Publication, Thy Name is Pivot…

Three weeks off did me a world of good, but now it is time to buckle up and get back to work.

Quick note: all book links within the post go to B&N. Amazon (and other) links will be at the very bottom of the post.

Also… please do not panic, and please do read carefully. No books are being cancelled. I’m just changing how I operate my business so I can keep writing for longer.

I spent very little of the three weeks writing, but I did spend a rather notable amount of time thinking. The Amazon problem has been at the front of the line on thoughts. Unsurprisingly, a lot of people are upset they missed a story at Amazon.

The solution to that is simple: yell at Amazon until they remove the tool. Once the tool is gone, people on Amazon can get the pilot stories, too. Until then? Nope. Authors are penalized for any reported errors, right or wrong, and we’re often punished before we have a chance to review the reports.

That is in bold because it’s important.

So, with three weeks of thinking time in, this is what is going to happen.

First, I’m chucking out all of my previous plans and starting over from scratch. As I have time in the next week, I’ll be adding notes to the front of posts stating the dates and orders have changed.

Second, I’m switching up how I write books. I will have two streams: Regular Work and Play Projects.

Regular work is just that: they’re books I’m working on during regular business hours.

Play Projects are books I’m working on outside of regular business hours and do not have a set publication order.

I’m not sharing the specific list of regular work projects at this point, but I AM sharing the methodology I’m using to create the list.

I will share the first six or so to give you an idea of the methodology in practice, however.

1. Money Book
2. Non-Money Book, Prioritized by Finishing Series
3. Non-Money Book, Prioritized by Finishing Series
4. Money Book
5. Non-Money Book, Prioritized by Progressing a Series
6. Non-Money Book, Prioritized by Progressing a Series
7. Money Book
8. Non-Money Book, Prioritized by Finishing Series
9. Non-Money Book, Prioritized by Finishing Series
10. Money Book
11. Non-Money Book, Prioritized by Progressing a Series
12. Non-Money Book, Prioritized by Progressing a Series
13. Money Book
14. Non-Money Book
15. Non-Money Book, Prioritized by Progressing a Series…

So, in this list, the first three cycles will finish off four series and progress two more, after one more cycle of progressing a series, I will go to Non-Money Book and one that progresses a series.

I have already picked what books count as money books and which ones do not, albeit later in the cycles I will have to potentially adjust things.

For the most part, I am hoping one in three being a money book will float the boat, but we’ll see. My current priority is to finish series and get them wrapped up.

I already have all my known series identified, and while I will be working on art for new series, while I’ll have special materials for said series, etc, the reality is this: not everything lasts forever, and I want to get shit finished.

That way, if the Amazon shit becomes unbearable, I can just ride off into the sunset. (And no, I can’t afford to keep writing without Amazon, so please stop suggesting I should just stop Amazon. Doing that is telling me to quit writing, period.)

There are a lot of authors riding off into the sunset right now because of Amazon’s continually horrible policies. That pains me, because most of these people were driven, working hard, and doing their best.

But they weren’t able to survive. (And yes, we need to make $x amount of money to survive. Passion does not pay the bills.)

I am not anticipating any changes to dates to things currently up for preorder, but if I need more time, I will push the release back by 30 days.

I expect preorders will be shorter moving forward, as there won’t be a whole lot of time for play projects, so nothing really to be slid in.

The days of releases back to back months will also be over. Thanks to Amazon and those who report errors, I simply cannot get books written faster anymore. (Instead of 2 months to draft, 1 month to edit, I’m now looking at 2-3 months to draft (drafting includes my first personal edits) and 2 months to edit.

Yes, that tool is that damaging. So, I will probably have to drop down to 2-3 books a year, and that’s life with the Amazon tool.

Yes, we’re ALL being punished with that tool, because I sure would LIKE to be able to go back to writing 2-3 books at a time and being able to release in bursts. That just isn’t an option anymore.

Booking three editors is work and takes time. Doing the additional editorial passes takes time.

This means I have a whole lot less time to write new books. (And thus we are all punished, because I make 95% of my money on new books, and they make their money in the first 3-4 weeks of their lifespan.) No new books because I’m hunting down the stray 10 typos means less money for me, fewer books for you.

At this stage, it is what it is, and while it upsets me, unless Amazon changes its policies, I just have to cope and spend an extra month eradicating maybe 10 extra typos. (Yes, that DOES irritate me.)

All this fuss over maybe 10 typos… oy.

So, here’s the upcoming list of books showing part of the new planning cycle. I am still debating if I will be shifting release dates to give myself extra time. I probably won’t, assuming I can get Dead Weight finalized in time.

1. Dead Weight (July)
2. Old Secrets (Nov)
3. Whiskers on Kittens (Dec)
4. Trickster King (Jan)
5. Grave Affairs (Apr)

New Publication Cycle:

1. Money Book: Dragon Her Heels (Mag Rom Com)
2. Series Finisher: The Edge of Midnight (Wolf Hunt / Declan #3)
3. Series Finisher: Dual Nature (Sean #2)
4. Money Book: Herding Polecats (Mag Rom Com)
5. Series Progression: Jesse #3
6. Series Progression: Zodiac Prequel

I will not be sharing any additional titles at this stage, and things MIGHT get switched up a little bit, as I haven’t quite finished finalizing the list.

Last but not Leashed and Serial Killer Princess #2 will still be released in Mag Rom Com anthologies as originally planned, and those anthologies will be in the “play project” list. They’ll get done when they get done.

As of last night, the Magical Romantic Comedy (with a body count) series accounts for 53% of my earnings. Royal States comes in second place with 11.5% of my total earnings.

And no, outside of the expansions I’ve already planned for the Mag Rom Com Series, I will not be bleeding rocks hoping for water. I have a set conclusion, all but two covers for the entire series in hand, and when it’s over, it’s over outside of anthologies, which I’ll toss in (probably with a spinoff novella or novel in each one.)

Royal States will be getting a chance to lift its weight as money projects, but beyond that… if one of my other series doesn’t take off, I’ll ultimately end up looking for new work, because the Royal States series and the third place series does not make enough to pay the bills and cover the costs of book production.

Sorry, that’s just a blunt reality of the situation. (And it’s a common trend in publication. The reason you see dead horse series beat to death is just that: the series makes money and without that series, the author can’t pay the bills.)

My decision to not beat the dead horse is simple: I am finishing what I set out to do, and I want to write new things.

If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out.

For now, I’m going to play my cards carefully, plan out the money books with caution, and hope for the best.

Right now, through careful selection and spreading out of the money books I DO have, I can pay the bills and keep writing for 80-something books. (Yes, I’m planning THAT far in advance because I want a viable career and I don’t WANT to have to stop writing.) And in that list, I’m finishing all the series I have started, and I’m not starting all that many new ones… because unless one of the newer ones hits or one of the older ones becomes more popular, I don’t know if I can keep writing beyond that.

And that’s all right. All good things eventually do come to an end. It just happens that the end might be in roughly 83 books, which will finish off 17 series. No, that was not a typ0 (although I’m sure there are many typos in this post). Seventeen series will be finished by the end of my 80-something list of books.

Just for the record, the G.P. Robbins series is currently set to be seven books unless it does well; I have it set up in my head to be expandable, and all the first seven books does is complete a major arc and go off on a fun side arc tangent. The first seven books feature six different cops, but if the series does survive beyond book seven, those six different cops will be reused as leads, with the lead character in book one becoming the predominant character throughout the series.

Very minor spoiler alert: the romance arcs in Dead Weight are a wee bit longer than the ones in the Mag Rom Com book, because the romance is very much secondary while the magic, the mystery, and the mayhem are the front and center of the show. But let’s face it… you’ll know who will capture Jace early on, and it’s just a matter of enjoying the ride.

Ideally, Magic, Mayhem, and the Law will slide into the Money Book section, and I’m going to schedule the books to include them as money books… wishful thinking and all.

The preorder numbers for Grave Affairs are low enough that the series will likely end at three books unless it really improves closer to release. It just doesn’t seem to be a hit with people in general, which is fine. It could improve closer to release, although I’m not holding my breath on that. (Let’s just say it has less than a quarter, and by that I mean FAR less than a quarter) of preorders compared to other titles that aren’t money books. AKA, it’s going to be an epic flop, which I will accept with cheer.

Apparently, the Dead Weight style of dragons is more entertaining than the Grave Affairs style of dragons. Amusingly… Dead Weight doesn’t mention dragons in the description, but Grave Affairs does.

(A side note, that’s generally a signal that between cover and description, things simply aren’t meshing with readers. And that’s fine, it’ll RIP after three books, and I’ll call it a day.) I went in not expecting much, which is what I got, so that’s fine. Really, it is.

I’m just being open and honest about how the industry works… and yes, we make decisions THIS early in the process. (So do traditional publishers.)

So, for the bad news…

I will not be doing a birthday book next year unless a play project finishes earlier than anticipated. I don’t have sufficient time to write and produce with the new editorial schedule. Dragon Her Heels will likely be be set for a late June 2024 release. (Preorder coming soonish, after I finalize my order for what I’ll be writing and confirm I’ll have sufficient time. It might end up being July.)

Dead Weight, G.P. Robbins: Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, Amazon

Grave Affairs, Lilith Daniels: Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, Amazon

Expect 2-3 months gap between books moving forward. You can go thank Amazon for this (due to their error reporting tool) by emailing jeff@amazon.com; without them overreaching, I wouldn’t have had to take these steps

And yes, Amazon users… until they remove the claws and teeth from their error reporting tool and make it truly optional (or eliminate it completely), I simply CANNOT give you any of the experimental stories or pilots. They’re SUPPOSED to have errors.

Once they remove the tool or completely rip out its teeth and claws, then the stories will be added to your copies. But because we’re punished for every report, right or wrong… this is how it has to be.

And no, I will not be making public links/downloads to the shorts because they’re a thank you to readers who are supporting me on non-hostile vendors. You can acquire copies you can import into your kindle library at Smashwords. You can also request the book from your local libraries and check out a copy for access to the pilot stories. (That is generally a free service to you.)

And now, off I go to get this list of books finalized so I can start scheduling when things might be finished and set a release date for Dragon Her Heels.

I hope you have a good day.

P.S.: Pictures of Australia will be coming in a future post.