May 2022 Writing Update (Patreon)

New month, so new update about what is going on with my writing. I'm divering into what's going on with my life since it will affect writing for a bit.

Firstly...

Personal Stuff

Mostly, I'm sick. Again. Nothing major, just a series of colds that make me cough and fall over exhausted. It's been a thing this winter, so writing speed and editing and everything else has slowed down due to that. 

Also, I've got a holiday / conference coming up at the end of this month going to June in Spain. So, that'll throw writing and editing time off a little. Still, that's why I shifted and chose NOT to have a release in August/September this year, which means I'm well ahead of the game per se.

Business Stuff

You might have noticed a shift to our Starlit Publishing website having more exclusives and 

early release works. As much as possible, that's our plan for all our work. That might not happen with A Thousand Li 7 (the Third Kingdom) for the audiobook, but everything else, we're going to try to make it available for people to buy from us beforehand.

That also includes things like running Kickstarter beforehand like our recent audiobook kickstarter. The entire point is to shift emphasis away from Amazon, give us more control and earn a little more. Especially when it comes to audiobooks, the different is nearly 3x what we get if we sold it via Audible.

Writing & Release Updates

Alright, you're all here for the writing updates. Here we go:

A Thousand Li

- A Thousand Li 7 continues to post for patrons. Look out for a mass release starting later this week, as we get you guys caught up now that we are expecting the proofed copy back in the next few days.  Preview chapters should be all done by middle / end of the month (depending on tier) and then final copy will be out for patrons to read before the end of the month.

Book itself should be released on our Starlit Publishing website on June 1.

-  A Thousand Li: the Third Realm (book 8) will start publishing on Patreon on June 3 too. I'm currently around 30k words in, so a decent chunk of the book, though I am thinking the book itself might be one of the longest in the series (but you know me and gauging book sizes - I'm horrible at it!). 

- Patron's should also have gotten the extra short story about Fairy Yuan already. Link attached if you missed it somehow!

System Apocalypse

- We're waiting on Nick to get around to recording System Finale. I know he was supposed to start end of this month but he's delayed again. Waiting for an update for when, but I know we were close to top of his schedule so that should not be too much of a delay.

- The System Apocalypse Anthology is still looking for short story submissions. If you ever wanted to write in the universe and/or be a co-author, this is the way to get in. I'll be reading submissions soon of those who sent in (once I stop being sick!)

- System Apocalypse: Australia 3  is in the final parts of edits on my side. It would have been faster if I wasn't ill. It should still be done by next week for both of us, at least most of it. Looking at a hopefully June 1, 2022 release for book 3.

Audio will record in June for book 2 and July for book 3.

- System Apocalypse: Relentless 2 is  still being written. We're hoping to get first draft done by end of this month and then a release either July 1 or August 1 (depending on timing of when everything is finished).  

Climbing the Ranks

Being posted every Saturday for patrons. I'm not sure when we'll have this finished, and where we'll post it. It might become a Patron & Starlit Publishing exclusive with maybe a Kickstarter. We're still a way away from it actually finishing book 1 though, so that is not something I'm worry about too much.

Other Plot Bunnies

There's a few random plot bunnies I'm working on, on and off. Some are shorts / novellas/etc. for sending for printing in other areas, some are works that are just fragments of works that might never be completed. I've yet to settle on my next 'big' series, though I might take a small break between ATL 8 and that next big series to finish up some of these half-written works.

We shall have to see. 

And that's about it. No other major updates on finished series, so those are trudging along. We're nearly finished with all our translations to Germans (other than SA main); so not much updates there. Not that I expect most of you care. :) 

As usual, feel free to ask questions.