3 new books? Yup. That's pretty normal for me. But what's not normal is the extra 18 ebook novellas I'm putting out in 2019. And I haven't thought much beyond September yet.

It's been up and down a bit lately. No complaints, just a LOT to do, which has got in the way of writing. But I'm back at it, and I'm excited to share that I'm progressing nicely on the next Sleep Writer adventures.

Not a fan of Sleep Writer? That's okay, but stay tuned, because there's a bit of news about Island of Fog coming up in this post as well. :-)

A quick announcement: April 24th 2019 was the 10-year anniversary of Island of Fog being published. Ten years! In that time, it's been downloaded by 200,000 readers, sparked interest from TV and movie producers, and spawned nine sequels, a bunch of short stories, and a spin-off series. Not bad for a book I self-published just to scratch an itch!

I haven't taken such a long break from writing since... well, since I published my first book in 2009. I published my last book, Death Storm, on November 15. Then I stopped to deal with a huge website job, which actually turned into TWO huge website jobs, both due by December 31st. I got both done for the most part, and then I had to catch up, yada-yada-yada... The point is, I didn't start writing again until March 1st. A three-and-a-half-month hiatus!

I wrote a 20,000-word novella called Target Earth featuring our intrepid heroes Liam, Ant, and the Sleep Writer herself Madison. If you've been following the news about splitting the four current books into a serial (see this post), you'll know that this new novella is Part 13 of the Sleep Writer Journal. I wrote it in 2-3 weeks. I then planned to start Part 14 on April 1st... but I didn't. Because I was BUSY. (Sue me.)

Anyway, on May 1st, I finally got started on Part 14, Frozen Demons, and I'm already at 16,000 words, so only 4000 more to go. No sweat. Even allowing for a good edit, that'll be no more than 2-3 weeks total. I've finally got into the habit of writing in the morning and doing websites in the afternoon, and that's going to work nicely for me.

At this rate, and keeping the momentum going, I'll be starting Part 15, Stasis Error, around the end of May with a goal to finish it before June 9th (when I head to the UK on vacation).

Since the Sleep Writer Journal serial is currently being released every two weeks, the schedule looks like this:

Feb 1st through July 5th -- the first 12 parts of the Journal

In other words, this is the existing four novels split into three parts each. They're remaining as novels, but I'm serializing them as well -- perfect for KU readers.

Then...

July 19 -- #13 Target Earth August 2 -- #14 Frozen Demons August 16 -- #15 Stasis Error

And if I stick to the plan, there will also be...

August 30 -- #16 Murder of a King September 13 -- #17 The Ghost Realm September 27 -- #18 Droid Flux

See more about this, and all the covers, in my post Sci-fi episodic serial fiction -- free for KU Kindle Unlimited readers and on the main Sleep Writer page.

As soon as Target Earth, Frozen Demons, and Stasis Error are published in serial format, the three novellas will be combined as a novel as well, for those who prefer novels. And the same again for Murder of a King, The Ghost Realm, and Droid Flux.

I then intend to take a break from the serial and resume in 2020 with a new "season" starting at #19.

A quick call-out to Sleep Writer fans, if I may? The serial episodes could do with some love in the review department. If you've read Sleep Writer, that means you've read the first three parts of the serial and could, in theory, add ratings and reviews on Amazon. Same with Robot Blood and so on. Someone did post a nice review of the first part but only gave it 3 stars. Anything you can do to help would be GREATLY appreciated!

Sleep Writer Series Page (Amazon US) Sleep Writer Series Page (Amazon UK)

I see these adventures as very Doctor Who-like in that our heroes travel about the universe dealing with all manner of menaces. This particular batch of six parts will see a change in that Liam, Ant, and Madison will find it hard to resume life as normal. Basically, stuff happens that is impossible to hide from their parents, so they're ready to face them and say, "Yes, okay, we travel through wormholes to other planets..." Only it doesn't work out that way, because they suddenly find it very difficult to get home.

These novellas are incredibly fun to write! But I'll tell you something else that's fun to write...

A new Island of Fog adventure on the horizon!

No pun intended, but -- well, actually, yes it is. In the newest Island of Fog book, which I'm hoping to have ready by the end of August, the shapeshifters will be traveling to the edge of the world. You've all heard of legendary stories about ships falling over the horizon? Well, those stories are true! In Fog #11, Journey of Magic, the shifters will find a world they never knew existed.

Book 10, Forest of Souls, has had very strong sales since its release in November. I had feared that it would languish far behind, but it seems old Fog fans have shown up in droves to buy it. In terms of read-through sales, it's doing way better than expected. This is because it's new, and there's a lot of catch-up to do, but when all settles down, read-through will end up right on par with the rest of the books.

This is why I'm happy to write Book 11. It would be different if sales had dropped off like... well, like a ship going over the horizon. But everything's looking good, so I'm green-lighting myself to go ahead. :-D

See more about read-through below where I talk about diminishing returns. But first...

Ridiculous writing schedule?

You may have noticed that I'm biting off a lot to chew. But if I finish the third Sleep Writer novella before June 9th (highly doable), and then start on Journey of Magic straight away and write while I'm in the UK, I might possibly get that done and published by the end of August. But I'd have to write hard.

Why the rush, though? Because Amazon offers a writing competition that says (to paraphrase): "Publish a book (or books) between May 1st and August 31st and enter it as part of the competition, and the winner will receive a grand prize of 20,000." So I'd like to push hard to get Journey of Magic out between those dates.

If I can do that, I can then get started on Sleep Writer #16, Ghost Realm, for its publication on August 30th, and so on.

Let's see, then...

1 brand new Island of Fog book 12 pre-written Sleep Writer Journal novellas 6 brand new Sleep Writer Journal novellas 2 Sleep Writer books (using 3 novellas in each)

So after a lazy start to the year, 2019 might just end up being one of my most prolific. Without counting the serial, 3 full novels is normal. But with the serial, it's... well, it's just plain silly. :-)

Diminishing returns

Thinking of horizons earlier reminds me of a fellow author who commented recently about "diminishing returns" in business, the point at which it's no longer good business sense to throw money at something. It got me thinking. In farming, you can spend money to fertilize a field and perhaps see a 20% increase in crop output. That's money well spent on fertilizer and labor! If you get all excited and pay the same money to fertilize it again in the hope of another 20% crop increase, you'll be disappointed when it only yields 3%. This is diminishing returns.

But does it apply to writing books? I'm not sure. I guess it does in a way, but it depends how you look at it. Book 1 of a series will always sell more than Book 2, and Book 2 will sell more than Book 3, and so on. This is true of all my series without any exceptions.

So, for the sake of argument, if someone had a trilogy and was wondering whether or not to write Book 4...

Book 1 yields $2000 a year in sales Book 2 yields $1500 a year in sales Book 3 yields $1000 a year sales ...then Book 4 might only yield $500 in sales

So is it worth writing Book 4? Well, it might if you consider it's $500 every year. If everything remains consistent, that $500 a year for Book 4 over 20 years would be $10,000. That's quite a nice retirement supplement when you add it to the other books in the series. It could be $4500 a year, or $5000 a year. The more books, the better.

And if Book 1 suddenly spiked and started selling like hot cakes, it could earn $10,000 a year... and suddenly Book 4 would be worth a lot more, perhaps $2500 a year. And then it's worth writing Book 5, Book 6, and Book 7...

Since "diminishing returns" (to me) means throwing money or time into something that doesn't yield enough to make it worthwhile, I don't think it applies to books -- because books could theoretically keep earning forever, thus the profit over time would be enormous. It's all relative. If Book 1 does poorly, then so will Book 4. If Book 1 sells well, then so does Book 4. So if you're wondering if Book 4 is worth writing, the answer is probably more to do with how well you can sell Book 1.

This other author I was talking to suggested that, instead of writing another book in the same series and suffering from diminishing returns, it might be better to write Book 1 of a brand new series. This is all well and good, but consider this:

After number-crunching my own sales, it seems that writing Book 11 of my Fog series will still yield a little more than Book 1 of my Legacies series. The Fog series just sells so much better than all my other work. But the Legacies books are catching up, and so are Sleep Writer books.

So, Book 1 of a new series isn't necessarily going to sell better. In fact, you're starting over with a new fan base, which makes it harder. On the plus side, it's easier to promote a Book 1 than, say, a Book 4 or Book 11. If I advertised Book 11, readers would be like, "Huh? I ain't starting there! I'll give this other book a shot instead. It's the first of a new series..."

All this tells me I should mark Fog Book 11 as "An Island of Fog Adventure" instead of "Island of Fog Book 11." And make sure it's a completely standalone story. Then I could advertise it and maybe draw new readers in.

But look here. I can't get any writing done if I'm conjecturing and pontificating about stuff, can I?

Until next time...