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August update? August update!

 

Magi of Gaia is not available for purchase yet, but it’s a good idea to get into the habit of writing in this blog periodically to go over updates. It can’t hurt, at least.

 

Speaking of the book, I’m proud to announce that it is ready for publishing, minus a copyright page. I’m holding off putting one in until the last minute because I feel a publisher may want to add in a few extra things as well. Either way, I could self-publish it today on Amazon if I wished to, but I know many publishers do not accept books that have already been put on the market. I’ve chosen February 1st, 2020 as the absolute latest I intend to wait before self-publishing, so look forward to that as a possible release date (though I hope to get it out much sooner).

 

Half a year, huh? Why do I feel like it’s as close as tomorrow?

 

Well, in regard to the time between now and then, I’m currently deciding on the length of the sample for the book. This has been on my mind a lot recently, and I can’t decide whether I want the first two chapters (roughly 12% of the book) or the first four chapters (roughly 20% of the book) to be the sample. Around 10% seems more like what a proper sample should be, but I feel that chapter four is a really strong, interesting chapter and will make others want to read the book more, so I’m leaning towards that. Of course, chapter two is pretty incredible on its own, but in terms of keeping readers wanting more… <<<Rambling

 

Lastly, I’m debating on what to do with the last page of this website. Right now, it’s marked as “About”, but I already have an “About The Author” part on the home page, so I should turn the “About” page into something else. The current idea I’m floating around is to make it into a page detailing the side characters in more detail, but with the Side Stories in the works, I don’t want to preemptively give too much away. Well, there’s no rush on it. I’ll continue to brainstorm a while longer. For now, it’ll have to remain an empty page.

 

Looks like that’s in for this update. I suppose I should aim to make one of these post around the beginning and middle of each month. It’s good to form habits early, right?

 

Thanks for taking the time to read it. I’ll post again in around two weeks (I hope).

I’ve written a few side stories for minor characters in the past and will be revising them over time and distributing them at some point. If you’re reading this, I’m making the assumption that you already know that Magi of Gaia is full of characters, and many of those characters won’t be able to have a proper spotlight shined on them. Each character has a rich/unique history that I’d love to share one day, and I feel it’s a disservice not to share it. I don’t want readers walking away from this series with ideas like “Priya’s just lazy” or “Hilja is weirdly obsessed with Morina”.

 

To give readers a better understanding of those characters, who they are, and why they are the way they are, I’ll be going back over previously-written side stories as well as writing brand new ones between books. How these side stories will be distributed is currently unknown, so I’ll be sure to update the blog and post on Twitter when it has been decided.

 

Oh! As a side note, the first fight scene for volume 2 is currently being reworked. It’s truly been the most difficult fight scene to write thus far because the focus isn’t on magic (ahem!) … or something like that. Sorry if you want to know more, but this is a spoiler-free zone!

It appears as though the site is up and running, but since the book isn’t even on sale yet, this blog post is rather preemptive. Still, it’s not necessarily a bad idea to have a blog post ready for anyone that comes to check it out.

 

So, uh… Hi. Thanks for visiting the blog. If (when it’s available) you’ve purchased a copy of Magi of Gaia, thanks for your support. If not, that’s fine, too. I welcome any support I’m given as a new author.

 

Since you’re here, allow me to go over the current progress of Magi of Gaia. Currently, book one is completed, but it undergoing copy editing. That will be done by the end of the week (I hope). Volume two is a work in progress, though the outline has been fully written, so progress should go smoothly. Cover art and inserts will be commissioned at the beginning of next year, if not sooner.

 

I’m currently considering hiring voice actors to create a sample audio book for the first couple of chapters of the story, but that type of thing doesn’t come cheap, unfortunately. It’s still something I wish to have done (and a full audio book would be even better), but for now, it’s just an idea on the back burner. If that project ever becomes a reality, I’ll post about it here and post the finished video to the YouTube channel.

 

Thanks for taking your time to read this and for your support moving forward! I deeply appreciate it.