Hey buddies! Looks like we've given away around 30+ books so far, which isn't bad by any measure.
I also finished writing book #15, which I changed to book #14 so I didn't confuse people. It makes sense anyway after I thought about it more because #14 actually had the bookend to the second big storyarc. 13 and 14 should be publishing within the next few days, and I worked my absolute ass off on both of them trying to cram in as much as I could.
So 13 is still 13, 15 is 14, and 14 will be 15. I'm starting writing 15 next, then probably 6 months of re-edits like I did this year.
I'm not exactly sure how long 15 will take to write, but I'm actually going to try to get it done by Dec 31st, which I might be able to do because I'll be taking some more time off around Christmas/New Years, and if I'm not completely done with it by then, that's when I will be wrapping it up.
I actually have several legitimately good arcs drafted for book 15. It's going to be a lot of stuff happening at the same time, so my biggest chore will be to make sure it isn't a giant mess. I was really worried about this one because my initial draft scripts were pretty awful. They sounded great in my head then on "paper" read like complete garbage.
It was discouraging like you wouldn't believe, so I gutted about a third of what I'd written and slated it for a spinoff of sorts. I actually have two other stories largely unrelated to PNW Affliction that I never fully drafted. One was at about 80% the other was at maybe 30%. So I think that's what will be the "next steps" after I complete "season 2" of PNW Affliction.
Not saying I'll be done writing in the PNW Affliction universe forever, but it will be really cool to finish these other two far-future dystopian novels I've been working on for the better part of 15'ish years. City of Old Lies and The Best of What's Left. Technically same world, but far into the future and significantly more fantasy-driven. I'll get into those more later if anyone cares, but they're probably still 6 months off from being worked on again.
Because, before that, I'm going to work on a "season 2" anthology if these books are received decently. Some people like them in hard copy and to be honest its more economical and fair to just sell them as a batch. Season 1 was books 1-8, Season 2 is 9-15.
Season 1 is around 200,000 words, season 2 will be around 180k by my estimates, unless book 15 ends up massive, which is entirely possible. I doubt it, but its possible.
Not really running out of ideas, just sort of running out of realestate. There's only so much that can happen in a 3-4 year time period in the Pacific Northwest and borderlands. To be honest, I actually covered quite a bit. I have an internal timeline and notes that I keep track of and its huge.
I think I was planning on getting a tablet and writing more, but now I'm not sure. I'm not ready to drop $300+ on a tablet and waste even more money if a project is only going to be a labor of love. I wasted tons of money on my comic project that, while fun and rewarding personally, came up short financially. Not zero, but barely noteworthy. If my books are going to be the same way, which it looks like they are because nobody seems to care about reading due to busy schedule and over saturation, then I'm hedging it now.
That's why I never replaced my tablet pen as well. Really couldn't justify it when I could source killer book covers from friends cheaper than doing it myself. I imagine some day if my books get, lets say, 50 purchases a piece, that book will warrant another cover. In the mean time people'll just have to hopefully like the covers they got so I can work on editing.
Also I've never spent a dime on editing, that's another massive cost overrun with potentially zero return. I know it's important, but I don't think its as important as say, making sure the book flows and makes sense properly. I still feel like I'd more likely battle with editors over creative differences than actually get work done, which is discouraging. I need an editor that actually can meet me eye to eye on the creative aspects, and that seems to be damn near impossible. They want thousands of dollars to run a spellcheck, and forget that. I need people to actually read my books and talk to me about it, and that is extremely difficult. Seems the only people out there reading books are authors.
I do wish I had fancy book covers though. It's sort of disparaging even after working my ass off on my art that it still looks sub-par when I look at everyone else's wizbang book covers. Sometimes looking the part is more important than having a personalized stylized representation. :(
Anyway enough rambling. Look for book 13 and 14 soon. I'll write more about them after they launch. Thanks as always!
-Chance
I also finished writing book #15, which I changed to book #14 so I didn't confuse people. It makes sense anyway after I thought about it more because #14 actually had the bookend to the second big storyarc. 13 and 14 should be publishing within the next few days, and I worked my absolute ass off on both of them trying to cram in as much as I could.
So 13 is still 13, 15 is 14, and 14 will be 15. I'm starting writing 15 next, then probably 6 months of re-edits like I did this year.
I'm not exactly sure how long 15 will take to write, but I'm actually going to try to get it done by Dec 31st, which I might be able to do because I'll be taking some more time off around Christmas/New Years, and if I'm not completely done with it by then, that's when I will be wrapping it up.
I actually have several legitimately good arcs drafted for book 15. It's going to be a lot of stuff happening at the same time, so my biggest chore will be to make sure it isn't a giant mess. I was really worried about this one because my initial draft scripts were pretty awful. They sounded great in my head then on "paper" read like complete garbage.
It was discouraging like you wouldn't believe, so I gutted about a third of what I'd written and slated it for a spinoff of sorts. I actually have two other stories largely unrelated to PNW Affliction that I never fully drafted. One was at about 80% the other was at maybe 30%. So I think that's what will be the "next steps" after I complete "season 2" of PNW Affliction.
Not saying I'll be done writing in the PNW Affliction universe forever, but it will be really cool to finish these other two far-future dystopian novels I've been working on for the better part of 15'ish years. City of Old Lies and The Best of What's Left. Technically same world, but far into the future and significantly more fantasy-driven. I'll get into those more later if anyone cares, but they're probably still 6 months off from being worked on again.
Because, before that, I'm going to work on a "season 2" anthology if these books are received decently. Some people like them in hard copy and to be honest its more economical and fair to just sell them as a batch. Season 1 was books 1-8, Season 2 is 9-15.
Season 1 is around 200,000 words, season 2 will be around 180k by my estimates, unless book 15 ends up massive, which is entirely possible. I doubt it, but its possible.
Not really running out of ideas, just sort of running out of realestate. There's only so much that can happen in a 3-4 year time period in the Pacific Northwest and borderlands. To be honest, I actually covered quite a bit. I have an internal timeline and notes that I keep track of and its huge.
I think I was planning on getting a tablet and writing more, but now I'm not sure. I'm not ready to drop $300+ on a tablet and waste even more money if a project is only going to be a labor of love. I wasted tons of money on my comic project that, while fun and rewarding personally, came up short financially. Not zero, but barely noteworthy. If my books are going to be the same way, which it looks like they are because nobody seems to care about reading due to busy schedule and over saturation, then I'm hedging it now.
That's why I never replaced my tablet pen as well. Really couldn't justify it when I could source killer book covers from friends cheaper than doing it myself. I imagine some day if my books get, lets say, 50 purchases a piece, that book will warrant another cover. In the mean time people'll just have to hopefully like the covers they got so I can work on editing.
Also I've never spent a dime on editing, that's another massive cost overrun with potentially zero return. I know it's important, but I don't think its as important as say, making sure the book flows and makes sense properly. I still feel like I'd more likely battle with editors over creative differences than actually get work done, which is discouraging. I need an editor that actually can meet me eye to eye on the creative aspects, and that seems to be damn near impossible. They want thousands of dollars to run a spellcheck, and forget that. I need people to actually read my books and talk to me about it, and that is extremely difficult. Seems the only people out there reading books are authors.
I do wish I had fancy book covers though. It's sort of disparaging even after working my ass off on my art that it still looks sub-par when I look at everyone else's wizbang book covers. Sometimes looking the part is more important than having a personalized stylized representation. :(
Anyway enough rambling. Look for book 13 and 14 soon. I'll write more about them after they launch. Thanks as always!
-Chance
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