Jun 18, 2015

So we've reached the end of the road for the Inkshares campaign, but we're far from the end of the road for this book.

In the end I sold 181 copies of my book, which in truth, is far and away more than I thought I would actually get. No, it wasn't enough to win the competition, and it was quite a ways from meeting the 1,000 copy target, but that's okay.

So how's the book going?

Progress on the book slowed a lot over the course of the competition, the effort of promoting it and 'sale watching' was a drain on time available and motivation. Since the competition ended I've taken some time away from the book, just to think about it, and mostly to just do anything else but write. It's been a nice little break (and I've also been playing far too much of The Witcher 3...).

I've also been thinking about how best to end the book, and the original ending has changed in ways both slight and significant. Slight in that a character has been inserted into the climax, and significant in that their inclusion has mostly pushed the plot for the sequel to the 3rd book. In fact I was having trouble forming a story for the third book all along (it was getting quite concerning) and this simple insertion of a character solved a whole tonne of issues. So it's a good thing.

So, what now?

Well for the next little while I'll be getting a rough structure planned out for books 2 and 3 and making sure the end of this book sets ups the sequels properly enough. Then I'll actually get around to finishing this damn thing. Early July is the estimate.

Yeah, but then what?

For the rest of July I'll be doing outlines for the second and third books, as detailed as I can manage in order to be ready to start writing them towards the back end of the year. In August I will be doing a full edit of Ghosts and will start prepping it for publishing.

Publishing? But the campaign didn't...

I've decided that I'll be self publishing Ghosts of War, as it's the most practical and cost effective avenue for me to get the book out there as soon as possible. At this point I'm looking at having it out before the end of the year. If all goes well I will probably come back to Inkshares in an effort to fund the sequel.

I have made a record of everyone who preordered Ghosts and when the time comes that it's available I will contact you all and let you know what's happening. 

I don't know how long this project page will stay on Inkshares for, but I'll periodically pop in and update on how things are progressing as long as it's here.

Lastly, I want to thank you all for believing it me and this book enough to support it, it all means a great deal. Even if it didn't get there in the end it was still nice to know you were willing to help out. It's all very much appreciated.

Thanks again.