I’d like to thank everyone who supported the Fantasy Mini-bundle. The final numbers were great! I sold as many copies of The Rise of the Red Shadow in ten days as I’ve sold in over a month Amazon. I particularly thank those of you who already owned my book but supported the bundle to try out the books by Lindsay and Charlotte. They are a great couple of authors, and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if you became a bigger fan of theirs than you are of mine.
So, what’s next? Well, if you take a look at the menu up at the top and mouseover Books, then Sneak Peeks, you’ll find a new one called Sci-Fi 3. (You could also just click here.) That’s the book I’ve been working on since the release of The Rise of the Red Shadow. It is going very slowly. (The home buying process will do that, I guess.) I’ve also been splitting my time between Sci-Fi 3—which has the working title of Artificial Evolution—and polishing up last year’s NaNoWriMo novel, called The Other Eight. It is probably going to release early next year. I’ve been discussing the plot and characters with a few beta readers, and after adding a few scenes it will go off to be edited. Once that happens, I’ll probably start talking to you good folks about the artwork for the book. Since it is based on superheroes, which I think you’ll agree is a major departure from my other stuff, this is an opportunity to take the cover and associated artwork in another direction. Maybe a new artist for this cover? Maybe multiple limited edition covers? Maybe an Amazon Cover and a Smashwords Cover? Lots of fun possibilities, and we’ll talk about them as time rolls on.
Finally, there’s the biggest decision, which I decided to do literally while writing this post. See, my sci-fi books have never done as well as the Book of Deacon Trilogy. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had a blast talking about them with the fans who found it, but they don’t have nearly the following. I’m an engineer at heart, so we’re going to go at it analytically. Is the sci-fi series worse than the fantasy series? Possibly, but there’s nothing I can do about that, the books are already out. So how else is the sci-fi series different? The obvious answer is that the series doesn’t have a free book. Or rather, didn’t have a free book.
Bypass Gemini is Now Free!
Right this very moment, you can head over to Smashwords and pick up a free copy. Over the course of the next few days and weeks the prices at the other sites will update to match. Unless I change my mind, it should be free for good. Let’s see what happens, shall we?
We’ll call the price drop The First Experiment. Once that runs its course, the time will come for The Next Experiment. So how else is the sci-fi series different from The Book of Deacon series?
The Sci-fi Series Needs a Name
I’ve floated this topic before (and even received a few good suggestions), but I’ve never called the sci-fi series anything more specific than The Sci-Fi Series. Capital letters do not a series name make. Since I’ve been so survey happy in the last few months, let’s do a survey! This is phase one, in which I ask you for ideas for a series name. I’ll gather them up eventually and do a second survey where you can vote on your favorite. I’ll probably wrap all of this up in some sort of a contest-type activity. More on that idea as it develops.