I’ve decided to fulfill direct orders. Obviously, I don’t have to pay the retailer 55% like I do on in-store prices, but I do have to ship it. The book is 349g, which means that with packaging it’s quite expensive to ship individual copies. So, it’s the same price as in stores which is €20, but shipping is free everywhere in the EU.

Where to from here?
Next up, I’ll be polishing Dropship Down book one of the Clausewitz Series. I’ve been going through it a bit the last few days and honestly it doesn’t need all that much work. It’s about 160k words and I doubt much will be changed. The time for another long stretch of editing. Never say never, but I might manage to get this out in a few months.

After that, I’ll be focussing on The Value of Nobility, book two of the Alagariel Series. How fast I try to get that out honestly depends a little on whether The Half Elven Orphan generates any interest at all. It is going to have some major work done to it before it’s up to the same standard as Alagariel I.

It’s hard to see the future beyond that, but of the 10-15 books I have in a state that look a little like completeness, I’d like to publish one every six months or so. Time will tell if that can be achieved.

“It has been well said that an author who expects results from a first novel is in a position similar to that of a man who drops a rose petal down the Grand Canyon of Arizona and listens for the echo.”

P.G. Wodehouse, Cocktail Time

It’s a little poetic that this coincides with the release of Episode 59 of the version of The Half Elven Orphan that’s on the site here (20k words shorter than what’s on Amazon).

A interesting tidbit: Episode 59 actually became Episode 1 of The Value of Nobility (Tales of Vatan: Alagariel Book Two). It’s not in the longer book that’ll become available at all the e-book stores over the next few days.

I decided to go with itch.io first for a number of reasons. First off, it allows me to give epub readers a pdf version with the cover art and a map. Second, I can update things in future and buyers can easily re-download. Third, they pay authors far better, which for now, means more (human) artwork and real editors in future.

For those of you who want a print version or want it in their customary library, the big sites will follow soon(tm). It’s much harder to update things there, so I’m being rather more meticulous about the whole thing.