Update on print collections of Forgotten Worlds!

After reading through the series again and fixing mistakes I've found--as a writer, I'll never NOT find things I want to fix--I've finally begun the process of reformatting the paperbacks to get those available again. I'm glad I waited. I learned a few things that improved the formatting.

Because these are omnibus editions, they're too long for hardcover on Amazon. I'll go back to making them available as paperback on Amazon.

The first of them, Collection 1 (Books 1-5), is in the proofing stage after a long day of formatting that. Once I have a chance to review those proofs and approve them, I'll make those available.

I hope to have the first three ready in time for the holidays and will work on Collection 4 (Books 16-20) once I've read through those books and fixed any mistakes.

Because this is such a tedious process, I did not get any writing done today. On the good side, I now have everything with the updating process down so that the next two should go a bit faster and I can get back to writing sooner.

This has been a nice little break from writing, where I was sort of stuck just under 10K words on Book 23. When that happens, it helps to work on something else for a day or two to refresh the creativity. This has been a good break from the writing side, although I loathe the formatting of print.

And I may just go ahead and release the collections as ebooks also. I expect to price them at $9.99 each (5 books per collection).

That's been my Saturday and will probably fill up Sunday as well.

Thanks for reading!

a small update on writing... the final three!

Since I published Book 20, I've been reading through Books 21 and 22 of Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds to review what the most recent books cover.

I expect to finish that this weekend and by Monday, if not sooner, start writing Book 23. I'll be down to the final three books, and I have to decide which order on 23 and 24. The plots at this point could fit for either one, but I have to decide soon which is best.

I'm also enjoying rereading the rest of the series and am up to Book 16. It's helpful to catch up... but I never stop editing. I find little things that I want to fix. I never won't find something that I question changing. I'm also making notes to make sure I've saved things in my wiki file for reference.

And next week or weekend, the end of September, I'll work on formatting the updated print collections of the series and get those back up. Once I get through the latest five books of reading again, I'll set up Collection 4. The only problem is that there are maximum page allowances for the print. Since the books seem to be getting longer, I can only hope that I can continue with the final collections being five books each. 😬

After I finish book 23, I'll go into edits on Book 21. After rereading it... It's going to need a lot of editing!

Those are the plans for now. I have pages of notes for the final three books. It's all coming together for the exciting conclusion of this series.

Thanks for reading!

upcoming print book

I have one more round of edits for Book 17 before it's done, but after finishing the latest edits last night, I decided today to take a break to complete a more tedious job... formatting. 😵

I've been working most of the day on formatting for the print version of Collection 3 (Books 11-15) to set up a hardcover on Barnes and Noble and a paperback with Amazon. Editing is difficult, but formatting is tedious.

And while formatting the file for the interior, I discovered a few formatting issues from the ebooks of these, so I'm going back and cleaning up those files to be sure the ebooks don't have any hidden issues (extra spaces, tabs, returns, etc.). I'll finish these five, then go back to the first ten and give those another pass.

There's always something, but the good thing about being indie is that I can easily make these changes and upload a new file... when I have time, because this is a tedious, time-consuming process, which is why many indies hire it out to others. It's also why I hate setting up print books--a LOT more steps to clean up and then reformat into a clean PDF and upload. Ebooks are just a matter of the DOCX file being directly uploaded. I don't have to worry about where a print page ends and a new chapter begins or where a section break ends and a new book begins (applicable to omnibus editions) or messing up my table of contents with page numbers of each book's starting page in the omnibus collection.

This is why I don't just make print books for all the books I have. I could, but it's also cheaper for readers to buy a 5-in-1 omnibus than individual print books. I can sell the paperback omnibus editions on Amazon for $19.95 versus $5-6 per individual book; and since these are 5-book omnibus editions, that's like getting one whole book free. For a hardcover, it's an even bigger savings. However I do have to keep them exclusive to specific stores to keep the prices as low as possible.

So, if you're waiting on a print edition of the next five books of the Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds series, it's in the works, as I had mentioned this past winter. These are the projects that I work on when I need a break from writing or editing. They require a different set of skills that's more process-oriented than creative in nature. It's a way to switch gears for a while.

I won't finish at this time, but I will work on it again after Book 17 is out. For now, the initial setup is done. I have a final clean-up of the files, then uploading and waiting on approval, ordering proofs and waiting on those, evaluating proofs, likely making changes and going through the approval and proof process again (one more more times), and finally approving the print books for sale. The approval and proof processes, since I like to see actual printed copies, are where the delays really come in.

If you're looking for a more exact time frame, I would expect to see Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds Collection 3 (Books 11-15) print edition available by the time I'm getting Book 18 ready for publishing; in other words, within the next four months.

That's my best estimate. I'll announce when it's ready, and the links will be available from my website at that time. For now, the individual ebooks are available from all major book retailers, and the first two omnibus editions are available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble in paperback and hardcover respectively.

Thanks for reading!