I got a surprise when I went to upload a new book to ElevenReader a couple of weeks ago. The normal option to offer the book for free and get paid $1.10 per qualified listen (11 minutes) was gone.
In it’s place was the option to offer my book for free without any payment, sell it, or place it in the soon to be released subscription program where I can get paid $0.20 per hour listened to.
Wow. What a shift! And I didn’t know it was coming. Maybe I missed the communication about that — it’s VERY possible.
So here’s what you might want to know:
Yes, I am still going to offer my books on ElevenReader even if the payout is a fraction of what it was. It’s going to take a very long time to get all my books produced into audiobooks, so this will make books available to those who prefer or need audiobooks much more quickly.
This change is coming in February. The switch is supposed to take place on the 14th. That means if you want to listen to any of my stories for free, you’ve got a couple of weeks to do so. After that, all books currently enrolled in the previous author payment scheme of $1.10 per qualified listen will roll over into the subscription.
Subscriptions are $11/month or $99/year.
They also have an option for authors to sell access to their books, and it looks like this might become available to me as an option to have my books both enrolled in the subscription and offered for sale. But, it won’t let me do that yet. (Yes, I tried. LOL I like options.)
And I just added the rest of my Nature’s Fury and Delights novelettes this week, so there are new book options there. (I’m up to 47 titles there.)
Until February 13 or 14, I can still earn $1.10 per qualified listen.
You can find all my books on ElevenReader @ https://bit.ly/Leenie-11R (or scan the QR code in the graphic above).
I hope your holiday season was a good one and that you’re settling into 2026 without too much struggle. It’s always a bit of a shock to the system to go back to real life and schedules after the holidays are over. But the good news is, it’s easier to keep track of which day it is now that things are getting back into regular routine.
Our holidays were good. We spent them quietly at home with just a couple of gatherings that we attended.
And over the holidays my Annilee Nelson novel, Don’t Tell My Best Friend I Love Her, went live. It’s a friends-to-more, love triangle contemporary Christian romance novel with a hero named Frederick (after Captain Wentworth because his mother is an Austen fan).
Now, I just need to work on doing some promotion for it so that all those months of work won’t be for nothing. 🙂 Such is the life of an author. You work, work, work, and then hope the work pays off once the book is released.
But since that book is out in the world now, I will soon be able to start working on my next Leenie novel. (Hopefully, this next week.) For financial reasons, I have had to increase the number of hours I am doing Uber Eats deliveries, so finding time to do all the writing things is a bit more difficult at present. They’ll get done. They just may not get done as quickly as I would like for them to get done.
I’ve only set a couple of writing-business related goals for myself as I start this year.
Produce one audiobook chapter of a book to share on YouTube each week. I’d really like to hit full monetization of my channel this year.
Write one chapter of a book each week. One week each month will have to be spent on newsletter stories. At this pace, I think I can produce one Leenie book and one Annilee book this year.
Those are the two things I want to be consistent at first. I do hope to insert a few sporadic YouTube things as time goes on, but these two have to be top priorities. Then, if they go well, maybe, I can think about adding more goals if I wish to do so.
Healthwise, I’ve set goals to…
continue to do my strength exercises three times a week with increases in weight and repetitions at regular intervals
and talk to my physio about working towards going for a mile walk once a week.
I don’t know if that’s too much for my system with all the work I’m doing writing and delivery driving right now or not, but that’s why I’m going to ask my physiotherapist about it.
How about you? Do you have any goals set for yourself as you begin the year?
In Book News:
As the new year begins, I am focusing on my Other Pens series when it comes to book promotions. I had wanted to get an email/post for them done before the Broadsheet, but it was Wednesday before I had everything set. So, I decided to wait until today to share them with you.
If you’re unfamiliar with my Other Pens series, it’s a Mansfield Park sequel series that steps into Henry Crawford’s world and contains stories for him and some of his friends and relations. It also crosses over into my Darcy Family Holidays series in a couple of places – including the new story in that series, which is my next writing project.
This month Tom Bertram’s story is reduced in price to $0.99 USD, CAD, AUD, NZD, GBP, EUR, with all other currencies also reduced. Or download it as part of your paid Patreon membership.
Henry Crawford’s story is the free read on Patreon this month for free followers, or if you upgrade to paid, it is also available as a download as part of your membership.
The most recent addition to the ElevenReader library is Frosted Windowpanes, which is a novelette set in my Willow Hall world at Christmas time with a touch of Persuasion vibes.
Next month WILL bring the conclusion to this story, so today’s entry begins wrapping things up for this part of Harriet and the colonel’s story. I think there will be some sort of story about them which will follow this, since they have not yet gotten married and we do need that to happen. However, I am not certain what form that will take just yet.
Please remember that there are sections where previous chapters from this story can be read on whichever platform you subscribe to.
On my blog, look for Harriet and the Colonel in the menu options.
On Substack, look for the Harriet and the Colonel section on the home page.
On Patreon, look for The Colonel’s Lady in the collections tab.
Chapter 5 (part 1)
Richard tucked Harriet close to his side as he sat in the hack outside the townhouse that stood at the address on the note found in the watch. “This is not a good idea,” he muttered.
“It is the only way,” Harriet assured him.
He shook his head and blew out a breath. “We could have put your clothes on someone else.”
“That would have been too big a risk,” she countered.
Before he could find a way to refute her argument – which was true, and he knew it – the door to the house opened, and both Louis and another man exited and made their way toward the hack.
“Stay deep in the shadows until I am out and the door is closed,” Harriet said to Richard before giving him a quick kiss and sliding toward the door.
“If anything happens to you….” He would never be able to live with himself or forgive Lillesley for allowing her to take part in this scheme.
“Nothing will happen.” There was a slight tremor in her voice. “I will be fine.” The tremor was gone. It was as if she had swallowed whatever fear had arisen and vanquished it in a heartbeat. “We will save Louis’s sister, and I will be Mrs. Richard Fitzwilliam. I will be.”
The determination in her voice made him smile despite his nervousness. How he loved his lionhearted lady!
“Where is your sister?” she asked Louis as soon as the door to the hack was opened.
“She is inside the house,” the man behind Louis said. “She will be allowed to leave as soon as you are inside.”
“No.” Harriet shook her head even as she began sliding out of the carriage. “She must come out before I go in.”
The man’s replying laugh was as icy as a winter’s day. “I do not think a lady with her hands and feet tied is in a position to negotiate with me.” He threw her over his shoulder and grunted. “You are not a slight thing, are you?”
“Are you the man who killed my brother for his watch?” she asked.
Richard quietly exited the carriage through the door on the opposite side as Louis closed the door through which Harriet had gone.
“No. I keep track of the ladies like you.”
Richard heard a thwack.
“I will thank you not to hit my person,” Harriet cried.
“I will hit what I want to hit,” the man said. “Especially when you are asking questions about things that are none of your business. I will remind you only this once that you belong to me now.”
“Oh, I will not be with you long. My brother and his friend will find you. They are both very good shots you know.”
Again, Richard heard that cold laugh.
“But will they find you?” he asked.
Richard sneered at the back of the man holding Harriet. They did not even have a need to find her. He was here, and Edmund was close by.
“Before we go in, call my sister to the door.”
Louis had stepped between the door and the man they were here to capture.
“One goes in while the other comes out,” he added.
The man cursed. “If it will get rid of you sooner and get her in the house faster, then, open the door.”
Louis obliged.
“Carrick bring the girl,” he called.
“You could put me down while we wait,” Harriet suggested. Her head was up, and she was looking around until she saw Richard standing near the head of the horse attached to the carriage. She gave him a nod. “It cannot be good for your shoulder to be holding me like this. I hear that aches and pains mend less quickly as a man ages.”
Richard could see that Harriet’s hands were free. A few shakes of her feet and the loosely tied rope at her feet would also fall away. She touched her hat as the man grumbled his reply.
“I am not old, and you are not running away. You are mine.”
Her hat fell to the ground.
“How would I run with a rope around my feet?”
“I will not take the chance. You are needed.”
“For what am I needed?”
“For what do you think?” the man replied.
“I am sure I do not know.” That was a blatant lie. Harriet knew far more about what this man was involved in than any proper young lady should.
“For pleasure, of course,” the man answered.
Harriet’s gasp in reply to this was louder than normal. It was a sure sign she was acting the part of a naive lady.
Carrick was at the door with a young maid. My, she was a little thing. Likely younger than her brother Louis, who now had her wrapped in his arms.
“Get out of the way so I can go in,” the man grumbled.
Richard sprang into action as Louis, with his arms still wrapped around his sister, hurried away from the door.
“I think I would like to join you,” Richard said as he bounded up the steps and pushed his way into the house ahead of Harriet. “Put her down.”
“Get out of my way. Carrick!”
Behind him, Richard heard the unmistakable sound of a pistol being made ready to shoot. “I have only to duck or step to the side and you’ll kill your own man. Indeed, at this range, the bullet might go through me and into him.” He grabbed the guy holding Harriet and pulled him close. “Put her down.”
He pushed Richard away. “She’s mine.”
“No, she is not,” Harriet said right before the man holding her cried out and dropped her.
“My back!” He shouted as he spun around.
Harriet scooted away and freed her legs.
“What did you do to me?” he lunged toward Harriet.
Richard pushed him backward, causing him to fall down the steps.
“I have him,” Jimmy said as he jumped down from his horse. “Go get the others. Lillesely and the rest should be in there already.”
Harriet handed the rope from her feet to Jimmy. “Go,” she said to Richard. “I will stay right here.”
“Promise me?”
“I promise.” She handed him a slightly bloody hat pin. “I case you need it.” He smiled. She would always try to keep him safe, would she not?
“I will make sure nothing happens to her,” Louis added from the door to the hack where his sister was now safely stowed.
And with that assurance, Richard entered the house.
—–
Thank you so much for being my readers! Have a lovely weekend!
(There’s a new part of this story dropping Saturday in the Broadsheet, so it’s time to give last month’s part it’s own post so it can be found more easily.)
The blast from Richard’s gun seemed to rattle every pretty thing hanging on the walls of the corridor in which he shot the fellow who refused to follow orders. The other man – the one who had come down the stairs and not through a window – looked one way and then the other, as if contemplating his options.
“I have one shot left,” Richard said. “I rarely miss.”
Of course, the man was likely going to die even if he did enter the study as he was told to do. It would just be some time before he met the hangman’s noose should he comply with Richard’s orders, and it would make their job much easier if the man were living and could be made to give up whatever information he held. If he did, transportation might spare his life.
Thankfully, this fellow did not seem as anxious to die as the other one and stepped into the study.
“They have my sister,” he said as he entered. “I have not done anything other than leave the window unlocked so that fellow could enter. I wasn’t going to do more than make sure the miss was safe and show him where the watch was.”
“What do you mean make sure the miss was safe?” Lillesley said as he rose from where he sat.
Now that Richard was closer to the fellow, he could see that he was no more than sixteen at the oldest, and a groom from Lillesley’s stables. He was tall and muscular for his age, but he was young enough to not need a razor to keep his cheeks smooth.
“They wanted…” He paused and looked for all the world as if he were going to burst into tears. “They wanted your sister.” The words came out in nothing more than a whisper.
“They wanted me?” Harriet stood at the door of the study that led to the little library.
As the groom turned his eyes to her, a tear slid down his cheek. “Yes, miss. But I wasn’t going to let them have you. I was going to tell you to hide, but you weren’t in your room. I could never…” his voice trailed off. “But my sister…” Again, his words trailed away as if speaking further would be too painful.
“What have they done with your sister, Louis?” Harriet had crossed the room and taken the fellow by the hand.
“Harriet,” Lillesley grumbled.
“Did you not hear him? He was not here to kidnap me. He is here to free his sister.” She turned a sharp look toward her brother.
“That is what he says, but it still stands that he let a thief and would be kidnapper into my home.”
“I can see how that would show him in a bad light.”
“I think it is more than a bad light,” Lillesley grumbled.
Richard stepped forward. “Why do we not let Louis sit and explain to us what he was hired to do while Jimmy finds the appropriate people to dispose of the fellow in the hall.” He nodded to Jimmy who left the room.
“As Louis takes his seat, I will remind you, dear brother, that he was trying to mitigate damages to things more precious than a watch.” Harriet took the seat next to Louis. “At least, I believe I am more valuable.”
“Of course you are,” both Richard and Lillesley said in unison.
“And Louis mentioned his sister,” she turned to the groom next to her. “Is she a maid?”
“She was until yesterday.” His breathing was laboured as if he were attempting to keep his composure. “If they know that you know they have her, she’ll end up like Penny. That’s what I was told.”
“Who told you that?” Lillesley asked.
“Well, him,” Louis said with a nod toward the door. “But he said he heard it from a fellow named Carrick who told him it was you, miss, who found it. The watch that is. That was why they wanted you. He said you were too much trouble.”
“I am that,” Harriet agreed with a smile. “But you were going to warn me?”
“I was. I unlocked the window and then, sneaked up the servants’ stairs to tell you to hide, but you weren’t there.”
“How did you know to look for the watch? I have not told anyone that I had it?” Lillesley said.
“They knew it was your sister who found it, so I suppose they decided it must be here. I did not know that anyone was looking for a watch until they sought my help in getting it in return for…” The lad looked down at his hands and did not finish his thought.
Harriet’s head tipped to the side. “But how did you know that it would be in the study? Why did you not look for it in my room? Or for that matter, why did you not think that I had given it to my sister as I told the shopkeeper I was going to do.”
Louis was looking utterly confused. “I did not know you had mentioned your sister to a shopkeeper, but I had heard that something had been found and your brother was none too pleased. I was not supposed to hear it. But I did.”
Harriet stood and began pacing. “Why is that watch so special?”
“I do not know, miss.”
“What would make someone steal it not once, but attempt to do it a second time?” Harriet continued as if she had not even heard his reply. And likely she had not. Richard could tell from the line between her eyes that she was deep into her thoughts.
“I do not know that either.”
Again, the groom’s reply was not noted by Harriet as she rounded her brother’s desk and pulled open the drawer. “And what does that have to do with maids being stolen and ruined?” She looked at Louis. “Is there anything that you might have heard that was unusual? What did they say about your sister besides threatening to toss her in the Thames?”
Louis shook his head. “Nothing.”
“Do you know where she is?” Harriet pressed.
Again, he shook his head. “When I asked, the answer was not in English, so I do not know. I do not speak French.”
Harriet turned the watch over in her hand. “French?” She looked at Richard. “So is it espionage or smuggling? But with maids?” She tapped the watch, looking utterly confused, which was pretty much how he felt at present. There seemed to be nothing new to learn from Louis. “Why this watch?” she muttered.
“I do not know, miss. I just know that I was told it was not to be sold. It was more valuable than that.”
Lillesley stood and came to stand in front of Louis. “What do you know about smuggling secrets?”
The lad shrank back. “I love my county, my lord,” Louis said quickly. “I don’t know anything about…” He swallowed and lowered his voice to a whisper, “secrets.”
Lillesley rubbed his chin as he studied the fellow. “No, I would imagine you do not.” Apparently, he did not think Louis was involved very deeply in this whole thing. Likely no more than he had admitted to. “Nor do you know about them now.” He held the lad’s gaze.
“Of course, my lord.”
Lillesley blew out a breath. “This cannot go through the Old Bailey.”
“No, we knew that before anything happened,” Richard agreed. “He will need to be taken to the Great House.”
“What does that mean, my lord?” Louis was looking quite ill.
“It means you will be dealt with outside of the regular means of the law, but you will be dealt with fairly.” He cast a look at Richard. “You may even find yourself employed in various pursuits as needed.”
Richard shook his head. “You said you did not know about Wickham.”
“I did not. However, I do know that occasionally, employment is offered in place of other more exacting punishments.”
“I was not going to hurt her,” Louis cried. “I was not even going to touch the watch. I just want my sister back.”
Harriet came to stand near her brother. “I believe it should be noted that Louis aided in solving one riddle.” She held a tiny slip of paper in her fingers. “This was inside Andrew’s watch.”
Can you believe this is the final Broadsheet of the year? Sometimes January 2025 seems like forever ago, and on other days, it feels like just a couple of months ago. But whether the year seems to have gone fast or slow, the final day is approaching and a new year is waiting to be discovered.
I love that fresh page of a planner feeling that comes with January. There are so many possibilities lying ahead. But, before we get to that new year, we must finish this one well.
