State of the Fordy 2024

State of the Fordy 2022

State of the Fordy 2024

The mince pies have been snaffled, we’re all full of ham and turkey, and it’s now that weird period between xmas and new year when you have no idea what day it is – so what better time than to do an annual round up!! I hope you’ve had a good 2024 despite… everything. If not then here’s a picture of my doggy, Merle, in her xmas jumper to cheer you up…

It’s been a quiet year release-wise for me, but rest assured I have been beavering away behind the scenes. My one novel, Rebellion, was released in October – a new series with a new publisher in Boldwood Books, and it appears to be doing rather well. At the time of writing it has around 90 ratings on Amazon after just two months on sale, with a 4.4/5 average, which is by far my fastest and best performing novel on the platform. Boldwood operates a royalty-only business model, much like the deal I signed with Head of Zeus back in the day, so I was a little nervous about diving in again with no advance as a safety net. However, this time things seem to have kicked off on a much better footing, and I’m really pleased with their marketing-focused approach. It’s far too early to see how things are going yet (mainly due to Amazon’s 90-day royalty lag), but I’ve committed to an initial three novels in the Chronicles of the Black Lion series, and there will be more to come when those are written, and possibly another historical series as Richard Cullen – don’t ask me for details I couldn’t possibly say.

In stark contrast to 2024, 2025 is jam-packed with book releases from me, so strap in…

February 2025 sees the release of Crusade, second in the Chronicles of the Black Lion series, dealing with the events of the Fifth Crusade (hence the title). Hot on its heels in March come Winter Warrior, the third and unfortunately final book in the Wolf of Kings series, published by Head of Zeus. Then in June we have Engines of War – the final book in the Age of Uprising trilogy from Orbit. I had a slight delay with this due to an unforeseen financial issue, but I’m now back on track with the fantasy books, so you should see one a year from me (and Orbit) moving forward – more below. Finally, in September, comes the third novel in the Chronicles of the Black Lion, which we’re tentatively calling “Liberation”.

As mentioned, my historical fiction (written as Richard Cullen) from Boldwood will continue as long as I can write the books and keep the lights on. I’ve initially planned the Chronicles of the Black Lion series as a twelve-book saga, with the same number in another series I can’t talk about yet, so that will keep me busy for the next few years. As far as my fantasy as R S Ford goes… we’re looking at a slightly more modest output.

With the Age of Uprising trilogy drawing to its conclusion, I pitched a few ideas to my editor at Orbit for further series. We had a brief back and forth, before landing on an idea for a shorter trilogy of novels, as I was pretty burned out with epic doorstop fantasy (writing those 180k word books can really take a toll). However, after a little break and some reconsideration, I realised that epic really was my wheelhouse as far as fantasy was concerned – so I put on my large-lad pantaloons and pitched another massive, multi-POV gritty fantasy. My editor loved it. He took it to acquisitions with the rest of the team. And they said… no. Unfortunately, due to the Age of Uprising trilogy’s underperformance, and looking at the number of Amazon and Goodreads ratings it’s plain to see it hasn’t sold in great numbers, Orbit weren’t prepared to take on another chunky, epic trilogy from me at this stage. So we circled back around, and I’m currently beavering away on something shorter, that will hopefully be announced at the start of next year.

I’m still very much committed to writing another epic trilogy, and if Orbit don’t eventually pick it up I’ll try and find someone else to publish, or do it myself. I think it’s a great concept, with some awesome characters, and the worldbuilding is really intriguing. So it’ll definitely happen, just not soon. And there’s already a map…