Thoughts on the Omnibus edition of Charlie Jones...
Hi all,
A note to mark the milestone of compiling the first three volumes of the Charlie Jones series together in one 760pp volume!
https://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Jones-...
I know it was a strange decision to publish three volumes of a new series all in the same year. But probably it's because these three books are just the start of the ideas I have for Charlie Jones...
I'm not a patient person. I had these three nearly all written when I decided to start self publishing and once I started it was easy to just keep going. Also I was impatient to start generating some sales for my project of raising money for Doctors without Borders, and being a completely unknown author I thought well, one of the ways to stand out from the crowd could be to appear from nowhere and publish five books in one year! I beat my fundraising target so it wasn't the wrong decision from that point of view, though of course it may have been a bit short sighted, only time will tell.
Putting the first three Charlie Jones books into a single volume has been a nice journey because I can see the strengths and weaknesses of each when I put them together side by side. I wrote volume I (BUG) around an idea for a very different take on the standard spy story and what I've found since then is that people either like that angle, or they don't, there's not much middle ground. Judging by the ratings I'd say the votes are falling out 70% in favour, 30% who are ambivalent.
I learned as a journalist that good editing is about 'killing your babies'. So I'm going to have a think about how central that 'twist' is to the story - maybe I should get rid of it completely?
Volume II (Cloister) has been really well received and people say it's because Charlie Jones is easier to relate to, and invest emotionally in, in the second book. The third book QUACK seems popular because of the twisty plot, and plot was much more in focus for me writing that one, so that makes sense too!
Reader feedback was really important in shaping the character of Charlie Jones along the way, so thanks to everyone for their input!! I learned that readers were very keen to see Charlie Jones continue the struggle in/against/around the Catholic Church that was so central to Cloister. I hadn't originally planned to do that in QUACK but based on good feedback from readers of the early release copies of QUACK I did a quick rewrite which kept that theme central to who Charlie Jones is.
Anyway, the three books are together side by side now in a single volume made for that week lying on a beach or trapped inside during winter... enjoy!
TJ
A note to mark the milestone of compiling the first three volumes of the Charlie Jones series together in one 760pp volume!
https://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Jones-...
I know it was a strange decision to publish three volumes of a new series all in the same year. But probably it's because these three books are just the start of the ideas I have for Charlie Jones...
I'm not a patient person. I had these three nearly all written when I decided to start self publishing and once I started it was easy to just keep going. Also I was impatient to start generating some sales for my project of raising money for Doctors without Borders, and being a completely unknown author I thought well, one of the ways to stand out from the crowd could be to appear from nowhere and publish five books in one year! I beat my fundraising target so it wasn't the wrong decision from that point of view, though of course it may have been a bit short sighted, only time will tell.
Putting the first three Charlie Jones books into a single volume has been a nice journey because I can see the strengths and weaknesses of each when I put them together side by side. I wrote volume I (BUG) around an idea for a very different take on the standard spy story and what I've found since then is that people either like that angle, or they don't, there's not much middle ground. Judging by the ratings I'd say the votes are falling out 70% in favour, 30% who are ambivalent.
I learned as a journalist that good editing is about 'killing your babies'. So I'm going to have a think about how central that 'twist' is to the story - maybe I should get rid of it completely?
Volume II (Cloister) has been really well received and people say it's because Charlie Jones is easier to relate to, and invest emotionally in, in the second book. The third book QUACK seems popular because of the twisty plot, and plot was much more in focus for me writing that one, so that makes sense too!
Reader feedback was really important in shaping the character of Charlie Jones along the way, so thanks to everyone for their input!! I learned that readers were very keen to see Charlie Jones continue the struggle in/against/around the Catholic Church that was so central to Cloister. I hadn't originally planned to do that in QUACK but based on good feedback from readers of the early release copies of QUACK I did a quick rewrite which kept that theme central to who Charlie Jones is.
Anyway, the three books are together side by side now in a single volume made for that week lying on a beach or trapped inside during winter... enjoy!
TJ
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