So basically … kind of a news post. But not. More just a case of “Well, I really should say something, and there have been goings on lately …”
Also, I really wanted to talk about what happened yesterday. So you know how I have a standing thing with Axtara – Banking and Finance of “let me know if you find a copy in the wild?” Send a picture, etc?
Well, I’m sharing not a picture, but definitely a demonstration of how far Axtara has spread her wings. Yesterday a new entry popped up on my royalty notifications. One I’d not gotten before. It was an end-of-month royalty for copies sent to bookstore distribution. Checking up, I found that these are usually a bit after the fact (so this royalty was probably for back when Axtara launched), but there was another detail that I caught.
This order was for Germany. Which means that somewhere out there in Germany is a bookstore with Axtara – Banking and Finance proudly displayed on its shelves.
Or not, if it’s already been bought out, at which point they’ll probably order more. Yes, I definitely hope that.
Is this particularly special? Well, yes and no. It’s not like this is the first time I’ve sold books in Germany, or in other countries around the world. My ebook market is pretty global.
But Axtara is my first paperback, and this order means that someone working at a bookstore in Germany was either familiar enough with my work on their own through my ebooks to place an order based on what they already knew, or read the synopsis and thought “Yes, that sounds good. I want to read this, and I think people will buy it,” then placed it then.
Either way, it makes me happy. My paperback sales are now not just global, but they’re in bookstores outside of the US. That is a freaking accomplishment.
And it makes me dang proud. Axtara’s got wings, and she’s using them to fly around the world. I wonder where she’ll land next?
Since this is basically news post now, I might as well talk about Starforge. We’re almost at the end of part three now. I’m working on some timing and pacing as well as structure bits, and it’s probably something that’ll see editing before this book goes into alpha, but progress is progress.
Unlike Colony and Jungle, Starforge has four parts, too, which should be a clue as to how titanic this book is. I’m still not certain if it’ll top out Jungle (which weighed in at 468,000 words by the end) but it definitely is going to be close. There’s a lot of ground to cover. Literally … though I can’t say more there or it’d be spoiler territory.
Suffice it to say, I don’t want to give an estimate of when Starforge might release yet. Close as I am to finishing the draft, there’s still a mandatory “detox” break, followed by mass editing before even reaching Alpha and Beta status.
That said, I’m still actively writing it (3-4K a day!), so I’m leagues ahead of a few other people out there. The ending to this trilogy is coming, people! And it’s bringing more action, explosions, peril, and devastation than the last two books combined!
Not even joking. And those of you who read the last two know how much crazy action happened in those. The reviewers who said there was too much in Colony and Jungle? Probably not going to like this finale as much. Those reviewers that said Colony and Jungle had too little action (yeah, they exist)? They’ll probably be a bit happier.
But I mean, after the setup of the last two, what do most people expect. The All is back on the galactic scene, people! And they wiped out a race that was building planets.
Of course things are going to be full of violence and explosions.
And as for everything else, well … Honestly that’s about it. Not much else to say. Just keeping rolling on Starforge and working on weekend projects (there will be more Stranded in the future).
Oh! I do want to thank everyone that has replied with a topic request so far for Topic List #17 (post on that here)! There have been a number of great replies, and list #17 now sits at ten topics! There’s still space on the list, so if you’ve been waffling back and forth on an idea, go ahead and run it by the suggestion post!
Anyway, that’s all for now. I should get back to work on Starforge! Books don’t write themselves!
Catch you on Monday, readers!
Unusual Things 