Several people have asked me that question since I made the initial announcement about my new pet project: are you really publishing your book for free?
The short answer: yep! I sure am.
Here’s the longer answer.
Agent of the Arcane: Double Cross was the book I finished about two years ago, right before I re-immersed myself in the world that is now taking shape as the Nightmare City series – which I’m still working hard on to publish soon, too!
I don’t know if other authors feel this way, but I get very single-minded about a story once I start in on it. Double Cross was just finished when the new ideas for Nightmare City came to me and *bleep* – Double Cross fell right off the radar.
An entire story, basically finished, just sitting there, completely forgotten. Sad, sad story…
Then a friend asked me about it a couple of weeks ago: “Hey, whatever happened to that Alias meets Underworld story you were working on a while back? That was such a cool premise!”
And *bleep* – Double Cross was back on my radar.
So I dug it up in my Full-Drafts folder and read through it. And man, did I have fun! Yes, I’d written it, but reading it after two years felt like exactly that: re-reading a book you really enjoyed a while ago but don’t remember the specifics of.
It was way better than I remembered, or maybe gave myself credit for.
It was also a lot steamier than I remembered, tee-hee. There’s this one naked dinner scene… phew! *fans self*
I’d originally pegged it as urban fantasy and that must have been the initial idea, once upon a time. But now that it’s done, it fits the paranormal romance criteria much better and I like it just the way it is. Toning down the romance just for the sake of making it more UF-y would diminish the story’s fun, easy-going tone.
My point is: I really like this story and I think others will, too. It’s too much fun to hibernate in a forgotten folder on my computer forever. But my creative focus is on Nightmare City at the moment and will probably remain there for a good long while to come.
And like I said before, I’m a one-project-at-a-time kind of writer. Preparing Double Cross for ebook-publication would take more focus and energy than I’m willing or able to give it right now.
But posting it on a weekly, chapter-by-chapter basis is totally doable.
If you want to make sure you won’t miss the beginning or any of the chapters, sign up for my newsletter and I’ll keep you posted!
There are forty chapters in the book. Some of them are so long that I’ll be splitting them into two or three blog posts. So my guess is it’ll be about a year until all the chapters are posted. And then, maybe, I’ll compile them all into an ebook and actually sell it.
That strategy worked well for Andy Weir and his Martian, and for Ilona Andrews and their Innkeeper Chronicles. Maybe it’ll work for me, too.
Either way, Double Cross will be first published in blog series format – and you’ll be able to enjoy it all the way to the end for free.
Promise!
Chapter 1 of Agent of the Arcane: Double Cross will be posted this coming week. Find out more about the story here!
P.S. Newman - Urban Fantasy Author 