Hey Folks, It's been a while since I've updated and I wanted to give you some updates on Jade Phoenix and plans I have for the future. So here you go: JP 1: JP 1 is being published in partnership with the fabulous Portal Books. Rewrite is basically done (finally). The manuscript is with the copy editor and unless he comes back with something major, it should be good to go. What sorts of changes can readers expect? What are the differences between the RR version and the new published work? (I want to emphasize that it isn't published yet so everything here is not guaranteed.) Longer. Original RR copy clocked in at ~150K words. Final copy at ~205K Almost all of that added content are new scenes. Very little is exponding on existing content. The new scenes add a lot of tension and lead to a much better ending. But that's all I'll say about it. No Spoilers :-) Fixes to a lot of the flaws you RR readers/commenters had. A lot! Not just with grammar stuff, but plot holes, character flaws and the like. Yes, a lot of grammar and writing quality fixes. Overall quality of life stuff. Generally, it's a much better story. If I can be so bold to say, I think this is now a really good story. It was ok before, but I think it's actually a pretty cool book now. Other updates: The cover is in progress and we have booked a narrator for the audiobook. So the big question: Release date. We are aiming for a combined ebook/audiobook release in May and I think that is entirely realistic, believe it or not. I feel like we can really hit that. On the publishing side of things, I also have a lot of setup and back-end stuff to take on. PS: Since I'm going to be an actual big boy author with multiple books and series, I need a big boy author social media setup. That means website, newsletter, blogs, and all that jazz. Takes time and $.) PPS: I also have one other series, (Invasion) I'm self-publishing which is my biggest income right now and I cannot ignore. I need to get book 3 published to feed the fam. I also have two other series in the words. One, also picked up by Portal Books, has a full manuscript drafted (sci-fi LitRPG) and the other (genre is secret for now) is in progress. About 20K words written. Neither is going on RR. Not the right audience based on RR's readership metrics. Although if you want to see them, DM me and I'll give you a sneak peak. JP 2: I will be updating the content online to address the changes in book 1. (e.g. age up) Date is unsure. I haven't decided if I want to do it before or after JP 1 is published. As for completely new content, I don't know yet. It's a bit complicated because I can't give away any changes to book 1, so I'm kind of in a bind. I'll ponder ways to post without making it a spoiler-fest. Expectation is that JP2 will be about the same length, 200-210K words, or longer. That is a pretty long book as most come in at 120-140K. The problem is, takes a long time to write a lot of words :-) So I'm not really sure about timeline here.

Other questions I've been getting:

Will I do a patreon? The answer is, I don't know, but at this moment I'm leaning against. Here's are the considerations: I like money, but will it be enough to offset the work required? I like posting content for free. A lot of people can't afford books or KU, I feel like this is one of those things I should be doing. Reading is one of those things I want to encourage. I also receive free feedback in exchange. The pressure of having to post isn't always condusive to the creative process. And if quality suffers, I would feel really crappy about my own work. Finally, it takes a crap ton of work and I don't know if can keep up. Sometimes I write 15K words in a sitting, and sometimes it takes a week to write 5K words. Writing WELL is not easy.

Next common question: (damn RR's list formatting) Am I abandoning XYZ series? Absolutely not! I can say that unequivicably. The only reason I would ever do that was if the product started to suck and the sales were so bad I was losing money on it.

Final common question: Why can't you just post something once a [fill in time period of your choosing]? Because, as stated above, writing quality content is hard. Most of the time at least. Occasionally it just flows and all is well with the world. But that's not often. Writing WELL is challenging and I would prefer to have some backlogged content before posting anything. That does two things. First, it allows me to change things in the past in case my characters end up surprising me. (Seriously. It happens.) Second, if I get sick, go on vacation, have an emergency, whathaveyou –I would hate to dissapear. And third, what if I have writer's block? This is a serious concern. I'm actually facing it right now with Invasion. Kind of stuck and need to punch through it, but it can take time.

Yeah. So there's your update. I definately will get back into JP, but things happen and I need to pay the bills. We'll see how it goes.

I cannot tell you how much I appreciate you reading my content. I find it really valuable and appreciate your time, energy, and willingness to share your thoughts.

I hope everyone had a great new year and it continues to be great.

- Freedcats.