I’m a little late posting this one, but October sort of flew by. It was a month of much rejoicing, as Driftmetal IV came out and provided me with a big spike from pre-order sales. Including those, I sold somewhere in the neighborhood of 120 books in October. I’m not sure off-hand, but I think that eclipses my previous best sales month back in July, when the third Driftmetal novel came out. I’m very happy to see things building over time the way they are, and it gives me hope that my next few releases are really going to kick things up another notch.
In writing news, I spent most of October working toward the end of Children of the Wastes, the second book in the Aionach Saga. My word count goal is 220k, but it’s looking like it’ll end up being more like 230-240k if I manage to include everything in my outline. I’m closing in on the last few chapters now, after which I’ll start my next project…
Unfortunately, I can’t seem to decide what I want to write next. That’s a good problem to have, as far as I’m concerned. Driftmetal V has been on my to-do list ever since I finished Book 4, but my new spin-off series set in the same world has really caught my attention lately.
I’ve had several readers comment that they didn’t feel like Driftmetal gives enough background/exposition about the world of Esperon before it gets into the action, which makes it hard to understand. A fair point, although Driftmetal was intended to be a fast-paced adventure series, rather than a big epic world-building-fest that explains the origins of how everything came to be the way it is.
So this new series takes place a few hundred years before the events of Driftmetal and chronicles how the planet shattered and how techsouls came into existence. That’s all happening as a backdrop to the main story, though, which I’m super excited to start. I’ve outlined most of it, and I’m already falling in love with the characters. I don’t think I’ve ever spent this much time fleshing out a cast and “getting to know” them in advance before, but I think it’s going to make a huge difference in how they come across on the page. By the way, the new series is called Skyjackers, and it’ll be released in a six-episode ‘season.’ If it takes off, I’ll probably do more seasons, but to start with it’ll be just the one.
That’s all for now. Wishing you the best in all your endeavors. Thanks for reading!