Frequently Asked Questions

This series has had a much more complicated past than I ever expected! It was my debut that I started while in High School. Publishing and stepping into a career as an author came with a LOT of learn-as-you-go and trial by fire. So the Crystal Dragon Saga unwittingly became my guinea pig series, and it grew and changed along with me through the years.

2011-2018: The Hobby Edition/Version 0

While in High school, I wrote the first two books of the Crystal Dragon Saga, and subsequently published them after multiple rejections from traditional publishers. My friends wanted to read the books, so I figured, why not? I didn't necessarily intend to sell lots of these books and be an author. The covers had generic stock images of nature, and the titles were Zilferia and First Earth.

2018-2019: The "Oopsie" Edition/Version 0.5

In 2018, I decided I needed to take this seriously and pursue a career as an author. I got Zilferia a gorgeous new cover with a blue scheme and a girl flying on a dragon, and published it on my birthday, October 29th. Unfortunately, soon after this, someone let me know that the cover looked reaaallly close to some art by Anne Stokes—a VERY popular/famous fantasy artist. I compared the two and agreed, and reached out to her in a panic to explain the situation and to beg her not to sue me. She said I would be okay to sell the books I already had on hand, but to change the cover as soon as I could. The artist who ripped me off ghosted me, but at least I could sell those copies I'd already gone into debt to produce!

2019-2020: The True Debut Edition/Version 1

I got Zilferia its third cover from a fabulous cover designer, Christian, and he made new covers for books 2 and 3 as well. I updated Zilferia, republished First Earth, and released Quagon!

2020-2021: The Fallbrandt Edition/Version 1.5

A couple of fellow indie authors created their own publishing house, Fallbrandt Press, and invited me to release the series under them. I accepted, and took advantage of republishing to change the titles for the series so they can be more recognizable, easier to remember, and easier for readers to spell! Instead of Zilferia, First Earth, Quagon, Ponorama, Zelon, Lii, and Second Earth, the titles became Crystal Dragon, Crystal Hope, Crystal Lies, Crystal Curse, Crystal Allegiance, Crystal Fate, and Crystal War. The covers otherwise remained the same, with Christian as my artist. The books received fresh, more intensive editing with the release of this edition, as well.

2020 saw the first 4 books re-launched, with new releases for books 5-7! (Since this version is when the series completed, I count it as version/edition 1.) Unfortunately, after a year, the authors running Fallbrandt Press decided to close down due to not making as much profit as they expected to. So the books were again unpublished and back in my hands.

I immediately put them back onto Amazon with no changes aside from the publisher. Not long after, however, I realized I'd learned enough over the years and the books I'd written (including some not in this series) that I could do the series better justice, and make it an easier, more enjoyable read. As much as I would have loved to leave the series and not exponentially increase the confusion regarding it, I just couldn't in good conscience recommend readers to give the series a try with the writing as it was.

2023

So I began major rewrites. I updated book 1 with a new cover and new manuscript (that ended up going from ~100k words to ~150k words!) to Amazon when I finished it in April of 2023. After a few months and a chat with Amazon representatives, I realized that the changes were far too extensive to just update what was there. Unfortunately, the book again needed to be taken down and published fresh. So in July, the book on Amazon was reverted back to the previous edition and I continued to work on rewrites for the following books.

Kickstarter Special Editions

The Second Editions of books 1 and 2 did get early releases on Kickstarter, in ebook, paperback, and hardcover! They had the covers from Olga, but with special formatting, larger print, chapter art, and a map of Zilferia. They were also my first hardcovers ever! However, I made the tough decision to not continue putting the series in special editions to release on Kickstarter. It was too much work, made things more confusing since I had multiple versions available of the same book, and my formatter was tough to work with. So these books are more of a collector's item than I was even intending!

2025: The Second Editions/Version 2

May 31st, the books were taken down from Amazon in all formats. In June, July, and August, the newly rewritten, improved, and expanded second editions of the first three books released as paperbacks on Amazon! The gorgeous covers for this edition were done by a talented woman in Russia—Olga. I adore the brightness and clarity of her work, and fully intend to keep these covers as the FINAL covers these books will receive.

Books 4-7 still need to be rewritten and will be released as they are finished. (As paperbacks on Amazon and in my store, and ebooks on pageperks.com! Hardcovers will be released all at once after book 7 is completed.)

Note: Due to the substantial changes between editions 1 and 2, I do not recommend going from one to the other. If you have a previous version of the books, you will need to restart the series with Crystal Dragon (Second Edition) or you may be VERY confused/lost. This problem is the strongest at the beginning of the series, as the changes become less drastic with each book. After book 4 you may be okay to continue reading with the second edition of book 5, but for the best experience you will still want to restart with the second editions of the series.

EBOOKS

I know it's strange to not have the ebooks on Amazon with the paperbacks, but there is a method to my madness!

Before the (re)launch of the second editions, I learned of a new platform in development that would be treating authors and readers alike SO much better than Amazon! It has so many amazing features! I'm more excited about this platform launching than I think I have been about anything else...ever. It's called PagePerks, and you can sign up for an email to let you know when it launches at pageperks.com! You can also read more about it in one of my posts: https://authorkatiecherry.com/2025/12/30/a-buttload-of-announcements/

I am SO excited about PagePerks that I offered to release my new books on the platform—and nowhere else—to support the launch as well as I can. After a time, I may add the ebooks to more platforms...and I may not, if I decide PagePerks is so good that I never want to deal with anyone else ever again. (I already never want to deal with Amazon again, but you can read about that in the 'buttload of announcements' blog post as well if you're curious.)

The current projection for PagePerks' launch is Q1/Q2 of 2026!

HARDCOVERS

The series will be in hardcover format as well—just not until all seven books are finished. I want to add either sprayed edges or forced-edge printed edges (like the new paperbacks have) but showcasing one design spread over the entire series! To do this, I need to know the dimensions of all seven books. If things go well, I may also commission a very talented dragon artist I know to hand-make a design for a box/slip case to fit all seven books! I would just love to sell these as a true boxed set! It's definitely on the more expensive end, though, so I can't promise that it will happen. But I think the odds are good!

PS—If I do get slip cases for the series, I may choose to ONLY sell the hardcovers as a set within the case. It would be a lot less of a headache for me, and less confusing for everyone if there's too many options (like we've seen with the various editions of the series that I addressed in the previous section).

AUDIOBOOKS

I have yet to go to an event and not have multiple people ask about audio! The popularity of this book format has only been growing over the years. This is something that is definitely on my radar. The only reason I don't have any audiobooks yet is the cost! Narrators charge for their time, and it really adds up over long books like those in the Crystal Dragon Saga. (It's literally in the thousands—especially if you do 'duet' narration where a female narrator reads all dialogue and POV chapters for female characters, and a male narrator does the male parts. It can be a lot of back and forth between the two narrators, so it's the most expensive way to produce an audiobook. But with this series in particular, I just can't settle for anything less!)

So the short answer is: audiobooks will be coming eventually—I just need to be able to afford it first!

I originally wrote the novella Dragon Blood as a way to cope with my chronic pain—essentially pretending there could be a magical explanation for it since the doctors had none. I published it because that's what I do, and didn't think too much about it. It was enjoyed enough that I expanded the story into a trilogy of novellas.

However, like with the Crystal Dragon Saga, I realized they needed more work. But since they were so short and the demand for them was very low, I determined that the return on the time and effort required to rewrite and expand this story wasn't high enough to make it worth it. So instead, I took the trilogy down. I wanted to clarify and strengthen my brand, and I felt that these books didn't quite fit with that.

They may at some point be recreated and released, but it isn't on my radar at this time.

Since having two kids and worsened health, I've found it impossible to keep up with things. I tried reducing what's on my plate, but it just wasn't enough. In order to refill my creative well and have the stamina to run this business, I will unfortunately have to stop completely.

I don't intend for this to be a full, permanent quitting my job...but if I can't bounce back and reclaim a measure of health, mental capability, and time, then I can't say that it isn't a possibility that I won't be able to return. That's pretty soul-crushing though since this is such a huge part of me, so you best believe I'll be giving it my all to finally get to the bottom of what's causing my health issues, and find the best way to improve it!

After this period of burnout and recovery, I hope to rise like a phoenix! I'll be more dependable with steady releases as I write a series at a time and then release the books 1-3 months apart, a PA and other team members will keep up on all the distracting background tasks so I can focus on writing, and more! I'll even have a new logo, and finally start on creating new stories again once the rewrites of Crystal Dragon and expansion of Blessed With A Curse are finished. I'll even start producing audiobooks as I save up enough for each one (which is hundreds to thousands, depending on the length and complexity of the book)!

While I'm (mostly) unavailable, I am still hoping to get through the rewrites of Rising from Dust and Kings of Sea and Sky, even if it takes me into 2027 rather than 2026 like I've been aiming for. I've already spent quite a bit of money to make a gorgeous, deluxe flip-flop omnibus of these two stories to launch on Kickstarter, so there's no way I'm abandoning it!

Otherwise, though, you will see very little of me. The goal is to not be on social media at all, but I'm sure it will take practice to fully conquer my FOMO and stop checking in. But I'll do my best to give myself the most space from work stress that I possibly can.

Here's to my recovery and eventual return! <3 And thank you for your patience in the meantime!

For more info on my 'phoenix era' plan, please refer to the full blog post: https://authorkatiecherry.com/2025/09/21/phoenix-era/

To get an alert when the deluxe Kickstarter launches, create a Kickstarter account (or log in if you already have one) and click 'notify me at launch' here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/authorkatiecherry/the-reborn-crystal-dragon-saga-book-3?ref=adoo01