Coming Soonish

Where has the time gone? I made a very unsettling discovery the other day. I don’t have any titles scheduled after Designation: Frejya comes out next month. Eeep! That means I’ve been looking at projects in the hopper, projects that need to be in the hopper, and those that I have no intention of writing but Myrtle the Evil Muse begs to differ. I’m also going to be changing a couple of things up about how I offer the books for pre-order, so bear with me. I’m only on my second cuppa this morning and the brain is not wanting to function.

Here’s the upcoming schedule. It is not written in stone and is more a roadmap. Hopefully, it will be more reliable than some of the AAA game roadmaps for post-launch schedules, but life happens and I have to keep that in mind.

Prophecy Averted (working title and will change), Eerie Side of the Tracks #6–Winter 2022/Early 2023

Fire’s Fury, Tearing the Veil #2

Vengeance of the Gods, Sword of the Gods #4 (and end of series)

“Untitled”, Nocturnal Awakenings #3

“Untitled”, Augment Wars #2

Those are the planned titles between October 2022 and December 2023. I have no doubt Myrtle the Evil Muse will mess with things, especially the order of things. I also know of at least two long short stories or novellas I want to do. One is set in the Honor & Duty universe but does not focus on Ashlyn Shaw. It may act as the bridge between the first story arc and the new story arc/series. The second is already basically written and will serve as a bridge between the Nocturnal Lives/Awakening series and a side series that is growing out of it. Just when those will come out remains to be seen. Let’s just say, I plan to stay busy.

Now for those changes I wrote about at the top of this post.

I’ve played with timing for pre-orders for some time now. I’ve done it when I’ve offered pre-orders for a month before release. I’ve done it where I’ve had the pre-order up six months or more before release. There are advantages to both but there are also disadvantages. The advantages all basically come down to promotion. The sooner a pre-order goes up, the sooner I have an actual page link to be able to use in ads, social media posts, etc. The downside to this, especially where Amazon is concerned, is page ranks. The “sales” made on the pre-orders register for ranking purposes on the date the order is placed and not on release day–which is when it’s important to have a high ranking. Because of that, pre-orders now will go up between 2-4 weeks before release.

Yes, I’ll shout them long and loud here, on MGC and on social media. But I want to see how that goes.

There are a few other changes that will be going into effect as well, but most of them will be behind the scenes and I’ll discuss them later, once I decide the best way to implement them.

Also, I am seriously considering putting each new release into KU for 3 months before taking them wide. It’s been a year since I went wide and I want to test the waters again with exclusives and see how they do. Because of that, I will be taking at least one series back to exclusive only. Before I do that, however, I want to update the cover(s) for the book(s) in question. More on that later.

What else?

Don’t forget to pick up your copy of Destiny from Ashes (Honor & Duty 8) if you haven’t already.

Colonel Ashlyn Shaw is on a collision course with an enemy determined to destroy her and all she holds dear. Honor demands she not turn away from the upcoming battle. Duty requires her to do whatever is necessary to protect her command and her home system. The Corps and her family stand with her, ready and willing to do whatever it takes to finally bring this war to an end.

But when the enemy turns out to be closer than she thinks, how will Ashlyn react? Will this finally be what breaks her or will it see the might of the Fuerconese Marine Corps raining death and destruction down on all who would stand against Fuercon and her enemies?

Honor and duty. Corps and family. These are the hills upon which Ash and every Marine in her command will live and possibly die as they fight to protect Fuercon and her allies.

Also, don’t forget the Stars of Sci-Fi Summer Humble Bundle. It’s a bundle of 35 titles by authors like Brandon Sanderson, Frank Herbert and others (including yours truly. Still not sure how I managed to sneak in. VBG). You can get all 35 for as little as $18. Here’s a quick description:

Tales from Brandon Sanderson, Frank Herbert, and more

Finish off summer by traveling to the strange worlds and new horizons in this collection of science fiction novels & stories! Discover tales by Hugo-winning authors Brandon Sanderson (Shadows Beneath) and Frank Herbert (High-Opp). Explore the futures imagined by Alan Dean Foster (Three Books, Countless Worlds), Kevin J. Anderson (Resurrection, Inc.), and more stars of sci-fi, and help support First Book with your purchase!

Please, go check it out.

Until later!