Facing Forward

With all the troubles my readers and I have faced concerning the release of Stage Two of Monarch (Larva)--and the troubles are still ongoing, hundreds of people still don't have their copies of Stage Two--I have had to focus too much of my attention on what I had hoped to move on from.   Over a month removed from the release date and a large portion of my readers are without their update.  

In my effort to afford a proactive and frugal reader the chance to read something before anyone else, they are the ones who are not able to read Stage Two.  My unique way of releasing an eBook in stages, which was meant to reward people for purchasing all four stages at once, has hurt them, and I am saddened and angered by what has happened.

This unhealthy and unusable anger has forced me to reconsider the release of the rest of Monarch. I have to look forward, even though the past is unresolved.  My main concern with the release of the book has always been getting it into a reader's hands before December of this year. The reasoning for doing this was sound on my part: I have a book that deals with a specific date in the future, and allowing people to read it with enough time before December  is only fair. To release a six hundred page book in fall with so little time before December would have been unfair.

"No man is an island," the old saying goes.

Sometimes I wish that weren't true, but it is the case in the civilized world.  Troubles arise that one man cannot resolve via his will alone.  Concessions often need be made, and plans must be altered.

My intent was to release Stage Three shortly after Stage Two.  As both the Author and Self-Publisher of Monarch I have to take responsibility for how things have unfolded so far, and how they will unfold from here on out.  So far, I am seeing why I should have chosen something less complicated for my first release.  Write it, edit it, and slap it up on the web.  But then I have rarely taken the path of least resistence.


My single-minded artistic side (Author) is indignant for any and all unnecessary delays.  "How dare anyone or anything stand between my work and my readers."  That side refuses to forget how much work has been put in and craves a release.  It wants to bask for a moment in the pride of completion before moving on to the next project.  


My rational side (Self-Publisher) is charged with placating the artist and keeping things in perspective in order to reach the end.  "Rome wasn't built in a day, was it?   And for goodness sake, don't go expecting the world to bend to your will just because you want it to."  


Thankfully there is a semi-happy balance between the two sides and I'm not out on the street talking to myself.  Not yet at least.  A writer worth his or her salt never forgets a slight, big or small, and makes damn sure to put it to good use.


As the publisher of Monarch, I have concerns about rushing into the release of another stage when the last stage has yet to reach hundreds of waiting hands.  With less than half of the book to go, a reader may be better served to receive stage three and four at the same time, or very close together.  It is a potential compromise between my initial concern: Do I release Monarch all at once or in stages?  Even though Stage Three should be good to go before August, I must consider releasing the last half of the book (Stages Three and Four) all at once.  I cannot afford to further upset readers with another unnecessary month-long delay.  I don't know if I can do anything about that problem with Amazon's KDP email update process, but I do not want to have the same thing happen with Stages Three and Four.   


I'll have to run the idea by my editor when I see her next.  Either way, it gets me facing forward instead of worrying about what I cannot change.  


-aap