Nerdology 101: Upcoming Changes

Hey, hey! Welcome back to Nerdology 101. It’s August and, if you’ve been following me for a while, you probably know I do a yearly revamp of my website and socials each year. This post will be all about my planned changes so you, my beloved nerds, know exactly what to expect from me in the year to come.

When will changes start?

On September 1st. It’s about 3 weeks ahead of my first fall book con for the year, Love Among the Pages, and should give me the time I need to get them done before that. I’ll focus on the website changes first and the social media changes will be implemented after my site updates are complete. Beginning on Sept. 1st, I’ll do the renovations at night between 9-11PM EST, so you may have trouble accessing the site during those hours.

What changes are the site undergoing?

Well, let me start off by saying Nerdology 101 will be staying exactly where it is. These won’t be major changes. Instead, they’ll mostly focus on SEO and appearance. These changes may not seem substantial from the front end, but on the back end they’re vital to begin shifting focus away from my most recent book release, The Fate of Angels and Demons, and toward the next one, which will be release in 2026 (when in 2026 is still hush hush for now. Sorry, not sorry).

Readers can expect these types of changes to manifest in the form of bio updates, featured title updates, reorganization of vital material (the author, books, reviews and store pages), and some branding updates.

What changes will social media be undergoing?

Nothing all that deep. There will be some template updates for the base graphic I use for carosel style posts and some new pins, as well as a ton of archived posts that are no longer serving my advancement be being up there.

What book is being released in 2026 that you want to shift focus to?

The Depths of Bloodshed and Purgatory is the release—I can tell you that much, at least. The Harem of the Heavens is still a long way off from it’s release because it is starting a new series and I need to make the major decisions about how I want to proceed with that one first. Readers shouldn’t expect to see anything major around that for quite some time still.

As for The Depths of Bloodshed and Purgatory, it’s in the same Islands of Rune universe I’ve been writing in since my first book. The series is one of interconnected standalones following different characters in that primary group. This one will focus on Callian, the half-angel younger brother of the FMC from the previous book, Lilly, but that’s all I can really tell you about it for the moment. But, as you may have guessed, more information will start rolling out after these site and social updates.

What can the general public do to support you throughout these changes?

If readers want to throw some support my way, there’s a few ways you can do that. Starting with the most obvious one: Order my books. The Fate of Angels and Demons is on this website. All of them are on major retail sites. You can find all the different purchase options on my linktree. They’re also on BookVault Shop, Beventi Wholesale, Ingram, some independent bookstores, Hoopla, Libby, and more. I encourage readers to choose whatever works best for them.

Beyond just ordering, reviewing the book on Goodreads, posting about it on social media, and engaging with my content are all super helpful steps to take. Even just commenting on this blog post or liking some of my social media posts can go a long way in helping me reach more people. Engagement is everything on the internet.

Other helpful steps:

Asking your local bookstore or library if they have my book. Even if they don’t, you asking for it could put it on their radar.

Saving my site content to your Pintrest board.

Using the appropriate forms to tell me what kind of content you’d like to see next here on Nerdology 101 or on my social media.

No matter what you do or don’t do to help me out though, please know that your support in any form means the world to me. Thank you so much. That’s about all for this week’s Nerdology 101 post. I hope to see you back next Friday for yet another segment, but until then, have a nerdy week!

Nerdology 101: High Stakes and Immortality

NERDSSSSS! Welcome back to Nerdology 101. As most of you probably know by now, I’m Maria Levato, indie author, blog writer, anime nerd, and all around weirdo. Recently, I’ve been working on a manuscript titled Harem of the Heavens (HOTH). HOTH deals with gods, naturally, and so I have had to deal a lot with this weeks topic. When writing a fantasy or romantasy, how do you balance immortal characters with high stakes? Are the stakes ever really high if the characters can’t die? The short answer: The stakes are absolutely high. Follow along and find out how it’s done (no, this will not contain spoilers for my unreleased book.). Let’s get into some nerdology!

Research the Pantheons

First and foremost, you’re going to want to research the pantheon your writing about. Immortality doesn’t always mean the same thing to every pantheon. The Greeks were pretty freakin’ immortal, the Norse just had long lifespans, the Egyptians were immortal but in a reincarnation sort of way, and the list goes on. Depending on what you’re writing about, your characters may very well be killable. If they aren’t, you might find established means of disempowerment that you can use.

Add Other Factors

Pose the question of if an eternity of misery or torment is truly any less high stakes then death? For example: A Greek could be immortal all day long, but after they saw what happened to the Titans, they could very well have a fear that certain actions will lead them into a similar situation. If eternal torment in Tartaros is the consequence that replaces death, most readers will probably view that as a worse outcome if you play the card well.

Beyond that specific example, other high stakes factors can be unfavorable marriages and disinfranchisement from the pantheon or family members.

An Uneven Playing Field

Maybe you just don’t? Maybe one character truly doesn’t have as much at stake as another. That’s realistic AND it intensifies things for the character with more at stake. An uneven playing field can lead to passionate arguements where the party with less skin in the game is made to realize how privileged they are when the party with more skin it opens up to them about what’s truly on the line. It’s a moment that can lead to intense character development for both party, the fearful one becoming more vulnerable with this other character and the powerful one becoming more attuned to the needs of others—or at least one other. It’s a nice contrast, when you think about it, to have one character doing this inconcievably terrifying stuff out of boredom and another who’s life is on the line. Use it.

The Life of a Loved One

Is your god in love with a mortal, or a god from another pantheon with a more flexible immortality? Then, there’s another option. If that lover is at risk of dying, the immortal one has enough reason to act. The fear and potential grief they could face would do well at keeping the story high stakes.

No lover? An immortal god who wants to protect their mortal worshipers serves the same purpose. If, for example, your issue is a war, a single god might not be able to protect their entire mortal following alone. That’s another type of love, but it’s equally effective at providing a high stakes motivation for the character.

These are, of course, just a few examples of outs you can use to circumvent immortality. The point is, this is CREATIVE writing. Be creative and your story will be better for it. I hope this post helps you get your juices flowing if this is something that has hemmed you up. Whatever happens, keep writing, keep reading, and keep being the nerd you are. That’s all for this segment of Nerdology 101. Check back again next Friday for another. Until then, have a nerdy week!

Nerdology 101: Growth and Progress

Hi, how are you today, my beloved nerds? Welcome back to Nerdology 101, the official blog on the official website of indie author Maria Levato. Yup, that’s right, I’m kinds of official and stuff. Lol.

This week, I wanted to provide my readers (and any other inquiring minds) with a transparent update regarding my growth and progress as an indie author with specific regards to my newest release, The Fate of Angels and Demons, a dark romantasy book about a priestess who falls in love with the demon king fated to kill her family. So, let’s get into some Nerdology!

In this post, you’ll find the following sections:

1. Influencer Request Program and Reviews

2. Social Media

3. Events & Bookstores

4. Sales

Influencer Request Program and Reviews

For those who follow me on Instagram (@malevato6), TikTok (@authormarialevato), or Bluesky (@marialevato.com), you’ve probably seen me talk about my influencer request program. If not, though, here’s a brief recap: Back in April 2026 when The Fate of Angels and Demons came out, I decided to throw an open-ended line out for physical promotional/review copies. As an indie author, doing an ARC program with physical copies was too expensive because I couldn’t afford to print and ship physicals in bulk. So, I ran an e-ARC program. This did give me some yield, but not nearly enough to get the sort of momentum I needed. Knowing this, I decided to play the long game. Each month since, I’ve sent out 2-3 physical copies (usually 1 or 2 paperbacks and 1 special edition) to influencers who expressed their interest via the form I set up for responses.

So far, this program has been an overwhelming success. To date, I’ve sent 10 copies total. Of those 10, 4 have posted on their social media accounts, 1 has posted a review on Goodreads, and 2 have both posted on socials and reviewed on Goodreads (these 2 aren’t included in the count for those who did one or the other). This makes for a 7 out of 10 outright yield. Of the 3 leftover copies that haven’t yielded a response, 1 just got delivered yesterday, one is still shipping, and one has been with the person long enough that I’ve marked it no yield.

Ultimately, even if the 2 people who just got their copies or are still waiting on them don’t post, a 70% yield is above and beyond my goals for this program. It will be continuing for The Fate of Angels and Demons, as well as for future releases, if these numbers remain the way they are. Naturally, I’m also considering a mini-ARC program for physical copies, specifically for those who both posted and reviewed the book they got into the influencer request program (in addition to my normal e-ARC program, not in place of) because the upfront investment is likely to have a high return. It’s something I can afford since it won’t be a massive number of physical books and it’ll keep momentum building long-term if these influencers recieve, post about, read, and review more than one of my books.

Social Media

As for my personal social media accounts, I’ve seen some growth there lately. As expected, my recent announcement posts for my solo in-store signing at The New Romantics, as well as my attending author posts for multi-author book conventions like Love Among the Pages and Smoke & Embers, have a lot to do with that. On top of those, I’ve been trying to post more reels (anxious introvert, it’s hard for me), which gets me more reach. Finally, there’s the boost I get from the influencers participating in the request program tagging me in posts. All in all, I’m around 975 followers on Bluesky, 449 on Instagram, and 61 on TikTok—which makes sense since I created that account in April when my career goals finally started to outweigh my fear of the clock app. Point being, this is an increase in following. Views and engagement are also way up. My IG is at 5300 views in the last 30 days and 122 engagements, which is a massive increase from the 30 days prior. 80.3% of those views are coming from non-followers, most likely due to the collaboration posts I did for the event announcements I mentioned.

Events and Bookstores

Now, onto the part that actually covers my events and space in physical bookstores. This year, 4 events total have or will happened. In April, I have a local author fair called Bound & Bottled. In August, I have the in-store signing at The New Romantics in Orlando, FL. For September, I have Love Among the Pages in London, ON, CA. In October, I have Smoke & Embers in Thunder Bay, ON, CA. Prior to this year, I’ve only ever done one convention (it was one of the ones that turned out to be a disaster on the part of the event coordinators). I have done several other signings, author fairs, and other solo or small events though. Needless to say, getting some more substantial events like this is a big thing. The New Romantics, while still a solo signing, is a popular bookstore with a massive following that really helps my visibility. Love Among the Pages has some major names attending it, like the SmashCast and a ton of popular voice actors who played some of the most beloved characters in wide world of audiobooks. These are great associations for me to have on the visibility front.

Further, The Fate of Angels and Demons is in a number of online and physical bookstores. Libreria Books in North Carolina, The Tipsy Bookmark (online and physical pop-up), Bethany Beach Books in Delaware, and obviously, The New Romantics in Flordia have all picked it up. This gives me a pretty good range of locations and a lot of traction. Then, of course, to add to it, I distribute wide through Ingram so most major online retailers like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop, etc. also have it on their websites. It’s also on Hoopla and Libby for the library readers. More recently, it’s also become available on BookVault Shop and Beventi Wholesale.

Sales

So far, I have sold $205 USD (retail price accumulated) worth of books with $126 being profit that goes to me (the royalties) (Note: Proportions this high are unusual. I would NOT have made over half of the total in “royalties” if the majority of my sales weren’t directly purchased from me. I make about $2 on retailer sales. Event and direct sales have a much higher profit margin). These are just my most up-to-date numbers. Sales reports are SLOW to update (anywhere from 7 to 30 days depending on the sales avenue) and of course bookstores that are getting copies from me directly don’t let me know every time they sell a book, they just tell me when the stock is low, it’s time to pay me (quarterly, usually), or when asked for the occassional status report. Even so, I’d consider this pretty good for this book. It came out April 1st, so it’s only been about 3.5 months, which averages me at roughly $58 per month for in retail price and $36 per month in profit. In terms of number of copies sold, that’s a little over 10 copies per month (total 36 copies sold). This puts me on track to beat the infamous “most self-published books don’t sell more than 100 copies” stat in 10 months and get into the “above average for an indie author” zone by month 11, which should be followed by another new release shortly thereafter (that’s not an official release announcement. Let’s call it foreshadowing).

The hope is that between the events, influencer posts and reviews, continued reinvestment in growth, and new projects, I’ll be able to continue growing and that $36 per month will one day have a zero or two on the end of it. I have other streams of income to sustain me until then, though.

In summary, I think this book is doing pretty well. I have several more projects in the work too. In fact, I’m about to go work on one of them now. So, check back next Friday for another segement of Nerdology 101. Until then, have a nerdy week!

Nerdology 101: Prep for Events

Hiiii! Welcome back to Nerdology 101. Our topic for this week is prep for events. The end of summer/beginning of fall has always been busier for me in terms of events. In August, I have an in-store signing at The New Romantics Bookstore in Orlando, Flordia. Then, in September, I have a romance bookcon called Love Among the Pages in London, Ontario, Canada. Finally, there’s a dark romance and romantasy bookcon called Smoke & Embers in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada in October that I’ll be doing. So, this year before the event season comes into full swing, I wanted to take some time out to tell you what my process looks like and how I make sure these events are great for my readers and all the wonderful readers I’ve yet to find. Let’s get into some Nerdology!

Booth Prep

The first and most obvious way I have to prepare is by planning my booth. For the in-store signing, they ordered from Ingram. That’s not much of an option for conventions, though. Thus, I have to provide the copies. For both events, I have a Beventi page setup, you can find them here to either learn more about the process or to pre-order copies if you’re going to be attending one of these events. Beventi is a service that allows authors to collect pre-orders before an event. This is a huge help because it gives us an idea of how many copies we need to bring. Other factors we use in making that decision involve ticket sales. If there’s going to be 1000 people at an event, for example, bringing 500 books doesn’t make much sense because it’s unlikely that 50% of the total attendees are going to buy your book. These events involve quite a few authors and vendors. A better target would be to bring 75-100 books with the goal of selling to between 7.5 and 10 percent of the attendees. Of course, the pre-orders could totally change that. If I have 100 pre-orders coming from an event with 1000 attendees, I’m bringing at least 200 books because at that point, I know there’s an unusually high amount of interest coming from that events audience.

Beyond ordering books, there’s the matter of decorating my booth! The cool looking ones pull in much more attention. There’s table cloths, runners, candles, and a ton of other options we can use to draw the attention of people at an event. Last year, I attended my first convention and over the course of a few days, I got to see so many other authors booths and got some ideas about how to set mine up in the future. This year, hopefully I’ll be able to implement some of those ideas. Doing so is a bit of an investment, but it’s one well worth it from what I’ve gathered. Naturally, as I continue to grow, I’ll probably work on my display more over time. This will be a great starting point, though!

Financial Prep

Since I just touched on this in one aspect, I’ll go ahead and do this section next. There are a lot of expenses that go into an event, particularly ones that are further away from the author’s home base, like these ones are for me. For the signing at The New Romantics and for Love Among the Pages, I’m flying in, so plane tickets are a factor. For Smoke and Embers, I’ll be driving because I’ll have someone with me to switch out with, so there’s gas and tolls. I’m also renting a hotel room for all three events, and getting a rental car for one. When you factor in book ordering, booth decorations, and eating while I’m there, it adds up. I consider myself extremely lucky that I’m able to invest in myself this way, especially since there’s never a guaruntee that you’ll sell enough to get it back. Usually, though, the value of these events lies in the long term pay off more than the immediate selling enough to make your money back. The event I had in April is the best example of that I can fathom.

At the event, I sold 4 books. After the event, I sold a ton more. First to a bookstore who’s owner I met at the event, she ended up making a wholesale order. Then, I was able to sell several more copies using the paperbacks with the pink sprayed edges another author had done for me at the event at another bookstore. All in all, I came to that event with 20 or 30 books (I don’t remember exactly) and within a week after it, I only had 7 left, meaning I sold most of the stock because of the event, but not at it. It was more than enough to cover the cost of attendance, the book order, and leave me some money leftover though. Further, I know half of the stock the second bookstore had has already been sold and that at least one copy has gone from the first one (she texted me to let me know she sold one the first day it was listed, but I don’t know how many she’s sold since. It’s not time to check on that yet).

So, as you can see, the post-event effect is (in my experience) where you get the money back. Thus, it’s perfectly fine with me if I don’t always sell enough at an event to make every penny I spent back plus some profit. What matters to me is the connection with readers and industry professionals that contribute more to my overall progress as an author than the immediate regaining of that money would anyway.

Mental Prep

Full disclosure: I’m an introvert (that’s so totally obvious, I know). I also have anxiety and PTSD. Events like these are probably taxing on extroverts with no mental health struggles, that goes doubly for someone like me. Thus, in order to ensure I’m not a total wreck at events, I do a lot of pre-event prep in mind, making sure I’m in the right headspace to actually participate in the event. Ones that only last a few hours, like the in-store signing, are much easier. The conventions, however, are an entirely different beast. They’re usually several consecutive days long and are both morning and afternoon. They draw much larger crowds because of the sheer volume of authors and vendors, plus the on-site entertainment like panels and balls. Doing conventions is a major commitment on the mental bandwidth front.

To counteract the chaos, I usually allot myself multiple days both before and after the convention to hibernate in peace. These hibernation periods typically involve alternating book and anime binges, lots of junk food, and plenty of rest. Ultimately, they help me relax before I hop either in the car or on a plane and let the chaos begin.

During the event, I make sure I have my beads. I use them like a fidget when my anxiety starts to bug me and they double as a cool conversation piece when people notice them, so they help me break the ice too.

Promotional Prep

Now that we’ve talked a ton about what I do personally, I’d like to talk about how promotion usually goes. Usually, I post about an event shortly after my attendance is offically confirmed. Then, I leave it be until pre-orders go live, if the event has pre-orders. I share those as early as possible too. Otherwise, I wait until the event is coming up. For conventions, I wait until about 2-3 months beforehand to start posting about them more (trying to lock in more pre-orders before I place my orders). Then, for signings, I usually start pushing about a month beforehand since I typically don’t do the ordering for those and my priority is to generate interest without burning people out. As you might have guessed, this very post is part of a promotional push that began yesterday when me and The New Romantics posted a collaboration post with the official event graphics for my signing there. Since these events are pretty close together, a lot of the promotion will be happening back-to-back. No worries, though! It won’t be getting boring. There’s a lot of different stuff I can discuss this close to a series of events. Announcements are only part of the deal. Instead, you should imagine insight posts like this one, little tidbits about my plans for the events, little features about the people I’m most excited about meeting at each, and more!

You do have to wait a but longer for all that. That’s all I have for this segment of Nerdology 101 (don’t wanna tell you everything right now, lol). Check back next week for a new blog post, make sure you’re following my social (@malevato6 on IG, @authormarialevato on TT, and @marialevato.com on Bluesky). And, as always, make sure you have yourself a nerdy week!

Nerdology 101: The Defeated Warrior Princess and the Barbaric King

Hey, humans! Welcome back to Nerdology 101. This week, I’ll be sharing my thoughts on an anime titled The Defeated Warrior Princess and the Barbaric King. Let me tell you, I was expecting to like this one, but it turns out that I don’t. In the words of Timone and Pumba, “Not like, LOVE.” So, let’s get into some nerdologyy!

The Premise

This is by far where most of my praise is going to stem from. As the title implies, a powerful lady knight is defeated in battle by the next Great Chief of the Barbarians. He takes her captive. Despite all her suspicions that he plans to torture her for information, use her as a sex toy, and so on, he informs her that his intent is to court her. You see, the Barbarians have a long, established tradition of kidnapping lady knights and courting them, then eventually marrying them. Here’s where things get interesting, though: The Barbarians are actually great people. No, not in the expected ways of romance anime, but more in the real world sense. Serafina, the lady knight FMC, is from a society built on what is essentially the anime-world equivalent of a eurocentric society. It’s a patriarchal society based in obviously false religious ideology where sex and the human body are demonized.

The Barbarians have very different views and beliefs. The main reason they choose these lady knights is because they love strong women. Further, it’s completely normalized for men and women to be nude in front of each other in non-sexual ways. They bathe together and whatnot without anyone making a big deal of it. They also don’t see sex as a taboo. There’s no “women need to protect their virtue” purity culture nonsense in the Barbarian world view. What they do have, however, is a deep respect for wildlife. When they hunt and kill, they honor the loss of life, using every part of the being killed possible—which I believe the author intended to be representative of pre-colonial Indiginous practices. There's a culmination of other features in the tribe that represent other marginalized groups. Beyond the culmination of traits that reflect these groups, other aspects are that they main a true account of history, rather than one framed through a religious or patriarchal lens, have several tribes of fae, elves, etc. as allies, and don’t hold grudges or resentment in the way that was normal in Serafina’s homeland. Ultimately, she’s falling in love with him throughout the anime because he’s introducing her to a decolonized world-view and treating her as an equal partner—both things she had longed for before leaving her homeland.

This premise reminds me a lot of books like Heart of the Shadow King by Sylvia Mercedes, where what the FMC thought would be a horrific arrangement based on the things she was conditioned to believe in her homeland turn out to be life-changing experiences that allow her to claim a more true sense of freedom. All in all, this anime went a lot deeper than I’d originally expected. Starting out, I was expecting your average goofy, fun, adorable romance anime, and though it does have those elements the overall premise was a lot more meaningful than I originally expected. I found that I appreciated the thought the writers and studios put into this. I also find it amusing that they chose to do this now as the U.S. is facing such great attacks on diversity and Japan is announcing that it’s buffing up it’s DEI protections. The social commentary in here could not have come at a better moment.

The Romance

Oh, you thought you were getting out of here with out a mushy rant? Na. It’s a romance anime. While the premise added an intriguing layer to the anime, it’s definitely not the only thing I enjoyed about it. Veor, the Barbarian King, is EVERYTHING! First, let’s talk about the fact that even though they make a huge deal of him being hot as hell when he shaves his beard, I’d devour the fuck outta that man with it too. While we’re on the subject, though: Serafina—smash, Kodansha—smash, the list goes on and on.

Now that that’s out of my system…

Veor and Serafina are so cute together. They have this awesome balance of cutesy and chaos. He’s protective, but never overbearing. Thoughtful, respectful, considerate, honest, and fun. She’s curious, open-minded, willing to learn and understand his culture better, earnest, hard-working, powerful, and more. The dynamic is by far one of the healthiest relationships in anime. Even with the cultural learning, he never frames it as him thinking of things the “right way” and her thinking of them the “wrong way”. He respects choices she makes out of the beliefs she was raised in just as he does any other, but also explains the ways his culture thinks differently. Ultimately, her choice to adopt more of his beliefs is Serafina’s to make and she’s choosing to every step of the way. Ultimately, though, he gives the distinct impression that he’ll want her whether she chooses to believe what he does or not.

Overall

After all is said and done, I’d say that The Defeated Warrior Princess and the Barbaric King is a yes for me—if you couldn’t tell. I’ve enjoyed it a ton. It’s definitely going to be up there in my personal favs for the season (I know, the season is long over. I’m so behind. Between the move, the NY trip, and the editing I was toast for a while there. I’m still playing catch up.). Anyway, yeah, definitely check out the anime if you have a chance. That’s about all for this segment. Come by against next Friday at 3PM EST for another segment of Nerdology 101. Until then, have a nerdy week!

Nerdology 101: From Chaos to Completion

Hey, nerdy people! Welcome back to Nerdology 101. This week, I wanted to offer my thoughts on developmental editing for The Depths of Bloodshed and Purgatory, the 4th book in my interconnected series of standalones based in The Islands of Rune universe. It’s a kinky romantasy, just like the other books in its series, and follows Callian (son of Josie who was the FMC in books 1 and 2, brother Lilly who was the FMC of book 3).

What’s new in this book?

1. Callian is new, in and of himself! This is the first time I’m writing a book with a male as the main character rather than as a love interest.

2. This book is also a tad longer than others in the series, which I see as an established trend in this series. The first book, The Islands of Rune, was short. It only totaled at around 50k words. With the second, Journey to Rallem, the word count went up to 72k. Then, with the third, The Fate of Angels and Demons, it was around 95k. The Depths of Bloodshed and Purgatory is at 101k after developmental editing (AKA, this isn’t a final word count. It may shrink or grow still). The increasing lengths aren’t just for show though! They’re a side effect of my improved skill level. As I’ve grown, I’ve come to consider things I didn’t previously due to a mixture of feedback from my audience, editors, mentors, and more. Even with the parts that end up on the chopping room floor, the improvements in character development, world building, and more tend to take up a little more space. Writing is a craft one is never done learning. One of the things I love most about this series is that from book to book, each one displays a tangible growth. For reference, though, it’s not uncommon at all for a fantasy or romantasy to be over 100k, especially not on the 4th book in the series. I’m far from surpassing the reasonable word count in my genre zone.

3. Different spice. This book is MM. All of my books have had LGBTQIA+ characters in them, but the central romance has always centered on a woman because I am a woman, but also because a large part of why I write is that I want to write sexually empowered women. I love my femdom/FLR/switch dynamics. Now, with Callian, I break that trend a little. Since I’m writing a main character with a different gender and experiences of my own for the first time, I worked overtime to make sure I was representing gay and even bi+ men well, maintaining the series spice level without leaning into hypersexualization, and writing with the amount of awareness and respect I should be.

What’s developmental editing?

Developmental editing focuses on macro issues. It’s the big, gaping plotholes, glaring world building questions, inconsistencies in character development, stucture, pacing, and other issues that are large and super noticable. Developmental is the first round of editing an editor does with an author. After the writer gets it “as good as I can on my own”, this is the first thing that happens. After all, as good as I can on my own typically leaves some pretty big stuff still because we’ve probably read the manuscript 20 times already. We need fresh eyes that don’t know what we do and are reading the book for the first time!

Okay, so I know what the book is and I know what developmental editing is, what kinds of things did you do in developmental editing for this book?

A LOT! I feel pretty confident that The Depths of Bloodshed and Purgatory recieved the most profound rounds of developmental I’ve ever done. My editor gave me a ton of great feedback. As is standard with developmental edits, I got a manuscript full of comments and highlights. I also got an edit letter, which summarizes some of the major/reoccuring issues for me, and I got a chapter by chapter breakdown of the manuscript. Ultimately, I think there’s 2 major elements we worked on that were particularly exciting for me.

1. Romance - As a romantasy, the romance is an important element of this book. Callian and Max were a lot different from my other characters. Josie and her multiple love interests were bonded through grief, trauma, pain, and a lack of impulse control. Lilly and Michael were bonded through darkness, resentment, and a longing for freedom so deep that they were willing to destroy the world for it. Callian and Max, however, are both sweeter, lighter (emotionally, they’re still very kinky, lol) natured characters. Even in Lilly’s book, Callian is kind of just a sweet guy that wants to be in love but can’t seem to find his person/people. He’s not weak by any means, but he’s not shrouded in darkness and suffering like his mother and sister. At times, this led to a lack of tension in the romance or a lack of definition in the partnership between him and Max since they were just so unique compared to others I’ve written. To me, this is a good thing because I want every relationship in this series to be distinctive and unique to the characters in it. The work I put in here during developmental contributes to that a lot.

2. Bloodlines - For those familiar with my writing, I use a magic system based on Nordic runes. Using their meanings, I source magic types. Some character, though, also have bloodlines that grant them additional abilities. Priest/Priestess - Lilly, Josie, Rath, Linola. Demons - Michael, Malachi, Myrkr, Alexandria, Julius, Max. Angels - Callian, Jameson, Rettferd, Mary, Anne. The roles of priests, priestesses, and demons had been well defined in previous books (though enough recap is provided about their roles to follow along in this book), but this is the first time angels are taking center-stage. I didn’t need readers to know more than a few basics about their role in this universe until now. That aspect became more important in Callian’s story because of his own angelic heritage, but also because of the events that unfold over the course of the story. So, we (my editor and I) worked a lot on conveying more about angels, their relationship to other bloodlines, their history, and their present day role in the world now that it’s become such an important aspect of the story. I think it’s something readers will really enjoy, particularly ones that have read previous books in the universe, because it adds another layer to the world they already know.

Naturally, we worked on a ton of other stuff too. These are just the two parts of it I ended up being most excited about.

Cool, cool. So, what happens now?

Line editing, the next phase in the editing process, happens now. It’s the phase where we move our attention to sentence level factors like readability, word choice, etc.. While I wait for my editor to piece together her line editing feedback for me to implement, I’ll work on Harem of the Heavens (HOTH, for short), another WIP that is NOT part of The Islands of Rune universe, but rather the start of a new series and universe all its own. I finished developmental editing for it just before I started it for The Depths of Bloodshed and Purgatory since the draft of it was finished first. My editor has been line editing HOTH while I implemented her developmental feedback for this. It creates a nice back and forth that keeps us from getting bored with either story and ensures reasonable timelines for the readers waiting on either book. As with any manuscript, after line editing for The Depths of Bloodshed and Purgatory, I’ll have copyediting, proofing, and then we can start talking about covers, art, design, and releases. Since I’m self-publishing this series, you can expect that I’ll follow the pattern I have with all my others and aim for an April release. I’m still deciding what to do with HOTH, though. The general conscensus I’ve recieved from my editor, people I’ve talked to about it, and others, is that it’s going to be HUGE. I think that sentiment is rooted in the sense that I think the premise the series is going to be built on has a damn near perfect balance of repeatable formula from the structure and unpredictability from the characters (I will not be elaborating on this statement).

How can I support you in the meantime?

1. If you haven’t read The Fate of Angels and Demons, order it, read it, and review it.

2. If you have read The Fate of Angels and Demons, read Journey to Rallem and The Islands of Rune (series backlog) and review them.

3. Follow my social media and ENGAGE.

4. Recommend my books to people you think will enjoy them.

5. Post pics of you with my book on social media.

6. Read this blog weekly and share it with others.

7. Ask your local library if they are carrying my books.

8. Ask your local bookstore if they are carrying my books.

9. Mention your favorite bookish influencers in a comment under my posts to help them find out about it.

10. Remember that all of these things will help any author you want to support. I want you to blow me up, but it’d make me happy to see other indies blow up alongside me.

That’s about all I have for you today. Check back next Friday for another segment of Nerdology 101. Until then, have a nerdy weeek!

Nerdology 101: Finding Your Local Nerdom

Heyyyyyy! Welcome back to Nerdology 101, your home for everything nerdy. Whether your thing is books, gaming, anime, kink, or culture, I got you covered. Yup, I as in me, indie author Maria Levato, lover of all things nerdy. Today we’re going to talk a bit about finding your local nerdom. While we swarm on the internet, popping up in every corner, sometimes finding your fellow weirdos and freaks locally can be tough—especially if you live in a rural area! So, I wanted to take some time today to give you a few tips on how to find your people, wherever you are.

Places

Believe it or not, your local nerdom might be hanging out just under your nose. They probably gather at your local library, the nearest independent bookstore, cafes, and just about anywhere that offers community spaces. Even if you aren’t a reader, the local TTRPG players need somewhere to gather. Many libraries, bookstores, and community spaces have groups of players that come through. Some even host their own meet ups. You can find book clubs, gaming groups, and more at these kinds of spaces.

Events

Now, events is where it can get kinda interesting. Of course, you could try to find a local con in your niches, but there’s so many other options too. One big one a bunch of people look over are munches. We all know the kink community and the nerd community have strong crossovers. Go to FetLife and find munches. I repeat, MUNCHES. Watch where you’re clicking. A munch is a non-sex based meeting of the kink community—like a regular, everyday social event where kinksters can meet and get to know each other in a casual, vanilla way. If it’s labelled anything other than a munch, you might be getting into the kink part, which is perfectly fine, but I wanted to say it so you could determine what kind of meeting is best for your comfort level. I do recommend munches set in a public space too if you aren’t familiar with navigating the kink community. Anyway, if you’re at a munch, I promise you nerds are easy to find because 80% of the gathering is likely some kinda nerdy.

You can also look up renfaires. They’re another way to meet a ton of local nerds, a lot of whom will make really cool stuff. Ask them about whatever crazy/artsy/weird/nerdy thing they’re into and they’ll be your best friend until the day they die. This also works at LGBTQIA+ meetups, alt/goth bars and clubs, and even at community centers.

Other Options

Now, if you live in the middle of nowhere, it could still be hard to find events or spaces that attract nerds. I do live in a rural area, but there’s definitely more obscure places out there that might have less available. This is where the internet comes in. It sucks, but yup, use the internet to get off the internet. Dating apps usually come with a “looking for friends” option. Use it. We all hate dating apps, no matter what purpose we’re on them for. They’re horrible and sucky and draining. This is definitely something I recommend as a last resort, for if you try everything else and there’s just nothing.

To find the highest volume of nerds, include queer identities in your search, as well as your own gender. Of course, you’re bound to catch some people just looking for hookups in that net, but in all likelihood, if you’re struggling to find people, the other people like you are too, so they’re likely online searching for options. Your best bet is to use more common/popular apps, like Hinge, Bumble, etc. While the niche apps can be more appealing, they also have smaller user bases with less reach that aren’t very likely to exist in rural areas. Just apply strong filters and fill out your profile thoroughly. Stick to face photos, make sure you’re photo verified, use a lot of the character limit for your text answers and focus them on your more nerdy interests. It won’t be perfect, but it’ll be better than if you didn’t.

No matter what, please know you aren’t alone. It's hard not to feel isolated in today’s world. People from all walks of life do. It’s not in your head and it has nothing to do with who you are. Keep being your weird, unique self. Don’t let anyone convince you that things would be easier if you gave up the things that make you so special. They wouldn’t be. The “normal” people are still lonely, and they’re boring on top of being lonely, and that would really suck. So, patience to find the right people is better than losing yourself to find the wrong ones.

That’s about all I have for today. I hope you’ll swing by again next week for another segement of Nerdology 101 (every Friday at 3PM EST). Until then, have a nerdy week.

Nerdology 101: Juneteenth

Hey, hey! Welcome back to Nerdology 101. This week, we’ll be focused on Juneteenth.

What’s Junteenth?

Juneteenth is a celebration about the freedom of Black people. Following the Emancipation Proclimation, which was made effective in 1863, many enslaved people were not freed. It wasn’t until June 19, 1865, two years after, when Union soldiers (remember that Union soldiers weren’t all white. You should not be interpreting this as a bunch of white people “rescuing” Black people) arrived in Gavelston Bay, TX, that the 250,000 Black people still enslaved in Texas were freed. We call the anniversary of that day Juneteenth. It is a national holiday, but tends to go without as much recognition as many others. You can learn more about it HERE.

Oh, that’s cool. It sounds like a great reason to celebrate.

It should be, but celebrating freedom can be a bit hard for Black people given the context of the moment we're living in. Many likely find themselves wondering if they’re free at all.

What context?

Already this June, we’ve seen two horrific situations unfold in a way that deeply impacts the Black community.

Karmelo Anthony

First, we’ll speak about the case of Karmelo Anthony, a 19-year-old sentenced to 35 years in prison for stabbing someone. For context, both Anthony and the person he stabbed were 17 at the time of the conflict and this happened on school grounds at a track meet. THIS article documents the court trial. Anthony didn’t deny that he stabbed Austin, rather his defense argued that he did so in self-defense. Meanwhile, the prosecution said it was an “unjustified, provoked murder.” In this trial, the jury had the option to lessen the charge to manslaughter too.

Here’s where the problem comes in, though. Anthony’s defense makes some good points. First, the knife Anthony had was like a 6-in-1 tool knife. If you’re premeditating a stabbing, that’s not the knife you grab. Second, Anthony was under the tent first, meeting with a friend he spotted there. Second, it’s clear there was physical conflict prior to the knife being used. The prosecutions own video analyst said it looked like someone was pushed (though who was pushed isn’t a question we can answer). So, what we know from that is that Anthony was in a physical altercation, which is typically when one would feel the need to defend themselves. It was during this physical conflict that Anthony stabbed Austin one time. After, he didn’t try to attack anyone else. He threw the knife away, walked away from the other kids and out of the tent, and did not resist arrest when the police arrived. That doesn’t sound angry. It doesn’t sound planned. It doesn’t sound unjustified. It sounds like a difficult situation that would have triggered fight or flight responses and been difficult for anyone, especially a 17-year-old.

It seems wholly reasonable that this could be self-defense. The fact that it could have been means that the jury shouldn’t have convicted him of murder. We often forget this, but the prosecution is supposed to carry the burden of proof, not the defendant. If there is ANY reasonable doubt, the jury shouldn’t be convicting at all, let alone with a murder charge when they had the option to choose a lesser charge like manslaughter. So, why did they do it? Well, I can’t say. I wasn’t there. What we do know is that the jury was all white, so no matter what happened between the jurors, we know it happened from the perspective of people with different racial experiences, which influences how they would have judged. It also influences their ability, or lackthereof, to understand Anthony’s perspective in any real way. Nevertheless, they sentenced Karmelo to 35 years on June 9th, 2026.

Cyrus Carmack-Belton

The second impactful situation the Black community is dealing with is the trial of Rick Chow, who shot and killed Cyrus Carmack-Belton. For context, this happened in South Carolina. Rick is a 61 year old Asian man and Cyrus was a 14 year old Black kid. There is footage of this entire situation, both inside and outside the store. The situation began when Cyrus entered a store owned by Rick. Rick followed Cyrus around the store from the time he entered. Cyrus opens a fridge, looks around for a minute, then starts to leave. Rick stops him. Cyrus shows Rick that there’s nothing in his pockets despite Rick having no justification for his accusation, then Cyrus walks out of the store peacefully. Rick and two others follow Cyrus out of the store with a rifle in hand. Cyrus spots them following and starts running for his life. In fact, his shoe flies off in the video and he’s still running. With Cyrus’s back turned as he ran away, Rick shot him. Rick was found not guilty by yet another all white jury on account of “self defense”.

I shouldn’t even have to say that this is bullshit. This is the most simple, uncomplicated case possible. There’s video of the whole situation. There’s no room for debate or doubt. In order to be defending yourself, you have to be getting attacked. We know for a fact that Rick wasn’t being attacked because there’s video showing Cyrus running away. It’s so simple that I can’t even say anything else about it because there is literally no other perspective to give. Yet, Rick Chow will face no legal consequences. His court decision was rendered June 1st.

Wow…

Right? It’s striking, isn’t it? One Black kid pleading self defense after stabbing someone he was already actively in a physical conflict with is sentenced to 35 years while another Black kid is dead and his killer will face legal consequences after claiming self defense even though there was no physical conflict and the kid was running with his back turned—the two decisions rendered barely a week apart, both in red states, both by all white juries. The message it sends to the Black community: “You can’t defend yourself in any situation, but we’ll accept any one claiming self defense if they kill you.”

This message is horrifying and unacceptable. How is that freedom? How is that justice? How is that having equal rights? It doesn’t make sense. The racism that left Black people’s ancestors in chains is the same racism that killed Malcom X and Dr. King and the same racism that killed Cyrus and caged Karmelo. It needs to stop. According to THIS article from the Princeton Legal Journal, this is what we’re up against:

1. United States accounts for approximately 25% of the world’s prison population, despite accounting for just 5% of the world’s population overall.

2. Cost of incarceration in the United States of America sits at approximately $80 billion per year for the taxpayer.

3. Corporations within the private prison industry are estimated to bring in an estimated $374 million annually.

Private prison industry is opportunely positioned to make a profit from cheap prison labor. The labor, however, is exploitative not only to incarcerated individuals but also to taxpayers. At play within this legal situation is the profit of corporations complicit in the prison industry, the well-being of incarcerated individuals, and the financial implications for the taxpayer.

That’s called SLAVERY. And its happening to who? Black people. THIS page by Prison Policy Initiative, compiles information from various sources that can show you how we know its happening disproportionally and unfairly to Black people. Rather than explaining that here, I’m going to place a list of ways that you can help this Juneteenth, as well as during all the other days of the year.

How can I help?

Help via financial contribution to organizations. Here’s some suggestions:

NAACP (fights for the Black communities interests in many ways),

The Innocence Project (helps people who have been wrongfully convicted of crimes),

National Bail Out (helps bail out people who are only in jail because they can’t afford the bail).

Help via financial contributions to Black people directly. Here’s some suggestions:

Shop Black-owned businesses like Blerd,

Read books by Black authors,

Listen to music by Black artists.

Help by speaking up. Here’s some suggestions:

Write about it.

Post about it.

Talk to your friends, family, and community about it.

Help by standing up. Here’s some suggestions:

If you are at a protest and you are white, position yourselves at the front of the crowd if you can. I know it’s scary, but you being at the front could actually be the thing that prevents attacks from police and keeps the protesters from being attacked. Not to say it will definitely stop them, but there’s a better chance of them holding back if they see a slew of white people. To be clear, you will be putting your safety at risk. Also to be clear, Black people have had to put their safety at risk to fight against these things for centuries. That’s part of protesting.

Gravitate towards movements you notice are being led, planned, or heavily supported by Black people.

Disrupt stuff. Sorry, but you can’t protest and follow all the rules. I’m not saying you have to be violent. I’m saying you have to be a problem. Examples of extremely diruptive but totally peaceful protestors:

MLK Jr.,

Ghandi,

Mandela.

Shut down roads, train stations, shopping centers, and anything that will make life extremely inconvenient while also costing the people in power a ton of money. That’s disruption. A great example is the vets who staged that sit in at Union Station. That’s effective protest and would work if it happened on a larger scale.

Keep Learning:

Here’s some awesome Black educators who you can learn more about racism, resistance, and intersectionality from:

https://www.instagram.com/theconsciouslee/

https://www.instagram.com/thejaampod/

https://www.instagram.com/hopegiselle/

https://www.instagram.com/diamondpostedthat/

That’s about all I have for today. I hope you learned something from this segment of Nerdology 101. I’ll be back for another next Friday. Until then, have a nerdy week!

Nerdology 101: The Magic of Pride

Hey there! Welcome back to Nerdology 101. It’s pride!!!!! In honor of that, I’m dedicating this blog post to pride month. Let’s get into some Nerdology!

History and Relevance

If you don’t already know, Pride Month dates back to the Stonewall Uprising, a protest from LGBTQIA+ that came about because gay bars and other LGBTQIA+ friendly spaces were being attacked by the feds. The uprising was led by Marsha P. Johnson, a Black trans woman, and Sylvia Rivera, a Puerto Rican trans woman. It lasted 6 days and on it’s first anniversary, many of those who rose up in those 6 days returned. The celebration they held that day, taking to the streets, was marked as the first Pride.

Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera were advocates for their community all their lives. Each June, we continue to honor their legacy by honoring the communities they fought so hard to protect. Today, Pride has been distorted in many ways. In part, by capitalism. The involvement of corporate entities led many to forget what Pride is supposed to be about. Instead, to many it’s now reduced to a good time and some rainbow colored merch. It’s important that those who aren’t members of the LGBTQIA+ community do better because it’s our complacency that allows continued attacks on LGBTQIA+ rights. An ally needs to fight with the community in the hard times, not just celebrate with them when it’s convenient. Activism will always require you to be active. Action is important, so today I want to give you a list of action items that will help the community.

Action Items

1. Buy from businesses owned by queer people. Not just during pride. Whenever you can. This also means supporting artists who are members of the community. Books, music, paintings, designers, etc.

2. Donate to organizations helping queer people. These can be local, national, or international. Just make sure they’re actually doing something to help. If you’re from the Eastern Shore like I am, CAMP LGBTQIA+ Community Center is a great choice. They help LGBTQIA+ people find community in Sussex County, DE, Delaware’s most rural and right-leaning county. Other, larger, organizations can include The Trevor Project, Transgender Law Center, and more.

3. Don’t ignore intersectionality. The LGBTQIA+ community is marginalized, period. But as with any marginalized community, there are people within it who fall into other marginalized groups. This includes Black and brown people, women, disabled people, and more. When someone falls into more than one marginalized group, they often face more discrimination and have to fight on more than one front. Don’t overlook them. Find their businesses, their art, their social media, and support them. Listen to them, what they need, and anything else they want to and just listen. There are endless creators that make content to educate people on intersectionality. Don’t take offense. Don’t act like you know more about their experience than they do. It is okay sometimes to just listen, take the feedback, and do the work.

4. Learn. Seriously, do research on your own. Though some LGBTQIA+ people might be fine answering questions you have about their identities, some times it can also be burdensome having to explain yourself constantly. Plenty of educational materials already exist. There’s articles, books, research, and more. It’s great that you want to learn, but try using a library or the internet to do so. Then, once you’ve done some legwork of your own, you can ask individual people about their personal experiences and identity if they feel comfortable with that instead of expecting one person to explain every identity to you.

5. Remember that association with one doesn’t mean you’re safe for all. You can’t call yourself and ally and only be prepared to stand up for gay people or lesbians. You can’t pick and choose which identities deserve rights. If you have a negative viseral reaction to anyone under the umbrella, do the work to be better.

To Members of the Community

For most of this post, I’ve primarily been addressing allies. This is because I felt the best way to support you this pride was to make sure your allies had some clear action items to help them be better allies. Now, though, I want to talk to you directly.

I say this a lot when posting about the community, but I feel its important to repeart. No matter your identity, it’s valid. Being gay or lesbian is valid. Being Bi or pan or omni is valid. Being trans, two spirit, or nonbinary is valid. Being ace/aro is valid. Whether your questioning, not out, or out, your experiences ARE valid. No matter how many times the world tries to tell you it isn’t, it is. The world is wrong. Fuck them. I’m glad you exist.

Also, if you have anything at all you’d like to add, I’m happy to listen and update this post anonomously. I’ll do my best to amplify your voice wherever possible.

Love ya, you wonderful humans!

Conclusion

That’s about it for this segment of Nerdology 101. Check back next week for another. Until then, have a nerdy week and a wonderful pride.

Nerdology 101: Bound & Bottled

Hiiii! Welcome back to Nerdology 101. I’m Maria Levato—indie romantasy author, anime nerd, kinda gamer, mythology and history freak, and all around menace. We’re here today with our 32nd post to discuss my recent exploits (Nope! Not that kind. These ones are more author-y, lmao). Yesterday, I attended Bound & Bottled, a bookish event in Vienna, Maryland, as an author. Copies of my newest book, The Fate of Angels and Demons, filled my table at this fabulous affair and I’m here to give you all the elicit details of how it did at it’s first live event. So, let’s get into some Nerdology.

The Stakes

First, I want to talk a little about what live events like these can mean to an indie author. Selling at events is often more effective than social media marketing for those of us that are masters of the algorithms—not that live pitching your book to readers is easier, but it is a face-to-face interaction that gives you opportunities to connect that may not work as well on socials. So, these live events can be a source of income and outreach that helps us build community more effectively. For that reason, I’m grateful to everyone who came out last night. Whether you bought my book or not, you’re awesome! I’m sure your support made a huge difference to any authors or vendors you did buy from.

The Outcomes

For me, last night was great. I brought 4 special editions and 19 paperbacks with me to the events for a total of 23 copies. One of the special editions I had already planned to give to an influencer who was attending the event at no cost because she had filled out my Influencer Request Form. It’s a type of ongoing marketing program I have for The Fate of Angels and Demons where each month I give out 2-3 free copies of my special edition to influencers so they can read, post, review, and so on (that has had a wonderfully high return so far, an overwhelming majority of the influencers who have requested have also followed through on posting about the book). So, that brings out total to 22 copies, 19 paperback and 3 special editions. Of those 3 special editions, none of them went. For the paperbacks, 4 did, which means about 21% of my paperback stock sold and 18% of my total stock did. Those aren’t bad numbers. It’s enough that it covered my registration for the event, gas, the food I had while I was there, and left me a few dollars—so I’m not complaining.

Here’s the AWESOME part, though. One of those 4 paperbacks I sold was bought by a bookstore owner who also attended the event as a vendor. She wanted to consider it for the shelves at her store. She has placed an order for her store, adding another 5 sales to the overall number of sales related to this event (if not actually at it) and making the total 9 sales and about 40% of my stock. Needless to say, that alone makes this event a huge success for me because that one sale may now have created a long-term partnership that leads to more sales in the future.

Another really cool thing that happened was that the author whose booth was next to mine, Sill Bihagia (you should def check out her book, Red Demon), also added sprayed edges to some of my paperbacks that match the pink ones from my special edition. While, of course, the special edition has other features like character art and a playlist, the sprayed edges are the most eye catching part of it’s external features. Having some paperbacks with them is nice. I posted that the next few paperback sales from my website (this website, STORE page) are going to come with the sprayed edges at no additional cost (Only 2 left now because some of them went to the bookstore order since the copy I originally sold her had them).

All in all, I think Bound & Bottled was well worth attending. If you’re a reader, indie author, or other human on the Eastern Shore, I definitely recommend checking out Ashley, the host of this event, and keeping an eye on her page for future ones.

Conclusion

So, that’s about that for this weeks segment of Nerdology 101. I hope you all enjoyed my little update. I’ll be sure to drop some more as things continue to progress. My next live appearance (currently scheduled, who knows if more will come up before then) is at The New Romantics Bookstore in Orlando, FL on August 29th from 12-2PM. Can’t wait to meet some readers in the area! This will be my first Flordia signing.

Of course, until then, people from anywhere in the world are welcome to stop back in. As always, the Nerdology 101 will have new segments every Friday at 3PM EST. Until then, have a nerdy week!

Nerdology 101: It’s Romance Anime Season!

Hey, nerds! Welcome back to Nerdology 101. You know I have a “fire in my belly” (Natsu, Fairy Tail reference) this week because it’s romance anime season! There’s quite a few I plan on checking out this season and so I’m doing a blog post on which ones I’m most looking forward to. To be clear, these have already aired. I wait until it’s near the end of the season and then binge because I’m not masochistic enough to tolerate a weekly release schedule. So, yeah, this is the beginning to my romance anime season. Let’s get into some Nerdology.

1. The Warrior Princess and the Barbaric King

   First up, we have The Warrior Princess and the Barbaric King. Briefly, it follows Seraphina, the strongest female knight, on her journey down the isle to marry the barbarian king.

   It’s definitely up my alley. The animation style looks great, but it’s interest to me doesn’t stop there. First, it looks like there’s an age gap. If I had to guess, this Seraphina appears to be between 20-25 while the Barbarian King has to be around 50. I like this because, while the age gap is pretty large, Seraphina is framed as a highly skilled warrior, is still an adult woman (and not in that weird way anime’s sometimes do where they say she’s __, but she looks 12). So, it’s an age gap, but not in a super creepy way from way I can gather. Thus, I am definitely looking forward to this anime.

   Reference:

   Title: The Warrior Princess and the Barbaric King

   Aired: April 9, 2026

   To learn more: https://myanimelist.net/anime/60028/Himekishi_wa_Barbaroi_no_Yome

2. The Ramparts of Ice

   Next, we have The Ramparts of Ice. This one is giving Toradora, but more love triangle-y. To summarize, it follows Koyuki, a high school girl that seems cold, but is really just insecure. She meets two guys and stumbles into a friendship with them. And so, drama presumably follows.

   What’s appealing to me here is the tropes and vibes that are similar to other animes that I’ve enjoyed. This looks like it’s gonna be super cute and I’m sure I’ll love it.

   Reference:

   Title: The Ramparts of Ice

   Aired: April 2, 2026

   To learn more: https://myanimelist.net/anime/60852/Koori_no_Jouheki

3. An Observation Log of My Fiancée Who Calls Herself a Villainess

   Now, there’s An Observation Log of My Fiancee Who Calls Herself a Villainess. You already know this one is gonna be the shit because the title is long, but it’s about a very bored prince who is dragged out of said boredom by his self-proclaimed villainess of a fiancee.

   This one gives me 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy vibes. Arnold is forever a favorite anime cruch of mine (I have like 90,000 favorites so I’m not sure that means anything), but I’m thinking Crowned Prince Cecil Glow Alfostar from this new show might make it 90,001 because this anime already has me hooked. It’s probably the one on this list that I’ll check out first. Who can blame me? I’m pretty sure every anime-lover has one of these long-titled anime with starring Victorian-inspired princes that love watch their surprising princess do unexpected things until they fall hopelessly in love with her. It’s a timeless vibe and I one I can’t wait to relive.

   Reference:

   Title: An Observation Log of My Fiancee Who Calls Herself a Villainess

   Aired: April 6, 2026

   To learn more: https://myanimelist.net/anime/61687/Jishou_Akuyaku_Reijou_na_Konyakusha_no_Kansatsu_Kiroku

4. Mao

   Last but not least, we have Mao. This one is supposed to be the new age Inuyasha, written by the same author with a similar story.

   For those who have been following along for a while, you probably know Inuyasha holds a special place, even among my 90,000 and hopefully 1, because

   A. It was the first animes I watched knowing that it was anime when I was watching it.

   B. It was one of my greatest inspirations behind the priestesses (Kikyo was the inspiration, mostly) from The Islands of Rune Universe.

   So, naturally, I have high hopes for Mao, though I am torn between watching it to be the same and wanting it to be different. Somehow, I’m sure the author, Rumiko Takahashi, will deliver on both, as long as the studios consulted with her properly instead of doing that annoying thing they do where they adapt the manga but completely ignore everything that made it good.

   Reference:

   Title: Mao

   Aired: April 4, 2026

   To learn more: https://myanimelist.net/anime/62048/Mao

Anyway, that’s it for this weeks segment of Nerdology 101. I’ll see you back next week for another. Until then, have a nerdy week!

Nerdology 101: Experimenting

Hey, loves. It’s Maria Levato here and we’re back with another segment of Nerdology 101, the blog where we discuss all my nerdy interests from anime to gaming, mythology to history, and yes, of course, my writing. This week I’m going to be telling you all about a project I started (mostly out of boredom since both of my active manuscripts are in editing).

Is it going to be another romantasy?

Nope! It won’t be a romantasy. I know that’s my usual genre, but I was sitting on an idea for a little something different, so I’m experimenting.

What will it be then?

This project will be a short story in the contemporary romance genre. Here’s some of the tropes I’ll be working within:

• College Romance

• Artist x Business Tycoon

• He Falls First & Harder (always)

• Strangers to Friends to Lovers

Ohh, Tell me more!

Of course I will, darling. This story will center Kyra Nettle and Osiris Carhart, two freshman at ___ University (unamed because I’m still researching whether or not it’s okay for me to use the name of the university the campus and programs were based off of). They’re both communter students who meet the morning classes start due to a tiny car accident in the parking lot sparked by nervousness about their first day. While exchanging information for the insurance claim, they realize their families are in the midst of negotiating a business deal. Planning to succeed his father as head of the company, Osiris pleads for Kyra not to deliver the news about the accident to her father in a way that might make him look reckless or irresponsible. One thing leads to another and a friendship starts to blossom between them by the end of their first week, all the while their underlying attraction leaves them wondering if friends is all they’ll ever be.

Love it! When can we have it?

I just started writing it last night, so it might be a little while. To give you a clear idea of where we’re at, the file is currently titled “Untitled Short Story Thingy” in my computer. As you can tell, I haven’t decided much. As always, though, you’ll be able to find updates on this and all my other WIPs on the Coming Soon page of this website. I do hope you’ll check it out when it’s released in whatever manner I have not yet decided. Probably not on IngramSpark as I usually do because that wouldn’t really serve my goals for this (which is mostly to see how readers vibe with my writing in this genre). If you’re interested in it, drop a comment to tell me your preference here.

1. KU

2. Kobo

3. Submit to Anthologies or Lit Mags

That’s about all for this week’s segment of Nerdology 101. Drop in again next week for another. Until then, have a nerdy week.

Nerdology 101: Writing & Social Media

Hi, loves. Welcome back to Nerdology 101. I’m Maria Levato, indie author, hostess of this here blog, anime nerd, part-time gamer, cat lady, kink guru, and all around queen of the Nerdom. This week I’m going to talk about about the ups and downs of being a writer on social media. To keep it nice and neat, I’ll just go platform by platform. So, lets get into some Nerdologyyy!

Instagram & Other Meta Socials (My Worst)

My author Instagram, @malevato6, is my oldest account. In part, I attribute that fact to why I have such a hard time growing it now. When I started it, I didn’t know much about social media marketing, so I made a few mistakes that made effective use of the platform difficult for me. For the sake of transparency, I’ll start by telling you what those mistakes were.

1. I used my personal account that I barely ever posted on prior to starting my publishing journey instead of creating a new one.

2. I didn’t change my original username to something that indicated what the page was about.

3. I didn’t post regularly when my first book, The Islands of Rune, came out. In fact, I didn’t start posting regularly until my second book, Journey to Rallem, came out. Then, of course, by the time The Fate of Angels and Demons, my most recent book came out, I had become a lot better at making quality posts and I had experimented with making talking reels.

So, obviously, there was a lot I could have done better early on that would have made growth a lot easier, but that didn’t happen so I can only talk about my experience as it is. Right now, I have 445 followers on Instagram. In the past few months, I’ve definitely seen it start to do better. It’s exciting, but nevertheless, the platform is not making it easy to recover. In fact, my average posts only reaches 20-100 people. That makes it pretty difficult to get more substantial growth. As a result, my IG is mostly stagnant and I have to fight for every follower/engagement I get much harder than should be necessary. This sort of unforgiving algorithm makes things extremely difficult for indie authors, who typically learn as they go since most of us don’t start out with a team to help us.

Just this year, I was able to hire a PA, @jazzys_books/@apenandapromise, for the first time. She focused a lot on my IG during my launch for The Fate of Angels and Demons. It was definitely a big help and got me through a barrier I’d been stuck at for a few months. If you can afford it, I definitely recommend hiring someone to help you through moments where you get stuck like that. IG, at several points, has taken up so much of my time and energy that it made it difficult for me to keep up with writing. I’ve heard other authors say the same. Hiring a PA is probably more affordable than you think and having that support there is a pretty big deal. For IG, I think it’s one of the best strategies, especially for those busy periods. A PA can do most anything for your socials except for the reels that require you to be on camera. Even for those, though, you might ask your PA to help you with editing the reel, writing a script, or finding a caption that will help it get seen.

I did also meet the cover and character artist, @sincerrio, I used for The Fate of Angels and Demons via IG. They did great work and I loved working with them. So, IG is good for finding artists if you’re looking for them, but I also feel like there’s a slew of artists on any platform that are easy enough to find if you’re looking for them.

Ultimately, I think IG is a great tool for creating community with readers, but it is also kind of set it its ways and not the most writer friendly social media platform, especially not for indies or people who tend toward the nervous side when it comes to posting reels of themselves. As always though, the readers make it worth while. I love meeting them, seeing what they’re enjoying, and having the connection I do with the few of them that do seem to be deeply engaged with my work. The same applies to other Meta-owned social media platforms.

Biggest IG Pro: Getting to vibe with readers, no matter how many or how few.

Biggest IG Con: Unforgiving of early mistakes.

Bluesky (My Best)

Bluesky has been my largest following for a while now. I started the account about a year and a half ago. My profile, @marialevato.com, has 924 followers at the moment and is the only platform on which I have more followers than following. It gets regular engagement and is overall the platform I’m doing the best on. From my experience though, it’s not a place to make sales. Regardless of the struggles I’ve had with IG, the platform is responsible for more of my sales than Bluesky, where I have more engagement and a larger following.

In my experience, Bluesky is better for connecting with other industry professionals than it is for finding readers. My editor, Robyn, is someone I connected with via Bluesky. Bluesky is also where I connected with Ann Rose, an agent from Tobias Literary Agency, and Despina Karras, the author who hosts PitchDis, both of whom I worked with on an event I put together for Authors Guild as one of the ambassadors for the Washington, D.C. chapter. So, yes, Bluesky is great for me in that aspect. Connecting with other members of the writing and publishing communities is a huge help for me and has led to some pretty awesome things.

Biggest Bluesky Pro: Meeting other industry professionals.

Biggest Bluesky Con: More difficult to connect with readers on the platform.

TikTok (My I don’t know yet cause it’s new to me)

TikTok is my newest social media account. I’ve been on it for less the 2 months. My profile, @authormarialevato, is currently sitting at 53 followers and 56 following, so I’m not off to a bad start. At least, I don’t think I am. I already have at least a handful of followers I’d consider deeply engaged. They engage with more of my content then they don’t. They’re readers too. I won’t judge how TikTok does on actually getting me sales yet since it is still so new, but I will say that I’m hopeful on that front. A already have a fair number of influencers posting about my book on the platform and tagging me. That type of early engagement might make both growth and conversion a lot higher. I can definitely say I get more reach and engagements on my posts than I do on IG. For now, that’s all I can really say about being on the platform as a writer. Hopefully, I’ll have more updates on the TikTok front soon!

Biggest Pro: More reach and engagement, more influencer collaboration.

Biggest Con: Very aggressive about pushing AI features and I’m not a fan of that, but that can be said of pretty much any major social media platform right now. I think TikTok is maybe just a tad more annoying about it than Meta or Bluesky.

Anyway, these are my thoughts on using various social media platforms as a writer. That’s about it for this weeks segment of Nerdology 101. Come back next Friday for another. Until then, have a nerdy week!

Nerdology 101: Word Choice

Hey, hey! How are you, my lovely little nerds? If you’re new here, welcome to Nerdology 101. I’m Maria Levato. I’m an indie author, anime-lover, mood gamer, regular reader, and a load of other random stuff. This is my blog, Nerdology 101, where I talk about whatever nerdy topic comes to mind. This week, that topic is word choice. So, let’s get into some Nerdology!

What is Word Choice?

Word choice refers to the selection of words for the purpose of amplifying a story. In some cases, this is a line-level tool that keeps the reader engaged. After all, how boring would a romance be if the MMC only ever called the FMC beautiful instead of lovely, ethereal, gorgeous, luscious, etc. In other cases, though, particularly in fantasy, word choice can also act as an immersion mechanism that reinforces world-building. That’s more so what I’m going to focus on today.

Common Alterations in Fantasy Writing

Perhaps the most common instance you see what I’m referring to is when characters say "gods” instead of “god” or “by the gods” instead of “oh my god” because the dominant religion in the fantasy world is polytheistic and therefore common language would have developed to represent that. We also see iterations of this pretty commonly in fantasy where goddesses are centered where language might be altered to say “my goddess” or “by the goddesses” to be represent the world the author is writing in. These choices are important. While world-building certainly requires some thought on the giant, prominent aspects, it’s the decisions like this that make it feel like the world is fundamentally different. If this world abides by different overall norms, that has to be reflected in the small stuff because a world totally different from our own would lead to beings who think and speak differently from how we do. So, sometimes, world-building requires some adjustments on the word choice front.

In My Writing

One decision I made for my The Islands of Rune series early on was that I’d use “hel” instead of “hell” because the dominant religion and magic system were based in Norse mythology. Hel, in Norse mythology, is a goddess who rules over Helheim, one of the nine realms. Hell, in Norse mythology, doesn’t exist. So, in order to accurately reflect the world I was writing in, hel was the better word choice.

I also applied that to common phrases. We say “come hell and highwater” in regards to loyalty and standing by someone even when it’s difficult to do. I could have just changed it to “through hel and highwater” and that would have been fine, I suppose, but I wanted to put in the effort to think about it a little bit more because I felt like I could come up with something more impactful for that phrase than simply dropping an L. So, I used “come Niflheim or Ragnarök”. Granted, I think I only used it once in the book it came up in because it’s not a phrase I needed to use all that often, but using it once in a relevant scenario and using it well was an effective reinforcement of the world and culture I wanted to depict.

Okay, so how did you make those decisions?

Well, in examples like what I mentioned above, I searched the culture for equivalents that worked for the context of I was trying to use it in. I do this for words, phrases, and terms of endearment. Seshen, used in my most recent book, The Fate of Angels and Demons, is sourced from ancient Egypt, which is what that character’s culture was based on. There’s another nickname, used in one of my WIPs, that sourced a term of endearment from the Greek language so it more accurately represented the character I was writing would use. Whenever you need a word and it’s for the purpose of representing the world, look to the source material. Search the mythology, etymology, modern language, and whatever other source material there is on the place that inspired you to create that world. Fantasy is almost always based on the past. Your answers are probably there somewhere.

Other Reasons for Doing This

On top of being an effective writing tool, this also acts as a way to show respect to the culture that inspired you. The difference between appropriation and appreciation often lies in conscious effort. Asking questions like “how does this belief system effect how language develops?”, “How do people in this place refer to this thing?”, “Is there something from the source culture I can use to adjust this and make it more accurate or real?”, and “What terms are actually used in this culture to express the idea I want to base this on?” is a pretty good sign that you’re actually thinking about and admiring the culture your writing is based on, rather than just using it for your own gain without proper consideration for it. Making those small, conscious decisions let people know that even if you did get something wrong—which you will likely do at some point—it wasn’t because you didn’t care enough to try.

Of course, this isn’t to say everyone who doesn’t do this is appropriating a culture. It’s just to say that this is one way of paying homage to a culture that inspired you.

Anyway, that’s about it for this segment of Nerdology 101. I hope you enjoyed it (and that it gave you some additional perspective on word choice). See ya back next week for whatever rant I come up with next. Until then, have a nerdy week!

Nerdology 101: My Top 5 Favorite Gods

Heyyy! Welcome back to another week of Nerdology 101. I just realized the blog is 6 months old now. Last week was my 26 week post. Yay meee! I have no real way of telling how many people are actually reading this blog, but I can say it accounts for almost 20% of my website traffic. So, it’s definitely helping with the discoverability issue. Whether you’re new, an occassional visitor, or a regular visitor, I appreciate it a lot.

With that being said, let’s get into some Nerdology! This week I’m going to be going over some of my favorite gods and why I love them so much. As I shared in the post announcement, I’m working on a mythological romance right now. To be clear, these are simply my favorite gods in real life. Some of them may appear in the work when it releases, other’s may not. I’m not telling.

5th Place - Amaterasu (Shinto/Japanese)

Starting off strong with Amaterasu, the Shinto (Japanese) sun goddess, and chief diety of the pantheon. Amaterasu is the only chief diety that will appear on this list. That’s for a reason. While she certainly isn’t the only goddess who has ever been a chief deity, she sticks out to me in a lot of way. For those that don’t know, here’s a quick summary:

Born of Izanagi and Izanami, Amaterasu and her siblings are some of the most central figures in the pantheon. The most famous story about her is one about a conflict she had with her brother, Susanoo, god of seas and storms. She retreated into a cave. That caused some trouble for the other gods and they had to lure her back out in order to convince her to return to her role.

In modern times, Amaterasu is still a highly influential figure. In fact, the imperial family is said to be descendants of her. This is one of my favorite key details and probably the one that makes her a favorite of mine. It’s fascinating to me because, here in the Western world, there was this idea at one time that kings were annointed by by the god the west believed in. This meant that rulers were seen as “chosen” to rule. We see other iterations where a ruler is see as the personification of a diety, like the pharoahs of Egypt. This idea of being descended from a diety, though, is a bit unique (not to say there is no other culture that took this approach. I’m sure other’s existed, but I can only speak in comparison to the ones I’ve researched). It’s just an interesting approach that had impact on how views regarding ancestry, rank, and monarchy formed within the Japanese culture. Thus, Amaterasu became one of my favorite gods because she exposed me to a way of thinking I hadn’t encountered before.

4th Place - Freyja (Norse)

Badassery. I love Freyja for the badassery. In the actual mythology, in every depiction, in everything, Freyja is badass. The balance is amazing because, on one hand, she’s this nurturing sort of maternal figure, but on the other she’s a terrifyingly powerful warrior that you do NOT want to tick off. It’s nice because it’s reflective of the reality of the versatility women can take on. Humans aren’t one-dimensional creatures and sometimes I think the world can forget that, specifically when it comes to women and other historically marginalized groups. Freyja doesn’t fit neatly into anyone’s box and, for that reason, I consider to be a feminist sign of adaptability, power, and freedom.

For context, in the mythology, Odin and Freyja married for political reasons. She birthed Thor, Tyr, and Balder—some of the most fearsome gods in the mythology. Odin, like most gods, was an ass. She sought revenge for the abuse and continuously fought to maintain her own identity, freedoms, and power.

As such, many women can identify with her stuggles. She’s easy to connect to and see ourselves in. I consider her a favorite of mine because her story shows us how, for all the changes the world has seen, many of the struggles women knew then have endured.

3rd Place - Buddha (Buddhist)

I think Buddha’s story is great because it calls into question godhood in and of itself. It’s a story that focuses on ascent rather than descent, where who you become is more important than the bloodline you come from. This is important because it throws a wrench in the idea most belief systems adapt where who you were born from determines your position in life. I think it’s origins have a lot to do with why Buddhism is such an adaptable belief system. This sort of fluidity it has is, to me, one of the most realistic approaches to belief because it focuses on things a person can actually do—like training their body and mind, helping others, and other things.

While the Buddha was ultimately a human, not a god, I think I’d be remiss not to count him because of his leadership, impact, and the spirituality he spurred on. Gods, for all intents and purposes, are figures through which we form our beliefs and explain the thoughts behind them. For this reason, Buddha is a god-adjescent figure that headed a spiritual movement still widely practiced in the world today. In fact, that’s probably why I put him at number 3. It’s complex and there’s no clear answer. I like that the existence of the Buddha isn’t clearly defined as one thing or another. Grey areas and contradictions are some of my favorite things—which makes it wasy to understand why I’d see Buddha as a favorite. The entire practice focuses on existing somewhere in between two polar extremes.

2nd Place - Anubis (Egyptian)

The best I can say here is that I think this god is fundamentally misunderstood a lot of the time. Many people have a specific image that comes to mind when they think of any “god of the dead”. That image is likely formed by media depictions more than it is the actual culture or mythology. In most depictions of Anubis from ancient Egypt, he was kind, protective, and comforting. While there’s no doubt he was a powerful god that could do some real damage if you ticked him off, it was more often feroscity that stemmed for a desire to protect the souls of the dead, thus most well-intentioned people/gods had no reason to feel threatened by him.

It’s this misunderstood nature of Anubis that draws me to him, He’s like an OG of the misunderstood badboy archetype. I think I relate a lot to that vibe because A) BookTok, but more importantly, B) it speaks a lot to humanities underlying beliefs about death in general when you compare Anubis to other dieties or figures meant to depict death. I, personally, have never seen death in the way most people seem to. I’ve never understood the obsession with extending ones life as long as possible, even to ones own detriment. Like, we joke a lot about Billionaires uploading their brains to the cloud or escaping to Mars and we see every day people dedicating their entire lives to being as physically healthy as possible. I mean, good for them, if that’s what they want for themselves. I think the people should live the life they want (minus the billionaires because they are actively interfering with other people living the way they want). It’s just not for me. I wholeheartedly accept that I likely won’t like to be ancient. It doesn’t sound like it would be comfortable or enjoyable. Quality of life is more important to me than length of life. As long as I’m generally happy and able to enjoy my life for whatever time I have, I’m cool.

Of course, that means beliefs systems where death isn’t depicted as a villain we’re all supposed to be running from appeal to me. I see death in a similar-ish way to how Anubis is portrayed within his mythology. Thus, he’s a perfect second place to me because I haven’t seen many other concepts or ideas of what being dead might look like that align with my view of death.

1st Place - Thoth (Egyptian)

Two Egyptian gods? Yup, two Egyptian gods. Come on, you seriously thought you were making it through a writers list of favorite gods without encountering a god like Thoth? He’s Egyptian god of wisdom, writing, math, science, and pretty much everything that has to do with being a nerd—if you didn’t know. In fact, my obsession with Thoth runs deep enough that I stumbled into an academic text about him I wanted to read, which was of course only available in academic libraries. So, I called every academic library in a two hour radius of me to try to convince them to let me in. When that failed, I went to my public library and asked them to try to get an academic library to lend it to them to lend to me. They told me they’d ask but that my chances were only 20% and that it might take months. I said okay and they tried. Luckily, the kind people at the University of Vermont ended up shipping the book all the way to Maryland for me to nerd out on for a few weeks. If that story doesn’t tell you why I align so well with Thoth, I don’t think there’s another way to explain it. There is no better god to hold my top spot.

That’s about it for this weeks segment of Nerdology 101. Hope you’ll come through again next Friday! Until then, have a nerdy week!

Nerdology 101: Pirating

Hiya! Welcome back to Nerdology 101. I’m Indie Author Maria Levato, author of The Fate of Angels and Demons, anime lover, kinky weirdo, and more. This week I wanted to take some time to discuss pirating. In recent days, there’s been a lot of commotion about the new Avatar the Last Airbender movie, The Legend of Aang, being leaked. I’m not here to make anyone who watched the leaked movie feel bad, but to educate consumers on the impacts of leaking and pirating from the POV of the artist.

What is Pirating?

Pirating, in this context, refers to the distribution or consumption of media through unauthorized channels.

What does Pirating Look Like?

Pirating takes many forms. No matter what medium—television, books, etc.—pirating exists across it all. In literature, we most often see it discussed through the lens of advanced reader copies (ARCs) being leaked or resold or LLM’s scraping pirated books that were distributed on the internet for training. In TV, it more often looks like what we see here. A movie or TV show is posted online without the authorization of the studio that produced it.

Most consumers, when they consume pirated materials, aren’t intending to cause harm. They merely want to read or watch something they enjoy. From the consumers end, this isn’t going to do any real harm to the extremely wealthy studio or publisher that produced the media they’re consuming. That is true to some extent. It’s highly unlikely Warner Brothers or Simon and Schuster go out of business on account of pirating. Media giants like the ones I used in this example aren’t the only ones impacted, though. Behind the production of any type of media, there’s usually a team of creatives who depend on the royalties for their livelihoods. Those creatives are who I’m here to talk about.

What Impact Does Pirating Have on the Artists?

First, I’d like to make clear that when I say artist here, I’m using it as an all-encompassing term. Musicians, animators, writers, and any other type of art of can produce is included in this. Piracy impacts us all.

Artists are usually paid via a system called royalties. Royalties are the percentage of the price that go to the artist. This can look a variety of ways. I can’t speak for all artists, but for authors, this is kind of what it looks like:

1. Bookstores place wholesale orders either directly with us or through a mass distribution platform like Ingram. Our royalties are a percentage of that order.

2. We consign books with a bookstore (shifts the upfront cost of ordering and shipping the books to us) and they pay us a percentage of the retail price when it sales.

3. We order books ourselves at a wholesale/author price and sell them at a mark up (retail price) and the difference is our profit (this is the model my special edition of The Fate of Angels and Demons works on).

4. Our books are distributed to online platforms (Everand, Kindle, Hoopla, Libby, etc.), and we are paid for reads (page reads, borrows, this can look different based on platform).

Other kinds of artists may not have these exact models, but something similar-ish.

The problem this creates for the artist is that, if a piece of media is distributed in a way that isn’t able to be tracked, we never get royalties. Even if, for example, someone bought an ebook from us and we made royalties from that, then they posted it online after the fact for others to read, we’d still not be getting royalties for all those other reads. This isn’t the same as letting a friend or family member borrow a physical book or your kindle/nook to read something. With the internet, we’re talking about hundreds, thousands, and sometimes millions of consumers consuming material we made without being paid for it. Sometimes, pirated versions are consumed more than the legally distributed versions and we’re literally making nothing off the hardwork we put into creating it.

There are even some circumstances so extreme that artists have stopped producing new work on account of it. We see a plethora of examples in the world of indie authors, but we also see it in larger forms of media. Anime, in particular, comes to mind for me. As read in this article, Japan as a whole has lost billions in revenue because of the large scale piracy of anime. While this sucks for their economy, it sucks even more for the artists, writers, and animators who work hard to create these anime. A number of shows have been discontinued because piracy made it so they could no longer afford to produce them. So, not only does piracy harm the aritsts livelihood, it harms consumers of the media because it makes it impossible to produce more of. If you want that next book, next season, next song, whatever it may be, the best way to get it is to make sure it’s worth it to the artist to make.

Wait, so this effects me too?

Yup! It’s not just the artist. It’s you too. How many times do you hear fandoms raving something along the lines of “We want ____ spin-off.”

For Naruto fans, it’s a Minato or Itachi spin-off show.

For ATLA fans, it was an gaang as adults show.

For different fandoms, it looks different, but pretty much every fandom has one.

In ATLA (as an example), they had finally given us what we were asking for. A studio was listening to it’s fans, which we beg them to do constantly. But then someone leaked the movie, which isn’t the fault of the fans, but mass consumption of it that hurts the studios bottomline and the artists livelihood, will discourage this studio and others from listening to their fandoms again because it sets the precedent for future leaks on this sort of large scale that they can’t be sure their fandom will condem.

Luckily, I have seen in, in the case of ATLA, more than a few creators say they support the artists and won’t be watching the leaked movie. Hopefully, ethical influencers have been able to influence enough people away from watching the leaked movie that this doesn’t turn into a giant loss for the studio and artists who worked on it.

What if I already consumed pirated material before I knew the impacts?

Your intent, like most consumers, probably wasn’t malicious. Please don’t feel bad. Instead, focus on doing better. There are a few simple steps you can take going forward.

1. Stop consuming pirated material immediately and fully.

2. Report pirating sites to the copyright owners or their agents. Most authors, publishers, etc. have some sort of method to contact them available. For me, it’s the contact form on this website. You can find it on this page. Some other ways to report it are through publisher websites, through the agent an author has listed, or through a studios website. Once they’re made aware, they can submit a DMCA, as explained here.

3. Buy it. Yes, I know you already watched/read/listened to it, but if you can afford to, buy it so the artists get paid.

4. If you can afford it buy it, borrow it from a legitimate free source. I’ll provide a few in the next section.

5. Review it. If you’ve accidentally consumed pirated material, reviewing it might help legitimate versions get more attention. Goodreads and retailer websites are great places to leave book reviews. While reviewing absolutely does not justify continued piracy, if you genuinely didn’t know how harmful was an consumed it before reading this, reviewing it would definitely help offset some of those damages. Artists depend a lot on reviews, particularly for visibility. The more reviews something has, the more the algorithms will recommend it to other readers who might enjoy it. This is particularly impactful if the material came from a small, up and coming, or indie artist of some kind since they’re already likely to be struggling to get a substantial amount of reviews.

Okay, now what are these legitimate platforms where I can consume media for free while still supporting the artists?

1. Libraries! Libraries! Libraries! They don’t just have books. Go to your local library.

2. Overdrive and associated platforms. Overdrive is a distribution platform. They own Libby, Kanopy, and other platforms. All you need is a library card! It’s a great place to find media that is free to you. They have an assortment of media types too. Music, TV, movies, and of course books (ebook and audiobook).

3. Hoopla. Much like Overdrive’s platforms, Hoopla is a digital service that runs through public libraries. They offer just as many different types of media, but all on one platform!

4. Openstax. While both Overdrive and Hoopla offer plenty of educational media, as well as media meant for entertainment, Openstax is a great place to find free, properly liscenced textbooks. Perfect for AP/college students looking for some extra study, or homeschoolers.

5. Khan Academy. Looking for educational material for the K-12 levels? Khan Academy is free!

6. Library of Congress. The LOC has a whole catagory of “Free to Use” media. These are things in the public domain. There is no longer a copyright holder for them, so you can consume it, or create something new from this media without worry. Most of the things in here are older, but old isn’t always bad.

Conclusion

So, now ya know! I hope this post taught you something about royalties, piracy, or free resources you can use to consume media. I’ll see you back for the next segment of Nerdology 101 next Friday. Until then, have a nerdy week!

Nerdology 101: My Top 5 Favorite Quotes From “The Fate of Angels and Demons” as the Author Who Wrote It (and why).

Hi, loves. Welcome back to Nerdology 101. I’m Maria Levato—writer, nerd, bunch of other weird shit. This week, I’m going to tell you what my favorite quotes from my own book are and why I love them so much.

1. “…children whose ribs are entirely too visible forced into labor by men who wear their greed like a badge of honor…”

   I think it’s pretty obvious what group of resource hoarding individuals I had in mind when I wrote this. Let’s not pretend it isn’t. In truth, this quote sticks out to me because it’s relevant. There’s this constant back-and-forth in the bookish community about if books are political (HINT: They are, always.) To that end, here’s another “non-political” quote.

2. “They have every right to be angry at the centuries of oppression directed at them.”

   I know. There’s no possible way this could be relevant to—I don’t know—Black people or any other group of marginalized people, right? I mean, I’m Mixed, but there’s just no way an author’s identity could impact the way they write, right? Hmm… I wonder about that.

3. “Shut up and let me eat this thick fucking ass, Seshen.”

   Oh, come on. It’s just as great line. It encompasses the kink, the spice, the fun, and the pleasure that I love about this book. It’s hot.

4. “Because I’ll do anything,” He snaps. “I will burn every kingdom and torch every village in this gods-forsaken realm, just to get a moment with you.”

   Again, hot. But also… Not to protect her, just to see her for a moment? This is what I love about Michael. He’s understood from the jump that Lilly does not need his protection. The most valuable thing he could give to her as a romantic interest was the consistency and intensity of his love. It was the one thing she didn’t already have and couldn’t attain on her own.

5. “It feels like being told I’m crazy after I told someone I’m crazy, only to go crazier because they make me feel crazy for it.”

   This scene goes to the heart of it all, in a lot of ways. This line in particular is hard to ignore, especially if you’re a woman. There’s a reason gaslighting is such a widespread discussion when it comes to feminism. I think a good amount of us can probably identify with what Lilly is feeling here. We’ve all, at some point, likely questioned our sanity on account of someone who called us “crazy” or “too emotional” or whatever else for simply having emotions they lacked the emotional intelligence to cope with the existence of. It’s all too common an experience and I think it’s what makes Lilly’s character shine so brightly. Her whole thing is that she acts, primarily, based on her emotions. In a way, her character arc revolves around her accepting that it’s okay to lead with heart and fight with mind. It was my answer to this growing thing in fiction where women are only labelled as “badass” if they’re emotionless, calculating, closed-off, etc.

   Note:

   Obviously, the switch element of this book is one of my favorite elements. The reason I don’t favor spicy lines from moments where Lilly is dominant when it comes to marketing is because it is EXTREMELY difficult to convince the algo’s of the internet to push content that displays obvious depictions of femdom because for some stupid ass reason we (collective, as a society) still seem to have a problem with seeing FLR dynamics in any form of media, even if it’s within the context of a switch dynamic where she’s only the one in charge part of the time. I think it’s ridiculous, but the best way to combat it is to market the book based on what will get pushed so people read it and gain the exposure to women-led power dynamics. Thus, if you’re reading this, you should know much of what I don’t market is equally as great as the rest of this.

Nerdology 101: What’s Next?

Nerdy people! Welcome back to Nerdology 101. I’m Maria Levato, your hostess that LOVES to do the mostest. Quick briefing: I’m an indie author and this is my blog. I just released my 3rd book, The Fate of Angels and Demons, on April 1st. It’s part of a series of interconnected standalones. You can find the paperback and ebook at a bunch of major retailers, check linktr.ee/marialevato for that. Or go to the store page of this website for the special edition hardcover. This week, I want to talk a bit about works yet to be released so you know what’s coming next.

The Next Book in this Series

The next book in this series is called The Depths of Bloodshed and Purgatory. It will follow Lilly’s younger brother, Callian, as he faces trials all his own and finds love along the way. I’m planning to self-publish this one like I have the other books in the series. It’ll be the forth book in The Islands of Rune Universe and there’s only one more book in it after it, though there’s some spin-offs of it I could write eventually. I’ll actually be finishing the first draft the same day you read this. After that, I’ll give it a thorough once over on my own before I send it to my editor, Robyn. I am planning to do another special edition of this one with BookVault, which will also be available in the store once it’s released. The paperback will, as always, be available at major retailers through IngramSpark. However, I do plan to switch things up with the ebook a little. I’m not a fan of Amazon, the way they treat authors, or their consistently problematic owner. Thus, it’s unlikely I’ll use KU. There are similar platforms, though. Kobo in particular comes to mind. Is that something you’d like to see, readers? If so, just drop me a comment, DM, or whatever so I know that’s the right direction. If not, tell me what your preferred alternative is. I’m likely to go with whatever is best for readers already engaged with my content.

A New Series

For months now, I’ve been hinting that I’m planning to start another series up. The title of that is going to be The Harem of the Heavens (HOTH). I don’t want to go into too much detail about the plot of it yet, but the title should give you some insights on it. This, I plan to query with, though. The draft is currently in developmental editing with the same editor I mentioned before. I’ll polish it out as much as possible and hopefully start querying it in Fall/Winter. I’m still working on my final comp titles, but think Record of Ragnarok x The Bachelorette for this one. Yes, I know neither of those are books, but they are what I was thinking of when I came up with this idea and they paint a VERY clear picture if I do say so myself.

Conclusion

Plenty of more awesome stuff is on the way. While you wait for it, go ahead and give The Fate of Angels and Demons a read. I’ll see you back next week for another segment of Nerdology 101 too. Until then, have a nerdy week!

Nerdology 101: Author Transparency Post

Intro

Hey readers, writers, and bookish people of all kinds! Welcome back to Nerdology 101. Today is now our 23rd post and the 1st one to happen after my new dark romantasy book, The Fate of Angels and Demons came out. I’m going to take a moment here to just say YAYYYYYYY! I’ve been so excited about this book release for so long. I’m overjoyed to see it on the market finally! Everything about TFOAAD has been emotional for me, from writing and editing, to design, launch, and release. My body, heart, mind, and soul have been poured into this wonderful story and no matter what these insights look like, I have no regrets about that.

Perspective

For point of reference, I’m going into writing this blog post just as blind as you’re going into reading it. Usually, I write my blog posts the Saturday before they post. This time, however, the topic makes that impossible to do. Instead, I’m writing the intro, perspective, and what to expect sections that I don’t need the actual insights for on Saturday and the insights won’t actually be plugged into it until the day of the post so I can provide you with the most up-to-date, vital information about how my new release is actually doing. This post will go up at the normal time, Friday at 3PM EST, just like every other Nerdology post, but I won’t know what it’s going to say until the morning of. I might be getting on here to tell you all that I’m totally flopping, that I’ve managed the ever-elusive miracle of viral success as an indie, or anything in-between, but I’ve already announced my topic on IG and Bluesky (my two largest followings) so there’s no backing out now. I’m not one to back down from a challenge.

What to Expect

In this section, I’ll go over the catagories of the insights I’ll be sharing:

1. Sales, broken down by edition (ebook not included. I’m unlikely to be able to see ebook sales on the IngramSpark dashboard that soon after release since they take roughly 2-3 weeks to appear in my sales reports).

2. Engagement, how the posts about the book are doing on IG, Bluesky, and TikTok.

3. Reviews, reviews are always available on the reviews page of this website, but I’ll talk about how many I have, the books current ratings, and what that might mean for the books long-term success.

4. Stock, are there any brick-and-mortar stores that have the book or have ordered it to my knowledge?

5. Events, the amount of interest I have from stores/conventions/etc. (This is the only section I know a little bit about ahead of time, obviously, since it requires me to schedule said events. Be ready for a huge announcement in this section).

6. Marketing, what’s working for me and what isn’t?

7. Places where I could use additional support from people who want to help me reach more readers.

8. Conclusion, an overall assessment of how the book is doing.

* Exact place I stopped writing pre-release.

Sales

Okay! Here we are. It’s Friday morning about 10AM now. So far, 4 special editions have sold at $30 each ($120). I haven’t seen any paperback sales come in on Ingram yet, but that’s not entirely surprising for me. The special edition exists as an alternative for people who want a physical copy and I see why most people would opt for it because it’s freakin’ gorgeous. I do know of two ebook sales even though, as I stated in my explanation of this I can’t seem them quite yet. They came who people who tagged me or showed me their orders. At $6 each, that’s an additional $12 . Thus, I’ve made $132 in sales so far. I’d say that’s pretty good. I paid $150 for my cover, so I’ve almost made that back in just a few days. Of course, there’s still a long way to go before I actually make my money back, but we’re off to a great start, in my opinion.

Engagement

Engagement is up! In part, this is due to the fact that I finally got up the nerve to make some reels with me in them. My reach and engagement have gone up since. I still solidly suck at social media, but again, I think we’re moving in the right direction. In the last 30 days, I’m reach 3.3k views on IG with 224 interactions. On TT I’ve at 2k views and 102 engagements, which is awesome since I just started using the platform a week and a half ago. On Bluesky, it’s hard to say what my views or interactions are since they don’t have analytics insights like IG or TT. I can say that it remains my largest following at 912 followers.

Reviews

I sent out 25 ARCs for this book and 6 reviews have gone up on Goodreads, giving me about a 24% rate there (which is normal for an author in similar positioning to myself, from what I can tell). Of those reviews, 2 have rated the book 5 stars, 2 have rated it 4 stars, 1 has rated it 3 stars, and 1 has rated it 1 star. Overall, that’s a 3.67 rating so far for this book. Across all of my books, though, I have 25 ratings and reviews that average to 4.12 stars. This is one of the areas where I can say I’m definitely still struggling a lot. For those who don’t know, Goodreads doesn’t really recommend a book to people until it has 25 reviews (title specific, not overall for the author). Getting more reviews would go a long way toward increasing my natural reach.

Stock

There are no brick and mortar bookstores I know of that have stocked The Fate of Angels and Demons at this time, though this is something my PA and I have recently turned our attention to.

Events

So far, I have two conventions on the books for this year. One is Smoke and Embers in Thunder Bay, ON this October from the 23rd to 25th. The other has yet to announce my attendance officially yet, so I’ll refrain from doing that so we can announce it at the same time. It is a pretty major con, though, so I’m excited about it.

Marketing

I’ve tested a few strategies so far. IngramSpark’s email promotions, BookBub Ads, IG ads, and free marketing opportunities. Of them, not only is the free stuff free, it works better than any of the paid advestising FOR ME. Instead, the highest impact form of marketing that I’ve seen is actually not coming from me at all. As they say, word-of-mouth is the best type of marketing. Posts from platforms like the Indie Author Collective and Little Lost Bookshoppe & Beyond, as well as from individuals, have done me a great deal of good. You can see a lot of the posts others have made about me and my book here in my media and mentions corner where I’ve collected and embedded the posts I’ve seen.

Support

If you’re a reader looking to support me, here's the key takeaways (in order of importance) of how you can best do that.

1. Order the book, in any format.

2. Review the book, whether you loved it or hated it, leave your honest review.

3. Post about the book online. Even if you don’t have a large following, this acts as a vital form of social proof that tells the alghorithms people are talking about the book.

Conclusion

The Fate of Angels and Demons is doing good for a newly released, self-published novel, but there’s still so much room for improvement. I plan to continue working on things from my end, and I hope, dear reader, that you will continue supporting me from yours. Thank you. Hope to see you back next week for another segment of Nerdology 101. Until then, have a nerdy week!

Nerdology 101: Why Write?

Hello, nerdy beloveds. Welcome back to Nerdology 101. I'm your host, Maria Levato, and this week you’re going to discover the why behind my writing. Let’s get into some Nerdology!

The Official Bio:

Every author has one, here’s mine. As seen on the homepage of this website, this is my official bio:

“Maria Levato is an author, BIPOC woman, and disabled veteran. She has written three books as an indie author, The Islands of Rune (2023), Journey to Rallem (2025), and The Fate of Angels and Demons (2026). Maria also writes the Nerdology 101 blog on this website.

Outside of her writing, Maria serves the writing community in other ways. She’s the chair of the PRO Advisory Committee for the Romance Writers of America and an ambassador for the Washington, D.C. chapter of The Authors Guild.”

You didn’t come here for that today, though, did you? You want the goodies. So, let’s move right along.

The Fun Bio:

Oh, babes, you’re in for it now.

Who I am and what I do are two very different topics. While my work is a huge part of who I am, there’s so much behind the scenes that doesn’t make it into the bio. If you can’t tell by the name of this blog, I’m a nerd. Niches are my thing. Most nerds, being moderately sane human beings, pick a niche and stick to it. I, however, never have and never will claim to be sane. Thus, I have somewhere in the realm of 5,000 niches I consistently obsess over and another 1,000 or so that come and go with the wind. There are certain core ones that, in my mind, are all interconnected and lead back to a single hobby: Culture. Whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, a national art museum or a ren faire, writing or folding Reese cup wrappers into flowers so I have an excuse to eat a whole bag of minis, deep diving on mythology and history, or passionately raving about current events because I think we should treat people like people, it all comes down to culture for me. I don’t care which culture; I love them all.

Cultures humanize people in a way few other things do. Cultures surrounding race, ethnicity, and nationality are often what we think of when we think about culture, but under each comes a plethora of subcultures that make the experience even richer. Some of the favorite examples in my life now are Black Goth/Alt/Punk/etc. culture (music like Magnolia Park, collectives like Punk Black, events like Blerd Con, etc.), nerdy culture, Irish resistance music (like Chasing Abbey), Indigenous empowerment culture (music like Young Spirit, stores like Eighth Generation, etc.), and even kink/BDSM. Exploring these subcultures has always been what interests me most because it’s such a fun, supportive, and connective way to widen my own perspective. So, there I went, deep into the nerdom where I eventually discovered all of that stuff I love. The books, the anime, the art, the travel, these spaces are where I feel most like myself because so many other people are also free to be themselves in it.

Of course, then I grew up. Life happened; it sucked. Somewhere in there I lost track of who I was. What do we do when we lose something? We retrace our steps. Where had I last seen myself? Why, in the nerdom, of course. After remembering how happy this stuff made me, I was like, “hey, you what sounds like a fun way to cope with life?”

“Writing stories about nerdy shit and sex!” My brain replied.

It wasn’t really what I had in mind, I was thinking something wayyy less demanding, but my brain insisted so that’s what I did and now I love it. Three books later here I am explaining to you how a childhood love of culture resurfaced as the unhinged, smutty coping mechanism I sell to other people who are also fond of unhinged, smutty coping mechanisms. It’s really a full circle kind of thing. I love this life, though. It allows me to be connected to all the awesome things that I love by creating and adding something to the bookish subculture and wider nerdy community.

That’s pretty much the summary of how I became a writer and why I choose to write diverse, creative, outside the box, spicy fantasy books. You should give my newest one, The Fate of Angels and Demons, a read. The special edition can be found HERE and the paperback and ebook formats can be found HERE. Hope to see you back next week for another segment of Nerdology 101. Until then, have a nerdy week!