I’m a little late. The month snuck up on me, what with the Nebula Weekend and all. Yes, I’ll be the CFO for SFWA starting July 1. No, nothing I ever post here will be me speaking for the organization, the board of directors, or its members. I will never post anything here in my capacity as CFO. (I’m required to make that disclaimer because apparently people don’t really understand how organizations work.)

I’m still plugging away on Home Run. My goal is to get this book’s first draft wrapped up tomorrow. I don’t expect to meet that goal, but for those of you who need a date, that’s my goal. It’s as realistic as anything else I can give you. I’m at 52k and the story is finally coming together here in the middle so all I really need is a few days without website issues, car problems, kid problems, doctors appointments, or any of the other confusions that seem to bedevil me these days.

The Smuggler’s Tales will be made into audio books. Some day. Probably not this year. I’m still working with Artistic Whispers to get the Tanyth Fairport stories up and the Smuggler’s Tales will have to wait until that three book project is complete. Hiring audio production is expensive and I haven’t released enough new works to support running parallel audio projects.

I’m currently behind on paperbacks for Milk Run, Suicide Run, and To Fire Called. I don’t have a date for those. I’ll get at least one of them done by year end 2018.

For those who don’t understand why I don’t place a higher priority on paper, it’s because that final step from ebook to paper is the most expensive of any step after I have a completed manuscript. Converting the final manuscript to ebook is about a day. Converting the ebook to paper is about a month of elapsed time and another week of actual labor. The revenue contribution of paper is 8%. Even audiobooks that I’ve licensed through Podium contribute more. That’s bad news for those who love dead trees and I appreciate that my delaying the production of paper probably exacerbates the problem but for me to release both at the same time means nobody gets a book for at least a month later than the ebook is actually available.

Oh, and I get requests for signed paperbacks rather frequently. I’ve been lax in answering those requests and now state Use Tax regulations adopted by 42 states requires me to collect sales tax on books sold to people in those states and pay that (or notify how much people in those states owe to both the people who purchased and the state’s revenue office). Until this gets sorted or changed, I’m giving up on stocking books for sale here. It’s just too much overhead for me to deal with.

And before you ask, yes, there are ceilings that I probably won’t reach but in the event of a state audit, I’d still need to prove I didn’t meet them and it’s just not going to happen.

So, some good news, some bad news, and a few mea culpas.

I really need to get back to this book. It’s gettin’ really interesting.

See you next month.

So I felt guilty about having this book sitting beside me for – literally – months when all I needed to do was spend a couple of days correcting the files. The hard work was done and I just kept putting it off.

So.

Here’s a paperback. Now I’m only three behind.

Surprise!

Things moved along last month. After attending the Smarter Artists Summit in February, I found the ending I needed for Suicide Run. I lucked into a slot with my editor and she turned it around in record time. I got it back from her a few days ago and managed to get it published Saturday night.

In other news, I participated in a write-a-thon with my local Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers group at the end of March. I’d already started Home Run and added 35,000 words over the four days of the event. It’s about half done now and I’ve reserved an editorial slot for it. Fingers crossed for a speedy conclusion.

More news, I’ve heard from Artistic Whispers about the Tanyth Fairport series. They’re in post-production for Ravenwood now. I’ll get it as soon as they’re done — which should be a matter of weeks rather than months. I’m really looking forward to hearing this and I hope you are too.

What’s next?

I still owe everybody By Darkness Forged. It’s the last book in the Seeker’s Tales and the last book I have contracted to Podium.

So recap:

Working on: Home Run – Book 3 (and last) Smugglers’ Tale
Next up: By Darkness Forged – Book 3 (and last) Seekers’ Tale

In Production
Paperback for South Coast
Audio for Ravenwood

After that?

I’ll ignore new books until I get caught up on paperbacks. I hate doing it. My end of year numbers reinforced just how few paperbacks I actually sell, but having them hanging over my head is untenable.

Artistic Whispers will continue to work through the Tanyth Fairport adventures.

My plan most likely path forward is to finish Cape Grace, then go back to the land of Korlay to catch up with Tanyth and her friends, and then begin to look at what new adventures Ishmael and Pip might be going on sometime in 2018.