Infinitas Publishing – Status Report

It’s time for another Infinitas Publishing status report! 📋

I guess we’re going to go with “bi-yearly” instead of monthly this time around because summer was a rollercoaster, winter came and went, and I now have a lot to talk about since our last report in mid-May. (For the overview of life in general, check out this blog post.)

Meanwhile, I’ve caught up with inputting all the notes from my planner (I use it less to plan for future events and more to keep records of daily happenings), and here’s what the last half of last year looked like!

I’ve highlighted the projects that had changes in blue.

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Starless Night: (Book 3 of the Distant Horizon series). I updated the blurb across all retailers.

Changing Tides: (Book 4 of the Distant Horizon series). On hold while working on The Dark Forest of Aneth. Next step is to merge the two revised drafts and start writing the missing scenes.

Betrayed (Deceived #2): Major progress! I set a goal to finish edits and get this sent to beta-readers in November as an informal sort of NaNoWriMo. Success!

I finished copy edits in ProWritingAid, proofread that draft, and sent it to beta-readers. I’ve started exploring the Critique feature in ProWritingAid to see if it provides any additional insights. I’ve reviewed beta-reader feedback and I’m almost finished with the final proofread, and have been preparing a blurb. The next step is to set the release date. I have one in mind. ☺️

Additionally, I drafted an update about Deceived #3 but I don’t think I posted it. I had been planning to release it on this blog, but I’m currently leaning toward focusing on releasing it as an ebook without early chapters.

Other future steps: Continue revisions on Deceived #3. Add Isaac’s notes from Deceived #5 (formerly #4) into the manuscript, revise Deceived #5, and revise #6 (formerly #5) before handing it to Isaac for his feedback.

TWB 4: (Book Four of The Wishing Blade series). On hold. Next step is to finish adding the remaining outline to Scrivener, review that outline for missing plot points, and then write the rough draft.

However…

Working on The Ruins of Amixthael prompted a huge amount of world-building and backstory plotting as it relates to the shadow realm, and also the general booky multiverse, so I now have some rather helpful additional context that should make plotting for book four considerably easier.

The Legends of Cirena – Collaborative Adventure Facebook Group: On hiatus. There’s a possibility I might move this concept to the Wishing Blade Universe newsletter, but that’s just a vague idea at this point.

The Dark Forest of Aneth (“Ro’nor (“The Restless Sands of Neel”) & Zynia (“The Dragons of the Mist”) cross-over / A Legends of Cirena short novel): Isaac has read the semi-revised draft and provided feedback. We’ve also discussed potential changes, and I’ve added his notes to the manuscript in Scrivener. I started the process of making revisions per those notes, but I’ll likely restart this process once Betrayed is set for publication.

Goals: Add the last few scenes and polish. Revisit the book cover concept (which had been unfeasible until getting a more powerful computer that could actually render the scene in mind, but I may still overhaul the design anyway).

The Wind Mage and the Wolf (“Livena (The Wind Mage of Maijev”) & Nuaka (“The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear”) cross-over / A Legends f Cirena short novel) : Joran’s short story is on hold. Still needs a couple scenes smoothed out, and I need to cross-reference the final scene in The Wind Mage and the Wolf (from Joran’s point of view). After that, it’ll be ready for a read-aloud and proofreading.

Huntress 3: I finished re-reading Huntress and started re-reading Changeling while making notes on the series guide. Parts of it have been organized, but overall, progress has been made in this regard.

Additional details regarding the augments were fleshed out since we had planned on using this series for our interactive display at GeekUP Chibi 2024 this year. However, due to our role as co-event coordinators, we didn’t get a chance to actively promote the display. Since all the materials (including a fun, fake personality assessment in regards to augments) and props are ready to go with this, we’ll likely use this display at another event when the opportunity arises.

I’ve created a proof for the cover, which still needs to be finalized.

Next up: Finish re-reading Changeling for the series guide and as a refresher, and finish creating a detailed outline.

The Ruins of Amixthael (The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear Spin-Off): Fully revised draft complete at 9000 words!

I continued writing the rough draft and revising this. I’m not sure how far along I was in the previous report, though I had already sent out the first two chapters to my Wishing Blade Universe newsletter and started writing the third chapter. I’ve now written the rough draft for all six chapters, revised them, read them aloud to Isaac, and sent them out to the newsletter.

The next step is to make whole-story revisions for continuity, then decide what to do with it. I’m still considering making this a newsletter reader magnet, but I might also release it as a stand-alone ebook.

Tangentially, I have been considering the concept of running a Kickstarter for a hardcover edition of the Legends of Cirena: Volume One, and have been starting to put together a report for myself to see whether or not this would be feasible in the near future.

Other Stories: The second Writers of Warrensburg Anthology, Mystic Springs: A Colletion of Anomalies, is now available! My paranormal short story, “Will-o’-the-Whisker” is included. 😸

Currently, it is available as a paperback book and ebook. The ebook edition will be exclusive to Kindle Unlimited for a year.

In other news, Isaac wrote a 7000-word literary-ish short story about the life of our cat, Skynyrd, as a Christmas gift for me. I don’t know if he plans to polish it later or not. (I wrote around 1700 words shortly after our cat passed away, but those were mostly as a way to remember him and not intended to be shared). As a Christmas gift for Isaac, I drafted a short story/children’s book script for Isaac which I lined the art of a page of, but I don’t know if I’ll try to develop it further.

For the Distant Horizon Universe newsletter, I wrote a 2000 word short story about the Ghost Cook, in addition to a couple other short pieces.

Next up: Revise ending of YA Alien Invasion/Dystopian story.

Other on hold projects include: a “for-fun” space/portal fantasy story rough draft, Mermaid/Siren Sci-Fi short story draft, and comic script (“If I Had Asked”).

Game Design: On hold.

Marketing: There are a lot of little odds and ends here, so I’ll see what I can do to summarize.

• I still have Whispers in the Code and The Wind Mage of Maijev permafree. However, I need to set a schedule for regularly checking these and prompting Amazon to price-match them. For a while, a number of the other territories weren’t marked free since I hadn’t had a chance to check them. (Retailers aside from Amazon should have been fine).
• I attempted to create marketing plan, which was specifically focused on ebooks, but due to summer chaos, didn’t have a chance to implement many of the ideas
• I scheduled a couple month’s worth of book-based art on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter/X, which were art pieces I had previously shared with my newsletter. While I liked the concept, I didn’t see much engagement, and so I cut it off after the scheduled posts ran out. I saw potential engagement with Instagram reels, but didn’t particularly enjoy making those. I may experiment with reels again later.
• I updated my method of accounting for Infinitas Publishing and added a way to see what each book is doing per year. I still need a better method of keeping this consistently updated.
• I provided consultation for a couple local authors regarding self-publishing options. This was fun, I enjoy the topic. 😅
• I watched a few free webinars/podcasts here and there, both for marketing and writing/publishing, and continued reading related books.
• I picked up and watched the Book Blurb Magic Box Set edition course. At this point, I need to rewatch it, though I had started making notes for updates to book blurbs.
• I approached another semi-local store about carrying my books, but the inability to handle returns made it difficult (this is where branching into Ingram Spark as a printer might be useful).
• HOOPLA! Our books have finally uploaded to Hoopla! (This is great for online library access). I eventually added Hoopla links to Infinitas Publishing Website.
• Since we started doing more than a couple live events a year and no longer qualified for the Special Event sales tax form, we acquired a MI sales tax license. (Disclaimer: I am not a tax consultant and can’t provide advice here. I’ve worked on this to the best of my own knowledge of reading what I could find regarding sales tax in MI).
• I rebooted the Distant Horizon Universe and Wishing Blade Universe newsletters with attention to providing either a short story or art piece in each newsletter, but going ahead and sending it even if I don’t have either, so as to avoid the long, unplanned hiatus. I also did a couple BookFunnel promos, though I haven’t returned to doing them regularly yet.
• Very minor testing of Amazon Ads, with a single test based on one specific book, and I reviewed my UK ads (which were apparently still running though I thought I’d turned them off).
• I’ve started tinkering with Notion for project planning. I’ve got quite a bit to learn before I expect it would truly be effective, but it looks like it has potential.
• I started a spreadsheet with a list of events that we’re interested in keeping an eye on for vending at, though I need to update this before future use.

Next up: Continue adding sample chapters to the BookFunnel sales pages for each book, and then to the main Infinitas Publishing website. Update my author bio across the different retailers. Continue updating Stripe and Payhip so I can offer direct sales from the main website. Maybe add a progress tracker somewhere for the different books? Revise Amazon ads, and overhaul book categories, keywords, and blurbs.

Substack – I finally jumped into the waters of Substack, and I’m pleasantly surprised to find I’m liking it. Mostly I like the notes feature, which reminds me a lot of how tweets used to be on Twitter/X. Additionally, having the long form posts connected to it like blog posts… there’s something about this that works for me, especially since I’ve been focusing on using it for further learning as it relates to writing. On my end, I’ve been posting daily writing tips. I tested doing a weekly writing prompt, but decided I preferred putting my energy into tips and responding to interesting articles. Click here to read my Substack!

Events: Isaac and I made a lot of updates to our booth design for live events, including branching off part of the booth for SIFlint Art, or, more specifically, for the new Everyday Dragon Hoards line. This is a work-in-progress, but we finally have it streamlined enough that we’re no longer staying up until two in the morning trying to finish a last minute set piece. (For the first time in ever, we had everything ready to go for the Poor Artists Sale before midnight!)

Anyway, here’s an overview of the different events we participated in:

While in Missouri on vacation, we prepped a Self-Publishing 101 presentation. Unfortunately, no one showed up for the actual event, but after talking to my aunt and my mom about the topic, we determined that maybe we needed to scale back the presentation. It was more like Self-Publishing 201 or 301… and we’d rather not scare off people interested in the option with too much information all at once.

I ran another Crafting Your Fictional World class at the Copper Country Community Arts Center, which was fun as usual and prompted more ideas for the Crafting Your Fictional World book I’d like to finish writing.

Isaac and I were invited to give a presentation to a sci-fi writing class at the local university. We focused on the use of role-play games for plotting, created a couple basic scenarios for the students to try, and provided everyone with a D20. (I think they enjoyed the dice).

For SIFlint Art, we joined in with several local artists and participated in the K.C. Bonker’s gallery: Daydreams and Tonics art show. This was a gallery-style showing for a group of local queer artists to showcase their work during Pride month, and we had a lot of fun. We used many of the art pieces we had framed for the KYCA (Keweenaw Youth for Climate Action) Earth Month Festival, and even sold one of the smaller framed prints that Isaac designed! (It was the fun parhelion-themed space orca one, which we’d found a cool iridescent frame to use for).

One of the bigger events we participated in was UP Rainbow Pride in Marquette. Again, we joined with several local artists and split a booth. What we quickly realized was that we had too many people in one tent, which made it difficult for visitors to browse. (Additionally, this is the first event where we started realizing that our car might be a bit too small to be doing these events regularly). We’ll likely apply for our own booth next year (or only split with one other artist), but I expect that most of us will try to return again next year. Just… with at least two tents.

And then there was GeekU.P. Chibi. Previously, Isaac and I have only been vendors, and this has been one of two big events for the year. However, we inadvertently became co-coordinators for this event after someone (Isaac) started having all sorts of awesome ideas for events that would be fun to see at the convention. He put together a sheet with a list of the ideas, presented them to one of the cofounders, and, next thing we knew, we were helping to coordinate the event by making sure there were all sorts of fun things to do. (I have never seen Isaac so delighted as to running around making sure everything is running smoothly and then helping to run the “Cosplay Fight Club” session with the giant D20.) This is what happens after we’ve been going to a certain anime convention just for fun for the past several years.

Downside was that it meant that I was the only one running the booth for the majority of the event, so I wasn’t able to do both sales and the fun Huntress-themed event we had planned. Upside? I learned that themed grab bags are absolutely an attention grabber. Anyhow, now that we have notes for the event, hopefully any future coordinator efforts will go more smoothly.

Our next major event was the Marquette Fringe Fall Phantasm. For this, we had made Cirena-themed museum with placards and props, and had picked up several decorations and lights to make our booth feasible to run at night… only to discover that tent walls turn tents into sailboats. Literally. Our tent ended up plastered against the trees while we were trying to set up. Fortunately, with the help of the crew there we got our tent back down with only minor damage to the tent, and we were able to strap the tent to a nearby tree and very solid pavilion. It was massively windy that day, and we barely got our booth broke down and back into the car that night before it started pouring rain with constant lightning. Fortunately, we had already booked a hotel.

Things we learned:

1. Velcro hook and loop straps are amazing.
2. We need a bigger vehicle for events like these.
3. Don’t skip the cinderblocks. It won’t be fine. Your tent will blow away. Leave something else behind instead if you don’t have room.

Surprisingly, the only thing that didn’t try to blow away was our mini grab bags in their little envelopes.

Anyhow, if all goes well, we’ll likely apply to return next year… with a few adjustments. The good news is that this event helped us finalize a lot of how we want the booth to look in general, so we won’t likely need to add anything new to the tent for a while (though we may want to watch for sales on tents, since one of the tent legs did get a little persnickety after the whole fly-into-the-trees incident).

The Copper Country Community Arts Center Poor Artists Sale was our final and best sale of year. We finally got to use setup from Phantasm… all the pretty decorations, the lights (though we did end up purchasing an extra camping lantern to add a little more ambient light to our little cave), and full spread (minus the museum, since that wouldn’t have fit the general theme of the event). We didn’t include our usual book of prints (mostly because my printer decided it no longer wanted to print on photo paper), but we separated the booth to focus on books, and on the Everyday Dragon Hoards. This was a lot of fun and we definitely hope to come back again next year.

SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: After realizing that the new formatting software I was using (Atticus) didn’t provide quite the flexibility I was looking for, I returned to using Microsoft Word 2007 for formatting. That book’s formatting is now complete! (You can find Ghost House by R.M. Kinder here)

Additionally, I formatted a new project, in which the ebook and print formats are both complete and approved. Both paperback and ebook are now up for pre-order and I’m setting up a hardcover edition. I continued using Microsoft Word 2007. (There are some definite benefits to using Atticus, but it’s better suited for when you want a fast solution without too many extra options to complicate things. If you know exactly what you want and want more control of the final product, then it might not be the solution for you).

I also began designing something of a cute mascot for a local store, but that’s still in progress and not ready to be revealed yet.

Future Goals: Update the SBibbPhoto website to incorporate Daz work and fix the SEO information.

SIFlint Art: Everyday Dragon Hoards has released!

Additionally, we’ve made more stickers available, including a couple new pride planets, a “poly-jam-orous” pun, and new dragons, including an ace-themed plushie dragon, as well as the first of a new series! A “ghooste of Christmas Present” and a “not-a-ghooste.”

I have the line art finished for the ghooste of Christmas Yet to Come and the Ghoost of Christmas Past, but both still needs coloring. I also want to create the line art for a trans-themed shark-hoarding dragon, but that will be for an upcoming project.

We also added a variety of buttons to our line, and we’re testing adding canvas tote bags, notebooks, and more pencil bags, which we’ve also started selling at Black Ice Comics. There are plans to test lanyards, too, though we weren’t able to order them with the previous shipment, so those have been tabled until the next order.

Now the next big news is that, for Christmas, I got a new printer! (If you recall, my original one stopped working for photo paper, though it still handles general documents and scanning fine). The thing about the new printer is something I’ve been wanting to play with again for a while… the ability to print up to 13×19. Woot! The last time I used that size, I was still in college, having fun experimenting with what the photo lab offered there. I’ve ordered some specialty sample papers to test and see what I want to get in larger quantity. There’s a specific project I have in mind, but I need to determine what else I’d like to do with this before I get a little too excited with ordering fancy paper.

Daz PA: I sent out an email to learn more about possibly collaborating with someone to complete my Diverse Worlds Genesis 9 morphs set, and now I need to see about putting out that call for collaboration. I’m waiting to do so until I can dedicate time to polishing this once other tweaks are made.

Additionally, I did create part of a Standard Operating Procedure for making poses so that Isaac and I could collaborate. He almost had two complete sets made (I was in the process of reviewing them for adjustments that needed to be made) before he started his new job and switched gears. We had also done a couple of weekly meetings before vacation, but after that, we never quite got that routine going again. Now that he has the job, however, we likely won’t plan on continuing these since we don’t need to coordinate Daz projects.

I will likely take on the two pose sets he had almost finished and complete them myself once I’ve wrapped up other pending projects.

I did submit some of my products for their special sales at Daz, but due to a technical error, only a couple were included (so I tried Fast Grab later, which had nice results so I’ll likely do that again at the next opportunity).

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Happy writing and reading (Or 3D rendering if you’re into Daz)! 🙂