As I am frantically writing my first draft for Book 3, I’m just putting together a quick update today so that I can get more novels ready to go for all of you as soon as possible!
My first two covers – the novella Magicium: Disfigurement and my first novel Discoveries – were created by a young man named Rohan Hearn, who did an excellent job of realising my vision and creating designs that reflected the texts.
When a change in circumstances meant Rohan could not create any more, the cover for Disruptions, the second novel in the series, became a collaborative effort. Rohan did a fair bit of work on it, which was then taken over by my daughter Tiernan, just before her wedding day! The final touches were then added by Bonnie Eastlake.
Bonnie then took on designing the cover for the third novel, which is the one pictured at the end in the image above. While I love all of them, I feel this one almost trapped light in a bottle – it’s exactly what I imagined, except in an even more sophisticated manner. I can’t wait for the finished product with typography, which will be done by my good friend, Mitchell Cummings.
I’m nearing a milestone for Discoveries, which has currently sold 48 copies. To many, that will seem a very small number for so much work – and in a way, it is. However, as a first time novelist, organising his own promotion with limited resources – I’m really excited. It’s 48 more than I expected when I wrote my first words on the page. I wonder who will buy number 50?
I also had my first book signing – my sister Renaye received the first copy to be shipped to Australia and the second to be shipped in the world. Again, one more book signing than I ever imagined doing… Though my school is helping organise a book launch too, so I might need to develop a separate author signature. Ah, professionalism, thou art a harsh Mistress…
If you’ve read any of the novels – see what I did there?
Now, to novels and release dates. The Discoveries audio book has hit some significant hurdles from a sound engineering point of view. As a result, I’m planning to teach myself to do the sound editing so I can release it sooner. I’m hoping to get to this once I finish the first draft of Book 3 and then to release sometime in August.
Disruptions is currently undergoing its final draft, which is mainly concerned with errors, minor corrections and pieces of foreshadowing for Book 3. The cover has just been completed and has been sent to Mitchell, who will probably have the spine, back cover and typography completed by the end of June.
As to a release date, I’m not sure. It will either be late July or early August. I’m trying to give people enough time to read Discoveries so that they are excited to purchase Disruptions. As I only have one review of Discoveries on Amazon at this stage, it’s probably fair to say not too many people have finished just yet. So get reading – the sooner people let me know they’ve finished, the sooner Book 2 comes out!
The third novel, tentatively titled Disciples, is in its draft stages. I’m currently writing Chapter 16, which means I’m over halfway there. I’m pushing really hard to get it done by early July. If so, that gives me a chance of releasing it before Christmas this year. I feel like that would be quite an achievement while working full-time as a teacher – to release three novels in the same year – so that’s my very ambitious goal.
Well, this post is not as brief as I anticipated, but I need to get back to my writing now. Still, why not drop me a line or make a comment below? I’d love to hear from you and to know whether you’re enjoying Discoveries – and how keen you are for the next novel!