The first draft of Marin’s Codex is complete, at a hair over 102,000 words. Today I’ll be starting through it again to expand a couple of areas that I know need additional content, to flesh out a secondary character, and to try to make sure the story is good. At the same time, one of my Alpha Readers is going through it and giving his opinions. Once I have it revised, I’m going to be sending it to other Alpha Readers for feedback.
I expect the ‘review and edit’ process to take me about three weeks in total, maybe four, if I include time for Alpha and Beta readers to give feedback. Once I have it ready, I’m going to get things situated for publishing. You haven’t seen a pre-order because I don’t want to force it out the door sooner than it’s ready, but you’ll likely see one soon… also, I commissioned Jackie Felix to do the cover for this like all the other books in the Ancient Dreams series. Hopefully I’ll be able to share the cover I’ve been working up soon.
To help clarify things for those that may be uncertain, this means the anthology I had planned, Before the Godsrage, is essentially shelved. Marin’s Codex will include Into the Eternal Wood, which is a novella of about 20,000 words, and between the two they’re a bit longer than Ancient Ruins was (Ancient Ruins was about 117,000 words, while Halls of Power was about 134,000). As of this moment, I’m expecting to have the book out in mid-January, possibly as late as the beginning of February. This, like all things, can change, though.
Anyway, that’s it for news for the moment!
Ancient Dreams 
Great! It’s nice to have a general idea of release. Especially after the many extensions.
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Honestly, the mid-January to beginning of February was when I expected to release Before the Godsrage to begin with. Similarly, end of spring to early summer is my hope for Down with the Queen.
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It may not be what you originally planned, but i think it will turn out for the best, alot of the story ideas from before the godsrage i think would do well as novel length, and i am certainly looking forward to them, and comeing from someone as chronically impatient as i am, it says alot about the quality of the work in question.
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I’m glad to hear that! I literally finished the revision less than 10 minutes ago, going to be sending it to Alpha Readers tonight. I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to get it out close to the 1-year anniversary of Ancient Ruins.
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That would be a mighty interesting coincidence! I look forward to it, fists full of petty cash. :P
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Sorry abot that last bit, i just realised you wouldnt understand the reference… i do that way too often. u.u
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Not a problem! I got most of it from the context. In any case, I’m not going to rush it, any more than I already have. My first Alpha Reader loved it, for what it’s worth.
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And that is as it should be, personally i love reading the ARCs aswell as the finnished version and comparing the two, but i usually have to pay for both, honestly the only reason I haven’t asked to be an alpha/beta is because i dont want to displace anyone and we dont know eachother nearly at all, but after i buy the full version, mind tossing one of the ARCs my way?
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I’m afraid that I don’t give out the ARCs except to my team, and I restrict it to 20 people in part to make certain I can actually listen to their feedback more closely. The other part, I’ll admit, is to keep chances of piracy lower.
That being said, I have never fully filled my team, with 13 members this last time, and I don’t select every applicant, either.
So if you want an ARC, please apply to the team. It’s the only way I give them out.
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Fair enough, that is pretty easy to understand, though, i would like to know exactly how to go about accomplishing that?
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Every time I’ve finished the second draft of my books, I send out a message via my newsletter for my ARC team. I rebuild my team each time, though those who’ve joined before and given solid reviews (not necessarily good ones, but well-thought-out ones) are given priority. I choose up to 20 people, and send out the ARCs about 1-2 weeks ahead of the final book, usually about the time I send it to my editor.
To join the team, there are two requirements. You have to have reviewed one of my books on amazon, and it has to be linked to an amazon account that allows me to see your review history. This is so I can see how your reviews tend to be. That’s it.
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I see… very well. Thank you for the information, i will definitely consider doing as you suggest. Untill next time!
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