Celebrate Six Months of The Serpent Series: Enter to Win!
Six months ago, I officially became a published author—a milestone I had dreamed of for years. Since August, my journey with The Serpent Series has been an incredible whirlwind, from the excitement of launching The Serpent’s Bridge to the thrill of releasing The Serpent Woman. Seeing readers dive into the world of Detective Anaya Nazario, FBI Special Agent Blake Huxley, and the enigmatic vigilante Von Schlange has been nothing short of amazing.
If you love gritty crime thrillers, detective procedurals, and high-stakes action—with a slow-burn romance simmering beneath the surface—then this series is for you. To celebrate six months of being a published author, I’m hosting a Rafflecopter giveaway and a giveaway on KingSumo where you can win a copy of either The Serpent’s Bridge or The Serpent Woman!
Here’s what the books are about:
The Serpent’s Bridge – A Gripping Crime Thriller
Los Angeles is a city of ghosts—people who live in the shadows, unseen and unheard. Someone is hunting them.
A ruthless serial killer is preying on undocumented immigrants, exploiting their invisibility to evade justice. Detective Anaya Nazario refuses to let them be forgotten. But as she digs deeper, the case puts her directly in the killer’s sights—and under the scrutiny of FBI Special Agent Blake Huxley, her former partner and ex-lover.
With bodies piling up and the city turning a blind eye, Nazario and Huxley must work together before the next victim disappears. But to stop a killer hiding in plain sight, she may have to risk becoming the next target.
For fans of Michael Connelly, Tess Gerritsen, and True Detective, The Serpent’s Bridge delivers a gritty, high-stakes thriller packed with sharp twists, moral dilemmas, and a detective who refuses to back down.
The Serpent Woman – A Vigilante Justice Thriller
Justice is broken. She’s here to fix it.
Von Schlange, the Serpent Woman, is a ghost in the night—a relentless force of vengeance hunting the predators the system lets walk free. Each name on her list is a monster, and each execution sends a message.
Detective Anaya Nazario and FBI Special Agent Blake Huxley are closing in, but with Nazario carrying their first child, the stakes have never been higher. As the lines between justice and vengeance blur, Nazario must ask: is Von a murderer, or the reckoning the world needs?
One enforces the law. The other rewrites it. Their collision is inevitable.
📚 Enter to Win a Copy!
To celebrate six months of The Serpent Series, I’m giving away copies of The Serpent’s Bridge and The Serpent Woman! Enter either the Rafflecopter or KingSumo giveaways for your chance to win. Criteria: must be willing to sign up for my author newsletter.
Whether you crave twisty mysteries, police procedurals, or high-octane thrillers with a touch of romance, this series delivers.
Writing With Hope 
March 1, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Congrats on the 6 month mark. Hoping you get the signups on the giveaways that you need!
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March 1, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Your books sound so good!
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March 1, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Very happy for you my friend, I’ve signed up for your newsletter and will spread the word on the giveaways.
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March 1, 2025 at 10:23 AM
Never give up on your dreams and always nice to celebrate milestones with such a talented person as yourself.
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March 1, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Bravo! Good for you, writer!
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March 1, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Thank you kindly! What a journey it’s been—definitely not for the faint of heart. Drafting and editing the novel? That’s the easy part. But marketing, getting reviews, reaching readers, and—perhaps the toughest of all—building an author newsletter with emails people willingly share? That’s where the real challenge begins!
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March 1, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Agreed! Do you have any tips on those points? How do you go about building an author newsletter? Just curious.
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March 1, 2025 at 4:05 PM
From my understanding, you must first be willing to give away physical copies. Goodreads giveaways are the best for creating a buzz around your name and book. But, they only provide you a physical address for you to mail out copies. If you are going to send them digital copies, they still won’t give you their email. To gather the emails, you’re supposed to do giveaways on platforms like KingSumo and Raftercopter. There are more platforms like these, but what I’ve been most disappointed with is the hype that doesn’t deliver. Both sights claim their clients got thousands of new emails for their email list after doing a giveawy.
While that might be true, these sights only work if you have a huge audience already. These companies might have websites that generate hundreds and thousands of views so when they post their giveaway, it’s easy for them to get more giveaway participants. You’re ultimately responsible for driving traffic to your giveaway. Both platforms like KingSumo and Raftercopter doesn’t do it for you and doesn’t use their audience to help you. To post giveaways on their sites, they charge you but still the charge is less than Goodreads. The positive is that if you can get traffic to your giveaway, you stand a chance at collecting all of the participants emails that entered your giveaway.
Goodreads is around $119 = standard giveaway or $599 = premium giveaway. I’ve only ever done the standard and I’ve gotten at least 2k or more participants per giveaway. Not all participants will even leave a review. Goodreads promotes your giveaway to their huge built in audience and you don’t have to do much except for share the giveaway across your social. By day 1 on Goodreads, I’ve seen hundreds of participants for my giveaway. But so far it has been 1 day and I’ve had ZERO participants on both my KingSumo and Rafflecopter giveaways. I’m still going to try and use them, but I’m noticing that it is hard gathering emails for your newsletter no matter if you’re giving away your books.
ALSO: shipping costs have gone up even for media mail. Here in California – it is $11 per book. I once gave away 50 paperback copies on Goodreads and spent $500+ on shipping cost, not including the cost to buy my own book for the giveaway. The benefit? I got thousands of people to put my book on their TBR. It also did generate healthy buzz around my books. But in terms of newsletters are concerned, I’m finding it really hard to gain those emails, as you must get their consent. So, it takes a while.
People ignore posts on social from authors asking them to sign up for their newsletter. Something about newsletters makes people cringe. Almost no one likes newsletters unless you’re an established author with a cult following. Regardless, I’m still not going to give up.
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March 2, 2025 at 9:43 AM
Goodness, that’s clearly a tough road but rewarding as you make more and more progress. Thank you for all the advice, and good on you for not giving up! I’ll need to do my best as well.
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March 1, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Congratulations, SZ on becoming an author and for you intriguing book. I wish you all the best.
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March 1, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Appreciate the positive words. ❤️
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March 1, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Congratulations on becoming an author and for your intriguing book! I wish you all the best.
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