Hopefully before the end of February, I’ll have lots of news.
After a few false starts (due to circumstances beyond her control) my editor was finally able to start work on Crossing the Reef around the second week of January. She’s over half done now and I’m hopeful to get it back from her soonish.
While I was waiting, I decided to refresh my fantasy romance duology that I originally wrote over a decade ago. The text is done and I’m trying out a new artist for the covers. They are starting work this week and their original estimate was for three weeks, so…fingers crossed! I’d like to get the duology re-published sometime in February (because of Valentine’s Day and the fact that it’s a romance). It was fun going back over it. I have a few spin-off stories for that world that I never fully developed, but I think after the Chronicles of Vāni is complete I might go back and sort them out. I want to explore the relationships between some of the other characters, and visit some of the lands that are mentioned.
As for Chronicles of Vāni, Book Three, Entering the Afterlight, it’s also coming along. Of course, between the holidays and working on the older stories, I haven’t gotten as much done on it as I might have otherwise. But since the second book isn’t out yet, it’s harder to engage with this one. I have this dread of either: a) thinking it’s ready for the editor and then finding out that all the changes she’s suggested for Book Two make chunks of Book Three obsolete, or b) thinking it’s ready for the editor and then having to wait while I save up money to pay for the artwork and launch of Book Two before I can start saving money to pay for the editing and artwork for Book Three. Because the truth is, unless the romantasy book pair takes off and makes me some money, this long sci-fi series will be a serious investment (and risk). No one wants to buy a self-published “book one”. Book One is supposed to be free, so people have a chance to see whether you can write. Plus, they don’t really want to invest in characters until they’re sure you’ll follow through and complete the series. (At least that’s how I often feel.) Book Two can be 99 cents, but you can’t even ask for a few dollars until you have three books out. At 35% or even 70% e-book royalties, you have to sell a LOT of books at 99 cents to make back the costs of art and editing and ads—forget about profit until you have an actual catalog of titles. So, that’s what I’m working on: a catalog of titles. But they each cost money, and that’s honestly more of a bottleneck than even time right now. (Which is saying something considering my schedule. Trust me.)
Still, as my mom sometimes says, “Lord willing and the creek don’t rise” I’ll have two refreshed books re-launched, plus Book Two (Crossing the Reef) launched before we’re too far into spring. Maybe I’ll even get Book Three out by next fall. That would give me five. Five novels is “nothing to shake a stick at,” as my Grammy used to say. Maybe it will be enough. That would certainly be nice. If not, I’m going to continue collecting random family idioms and sharing them here with you. You’ve been warned.
