Dead Elite ~ My New Romantic Suspense Novel on Dreame

Hiii, it's been a long time I haven't written anything on my blog, and now it's time for the announcement!! Cheers, x

I have published a new book again last month. It's called DEAD ELITE. It's about a socialite group established in a modern day Manhattan by the eight rich kids, and then chaos starts happening in their life when a sweet psycho wants to get revenge. So this fiction novel falls to a category of romantic suspense. It's pretty dark, lol. [caption id="attachment_2024" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Dead Elite ©️ 2020 by Keefe R.D[/caption]

Here is a little information about the book:

About the Writing Process: I started writing Dead Elite novel on 25^th July 2020 and finished writing it on 06^th September 2020. So, it’s about a month and two weeks of writing process for this very light reading romantic suspense novel. This book is about 86,000 words and 60 chapters. I thought it could reach 100,000 words, but eventually, the story has stopped where it should be. And actually, Dead Elite was originally planned to have only about 60,000 words, but because the first platform asked for lots of wording, and then more words have to be added in the book. (read more on “About the Publishing Process” below.)

And it’s the first time I wrote a book in this genre. It’s very dark in my perspective. A story about the dark world of a psycho is always haunting, I think. Honestly, when I first tempted to write this kind of genre and storyline, I felt like it was so out of my comfort zone. And therefore, I felt really exhausted and challenged when writing the story. But however, I think it’s best for my only one-time experience. I don’t think I want to relive a similar experience of writing a book that is so out of my comfort zone. It’s just doesn’t feel good, honestly. It’s quite a real challenge though. I used to write magic and something supernatural in my previous books. And I would like to write more about magic in the upcoming future.

About the Inspiration:

I got a sudden vision of three girls attending a funeral, and then the story developed about a group of socialites who befriends with a sweet psycho. I was inspired by the dark vibe of Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girls tv series.

These are the songs that I listened when I wrote Dead Elite. The vibes really match the story!

1. Secret by Jennifer Coppen
2. Chicago Freestyle by Drake
3. 44 Lies by Two Feet
4. Maybe It’s the Drugs by Anjelica
5. Don’t Leave Me Here by Coldsteeze
6. I’m Not Your Angel by Vaboh
7. Hurt You by The Weeknd ft. Gesaffelstein
8. Fire by Damon Baxter ft. Huxley Ware and Alex Shellard
9. Dark Thoughts by Skylar Grey
10. Heartless Remix by Blitz//Berlin, Kanye West

About the Publishing Process:

Dead Elite was originally first published on a very brand new digital publishing platform from Singapore, before it published exclusively on Dreame. I was very intrigued by the payment and the royalty shares that this publishing platform offered in their Writer Benefit program. And of course, so does every writer out there. But I found a real challenging struggle when I had to work with the editor there. It was actually the second time that an editor told me to revise a book which I wrote (the first time was working with an Indonesian editor, and I worked as a ghost writer). Honestly, it was a very annoying and emotional experience. It was simply because the editors which I worked with were not nice and not very helpful. I can make so much sense with the first editor, because I was ghost-writing a book for a publisher. So, I didn’t care much about whatever the storyline and the writing style they wanted me to write, because it was not my book. But with the second editor, it is my book. I have all the rights. So, eventually, I felt weird when the editor told me to revise the whole plot. Like, seriously? what the hell? At first, I kept on revising the story to meet with the editor’s desire. But by time went on, around one month of waiting and working tiredly, this editor basically wanted to change all the plot. Then, I told to myself; why don’t you write your goddamn book then? Why are you acting so annoyingly perfectionist? But hey, it’s my book. If I wrote the storyline according what the editor wanted, it’s gonna be her book, right? And I was basically just being her typewriter.

And thereafter, I changed my mind. The moment I realized about that, I stopped and tried to find another place that will accept Dead Elite wholeheartedly. And there where I found Dreame. I actually had known Dreame a month ago, in July when I was submitting my other romance book, which is called “Write A Prisoner”. But I didn’t agree with the non-exclusive offer, because Dreame will ask for royalty share that I have with other platforms. But for the exclusive offer, I see it match with Dead Elite. And most of the books on Dreame has similar genre with Dead Elite. And I feel so lucky to meet Editor Sofia on Facebook, then later introduced me to Editor Mona. They are very humble, friendly, and helpful. So much different from the first editor who was very cold and so business alike. And I feel glad that now Dead Elite signed an exclusive contract with Dreame. Pardon me if the words I said sound cynical. It was just a very rough month for me back then. I felt very emotional, lol.

About Before the Publication:

The first time I wrote Dead Elite was as a chat story before it was adapted into a novel. I published the chat story on NovelToon in Indonesian language. I got through the first assessment contract, but before it became official, I deleted the chat story from there, because I changed my mind since I wanted to adapt it into a novel and to sign an exclusive contract with a digital publisher. And now I found Dreame as a home for Dead Elite. So happy!

About Book Cover: I have to change the book cover, dear readers. I think the petals of roses make the story feels more enigmatic. For the editing, I used Canva Editor, which is simple and good! 😊 Note:

Thank you so much for everyone who have finished reading Dead Elite! I hope this story can deliver a good moral message about being careful when choosing a friend and who to trust.

You can find more of my books on my Instagram @keeferd or my Wattpad, Inkitt, and Booknet. And also on online book retailers or at local bookstores around you. Love~