Second Edition
I’ve signed a distribution deal with Source Point, a company out of Michigan that has inroads to retail book sales. Sales of The WoW Diary have slowed, so there’s really little downside to trusting someone else to do a better job. I’m a lousy salesperson. In putting together a second crowdfunding campaign, I’ve written several articles philosophizing the process of content creation. I focused on the development team and project timeline for The WoW Diary, not opinion pieces. The less the book was about John Staats, the better.
I took a month off of The Book of Dungeons series and returned to yesteryear, harkening back to my game development days. Distance gives a person a better perspective, and I’m very proud of how the article’s panned out, outputting 12,000 words to be included with The WoW Diary Supplemental. We’ll release them as promotional pieces for the second edition printing of The WoW Diary.
My New Boss
My biggest news is an addition to my family. The pitter patter of little feet belongs to my trusty new familiar, Kiki, a calico I rescued from surrogate parents. She’s no help on my lap when I’m writing, but enjoys watching the squirrels and birds hit my windowsill bird feeder. I love dogs, but they’re noisy and needy and there’s too much traffic on my sidewalk to expect them to behave while I work.
My Patreon supports will learn more about Princess Kiki as my web novel unfolds. Right now, she and I are getting to know one another. So far, it’s an ideal match.
Three Years Down, Four to Go
I’m editing my fifth book and amazed at how clean my writing has become. Usually the first edits are terrible, but I’m able to knock out up to three chapters a day. I also outlined book 6 and 7 to a point where I’m confident that I can finish the series. After I print the second edition of The WoW Diary, I’ll write books 6 and 7 back to back, then release the first book as a web novel.
The reason I want the entire series in the can is I want to give my Patreon supporters with articles and essays, and that’s going to be a lot of work. I thoroughly enjoyed writing essays for The WoW Diary’s second edition, and I don’t want to face a point where I’m burned out from maintaining a web novel.
The strange thing about having the series written is that I can’t imagine every writing any other way, yet I’ve uncovered no writer that follows this process. Every writer develops unique habits, but the benefits and freedom of finishing the series before publishing the first book are too powerful. There is no way I could have published this series one book at a time, and the idea of doing so seems antiquated and short-sighted. Publishing one book at a time would drastically limit me, enslaving my narrative to the earlier books. It feels like a new art form. I’m not writing books, I’m writing a series.
When the web novel finishes in three and a half years, I’ll crowdfund and release the eBooks, print, and audiobooks. How’s that for a 7-year plan?
Look for The Book of Dungeons in 2023, available on web novel sites like RoyalRoad.com.