The New Delay

I initially estimated that I would be able to publish physical copies of The New Era in late August. The closer we get to the end of August, the more it becomes apparent that I was being overly optimistic.

The book is as edited and formatted as it can be without an initial upload to KDP and IS, and the cover is in a similarly finished state. So, what's stopping me?

Money, naturally. To publish The New Era, I need 2 more ISBNs. Which means I have to buy ten of them, because they're either $125 for one or $295 for ten. I'll also need more of them later, so ten is by far the best option.

Does KDP and IS offer free ISBNs? Yes, and that's the route I initially went down with The New Species. However, I quickly discovered that these ISBNs come with limitations. Most of these limitations are on the back-end, but one big limitation is who can buy physical copies of the books. Some fans who would be impacted by this have already purchased the first two novels, and it wouldn't be fair to exclude them for the third. Also, it's a HUGE pain in the ass to go from free ISBNs to paid ISBNs, so that really isn't an option either.

I had hoped to obtain the ISBNs that I needed back in July, but some unexpected expenses and the completely expected (and understandable) patron fall-off prevented that. I remained optimistic that I would be able to buy them this week (8/20 is today's date), but it's now clear that's not going to happen.

So, late August is a wash. We're at a point that there's no amount of money that can be thrown at the problem that can resolve it. However, I should be able to buy the ISBNs by 9/1, and once I have them I can submit them for publication to KDP and IS. That process can take up to a month, but is usually done within a couple of weeks. Realistically, we're looking at a late October or early November release. I'll announce an actual date/time when I have it 'set in stone'.

Obviously, this isn't going to impact The Human From a Dungeon or my work on The Ascuam Chronicles.

Thank you for your patience, and I'm sorry I wasn't able to live up to the expectations that I set.