Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Spinward Fringe Status Update

Anyone who follows me on Twitter is aware that I've been putting even more hours in lately. Considering my normal work day is between 8-12 hours, that's a lot of time.

Here's what my days have looked like lately.

When I wake up in the morning at any time between 7:00 AM and 8:00 AM (I don't use an alarm clock, the one in my head is loud enough), I put the coffee on then get to work on the latest Spinward Fringe book. How is that going? It's going extremely well and I'll be announcing the names and release dates for the next two books sometime in the coming weeks.

After a few hours of that and a shower I get to work on editing. During mini breaks I check twitter, say something like; "I'm editing... again," my Email and the few bulletin boards I participate on.

These editing sprees generally last until 10:00 PM or midnight.

What am I editing, you ask?

Well, until recently I've been doing a deep edit on the First Light Chronicles: Freeground. In my opinion it's the weakest book in the series and needed some serious attention. Today I finished working on it and tomorrow the proof readers get their copies. After I finish working on Spinward Fringe tomorrow morning I'll be taking the dreaded red pen to First Light Chronicles: Limbo, a stronger book by far, but I think it could use another pass.

What happens when we've finished editing the First Light Chronicles Trilogy?

Everything gets updated. Anyone who has purchased a digital copy can re-download it and enjoy the fresh edit. The story isn't changing, so there are no worries there. As far as people who purchased the printed copies are concerned, well, all I can tell you is that the price of the Omnibus will be greatly reduced on Amazon.com and the new edition will be easy to find (see below).

Something else will be happening to the First Light Chronicles Omnibus. I'll be relaunching the book under a new title: Spinward Fringe Origins.

With the Spinward Fringe series slowly gaining exposure, people are confused when they realize that the main characters exist in two series; The First Light Chronicles and Spinward Fringe. The solution to this is to launch a new book. The format will be more professional, there will be an actual cover, and it'll appear in a final edit. eBook editions will be free on Smashwords and the retailers they distribute to.

There will also be a new book trailer for Spinward Fringe Origins. I'm in the process of securing the rights to some really good stuff and writing the script.

After that's all finished I'll continue with my editing spree. The entire Spinward Fringe series is undergoing another edit and proofing. Will this slow the scribing of the next two Spinward Fringe books down? Not at all. In fact, I've found that I've been more productive since I started this editing work.

The Spinward Fringe books won't be getting new covers or new names and I won't be changing the story at all, so you can rest assured that when all is said and done what you enjoyed about the books will certainly still be there.

The Spinward Fringe series has been enjoying great success on Mobipocket, which keeps me housed and eating spam, something I'm perhaps a little too grateful for. Now Kindle sales are starting to get off the ground and people are discovering the First Light Chronicles Omnibus on Smashwords (over 560 people have downloaded it for free in the last 25 days). I owe it all to the readers, and in respect to you all I'm doing my very best to make these books and the upcoming volumes as good as what you'd expect to see from a New York Publishing House.

Thank you for supporting me, things will only get better from here.

RL

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