Writing is a hard thing. There is nothing easy about it.
I now have the first book of my trilogy, Any Tomorrow: The Calling, out on Amazon and Smashwords (inclusion in the Smashwords Premium Catalog is still pending).
I have the second book in the series, Any Tomorrow: The Curse, edited and awaiting formatting.
The third and final book, Any Tomorrow: The Culling, needs final editing and formatting.
My preoccupation with these books pulls me away from my other writing. I think I might have enough material for a book of short stories, but I don’t have the time to focus on that project.
My wife, whom I love and whose opinions I respect, has suggested that I wait, say, three or four months before I publish Any Tomorrow: The Curse which may be a good idea, I don’t know. I think I might be more inclined to agree with that if the time between eNovels would push my loyal fan base into a frenzy waiting for the next book to appear. (The classic example of that being the Harry Potter series.) Well, I don’t have a fan base and quite frankly I don’t foresee the untold millions waiting to hit the download button. What I do know is that I personally don’t like waiting or getting books in installments. I’d much rather wait and get all the books at once.
I always try to wait for the director’s cut box set.
I am somewhat compelled by a sense of urgency about publication. After all, fate is an uncertain quantity in this all too short life. The world is not the slow place it once was. Fortunes and futures can change with a missed heartbeat or a missed step. I am willing to lose a little sleep to get my eBooks online. At least then they will have a chance to be read. As long as they stay in my hard drive and only I read them, they serve little purpose other than to be one more thing I didn’t follow through on.
In the end I am a realist. I don’t expect to make tons of money or have thousands so adoring fans. My writing genre of speculative fiction isn’t for everyone. It takes a certain type of psyche to appreciate the strange and unusual, the what ifs and could have beens. To see time and space as something other than what it is. Not everyone can write it and not everyone will read it. Not everyone can be Stephen King.
It would be nice, though, if I sold a few books and maybe got back some constructive comments. Look for Any Tomorrow: The Curse to be published soon. Maybe the world can wait for it, but I can’t.
As always, if you have any comments, questions, or concerns about this post or any of my posts, please let me know. I would really appreciate your feedback. Thanks.
© Copyright 2011 by Kevin Fraleigh.
I’d wait to publish the next novel, but not too long. You don’t want to overload the people who know and follow/read you with promotion, but you don’t want to give new readers a chance to forget you, either. I don’t think I’d wait more than a month, or so, if I had a second novel ready to go. If the books are priced fairly, and people liked the first one, they’ll be ready to buy the second. Everything I’ve been reading about publishing says the more books you have available, the better you’ll do.