life. The relationship between Carin and the wizard grows increasingly complex, balancing in a tense power struggle as, together, they navigate a world of dangers while yearning for redemption, a sense of belonging, and maybe a little unconventional romance.
Magic, mystery, murder, and romance. Waterspell: An intricate save-the-world fantasy adventure with complex characters, cosmic calamities, and the gothic sensibilities of Jane Eyre.
Since I returned to writing and publishing in 2022, my habit has been to run one promo a month, alternating among sites such as Book Barbarian, The Fussy Librarian, and Freebooksy. In 2025, my pattern fell apart because the world fell apart around me. (Damn you, Nazis and Fascists!) Several months passed with no promotional or marketing efforts at all from me. I was busy trying to save Democracy.
When November-December rolled around, I decided on a year-end push to raise my books’ visibility. Without really planning it, just scheduling whatever promos occurred to me, I ended up with:
A massive sale of my audiobooks, deeply discounted at Chirp
A half-price sale on all of my ebooks at Smashwords
Here’s hoping this flurry of publicity nets some new readers! The big audiobook sale at Chirp ends December 12, but the half-price sale on ebooks at Smashwords continues through January 1. Spread the word, won’t you? In these difficult economic times (people can’t even afford McDonald’s anymore) every reader of books needs and wants bargains.
I’m excited that my books are included in the Smashwords 2025 End-of-Year Sale! This is a chance to get the complete, entire Waterspell fantasy series at a 50% discount.
For more details, check out my double author profiles. I don’t know how it happened, but I’m listed twice at Smashwords, once with an underscore in my name, and once without. Go figure.
This would be a perfect time to stock up on books for your holiday and wintertime reading. You can also give books as gifts. Smashwords makes it easy. See the “About Gifting” page.
In these trying economic times, authors need your help! Keep us writing: please share this promo with your friends, family, and other bloggers. You can find the landing page here: smashwords.com/sale
My Black Friday sale was encouragingly successful, so I’m repeating it. Through 5 January 2025, every book in the Waterspell fantasy series is on sale. Book 1: The Warlock is free, and the five subsequent ebooks are $1.99 each, which means you get the entire six-book series for only $9.95.
But wait! There’s more! Save $1 if you purchase the boxed set for $4.99 and add the two linked sequels for $1.99 each.
Available for all ebook devices: Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Apple, Google Play, etc.
“A must-read for fantasy enthusiasts who enjoy immersive world-building, well-developed characters, and a storyline that seamlessly blends magic and human emotion.” NetGalley
“In this saga, the author has created an epic fantasy world full of magic, danger, romance, and travel through time and space. The characters are vivid and complex, including a young woman on a hero’s quest, and a powerful warlock who isn’t sure whether to kill her or embrace her. This is a most enjoyable read for fans of fantasy and fine writing.” NetGalley
My first-ever Black Friday Sale! Now through December 4, 2024.
Get the four-book Waterspell bundle plus the two linked sequels for only $8.97. That’s a savings of $7 off the regular list price of the ebook editions.
“A must-read for fantasy enthusiasts who enjoy immersive world-building, well-developed characters, and a storyline that seamlessly blends magic and human emotion.” NetGalley
“In this saga, the author has created an epic fantasy world full of magic, danger, romance, and travel through time and space. The characters are vivid and complex, including a young woman on a hero’s quest, and a powerful warlock who isn’t sure whether to kill her or embrace her. This is a most enjoyable read for fans of fantasy and fine writing.” NetGalley
It’s finished! 🎉 With the November 2024 release of The Fires of Farsinchia, the Waterspell series is complete.
Fires (published 19 November 2024) picks up where The Karenina Chronicles left off. Nina doesn’t get to spend much time in her island world. She’s barely landed on those tropical shores before she’s called back to fight new fires in her native realm. Because let’s face it: For a storyteller, Ladrehdin is a more interesting place. Particularly down in the South Country, where magic is returning, but only in fits and starts, and with unpredictable results.
I’m grateful to every reader who has followed the Waterspell story since the first book came out in 2011. I’ve obsessed over these characters since about 1996. They’re completely real to me, they’re alive, and so is their world. I’ve loved tagging along on their adventures, but the time has come to let them go on about their lives without me looking over their shoulders.
What’s next? An old manuscript has been sitting in my files for about 20 years. Long dormant, it’s finally stirring, calling to me to pull it out of the dark drawer and let sunlight fall upon it. What I read in its pages may make me cringe. I’m a better writer now than I was 20 years ago. But then again, those mostly forgotten pages might hold pleasant surprises. Time will tell.
If you’ve got time for a six-book, 680,000-word fantasy series that reviewers say is “nearly impossible to put down” (bless you, Dear Readers 💙), then by all means, begin at the beginning with Waterspell Book 1: The Warlock. But if you’re not looking for a commitment of that size, might I recommend that you start with The Karenina Chronicles? It’s a linked sequel, but it IS a standalone. It’s fully accessible to readers who have no knowledge of the previous four books.
And when you’ve finished The Karenina Chronicles, you’ll be ready for The Fires of Farsinchia, the book that answers burning questions, including: Will Nina find love again after the death of her Earthly husband? Will she figure out where she belongs? Or is she doomed to remain a restless wanderer who finds no peace on either side of the Void?
Such a busy week! And a busy month of August, from Day 1. The Karenina Chronicles (the newest book in the Waterspell series) is featured at Kobo all month in the category of “Science Fiction & Fantasy Under $5.99.”
Plus, The Karenina Chroniclesaudiobook is now available at Audible as well as all other major retailers.
🎉 I’m breathless with the speed of events. 🥳 If you’re looking for a good read for your August vacation, please check out The Karenina Chronicles: A Waterspell Novel in any format you like: print, ebook, or audiobook. Discover why readers call it “exceptionally vividly realized” and “engaging from page one.”
Here’s my annual analysis of my marketing efforts. This is pretty much all that I do in the way of marketing: I run a promo every month in a different email/newsletter.
The bar graph is screenshot from my Amazon KDP reports. Each blue bar is the total number of books that were ordered that month. Since I have a five-book series, the full-series promo at Written Word Media always brings in the most orders. People tend to buy every book in the Waterspell series. I love my readers. 💙
In 2023, I branched out a little from my regulars (Book Barbarian, Fussy Librarian, Written Word Media). I added Hello Books to the rotation, and will continue to use them. EReader News Today was also new on my list in 2023, and it did well. GoodKindles, however, was a complete bust. They’re off my list forever. With BookRaid, I have seen diminishing returns over the two or three years that I’ve been advertising there. Not sure they’re worth the money any more.
A full-series promo at Written Word Media continues to deliver the best results. It’s pricey at $170, but cost-effective for promoting the five books in the Waterspell series all at one time. Written Word Media offers several promo options. I tried their “Readers’ List” promo for the first time in August 2023, with disappointing results. Even combined with a concurrent Book Barbarian promo, the $125 “Readers’ List” email blast failed to produce the number of book orders that the $170 full-series promo brought me.
To summarize, this is how I’ll rank the effectiveness of these sites, in terms of the book orders they brought me at Amazon and how much I paid for each promo:
To see how my choices and experiences have evolved over time, you can look at my earlier posts on this subject — 2022’s Book Promotion Sites: Ranked, and back to 2021 when I was Focusing the Plan.
Since I hate marketing and I’m really bad at it, running promos this way is the easiest and the most effective approach I have found. Most of these promos cost $45 to $65. I budget to run one promo a month (rotating among these sites, and sometimes doubling up with less-expensive ads at BookDoggy and ManyBooks). Occasionally I splurge on a $170 Written Word Media full-series promo. I was an election clerk in November 2023 and got paid $188 for the day’s work. That will buy a promo. 😁
What promo sites do you recommend? What have your experiences been with pay-per-click ads at Amazon, BookBub, and Facebook? I tried those, but I found them to be way overpriced and ineffective for my books.
Release Day Redux! Now it’s the ebook’s turn. The print edition came out November 17. On December 1, pre-orders of my newest book hit readers’ libraries and devices. I’ve been scrolling through it on my tablet, obsessively double-checking the table of contents and interior illustrations. Everything looks good!
Thanks to everyone who pre-ordered my latest. I’m hearing from my dearly beloved readers that some of you are rereading Waterspell Books 1-4 before starting in on the sequel, the newly published Karenina Chronicles. Bless you, dear friends! But for those who don’t have the time to reread four lengthy novels, please be assured that The Karenina Chronicles is pretty much a stand-alone. There ARE references to What Went Before, but I believe I’ve supplied enough backstory that any reader will be able to follow the new story (of The New Generation) without rereading (or reading for the first time) the previous quartet.
Example: It’s been YEARS since I read His Dark Materials. But I’ve recently listened to the audiobooks of Philip Pullman’s return to that world: The Book of Dust, volumes 1 and 2. Because of the little reminders that Pullman sprinkled through the sequels, I followed the story perfectly well, despite the many years that have elapsed since I read the Dark Materials trilogy.
So please do not feel that you must read Waterspell Books 1-4 before starting my new one. Though of course I love you for your willingness to do so!
Thanks to everyone for buying and reading. Please remember that books make great gifts! 😀
Release Day! The print edition of my latest book is now available at all of the booksellers. I’m excited about The Karenina Chronicles. There’s a strong streak of a woman’s simmering rage in this book.
Direct links to the major booksellers for the print edition:
Summary: In the grip of a grief-fueled wanderlust after the death of her Earthly husband, Lady Karenina of Ruain — Nina to family and friends — escapes into unfamiliar lands, a harsh and distant country peopled with enigmatic characters: the Leviathan, the Nomad, the Outcast, and the Wolf. In their company she finds adventure, danger, champions, and rogues — some of the latter worth killing, but at least one worth loving.
Continue the family saga that began in the WATERSPELL fantasy quartet (Warlock, Wysard, Wisewoman, Witch). Follow the further adventures of eldest daughter Nina in The Karenina Chronicles.
Thank you for your ongoing interest and support!
I’m proud of this installment in the series. It’s a journey tale that covers a lot of ground. Karenina (Nina) would not leave me alone until I’d consented to tell the story of her “grand tour.” She insisted that I slip inside her saddlebags and make the trip with her. I’m glad I did. It’s been a journey of self-discovery for myself as well as for Nina. This addition to the series might not be a true standalone novel, but I believe readers can connect with the characters and follow their stories even without having read the first four books. There’s enough backstory scattered through this book to give readers the necessary background.
If you’ve been thinking about dipping your toe into the Waterspell ocean, The Karenina Chronicles is the book to start you off. These books mean a lot to me, and this newest one has a special hold on my heart.
“An extraordinary book, four in fact! I read these over a five-day period and found the storytelling fantastic. See for yourself!” —Michelle, NetGalley
“Addictive epic fantasy, with drama and adventure. I binged through the books, eager to see how the story unfolds. Great book. 5 stars.” —Di, NetGalley
“In this four-book saga, the author has created an epic fantasy world full of magic, danger, romance, and travel through time and space. The characters are vivid and complex. This is a most enjoyable read for fans of fantasy and fine writing.” —Shirley, NetGalley
“An entertaining, fast paced, and well-plotted fantasy series. The world building is fascinating, and the characters fleshed out. Highly recommended.” —Anna Maria, NetGalley
“Jane Eyre meets Beauty and the Beast. Amazing story, very original. Great series.” —Emma, Amazon UK
“A riveting series. Well written, excellent world-building with an engaging plot in each book and well-developed characters. I was gripped right from the start with twists I didn’t see and unpredictability.” —Aria, NetGalley
“I was HOOKED. I read until 3 am two nights in a row to finish this. The magic system is unique and the characters are as morally gray as they come.” —Megan, Goodreads
“Such a joy to narrate this. It didn’t feel like work. The story and characters take flight so naturally and then soar.” —Simon de Deney
“A great read that features world building with drama and magical characters. Highly recommended.” —Neil, Amazon
“Complicated characters, plot twists, romance, adventure, and magic — all written in a voice that immerses you in a fantasy world both foreign and familiar. Get the box set because you won’t want to leave this world.” —Beck Digs It, Amazon
“I was hooked instantly. I willingly gave up sleep and could not wait to get up to read more. I’m reading the whole series, and absolutely loving it.” —Sarah, Amazon
“A must-read for fantasy enthusiasts who enjoy immersive world-building, well-developed characters, and a storyline that seamlessly blends magic and human emotion.” —Dalton, NetGalley
“I absolutely loved all four books! You kept your storyline throughout the four books brilliantly. The characters were all genuine and relatable.” —Carol, Goodreads
“Captivating. I loved this series from beginning to end. Complex characters who mature through the series and unexpected plot twists kept me reading far too late into the night.” —Amy, Amazon
“Lightfoot has a sure touch with regard to characterisation. Each of her characters has their own authentic and convincing voice. Narrative, description and speech are exceptionally well-balanced.” —Martin Dukes, author of the Alex Trueman Chronicles
You won’t want to leave this world.
Castles in the cornfield provided the setting for Deborah J. Lightfoot’s earliest flights of fancy. On her father’s farm in Texas, she grew up reading tales of adventure and reenacting them behind ramparts of sun-drenched grain. She left the farm to earn a degree in journalism and write award-winning books of history and biography. High on her bucket list was the desire to try her hand at the genre she most admired. The result is Waterspell, a multi-layered, intricately detailed fantasy about a girl and the wizard who suspects her of being so dangerous to his world, he believes he’ll have to kill her … which troubles him, since he’s fallen in love with her. Deborah is a professional member of The Authors Guild. She lives in the country near Fort Worth, Texas.
Magic, mystery, murder, and romance. Waterspell: An intricate save-the-world fantasy adventure with complex characters, cosmic calamities, and the gothic sensibilities of Jane Eyre.
Mix environmental fantasy with magic, mystery, and a little slow-burning romance, add dystopian undercurrents, and that’s the Waterspell series—a cross-genre story with too many layers for a single label.
The print edition of my latest book is now available at all of the booksellers. 
