For the past two years, I’ve been working from home, and by “working” I mean writing and not making a damn cent. That all changes this year. I have a solid plan to release at least three books (self-published on Amazon) and produce at least three more drafts. Ideally, both of those threes will be a tiny bit higher in practice, but since this is a new endeavor, I’m being as practical and realistic as possible (But, Dear Reader, don’t worry, I am dreaming BIG.)
I made the decision in November that I would forego traditional publishing to self-publish The Korinniad and have been working on getting her ready. I’ve got the book out to a number of beta readers now, and I’ll have my cover designer picked out tonight. I’m also putting together a list of reviewers I want to send copies to and figuring out the ins and outs of creating the audio book to go along with it. If all goes well, The Korinniad will be out by the end of January, and I am insanely pumped.
After that, She’s All Thaumaturgy will be my focus for the next release. Some of this book isn’t even drafted yet (the damn ENDING), but I’m working on her now and expecting to be complete by the 24th of January. It will need a huge revision then before moving onto where The Korinniad is today, but I can already see it. I’m not sue what its release schedule will look like, but I’m hoping to extrapolate that info from from TK. If all goes well, I’ll move onto planning the release of The Association. Again, this draft is missing its ending, but all the pieces are there. And that’s three books!
I’m not without my concerns, and significant ones aside from my own motivation and ability. These three books are all one-offs, not part of any series, and they’re all different genres. The Korinniad is an adventure fantasy based in mythological Greece dealing with gods and monsters with romance at its core, but I wouldn’t consider it exactly in the romance genre. She’s All Thaumaturgy is also an adventure fantasy, but in a more classical, middle ages-ish setting with dragons and elves. The romance is more secondary to that plot. Then I’m totally changing course with The Association which is a murder mystery set in present day but with a paranormal twist (and a little romance because why not?) The three are connected in two ways: fantasy elements and tone. I can’t write a story without a goddamned vampire or dragon, and I’ve been into a more irreverent, campy style lately. I’m going for both in all these books, but the genres are inherently different, so I don’t know if I’ll get a lot of readers from one book to pick up the others.
I also don’t know if I’ll get a lot of readers period! That’s every writer’s biggest concern though, isn’t it? Always stuck between these two intense feelings: God, I hope no one ever sees this and God, I hope someone likes this! But I made my resolution this year to embrace my inner Leo and be more “extra” which translates to not giving a shit what other people think, so I guess that means I sort of have to publish these things, and I have to plug them all over my social media. My nerves will be fried this time next year for sure OR I’ll be a totally different person. Let’s hope for the later.
I also want to create a mailing list for releases and updates and an advanced reader copy group, possibly through Booksprout. These are extra but needed things that I haven’t looked into super closely yet. I will take all the suggestions I can get at this point, Dear Reader, so if you are also a Dear Writer, please share below.
A.K. Caggiano 