This business is a funny one.
The landscape hybrid authors must navigate is even more slippery than that of traditional publishing or indie publishing are on their own. For us (or most of us, anyway), we’re always trying to balance short-term monetization with long-term strategies that create a platform whereby traditionally published titles with greater distribution and lower royalty percentages drive increasing numbers of core readers to our smaller-press and independently published titles.
It’s a genuine tightrope, one that virtually all hybrid authors must concern themselves with, particularly when we’re wearing as many hats as we do.
So, as a result, and after long consideration and a good deal of business analysis, I sat down with my main small-press publisher and talked about what I hoped to achieve in 2018. My primary mission in 2018 is to make it as far into being a full-time author as I can. Now that Colt the Outlander: Shadow of Ruin is basically behind me (just wrapping up edits right now) and I have a toe-hold in a Baen title (Monster Hunter: Files), I have slated three novels to be written this year. I won’t be able to achieve that goal without spending less time on generating income with my book design and marketing collateral business.
It’s important to mention here that Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta’s imprint “WordFire Press” has been instrumental in helping me gain ground over the past four or five years. In a like manner, the WordFire booth, for which I managed the warehouse, inventory, transportation, setup, and show-attendances, has been a tremendous boon to my career in both exposure (god, how I hate that word) and the generation of industry contacts. Indeed, my association with both Larry Correia and Sherrilyn Kenyon is a direct result of managing Kevin’s the booth.
So, what it boiled down to (and as you have probably guessed), is that I made the difficult decision of pulling my print and digital rights back from WordFire Press and bringing them up under the umbrella of my own imprint, RuneWright. Bear in mind that The Best of Penny Dread Tales and all of my audio rights for both the Blood War Chronicles and the Endgame Trilogy are still with WordFire. Kevin was both very understanding and generous in letting me keep those facets of my IP rights in the WordFire house. In fact, we are currently in production to bring Blood Ties into an audible format, and Blood Curse (and all subsequent novels in that series) will not be far behind.
The truth is, however, I need to gain greater income per unit per title, both in the Rabid Fanboy booth and online, to achieve my goals. Kevin, as a big-name hybrid author himself, was fantastic, understanding completely what my goals are and how best to get there.
So, with this post, I am announcing the availability of new trade paperback and digital editions of Blood Ties, Blood Curse, and Chemical Burn. For the indie and hybrid authors reading this, I want to also point out that for my trade paperbacks and digital editions, I am sticking with the CreateSpace / KDP select options, which prohibits you from listing them in that format on other platforms. In only a few days, I have already seen a marginal increase in revenue as a result of the KENP page-read revenue stream on Amazon. I will be re-publishing Blood Ties and then doing first editions of Blood Curse and Chemical Burn in hard cover in the next few weeks. Those are primarily for show sales, but I will be reaching out to libraries and a number of book stores to see what I can place with them.
So, for your entertainment, the following is now available:
The Blood War Chronicles
“Prepare for shocks, grit, and a voice you’ll want to read forever.”
~ #1 NYT Bestselling Author Sherrilyn Kenyon
In a world of magic, clockwork gunslinger Jake Lasater must stop a demon Apocalypse from wiping out two worlds. Starting in an Old West you would mostly recognize, this paranormal urban fantasy turns to epic fantasy over the course of the series, with vampires, fey creatures, dragons, giant spiders, demons, and other mystical creatures, culminating in a demon war that threatens the whole of the human race. This six-book series promises to keep you on the edge of your seat for years.
Clockwork Gunslingers – Chinese Assassins – A World of Magic
When assassins jump Jake, he knows the Chinese Tong wants to finally settle an old score. Unfortunately, he has no idea the Tong is just the first milepost on the road toward a destiny he refuses to believe in.
With his riding partner Cole McJunkins in tow and his ward Skeeter secretly hidden away, Jake squares off against a deadly clockwork mercenary from his past and a troop of crazed European soldiers who want him dead. Add an insane Emperor with knowledge of Jake’s past and a mysterious noblewoman who desperately needs his help—and Jake is faced with a whole mess of trouble, with no end in sight.
Blood Ties launches an epic saga that spans worlds and threatens the human race itself.
Ancient Foes – Airship Battles – A Hidden City
A ruddy sun has set on the gauntlet that nearly killed Jake and his companions in San Francisco. Storm clouds loom on the horizon, promising the inevitability of an airship battle with the nefarious Colonel Szilágyi.…
Blood Curse, the second book in the Blood War Chronicles, drops Jake into the middle of a war between the Free Territories and the Empire of Texas. In the shadow of warships, mechanized infantry, and spies, he discovers a world he couldn’t possibly have imagined and begins to understand what fate has in store for him.
Jake doesn’t want that destiny, but his growing feelings for the Lady Corina Dănești lead him down a path of death and destruction on a scale that could encompass worlds.
The Endgame Trilogy
“The perfect combination of science fiction, noir, and detective drama, Chemical Burn drips with snark and action. Fans of Larry Correia’s Monster Hunters or Jonathan Maberry’s Joe Ledger will love this.”
~ Bryan Thomas Schmidt,
Hugo nominated editor, Shattered Shields
If you crossed Deadpool, Sam Spade from the Maltese Falcon, and Axel Foley from Beverly Hills Cop, you’d get Justin Case. With all the violence, noir, and snark you can eat, this series promises to keep adult readers of all ages entertained as Justin faces down one hard-hitting mobster after another.
The last thing Los Angeles needed was a high-tech, ex-assassin from another world setting up shop as a private detective. They got one anyway, in the form of Justin Case, a smart-ass killing machine looking for a little redemption.
When one of Case’s closest friends turns up dead, the alien detective and his predatory partner Magdelain track down an Italian mobster secretly hammering L.A. with a new designer drug. Case must call in favors from a bare-knuckles brawler tied to the Russian mob and a hot-bodied sniper who makes a mean cappuccino. Before the end, he’ll even put the love of his life in harm’s way and risk everything by revealing his greatest secret.
If you haven’t picked up one of these novels, now it a good time to dive into the worlds of Quincy J. Allen.
And for all the writers out there living the dream….
Keep on writing!
~ Q
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