Divide and Conquer
I have been stuck with Jag MacGuire's tale for a long time. The Scimitar Warrior has 8 chapters and is going nowhere. So what to do?
My answer was to go back and reread other tales. So I started the Draoithe Saga over again from volume one. When I got to The Council I got to thinking that the stories might have been a bit convoluted. Maybe it was too mixed together. So I decided to embark on pulling the tales apart.
For those of you who have read the early tales, you may recall that The Council is an urban fantasy involving the paranormal romances between Fox and Artie as well as one between Javier and Isabell.
Magic Calls to Magic was written similarly. It continues the urban fantasy tale focusing on the paranormal romances of two couples, Nadine and Andrei along with Kallik and Mihaela. Both are shifter/vampire mixed couples. Well, I decided to take those stories apart too.
At first, I wanted to test them and see if Artie and Fox could stand alone without Isabell and Javier. Surprise, surprise! With a very little editing, the stories split quite nicely. So I decided to publish them separately. Then I looked at the other books with the same eye.
The newly edited and separated tales are available only on my Payhip site for now. I paired the newly edited stories and uploaded them as two-for-ones everywhere else. So better edited tales all the way around.
Oddly enough, each tale when separated and edited is still over forty thousand words. I think it's obvious where the tales connect, but I did include information to illuminate the fact that the stories occur simultaneously with other tales in the Saga. So two novels for the price of one in most cases and none of the steamy bits have been left out.
Dragons Come is still only Lily and Ryker's story. The Dark Gift is still only Flame and Nightshades' tale. Elementals was entirely too intertwined to make separating the tales possible.
The Ruiri Complete has been separated into Seventh King and Lord of Dragons. Light and Dark Magic has been separated into Angel Lover and Sorceress's Dragon. Fire and a Gryphon will soon be Fire Incarnate and Gryphon Knight.
I may continue the process for some of the other tales as well. Some will remain as they are, but I am pretty sure that Filth and Death needs a revision and Midnight Magic could likely stand one as well. War Dogs will likely get an overhaul soon. The Library may turn into three short tales.
The longer I work on the Draoithe Saga, the stranger my author's walk seems to become. I can't say that this is the way to go, but it feels right to me. The stories are more in line with paranormal romances this way even if they mostly seem to become slow-burn stories.
Work in Progress Update
So as I alluded to before, this tale is still a work in progress. As of this post, Jag Macguire's tale has 11,764 words. With 9 1/2 chapters, it still has a long way to go. It's building again, so that's good. It should be the last tale in the Eyrie Iolair miniseries.
I know. I thought that miniseries was done. Well, it ain't. That's the trouble with sagas. The story keeps going like old-style soap operas, only with multiple arms and spinoff tales with crazy reconnections that no one, including the author, ever saw coming. This story connects with the characters from Tantalu. So welcome back Sandor Liderk and Tavas Elniai and the crew from Tantalu Ostain.
For many people, Tantalu is out of the loop for the main series. It's technically a prequel only because I didn't know what else to do with it. Looking back, Tantalu should have been its own miniseries of short tales anchored by Sandor Liderk and Sarika's story. (Synner and Sainte is that way too.) At the time, it was just a crazy story set in the dream that didn't seem to fit with the other stories. Years later, I finally have the connection.
Laugh with me because the whole damn mess is crazy and laughing at all of it and reading some cool stories is about all we can do. I mean I was only going to write one book out of boredom. Where all of these characters and stories came from, who knows? I just have to write them so the characters will stop talking in my head. That means that others have a chance to read them.
Neverending Marketing Issues
I know a few of my readers wait for this section just to find out what I am doing with this part. If you only stop in to check on the books or visit the dream and if you don't care about the behind-the-scenes for self-publishing and book marketing, please skip this part. If you are awaiting an update on my May efforts at paid marketing, I gotcha right here.
As you know, funds are always limited. So I can only do so much at one time. What I did in May was run a month-long promo with My Book Place on A Pack Forms. I paid thirty dollars for four weeks and put up a free author interview. I got crickets. Nothing happened. I spent money and the needle on that book never moved. I can't say that it was a total loss. I sold other books, just not the one I was focused on.
I also posted A Pack Forms to Snick's List for a Thirty dollars for one-month Social Promo. So far I have seen nothing come from that either. Once again, I can't say that it wasn't helpful at all, but I didn't sell a single copy of A Pack Forms on any platforms except Radish for May. I wasn't pushing the Radish link anywhere.
I did get an ad on Radish at the end of May for Dread Allies, and that went superbly well. If you are publishing romance, Radish is a great platform. The ads don't cost me anything. I just have to keep applying for them.
The upcoming promotion in June will be on Author Ad Network for one hundred twenty-nine dollars. It will feature A Pack Forms on eleven different Sites/Newsletters. Ouch, it was expensive to do it like that, but I wanted to see what a stacked promotion would do for the book. Cross your fingers people.
Behind the Scenes
I loved serial publishing Ruler of the Mind. The results were awesome. A lot of people checked out the series on the WannaRead blog and then I gave away a few free copies of the book when it was first released. After a month, I added a real price, took the serial down, and sold several copies.
I put up Arctic Fox that way and I might put up a few more shorts like that to stay up permanently. It was so much fun that I might still do a longer work that I take down when it's finished just like I did with Ruler of the Mind. I love feedback. If you liked Ruler of the Mind and read it as a serial on the blog, let me know. I would love to continue doing what readers enjoy.
I have to run away and get the laundry done. I know, I love the dream, but real life always gets in the way. Remember to be kind when you read and leave reviews. Until the next time,
Happy Reading,
Be Careful!
Ophelia Kee
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