Tag Archives: The Redemption of Erâth

The Redemption of Erâth: Stalling

As I sit here in my basement, cold and hungry, four empty mugs sitting on the desk beside me, it occurs to me that I’m doing just about everything I can to not write any more of The Redemption of Erâth: Ancients and Death. I tinkered with this website all morning (do you like it?), updated my status on Facebook and Twitter a bit, watched some of Alexandra Corinth’s book videos (well-worth the watch, by the way), and twiddled my thumbs.

It seems I’m stalling.

I feel depressed about the whole thing (outside of my usual depression). I don’t like where I’m going with the book, which is unfortunate because it all started so promising. Elven was on his own, there were some very disturbing deaths, and he came to a new kingdom and became a part of the country there. I enjoyed the writing, and enjoyed the story. Elỳn’s magic came to the front, and was spectacular.

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The Redemption of Erâth: The Beginnings of Book Three

Don’t forget – you can claim your free copy of The Redemption of Erâth: Consolation just by emailing satiswrites@icloud.com and telling me which digital format you’d prefer (ePub, Kindle, PDF, etc.)!

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So, book one, Consolation, is out and published, and I’m embarking on the long and tedious journey of actually getting people to read it. Use the email above to get yourself a copy! Book two, Exile, is ready to be sent out to my editor for reviews and copyediting, and I’m looking forward to her comments and criticisms. That means that it’s time to turn my attention to book three: Ancients and Death.

What do you think of the title?

I started writing a bit of book three back in June/July, actually, but my summer’s been a bad one, and I haven’t been able to do much focusing. Things are feeling a little on the upswing now, though, and progress on book three has been going well. This is going to be the hardest book I’ve written so far; not only is it going split the action between the two main characters (Brandyé and Elven, who were separated at the end of book two, if you remember), but it’s going to be looking at a time, place and culture that has hitherto been unseen in the first two books. This means new people, new places, new events, and possibly even new languages (and a couple of very old ones). In my planning and plotting it’s delving dangerously close to science-fiction, and I don’t want it to have too jarring a shift in tone from the first two books, which were solidly fantasy.

The chapters are also the longest I’ve written so far, though I’m aware editing could whittle them down a bit. At the moment it’s standing at 26,000 words – at a point where book one totaled 15,000. I had to get book one to around 100,000 words or my publisher wouldn’t publish it; I don’t feel quite the same constraints for books two (143,000 words) and three (160,000 planned).

I’ll be taking the drafts of book one down from this blog soon, in light of the book’s recent publication (and my giveaway!), but I’ll be leaving book two up for your reading pleasure at the moment. And from there…it’s time to start sharing book three with you!

I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be publishing each chapter of The Redemption of Erâth: Ancients and Death as it’s written, hopefully roughly a chapter a week. As before, this will be a first-draft, rough copy, typos and all. But for those of you eager to follow Brandyé and Elven’s journey further, now’s your chance. I’ll be posting the first chapter later tonight, but going forward I’m open to suggested posting times – when do you do most of your blog reading?

Thank you all for following with me so far, and stay tuned – things are about to get exciting!

Thought of the Week: Now That I’m Published…

It’s been quite a while since I’ve had much to say here, and I’m sorry for that. I’ve been through one of the worst summers in recent memory in terms of battling my depression and possible bipolar diagnosis, and it’s been a daily struggle to even get out of bed. Work has been utterly exhausting, and in the little spare time I’ve had, I’ve tried desperately to dedicate myself to my book.

Having said that, I am still here, and I’m hoping to be around a little more than I have been lately. There was a time when I posted several times a week, and while I can’t quite commit to that level of activity yet, I would like to get back into the swing of things. I remember the wonderful feeling of knowing someone else has read your words, whether they be of hope or despair, and I of course remember the many good friends I’ve made through this blog (Alexandra, Neil Vis, Elyn, I’m looking at you!). Some of you have been with me on my journey for some years now, and I promise you, it’s still continuing.

Screen Shot 2014-07-08 at 12.13.29 PMSpeaking of having people read my words, I have a (late) announcement to make: my first book, The Redemption of Erâth: Consolation is finally published and ready to read! My publisher, iUniverse, originally had it available on their site in July, but there was a glaring mistake on the front cover and it’s taken a while to get this fixed. The amended version is now up, and available through amazon.com right here.

In one sense, I couldn’t be more excited. My book is physically available for sale, and I’ve had the chance to hold it my hands. Reading through it in print was an experience like no other: glorious, satisfying and very, very real. I’ll be receiving a few free copies soon and I already have an idea who I’ll be sending some to…!

Having said that, it’s very much a soft launch. I’m not much of a marketer, and until this post I pretty much haven’t spoken to anyone about my book, short of my local library. I’ve sunk quite a bit of (borrowed) money into turning my book into a reality, and I’m keenly aware that at the moment, I’m not likely to make much of that back. Truth be told, I’m not really expecting to. This was an experiment, a way to see if it was possible to ‘make it’ without the use of traditional publishers and agents. While I know that it is in theory possible, I’m not holding any great hopes for myself.

At least not yet.

I’ve had something of an upswing in mood lately, and I want to use it. I’m hoping that, over the next few days and weeks, I’ll have the motivation and stamina to start looking for ways to market my book. Getting people interested in it. Getting people to read it. One thought that’s crossed my mind is reviews: there are numerous review sources out there, from mainstream newspapers and magazines to independent websites. Of course, there’s no guarantee the reviews will be glowing, but infamy is better than non-famy, I suppose.

Another thought that’s crossed my mind is that, with iUniverse, I retain full publishing rights to my novel. What does this mean? Well, despite the fact that it’s published through them, and they get a (fairly significant) chunk of the royalties, I am still free to do what I want with the book elsewhere. Such as…

Give it away for free!

What do you think of that? I’ve decided, pretty much right now, that between now and October 31, anyone who emails satiswrites@icloud.com will receive a free copy of The Redemption of Erâth: Consolation in return, in the format of their choosing (ePub, Kindle, PDF, etc.). All you need to do is let me know.

Meanwhile, there’ll be a Google Ads campaign running soon, and I’ll probably take out a couple of small advertisements on Facebook as well (don’t forget to check out facebook.com/satiswrites).

What do you think? Are there other ways you can think of to get my book out there and to the masses?

Satis Logo 2014Don’t forget: email satiswrites@icloud.com before October 31 to receive your free copy of The Redemption of Erâth: Consolation!