State of the Author, March 2025

(Image is Freya curled up on top of my keyboard, not wholly enthused with this "working" business)

Hi everyone,

February saw the last of the Starship’s Mage Anniversary Editions launch, but was otherwise quiet on the release front.

That’s the pace to expect for the rest of the year. I’ll be launching a book every two months going forward, with the occasional extra popping out here and there (this year, for example, Void Spheres will launch in addition to that schedule).

What am I working on?

I am about a quarter of the way into The Lies Arcana, the eighteenth Starship’s Mage novel. This one turned into Connor’s novel on me. It was one of those things that made sense when I sat down and sketched out the next two books and realized that either I would be telling half of two unconnected stories in each book, or I could split them apart and tell a complete story in each book.

So, The Lies Arcana is Connor’s novel and book nineteen, currently tentatively titled The Shadow of Mars is Roslyn and Garuda.

Outside of the writing, I’ve just finished putting together the paperbacks for The Valkyrie Stratagem. The first proof showed up here and promptly demonstrated that I’d been far too tired when I put one part together. So a new KDP proof is being printed—and because I’m a couple of weeks ahead on this for once, it’s not a problem.

Void Spheres is trucking toward fulfilment as well. We have a structure in place for handling the hardcovers, but we’re waiting on the interior illustrations. Organizing the leatherbounds is on my list as well, but it falls behind a few other priorities sadly.

Following up on the comment in last month’s status update, Icebreaker and City in the Sky will be launching on non-Amazon platforms at some point early this month. I’ll be watching their performance carefully, though standalones aren’t a great tool for assessing the overall status of the markets.

Another item I’m currently rolling around my head is the concept of “reader magnets.” My mailing list has been static in terms of new signups for years now (which means shrinking, because every email sent out gets a few dozen unsubscribes), so I’ve been struggling to think of ways to get more signups.

The suggestion I’ve seen is putting together some minifics (500-1000 words, basically a single scene) of zero plot importance that people can only get by signing up for the mailing list. (I would post them here too, I think.)

We’ll see if my brain cooperates. Short fiction is far from my strong point.

Watch this space for The Valkyrie Stratagem ARC in very short order. March will be a bit less quiet around here.

Happy reading everyone,

-Glynn Stewart