It's finally getting chilly outside here in Philadelphia. The nights are getting colder and the days shorter as we head into winter, and I've been enjoying the more moderate weather. It's been soup and a good book season for a week or so now, and soon enough thanksgiving will have arrived. (I can't wait to get my hands on some of that stick to your ribs food with good company.)
But let me put the life updates aside. You didn't come here for them anyway. I think it best if we get into some backstory before proceeding to the relevant news, so without further ado....
A Brief but Pointed History of My First Foray into Publishing
Several years ago now, I wrote a book. Well...I suppose it would be more accurate to say I started writing the damned thing in my early twenties, and only finished it after having made my first cross country move to Alabama. Much pandemic related fan fare ensued, in particular one toilet paper shortage that caught me unawares (those old southern ladies were having a collective orgasm over it, I swear), and I decided to unleash it on the world.
A few months went by. Everyone had well and thoroughly returned to work, and I had started a new job. I'm also a chef, and the shuffle was in full swing about then, so I figured why not take a risk and find somewhere I might be a little more satisfied to work. Now, back then I had much more time to write. Though Mobile, Alabama bills itself as the gayest city in the state, prospects were few and I had altogether too little to do on my social calendar. So, having released the book I'd written, I set to work on its sequel. However, I hit a snag.
It turned out I was terrible at marketing (something about presenting a curated version of myself just feels gross to me), and the book I released was something I wasn't entirely satisfied with; having been pushed out in haste at a time when everyone was dealing with hardships and I needed to pay the bills. Thinking that I'd take a gamble on it against the prospect of making life that little bit easier, I had shoved it out there having known virtually nothing of marketing, book formatting, where on this green earth to find a cover designer with rates I could afford.
And it flopped. I pushed out five hundred free copies on the first weekend of sales, and sold just enough to justify purchasing ten ISBNs and some ad placements on Facebook. I made no sales after the first month.
So, I went to ground, pushed the book as hard as I could while doing intensive research to help improve my craft, and I'm happy to say I've come a long way in the last few years. I did also enter the book into the SPFBO contest of that year (I believe it was #7), and though it didn't make it out of the first round, it did last longer than 150 other titles, including the one I thought for sure was going to go on to the semifinals--another epic fantasy featuring a bisexual man as its protagonist which had piqued my interest immediately. The book is Dreams of the Dying by Nicolas Lietzau, if your wondering. As very few authors get any traction writing fantasy with queer male leads, I do recommend picking it up. It's a well written story besides.
Progress Isn't Always Linear, but We Don't Give Up in This House!
Without any new sales and with little interest for the work from the peanut gallery, I decided to take the book down and trunk it, and started a number of new projects in the meantime. Luckborn: Tears for the Moon God was one of those titles, and while it took me three years and a cross country move to finish, edit, and format it, I'm happy to say it will be coming out in late January.
But that still leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. I love what I've done with Luckborn. I've constructed something really special with this book, and I hope it gets the reception it deserves when it does come out two months from now, but here I am with all of this worldbuilding--more than a decade of fleshing out this place, lending nuance to it...I even created a conlang or two while I was working on it. And here, too, I am left with a host of characters I love so much, some of whom were in the prime versions of that story and were placed on the backburner for the sequel, itself half written.
So, I made a decision to revamp the story, knowing what I know now. The major beats remain the same, but some characters' arcs have been expanded on and the writing has been refreshed. This is an ongoing project, and once done I will be releasing it on Amazon, as well. in hope that this time around, it will be better received than the last time; and more to the point, so that I can take license to dive back into the lives and actions of these characters I cherish so much.
In practical terms, what this means is I am committing to writing two long series alongside each other, with each set in its own unique world and them having little to do with each other. It's an undertaking, to be sure, but on both counts, a labor of love. While Luckborn has a concrete release date, Spirit of Shadow remains in limbo for now as I finish this refresh and get it ready for publication. I intend to release it immediately once all the technical business of getting it prepared for market is finished, so I may be ambushing the masses with it.
Nonetheless, look out for updates in the future for both titles, as I will be making them regularly. And thank you for being great! I appreciate the time you took in reading this, as well as your interest in my work.
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