In short: No. It's done. I may, may finish the book I was working on when my dog died, which I set aside to write Troyland, because I needed something a bit more upbeat. But understand Sales on Troyland sucked.
I lost money.
Sales on Bellicose, also sucked, though they were about 12 percent better than Troyland. People said after Bellicose did poorly that they really wanted another Troy book. Well, no, turns out they didn't. So I know, from years of experience that I will lose a lot of money if I finish that other book and put it out. It's only 10 percent done, so it'd take at least a month to finish, unless I made it really short.
So please don't tell me 'I'll buy it! So you can't say nobody wants it!' because for me to PAY for the cover and the editing I need to sell a thousand copies. And I don't think it'll sell even that when I look at the numbers of the last few books in Valens Heritage.
But honestly? It's to be expected. We're talking book Twenty-SEVEN here. The first series was 18, and the second is now 9. While Valens Heritage started out okay, it really wasn't doing any better than Valens Legacy #18. You always lose people as you go through a series. Nobody gets a 100 percent read through. Almost nobody gets 90 percent. I typically get 85+ percent, and that's unheard of for most series.
So I knew this was coming.
What happens next? Well I may work on it a night or two a week, cut it down in size to maybe 40K or 50K words, not buy a cover, not get an editor, and just toss it out there when it's finished. But understand that this is a MAY. I just as well MAY NOT. And it could be a year or two. I have a LOT of active stories going on that make way more in sales, and I've got several commitments to publishers. I have a lot of books I need to get written. I have a lot of promises to keep. I know from experience that this book will sell poorly, and probably get pirated to hell and back, because whenever I break down and do something like this, that always happens to me.
So yeah, sorry that you may never get this book. But the truth is, my fans don't want it. Oh, some do, but most? No, most of my Valens fans moved on after Legacy ended. Some read Mihalis, and stayed for a few more books, but that was pretty much it.
I am very much considering a new 4 or 5 book series that is not related to Valens in anyway, for my Stryvant name. Something new, with new characters and a new story. Because that's what my fans want Something New.
Again, sorry that we're at this point, but the overwhelming majority of my fans have spoken with their wallets and they just don't want this book. Oh, and if I do write it? It won't be KU, because I'll want to try and make some of my time back.
So please, stop bugging me. Yeah, I love the series too, but I've got bills to pay myself.
Thank you for update. though I was one that made it through the series and have read the all the valens multiple times, it makes sense. Having read a portion of the other author's spin off I agree you don't feel you really need to continue after troyland, with the world details in those books.
ReplyDeleteIt’s a shame we won’t get to read the fate of House Uunregarten (no doubt grizzly), but fully understand your rationale.
ReplyDeleteI'm a little bummed about that because I enjoyed the series so much, but I completely understand. I would be happy to see more in the series, but I'll take anything you can give us. Absolutely loving the Wolfhounds series. Just keep typing away and I'll keep buying. Maybe someday you can revisit the Valens universe. Take care.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing more satisfying than completing the job. This is an amazing series, find the time to finish Valens then move on to your next project
ReplyDeleteYou do you.
ReplyDeleteI still feel like Mihalis' story is unfinished.
I think stand-alone short stories not focused on the Valens clan could be fun to read.
but that's just my 2 cents.
Sorry to hear that. Surprising to hear Bellicose didn't do well, the Mihalis storyline is the main reason of why I bought the others. What would you say your closest match to this is in other series you have written as a next book to try? Under either penname
ReplyDeleteps. already read Dan's inferno series, any more of those coming btw?
DeleteProbably not (and I'm commenting anon because google won't let me log into my own account for some stupid ass reason.)
DeleteRight now, nothing.
DeleteMakes sense, one of the things I respect the most about you as an author is the way you were able to build up the scale in the original Valens series. From a small number of characters dealing with small problems, to a large number of characters dealing with large problems, while having a clear progression going on (most authors cheat in a variety of creative ways to keep the scope 'consistent')... but the legacy series became... too much. I frankly got lost in the characters (as someone who read all the books) and due to the large number of characters it ended up feeling like I didn't really care all that much about most of them. Retrospectively I think the books would've done better if they had only focused on one of his children frankly, although the ambition behind the Valens Legacy series really 'suits' the amazing work you did with the original series.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, would love just a couple of paragraphs from your perspective where you would've taken the characters. Like rather than a full book, just a long-ish blog post that you could write in less than a day as a cheaper (compared to you investing the time into writing a full book on which you would lose money anyway) "thank you" to those who read all your books.
Or last idea: Do a one-off book with the original characters a couple of hundred years down the line. Original characters might sell better than the children, especially if it is branded strongly as the series finale, and it could still include some 'closure' for the legacy books. 🤷