First, the third volume of No Man’s Land is up. Which means now the entire mammoth book is out.
Why three volumes? Well, because each book is around 270 pages. The original estimate for the whole book was 900 pages, but that’s an overestimation. Turns out it’d only be around 810, give or take, because one is shorter, the other is longer and….
Look, I really wanted to do it as one volume. No, seriously. that’s why it only has one cover, with different lettering. BUT a bunch of people, including Cedar more or less sat on me and yelled “you can’t bind a book that large.”
Will there be an omnibus? I fully intend to do one in ebook, but I was told for various reasons, including algorithm, not to do it for a year. And it will be a genuine pain to setup (I need to combine the three, since they were copyedited individually, then typeset the monster book (and won’t THAT be fun.)) Maybe before the second book comes out.
Anyway, I have a ton of books to finish, and book two to write, and…. AND…..
Why am I not doing any of it?
Well, because the only way things actually happen is if I have a schedule. But schedules break when I have to stop writing to do something else for a few weeks. And I have a trip and major disruption coming up…. SO.
So there is no point. And preparing for the trip (mentally is hardest) is breaking me up.
So–
So it will wait till middle of November, and then I’ll try to hard set the schedule again.
But waiting is driving me nuts.
Anyway, next week I have a guest post for you from Mark Lardas about what to do to get your books reviewed. And after that probably one by Charlie Martin, and then we’ll play it by year.
I don’t intend to abandon you altogether, but if the time of this post doesn’t say it, it’s going to get choppy for about a month. I didn’t plan on mom dying suddenly, and it threw a wrench into everything.
But the point is, even if you are a “Must have a schedule and a routine” it’s a waste of time to set it only to break it immediately after, and I swear it makes it harder to set next time.
Right now I can’t SEE the schedule for trying. Sigh.
Sorry to whine. Your thoughts and prayers for the next month MUCH appreciated.
And now I’ll go do my other blow which is even MORE criminally late, since I have to do two of them.
Thank you for your patience.
Mad Genius Club 
15 responses to “Schedules And Why I’m Not Pushing”
Consider yourself added to my prayer list. You and yours have been on and off for a long time cuz sometimes I need to prune it. 🙂
I can certainly sympathize (in a small way) since I just put out my first paperback, and it was a lot of work over my epub version which was straightforward. It took me two full days to reformat my wife’s book, twice because I used a recommended online template rather than an Amazon one. I’ve got some 20,000 fonts on my computer, but both the templates used fonts I’ve never heard of and couldn’t find to be able to add to my word processing program. China Harbor: Out of Time is 390 pages using Amazon template, was nearly 600 pages using the online recommended template.
Now I have to record the audio book for Advance Guards. My wife’s book definitely needs a female narrator, so I won’t be doing that one. It’s past time to start on my next book, but I’ve got two Cons coming up this month and next. Well one and a half, since one’s online only.
Ah, the life of a do-it-all-yourself writer!
I hate schedules. I love lists. Short lists. Three is optimal (for me): doable and choosable. On macOS/iOS, “Reminders” has vastly improved my ability to get things done.
Yeah, the calendar function on my phone does a lot of heavy lifting too.
My sympathies–I haven’t been in control of my day to day schedule on anything but a superficial level since January 2020.
Learning how to fit necessary chores, catch-up household projects, and writing, into the cracks and crevices of time that multiple crises have dealt us has been, um, fun.
Right now we have something that is non-crisis normal, but I still am only nominally in control. Like, I suspect, most people. 😉
Prayers up. Sometimes all you can do is surf on the waves of chaos until you come to shore.
A schedule is what you deviate from while God laughs hysterically at your plans.
Try to enjoy the trip, get yourself healthy, and then post for us again. We’ll still be here, waiting.
I’ll add you to my prayer list.
Enjoying the trip is probably impossible, but it needs to be done for various reasons including my mental wholeness, if that makes sense.
Yes, it does (referencing all the statements). I’ve had that t-shirt a few times.
Prayers up.
All right then. Why not put out the omnibus soon after?
When I finish the sequels to The Other Princess, should I put them out and only a year later give the omnibus The Other Tales?
Because I need to reformat the whole thing, and that size is going to take me a week just for stuff like “All the chapters start at the same space.”
HOWEVER more importantly, I don’t want to dilute the algorithm. It will “push” it more if the books are well ranked. if I put out the omnibus, half or more of the sales will go to that, and none of the volumes (nor the omnibus) will rank well enough.
Does this mean the readers will be inconvenienced? A little. BUT I do have to look out for the marketing. This is not a hobby.
Instead of a single volume, is there a way to do a boxed set?
Yes, but not Amazon, and it’s…. complicated because I don’t want to have to ship it. (Ask people about my relationship with the post office. I keep forgetting to go there. Sometimes takes me a year to ship something.)
If it continues selling well, I might contract a special edition leather bound and with gilded edge pages etc. BUT that would require younger DIL to agree to be hired to ship. It would also probably require kickstarter.
Other than that, possess your soul in patience. This stuff is expanding every year.
I would buy that!
we’ll see if enough would. 😀
I will be busy reading NML 1 and also 2 and 3 as soon as they get here. So I will be a bit busy.