Chace Randolph

Blog Post Number 73 Written and uploaded 12-01-2023

Originally I was going to wait until after new years to start the self publishing process, for there is much to do. But one of the major reasons why I wanted to self publish, was because of time, and the slow pace that the traditional publishing system works at. So I decided not to wait, not to push off goals to next year that I could work on now. After all, there is much to be done. I have already started working with a freelance editor. We had an hour and a half phone conversation, and I sent out the first two chapters for the typical free evaluation. I haven’t gotten a reply to that yet, so I am not sure of the kind of editing this person does yet, we do definitely get along on a more personal level, and I think we’ll have a good, open working relationship. The editor thinks that because I was traditionally published before, that perhaps I should continue pursuing that, because theoretically it can yield better results. But for a whole plethora of reasons I have explained multiple times to multiple people in the past couple of weeks, I don’t feel like explaining all that again.

I have multiple books I am working on at the same time. (Book 7 for the descendant saga, the feasting, a sci-fi horror set in the descendant universe and an urban fantasy) I hope to convince this editor to work with me both on the descendant book for self publishing, but the fantasy book for traditional publishing too. I will bring it up for discussion when ever I get feedback on my firs two chapters, assuming their suggested edits are reasonable and we will continue working together.

But there is much else to do besides editing. I need to learn lots about marketing, and sales. One suggested idea, is that perhaps we will wait until 2025 to release books, because 2024 will be an election year and the price for online advertising will be at a premium. So we may spend all of 2024 editing the six existing books, and then release them all in rapid succession. Say one every four months. Which means two years. Which will give me time to at least get books seven and eight written, and we can get those ready for release. Or maybe book seven and the feasting, since those are both already started, if only just. Regardless of what we decide is best in the future, my biggest goal for now, is the building of that community. I have to have a group of people to sell the book too. That’s probably the most important bit of work still to be done. Or at least the one I am most concerned about, since as evident by my social media and website traffic and you tube viewership, I have failed at generating a following thus far. Need some logo’s and catch phrases I guess, I mean I always have, I just haven’t had any good ideas for them yet. Thanks for sticking around, and I’ll see you in the next post, hopefully with more updates and more good news.

P.S. I am really close to finishing the fantasy book, and I think perhaps I will manage to get it done this weekend, fate permitting. We’ll see. It’s def going to need a new tittle though.