A Tough Decision

Sorry, folks, but this is the post I was hoping I wouldn’t have to make.

(Just to clarify – I’m not deceased and this isn’t an auto-post-in-case-I’m-dead sort of thing. The books will keep flowing.)

However, like the subject said, I’ve had to make a tough decision.

To put it succinctly, I’ve decided to delay Artifice: Episode Four until the beginning of January.

I’m well and truly sorry about this, everyone. I really am.

The rationale behind this is as follows:

• I *could* get the book finished and off to the editor by week’s end, and get it ready and published in time for Christmas. However, from the feedback I’ve received from my new cadre of two beta readers, they feel that certain areas in the book could be fleshed out further to provide a better experience for the reader. I’ve looked back at the sections and agree with them wholeheartedly. I don’t want to deliver a substandard (yet, still quite good – according to them) product to you, especially seeing as how you’ll be spending your hard earned money on it. Whatever loss of revenue I’ll have from missing the Christmas buying rush… well… I’ll chalk it up to a life lesson well learned.
• You’re probably thinking that there’s still plenty of time to publish the book just in the nick of time for Christmas. Unfortunately, the majority of the different publishing companies will be shut down for the second half of the month. Moreover, there will more than likely be a huge backlog of other authors trying to push their stuff through before the deadline as well.
• I’ll have more time to get more backend stuff up and running to help you guys and gals improve your reading experience. More on that later on in this post.
• I’m sure you’ve noticed the new site design. It’s still got some teething issues that need to be worked out, and this will give me time to remedy those. I definitely don’t want new readers stumbling across my website for the first time and wondering which illegal intoxicant was in my bloodstream when I created it. Plus, I really don’t want them thinking they’ve stumbled across a modern era Geocities page.
• Beta readers. They’re a good thing. I want to establish a street squad of readers who aren’t afraid to tell me if something doesn’t flow, make sense, breaks continuity, is confusing, or just plain sucks. Not that it wouldn’t be nice to hear what parts you really liked, too. 🙂 More details on this beta reader program this weekend.

Now, I know that reasoning is little comfort to those of you that were expecting the book to be ready in time to slip into your e-stockings, but I hope you understand.

As for the backend stuff I mentioned, here’s a few of the items that are on the docket:

• Get the beta reader program established.
• Get the gremlins out of the website.
• Update the placeholder graphics on the website, including my very first logo!
• Get those maps (that I’ve been promising everyone since the beginning of time) completed and on the website, and preferably into the books as well.
• Re-publish the the first three episodes with updated front and back matter (and hopefully maps!).
• Re-publish Episode One to make it read a little bit better. There won’t be any plot changes, or anything like that. This is just to make sure a new reader wants to continue reading the rest of the book (and the series hopefully!).
• Get an actual non-crappy cover for Episode Two.
• Think up a better title for Episode Two. “Retaliation” just doesn’t sound quite right…
• Make the Episode Three cover a little snazzier, and put the title “Oncoming Storm” on it.
• Learn how to use Twitter properly. You’ll notice that, as of this post, I won’t be having the website cross-post to my Twitter feed.
• Look into getting paperbacks published! More on this within the next few weeks.

There’s still more little stuff on top of those, and probably some big stuff that’s slipped my mind at the moment, but this will give me time to get all of that taken care of.

Now, as a peace offering, I’ll be putting up a sample of the first few chapters of Episode Four on the website in about a week or so. This will be “pre-editor”, but I’ll update it to the edited version once that’s ready.

Again, I can only apologize for this, but I hope everyone understands.