Months of Work

It's been a while since the last update, so there will be much to summarize. For the third book, a new story arch with widespread consequences was added, involving a country threatening the peace within the Hendvlask Coalition. Ultimately, Rhinesvelt gets involved, and the results are not pretty to say the least. There is also more information regarding a past war that gains considerable importance by the end of the book. All that is left is completing Lucas's journey to and from Almyros, and adding more chapters showing Frederik's actions behind the scenes. I would say there are five or six more chapters to edit/write.

I have since turned my attention back to the second book and plan to release it by next month if possible. I am currently rereading it and editing certain parts so that they go into more detail about certain events. I just finished reformatting the book for the ebook release, and now I'm just working on making it more exciting than it already is while editing and redistributing some of the poems.

I have also put a considerable amount of time into changing up the website and most of the pictures on it, including the maps that will be present in the books. The first book will also receive an update soon, featuring a new Skiven map and an updated back cover for the physical version. Once I'm sure the map is finalized and the black and white version looks good enough, I'll be updating the Amazon store page with the new content. This should happen within the next two days.

I've long considered whether or not the first book needs more content, given its length, but I'm still under the impression that it would just become filler (given I've already added 10,000 words since the re-release). Given how much I've improved the overall story after planning and writing the future novels, it's not impossible that I'll think of something new to add to the first book. However, it appears to do its job just fine, acting as an exciting springboard for the rest of the books. After all, the third book was originally the first, highlighting the primary plot device that drove the story.

Finally, I want to find the best method to open up a merchandise store. For a long time, I've wanted to distribute bookmarks to market the series and already have front and back designs for two of them. There are a few print on demand websites if I want to distribute the physical copies myself, but I'm hoping to create a store page where I can just sell them for a few dollars along with a few other things. I've done this sort of thing before, but the old website I used wouldn't be the right fit for all of my needs. That being said, I'm hoping to have something set up by the time the second book is released next month.

Progress

All is going well with book three after finishing Talmanus's arc in the World of Dreams. I've figured out how to change the first chapter of the book by basically removing it and adding elements of it later in the story. The prologue and chapter two also merged together, and I added an extra scene to present a new political struggle. The few chapters after that have also been edited, so basically the first fourth of the book is done. Right now, I'm currently working on extending the chapter where Marathias meets Rhinesvelt after traveling with a band of soldiers, and then have a subsequent council meeting to flesh out after the fact. Once that is done, I have to rewrite Elizabeth's journey to Almyros and then work on the final arc involving Frederik. Hopefully, it will all be finished in the next two months.

The Release

After finally getting my domain name (epicofold.com) and getting the paid version of the website, I've more or less completed the publishing process for the first book, which is now live on Amazon and a few other stores (some still have yet to release it). I also updated the website a bit to look more modern, and added some extra detail to the page with the world maps. I also updated the trailer so that it has the website link at the end as well as credit for the music. I'm not sure if I need to add that trailer to youtube to improve distribution, but I'll leave that for another time. I still have accounts elsewhere that have to be updated for marketing purposes.

At the moment, I'm editing the physical copy of the book that Amazon will sell. I believe I'm finished with the Word document that I'm converting, though I may need to increase the font size in a few places. The main task is to create the picture that will serve as the template for the front and back cover, including the book's spine. It shouldn't be too hard to put together as long as I get the dimensions right. I downloaded an Excel document that calculates the right size for the image after inputting the book's dimensions and page count. Once the physical version gets submitted, I'll order myself one to check the quality.

I am worried about potential edits should I find reason to work on the story months from now, but I've already gone through the beta reading stage and cannot find anything else to change for now. I'll just have to keep track of the edition number and make sparse updates when needed.

Preparing to Publish

Progress with book 3 has been a little slow overall, though I have improved the outline for a new arch in the story and have filled in some chapters that desperately needed more content. I've mostly been focused on making new pictures as well as improving old ones. Essentially, I wanted most of the dreamscapes to be represented through an image to help with immersion. Since I'm nearing the completion of Talmanus's arc, there aren't too many dreams to cover unless I go to the other books. That being said, I drastically improved Rhinesvelt's first image in book one, and am adding a new image for the Giant's Chessboard.

I'm also working on final edits for the first book so that I can submit it to a wide range of publishing sites. I plan to use Draft2Digital overall, but still need to make use of Amazon separately so I can produce physical copies. For the ISBN, I'm just going to use the free one that is generated by Draft2Digital and then attach that information to the Amazon version (assuming that works). This process could actually be completed by the end of the week, but I have yet to do any announcements about the release. Basically, I need to be able to take my time to get the publishing process correct on the different platforms so that I can streamline the process in the future.

The New Arc

From what I've gathered so far, the third book is going to have at least ten new chapters, if not more. I'm well underway writing one of the new arcs featuring Talmanus, the professor, which shows him utilizing student volunteers to map out areas in the World of Dreams. Talmanus is on a quest for the root of all knowledge that may very well be hidden in a dreamscape somewhere. His journey ends with a grand adventure through various dreams on his search for the truth. His dream map is heavily connected with the Dream Dweller's work one thousand years ago, making the Archive more important to the story. I've also made two map pictures for the book and one new gif for the website.

Book 2 Done...More or Less

As far as I know, the main edits and proofreading are complete for the second book. At long last! I've also updated the website with new pictures and completed my main edits to the fourth book as well. Tomorrow, I plan to work on my major revisions to book three (The World of Whispering Strife). I've long dreaded having to work on this book again because of how challenging it will be to edit. Aside from the fact that I need to add two new arcs for side characters (meaning five or six new chapters), a lot of the narration needs to be completely altered. What's worse is I have yet to create a proper outline because my notes are disorganized. It's going to be a long day.

Evolution

A lot has happened since I last posted an update. Though I've still gotten little feedback on Omen of the Ancient, Plight of the Gods is nearly done with its extensive edits. I've added a brand new arc with new characters. There are other new chapters near the end of the book as well, bringing it to over 100k words. These new chapters have also been through the proofreading process. All that is left is one more chapter that I am halfway done completing. I've also made a large group of new pictures for the series, as well as possible back covers for the printed versions of the books.

I'm tempted to release the first two books before I finish everything else. I might even release the Dream Dweller Archive early with the first two books, which would give readers something else to look at while I perfect the Planet of Whispering Strife. The main obstacle is marketing, followed by figuring out the best way to obtain ISBN's. I'm still hoping to find more beta readers for the first book so that there's a bigger chance of it succeeding, but the main focus has been writing.