This past month I did a lot of reading, both fiction and non-fiction. Kind of hard to say what I read, though, as I’ve been hopping a lot from book to book and back again.
Anyhow, here’s the Infinitas Publishing updates!
I’ve highlighted the projects that had changes in blue.
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Isaac’s Untitled Fantasy Story: On hold with a rough draft of 58,000 words.
Next up: Finish writing the rough draft for missing scenes, then do a revision pass on the earlier scenes now that I better remember how the magic system works. Once that’s done, this will likely return to being a back-burner project while I finish other projects.
Crafting Your Fictional World (Non-Fic Book): I’ve now created cover art for this, though it might end up being a placeholder cover for Ream rather than the final ebook version, and I revised enough chapters to be satisfied that I would have six months of content for testing.
So I then did a read-aloud with Isaac…
Only to end up with quite a few more revisions (and chapter ideas) that I need to do before I launch this subscription. Good news is that Isaac’s academia background gave him a lot of ideas of how I could improve the chapters to hopefully be more useful.
I’m no longer looking at the rough draft word count since it’s split into two documents, one on Google Docs which has the general concept chapters, and one in Scrivener which has the more polished chapters (that still need revisions). The Scrivener count currently shows 13,200 words.
Next up: Make revisions per Isaac’s suggestions, re-review the chapters, then upload to Ream.
Sweetweird Genre Notes: On hold with 2,100 words.
Distant Horizon: (Book 1 of the Distant Horizon series): The ebook version of this went to space 🚀 on the Peregrine lunar lander in early January!
While complications with the lander’s fuel intake valve resulted in the mission not going to the moon as planned (the lander instead re-entered Earth’s atmosphere and burned up in re-entry), Distant Horizon and Fractured Skies were both part of the Writer’s on the Moon project that spent a few days in space.
Next up: Paperback version of this in Atticus, which can be used on Draft2Digital in order to release a paperback version wide across multiple retailers, rather than only on Amazon. I intend to revisit the blurb before finalizing this. On hold.
Starless Night: (Book 3 of the Distant Horizon series). Blurb needs to be updated across all retailers.
Changing Tides: (Book 4 of the Distant Horizon series). On hold while working on Legends of Cirena #9. Next step is to merge the two revised drafts and start writing the missing scenes.
The Glitch Saga (Distant Horizon spin-off series): Goal is to create a new cover and print edition for the complete collection edition. (On hold).
Deceived (Distant Horizon spin-off series): Needs print formatting. On hold.
Betrayed (Deceived #2): The last five chapters have been posted to Wattpad, completing the Wattpad postings!
My next step is to do the ebook formatting of this so I can send it to beta-readers for any final feedback, and then set a release date for the ebook.
I’ve also got to decide whether to release book three on Wattpad, or if I want to move it to a different platform, or if I want to continue releasing it serially versus ebook first.
Next up: Continue revisions to 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.
Wishing Blade Prequel (Prequel novella for The Wishing Blade): On hold. Next step is to write the rough draft of the new scenes and begin revising the original scenes to match the updated outline.
Once complete, this is intended to be a newsletter-exclusive story.
The Legends of Cirena – Collaborative Adventure Facebook Group: On hiatus.
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): Major progress made here, since this was my primary focus for January. Didn’t quite finish the rough draft, but I did do another round of revisions to what was there, cut a few scenes, added a few scenes, and finally figured out how to complete the plot arc in a way that felt more satisfying.
The draft now sits at 52,000 words (down 4,000 words after cutting several scenes that weren’t working).
Goals: Add the last few scenes and polish. Edit the book cover.
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.
The Legends of Cirena Volume One (LoC #1-6 Collection): Technically complete, though there are still a few small tweaks I’d like to make (prettier ellipses). I also plan to update the ebook files of LoC 1-6 for the minor typos as time permits.
Huntress 3: On hold.
Next up: Reread the first two books and create an outline.
Huntress Prequel: On hold at 18,000 words. Needs rough draft completed.
Game Design: On hold.
Mist Catcher (Isaac’s Sci-Fi Story): Isaac reports having added only a little extra to Mist Catcher (plus some plot notes), so I don’t have an updated word count. For now I’m assuming the current draft sits around 111,000 words, (not including the Halloween episode?).
Marketing:
Still had pretty low click counts on the BookFunnel book promos last month, though I started testing a new method of promoting the promo (by creating new banners in Canva with a handful of covers chosen from the promo that I think might appeal to my newsletter and blog readers). I’m going to continue testing that method this month. I do have a few new promos I’ve joined for February, though I still need to set up the blog’s weekly book promo highlights.
Newsletters have largely continued as planned (aside from one accidentally skipped one) in the same format as before, and I also continued the usual Amazon drip ads, though I intend to evaluate them soon to decide whether or not to continue them.
Accounting for last year is now complete, however, and I’m all set to work on business taxes (which I hope to complete by mid-month).
Next up: Continue adding sample chapters to the BookFunnel pages and the main Infinitas Publishing website, and update my author bio across the different websites. Eventually continue updating Stripe and Payhip so I can offer direct sales from the main website. Update the business ledger on a regular basis. Add a progress tracker somewhere for the different books. Revise Amazon ads, and overhaul book categories, keywords, and blurbs.
Other Stories: No new updates on my end, though I’ve received the manuscripts I’m going to edit for the next Writers of Warrensburg anthology, as well as the first edited version of my manuscript, which I’ll be focusing on in February.
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”).
Unofficial Minecraft FanFic: On hold.
SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: On hold. I do have a new formatting project I intend to work on during February.
Future Goals: Figure out a schedule for uploading general art projects. Update the SBibbPhoto website to incorporate Daz work, and fix the SEO information.
SIFlint Art: No new updates here, aside from some general for-fun artsy practice and drawings.
Daz PA: No updates here, though I plan to update my Diverse Worlds Genesis 9 morphs set per quality control feedback during February. Did a little beta-testing for an undisclosed side project, but I’m currently leaning away from getting more involved with that project.
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Happy writing and reading (Or 3D rendering if you’re into Daz)! 🙂
Stephanie Flint - Author and Artist 