What's Next?

So book six is out. Both of my omnibus editions are out. So essentially, the first six book arc of the Jubal County Saga is complete. So what's next? Will I be cranking out the next six books in the series? No, probably not. Which is likely not the answer you want to hear, so I thought I would take a few lines to explain why.

I am concerned, like all reasonable creatives, about the effect AI will have on our industries. It has led me to the belief that in person sales are going to grow ever more important, as folks become more concerned that they are reading words actually written by the authors. And in person meetings will grow ever more important in that regard. I know a lot of authors build their whole strategy around online sales (and honestly make a lot more money than me). But I prefer to sell in person (while also selling online).

The problem with in person sales for me currently, is if redneck wizard books don't interest them, I have nothing else to really try and sell them on besides stickers. If I had a variety of books in different genres out, then I could reach a broader market. Which if I didn't already have a bunch of books written in different genres, that would be very daunting. But you see, the thing is, I DO. I have somewhere between four and seven books that I could work on getting edited up and out. And a few more beyond that in various stages of being written. I have a ton of content, from military fantasy to steampunk horror to southern gothic to horror thriller to dark fantasy all sitting on G and waiting on O. With the O in this case being editing.

So in the short term I am going to be working on getting at least three other books out. One is at the editor currently. Then it will likely be a steampunk anthology. Following that I suspect a collection of southern horror will be seeing the light of day. And if things go exceptionally well, that horror thriller I have will be getting trad published. Not like with the big 4/5 (whatever they've whittled down to), but with a good reputable indie press I think. So fingers crossed for that.

But what will I be writing? That's what's most important, right? Well sometime before the end of the year I want to have started on the next Jubal County book. The goal is to have the next three in that series written before I start putting them out, but I may lower that to two. It just depends on how sales are going I suppose. But three books with a rapid release and an omnibus seems like a winning strategy to me. Outside of that, I have two novels half written that are Jubal County adjacent, one horror, one...cozy? My gut is telling me that I am going to try to finish the horror novel over the next month, starting next week. Then I have some extensive rewrites to do on the cozy before I can start working to finish it. That one will be standalone is the plan, but the Jubal Horror one will likely be book one in a trilogy. I have a solid idea for book three, I just need to figure out book two. But worst comes to worst it will be a duology.

This means there will likely not be a new Marsh book next year, it will probably be 2025 before the next book in that series comes out, but when it does others will soon follow. But there will be books coming out in that world next year, so there's that at least!