Artifice of Power Update # 13

Family in town again this week, so I was running a bit short on word count. Still, I managed just over 5,000 words written and got to 55% of my expected word count. I’m at the point right before the major, midpoint shift, which I now know what it’s going to be… as much as I ever do before it’s written, as a discovery writer who really has no guardrails on my stories. Word counts do imply that Act 1 did run a little long, as I expected, but there’s editing time for that. Notable events this week:

Sayli has a personal mission now that’s going to bring her into some of the larger events. I’m really excited for her movement through this part of the story, since she’s the main political force at the momentKilasha got some interesting new clues, and is probably going to miss something pretty important (though, he’s omniscient and I’m not, so who knows, really…)Emperor Deyvan is up to something, but no one seems to know what. That’s one of my favorite characters, actually. I’m looking forward to getting him more into this series.Current draft word count sits at 93,300, with about 70k to 80k left to write for the first draft. And then the editing beginsRelease planning

I’ve talked a couple time about plans for releasing books over the next year and none of that has changed, but I’m also trying to plan more specifics as I get closer to next steps. At the beginning of the new year (Yes, five months away), I’ll be launching a Kickstarter for funding of these books. I want to emphasize that I have the financials to put out the books regardless of the success of that campaign. However, since Brandon Sanderson put his secret project books on Kickstarter, a lot more fantasy and science fiction readers have created accounts there, and it makes that a reasonable marketing platform. My goal is to set a low goal that I know I can reach without having to beg readers or put a bunch of time and money into marketing and then ask try to use word of mouth to build the rest of the funding. The main purpose of this funding is to get better cover art (I have a couple of exceptional cover designers, but the better one is much more expensive), maybe some cool illustrations I can sell to interested parties, and get marketing money, as all my personal funds are going into publishing the best book I can make.

This brings me to ‘how can you all help’?

Well, first off, tell your friends about my book, but you’ve probably already done that. If anyone was on the fence, though, you can tell them that I’m actively writing and updating and I just lowered the kindle price on Amazon by a dollar.Secondly, in January, tell your friends and reader networks about my Kickstarter. If you have money to donate, also, I appreciate it, but honestly, the reader count on the blog is such an inspiration in itself. Time is extremely valuable and there’s no greater compliment than a reader giving me their time.Finally, I’d love any suggestions now on what my readers would like for tier rewards. Obviously appropriate tiers will have copies of the books as they come out, but I have dozens of other ideas (Beta or ARC reader status, digital or print illustrations, hero-forge designs of minis of people from my world, limited naming rights to things in the book, etc.). The useful ones are the ones that sound cool to you all. Let me know, or suggest your own thoughts!