Welcome to my Readers List!

More on that in a bit.

What an Exciting 8 Days!

It’s been quite a rush these past eight days. Release for Canthany Rising on June 22. Travel to St. Louis on June 23rd for the Realm Makers Conference on June 24-27 where both The Accident and Canthany were sold in the bookstore. Met new friends and some old ones. Back home on the 28th where my two cats decided I had abandoned them (even though my sister came by twice a day), and shunned me…for about five minutes before begging me to give them attention…or treats. Two days to rest and recover…NOT!

Canthany Rising didn’t break any records on Amazon, but it did hit #40 in Christian Fantasy Kindle. It also hit top 100 in Christian Fantasy Books and Religious Science Fiction and Fantasy Kindle. I’m pleased!

Realm Makers Conference

I had my ups and downs with the conference. The schedule for classes and my pitches to publishers collided to the point I didn’t attend a couple of sessions. Fortunately, there will be videos of the sessions I missed, so I can view them later. I also had an accident which prevented me from attending another session. (Tripped on the top step which sent me sprawling. My hip now has a massive bruise.) But, all was not lost!

Meetings with Publishers

The two publishers expressed some interest. One asked for the manuscript for Canthany Rising. Both seemed more interested in the LitRPG than the Sci-fi. That was a bit disappointing, but not unexpected. LitRPG is a hot commodity. The mentor I talked to wondered why I was even considering traditional publishing when I planned on independently publishing six novelette to novella books. The intent was to get help with marketing and such, but, if I do my job right, I’ll already have all the infrastructure in place. After some thought, I’m going independent all the way!

Discussion Panel

I met a lot of great folks at the conference this year. First off was Tripp and Evelyn Berry (their pen names). Tripp invited me to be part of a discussion panel about writing while working or retired. Tripp and Evelyn were a hoot! A great couple to be with and talk to. They both went independent, so I picked up a few tips along the way.

The panel discussion was a blast! Along with Tripp and me, Kandi J. Wyatt and H.L. Burke joined us. We brought some depth to the discussion, and we had a few things we shared. It only lasted forty-five minutes, but it was a fun time.

Readers List

Of the sessions I attended, I found out I’m branding these missives incorrectly. (I can’t call them ‘newsletters’ anymore, or ZS Diamanti will come over and wash my keyboard with soap.) You are officially now part of my Readers List! Ta-Da! Welcome! (I may come up with a new name beyond Readers List. Stay tuned.)

Other Sessions

The time travel session was pretty cool, but nothing to add to my writing…even though The Traveller in Canthany Rising is a time-traveler.

I found out my writing may be considered ‘Cozy LitRPG,’ meaning, my protagonist is on a journey of personal growth, the progression of the characters is on a slower pace. However, I do love my battles, so I may be a hybrid cozy and epic. Go figure! I can’t seem to follow any norms.

Other Authors

You couldn’t walk more than ten feet before meeting another author. Some of the ones I met (and took selfies with) are:

Wayne Thomas Batson – picked up the third of his Outcast LitRPG series. Can’t wait to read it.

Megan Schaulis – Not only is she my editor, she’s a great author! Pick up Protector. It’s awesome.

Steve Rzasa (pronounced RAH-zah, I had it right!) – Steve has written I don’t know how many books. I have seven of them now. I picked up his time travel book and another in his Realm of Five universe.

Conclusion

The Realm Makers conference turned out great. I did sell a few of my books, but not as many as I had hoped. I think part of the issue is the paperbacks don’t have a price printed on them, so that may have been a turn-off. Oh well. More to learn

Writing Progress

The follow up to The Accident has been completed. It’s about 20k words in length, so about the same length as Accident. I will be shipping it off to Megan soon for her developmental and line edit. I’ve started mapping out the next Canthany story. This will likely run longer than Rising, so I will take a bit longer to write. More details to follow.