What’s next
New World‘s been on shelves for about a month now, and I’ve been taking a much-needed break to recharge my batteries. But I’m starting to feel human enough again to start thinking about what’s next for me, and I wanted to share that with all of you.
2018 was my most productive year so far. I had stories in two anthologies published this year, one of which I also edited. I released my longest novel to date—New World clocked in at 120,000 words, a whopping 421 pages. Word count-wise, New World was almost the length of Fourth World and Different Worlds combined. Even though I wound up having to push the release date back to about three months later than I’d originally intended, I feel like the extra length of the book more than made up for it (it’s almost twice as long as Cheerleaders from Planet X!).
That said, it did take up a huge chunk of my year. There were a lot of things in my personal life that I pushed aside while this book consumed my life for roughly nine months (granted, a couple of those I was juggling Magic at Midnight as well. But still). And at the end of the day, sales haven’t been great. And that’s kind of looking at it through rose-colored glasses.
The Iamos Trilogy is a series I love from the bottom of my heart. I’m very happy with the books so far and I don’t regret the time I’ve spent writing it. But the fact of the matter is, it sells terribly. Over the course of three years, Fourth World has earned approximately one-third of what Cheerleaders from Planet X has earned in one year. I can’t afford to spend 2019 the way I spent 2018, working 24/7 for three-quarters of a year on a book that won’t sell.
So I’m taking a break from Iamos.
The series isn’t canceled—that would be a real jerk move, considering the cliffhanger New World ends on—but I don’t anticipate I’ll be working on One World in 2019. Right now the plan is to spend some time on other projects that hopefully will be a bit more marketable to give myself some financial padding, as well as giving my brain a chance to rest up from all those giant plot lines I’ve opened over the course of two-and-a-half Iamos books. I’m also investigating ways to cut back on my stress in the hopes of alleviating my brain fog, which in turn I hope will allow me to write more quickly. That includes hiring a personal assistant to help with social media (already done—you’ve probably already noticed some of her posts, particularly on Facebook), simplifying my Patreon (goal for this is to have this ready for the new year), and exploring all my publication options to see if I can find a good niche to accommodate my slower writing/release pace, since we all know I can’t do the rapid release thing that most indie authors make their bread and butter.
I can’t announce anything right now, but tentative/appropriately vague writing plans for 2019 include:
- A YA fantasy with a bisexual heroine—this will not be released in 2019, but I hope to have it written by the end of the year. This is going to be my main project for Lyssa for 2019.
- Probably a serialized NA sci-fi novel(la) with a f/f romance, to be collected and released through Kraken Collective upon completion—looking at end-of-2019 for release if I can squeeze it in among my other commitments.
- Maybe a sequel to Cheerleaders from Planet X. I keep waffling on this because sales justify a sequel, but I am really struggling to come up with a plot. This would more than likely not be completed in 2019, but I might be able to make decent headway on it for a 2020 release if a plot comes to me.
This is all super tentative because I have some non-Lyssa commitments that don’t have wiggle room. It could be that 2019 gets swallowed up by non-Lyssa things, but I hope not because I do want to get at least projects 1 and 2 done (or at least substantially written) by the end of the year.
After projects 1 and 2 (and maybe 3, but that’s contingent on me dreaming up another plot) are done, then I plan to go back to Iamos. If I can get everything + my non-Lyssa commitments done in 2019, then I expect probably Fall 2020 for One World‘s release. If not… probably 2021 at the earliest. In other words: it will get done, but don’t expect it any time soon.
Love Iamos and want me to put it higher up on my priority list? Please spread the word! If sales were to improve, I would absolutely put it back up on the priority list. But right now, I just can’t justify it.