Works in Progress

I've been hard at work writing and editing over the last few weeks. Here's where I currently stand:

• Rewritten II: Veracity has been edited through chapter 15. I'm waiting on the editor to finish it; I'll then give it one last proofread before publication. (Estimating that'll be in late March at the soonest.)
• Rewritten III: Evasion has been fully written and needs only to be edited. 
• Rewritten IV: Defiance has been fully written and needs only to be edited. It also needs a cover (which I've commissioned).
• Return the Sea has been edited and formatted. It needs one last proofread before publication.
• The Great Ships has been edited and formatted. It needs one last proofread before publication.
• Cyclical is approaching the final stages of editing. It needs to be read aloud, formatted, and proofread one last time before publication.
• Unlikely Places is approaching the final stages of editing. It needs to be read aloud, formatted, and proofread one last time before publication.
• Through the Cracks is approaching the final stages of editing. It needs to be read aloud, formatted, and proofread one last time before publication.
• Ill-Fitting is approaching the final stages of editing. It needs one scene to be rewritten, then it needs to be read aloud in its entirety, formatted, and proofread one last time before publication.
• Shattered is approaching the final stages of editing. It needs three scenes to be rewritten, then it needs to be read aloud in its entirety, formatted, and proofread one last time before publication. If I'm dissatisfied with the quality of the stories, I may scrap the bundle and offer the solid story as a stand-alone.
• Fallen Towers is approaching the final stages of editing. It needs to be read aloud, formatted, and proofread one last time before publication.
• The Wastes has hit the two-thirds mark. 
• Unmaking is nearly complete; I'm deciding whether to include a few, final short stories.
• Delving I: Control has hit the halfway point and been planned in detail from start to finish.
• Delving II: Alter has been planned in detail from start to finish.
• Delving III: Delete has been planned in detail from start to finish.
• Fox Train has hit the halfway point and been planned in detail from start to finish.
• Hitsuzen has been planned in detail from start to finish.
• Fall Together Like Clockwork has been planned in detail from start to finish.
• The Squeeze has been planned in detail from start to finish.
• About 60 short stories have been planned for various Qol characters, depending upon demand. 
• Rough outlines for 5 alternate POV novels exist for Qol books.

As you can see, I've been a very busy bee the last few months! Unless otherwise noted, all of the above have cover drafts, though some need to be finalized. I have a lot of works in progress, but I've been updating my dropbox for backers on a daily basis--I'm always getting something done. I'm sorry for the delay thus far, but hopefully I'll begin releasing more stories very soon!

Also, I've contacted all backers who got back to me with bonus material and the like, so I think I'm managing fairly well on that front!

Thank you all so much for your support,

Morgan Bauman

KickStarter, Planning, and Confidence.

So my KickStarter was a roaring success! I'm immensely pleased with the results, and have been doing my very best to get rewards and bonuses out to backers immediately. Of course, I don't have final drafts just yet, but I should have those ready by the time the covers are done, at least. Hopefully it won't be too long before all of my stories are available!

In fact, I have a lot of stories in the works. I'm currently 151 pages into the first book of the sequel series that follows the Rewritten arc; at least two more books will follow it. In fact, I've split the sequel series into two series, so there may be three arcs altogether. I'm also aiming to write short stories mapping the lives of over seventy Qol characters from beginning to end, though these won't be available until after the novels are released to avoid spoilers. If people are interested, I would also like to write some of the novels from the perspectives of other characters to offer a different view of the events. Beyond these, I'm currently using a program called Aeon Timeline to organize all of the character stories; once all of the books are published, I'll make that file available for free.

So Qol is getting a lot of attention at the moment. Between six and ten more novels, seventy-some-odd character shorts, as many as six alternate perspective novels, and a timeline spanning over a hundred years are all in the works.

I've also been working on a series of novellas set in an alternate, steampunk version of the Meiji Restoration in Japan. Backers of my first KickStarter got to preview the first story of the set, but all subsequent stories will be fifteen chapters long--between 15,000 and 45,000 words (60 - 180 pages) total, depending on the story. I have them plotted out in detail, and I hope to have them written and edited by the end of the year. The working titles for these stories are: The Great Ships (short story), Hitsuzen, Sadame, Fox Train, The Squeeze, and Fall Together Like Clockwork. If these are successful, I may write even more of them--after all, I did over a thousand pages of research to get as accurate of information as possible for these!

I also have a collection of assorted short stories tentatively called Unmaking in the works. 90% of them have been written and edited as of right now; I plan to release them in bundles of three or four for $0.99 and then as a collection with all six or seven bundles (totalling about twenty stories) for $2.99. They're primarily retellings of old myths, fairy tales, and so forth, only placed in a range of settings from the creation of the universe to a post-apocalyptic wasteland. They should start coming out in the next several weeks, with any luck.

So, in summary, I have the following planned for release in 2013 and 2014:

• 6 Qol novels
• 70 Qol character short stories
• 6 bundles of other short stories (~20 stories altogether)
• 6 steampunk novellas
• Total: currently estimating about 4000 book-sized pages. (May total anywhere from 2500 to 6000 pages, though, depending on numerous factors.)

Many of these are already written, and almost all of the others are planned in great detail, so I think that this may be doable. If I work as quickly as I did during November, I may have all of these written, edited, formatted, the and published with covers designed by yours truly by mid-2014 or sooner. Unless, of course, it turns out that a planned story is a total flop on the page--not all ideas pan out in the actual execution, after all.

The main setback that I've experienced thus far, though, is my own lack of confidence in myself. I struggle with marketing my stories, and I worry that people won't enjoy my books, even if I do. Though I understand that all authors encounter this particular predicament, I'm still figuring out how to overcome my nerves and actually hit the publish button. After all, a story is never really done. A point just comes when you're "editing sideways," as my friend, Hildred Billings, once put it. I may or may not be approaching that point on many of the stories in my queue.

But it's tough for me to identify that point with anything approaching confidence, as I want the books to be perfect. There's no such thing as perfection, of course, which lets me put off putting myself out there for indefinite amounts of time. I'm working on that right now, though--you'll all get to see when I hit that point, because I'll suddenly inundate all of you with several novels, short stories, and novellas all at once, most likely. Here's hoping that day will come soon!

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me!

Morgan Bauman

Progress Report 7: A month of progress bars

It's been a month since I started making progress bars. Some weeks have been more productive than others, but I've generally been keeping up with my monthly goals, and I should be able to deliver rewards on time. It's been almost two months since the KickStarter funded, and this is what I've accomplished thus far:

• Commissioned interior artwork
• Legally set up Qol Press as an official press
• Filled out paperwork so that I can legally do business as Qol Press
• Set up contact information that I can give to readers without compromising my own safety
• Organized a CreateSpace account with all of this legal information so that I can be taxed appropriately
• Checked in with people about how taxes will work now
• Bought ISBNs for the entire series
• Assigned ISBNs for the paperback, epub, mobi, and pdf versions of the book while setting one aside for an audiobook
• Created an icon for Qol Press
• Formalized the interior layout of the book (including margins, spacing, font size, page numbering, chapter breaks, etc.)
• Designed the cover layout
• Formatted the finished artwork and made a number of design decisions
• Planned the paperback packages for interested backers
• Got more than halfway through production of the bonuses for said packages

All of this covers the June and July parts of the timeline I shared with all of you, and even surpasses some of the goals. I've also managed to write a post here at least one a week, and occasionally twice in a day, depending on what I had to report. 

I've contacted my editors; if they get back to me on schedule, I'll be working on editing throughout August, as planned. Once the draft is finalized, the last of the formatting decisions can take place. I can also ship off the pdf ebook to the backer who pledged for an advance copy so that they can write a review, which will go on the back cover of the book.

September will involve draft copies, producing various formats of ebooks, and so forth; if September goes smoothly, I may even be able to get a headstart on this, but I don't want to jinx anything.

Until I get back those edits, I'll be experimenting with some other genres in the hopes that it'll improve my overall skill as a writer.

To celebrate a month of progress bars, I've made a gif that cycles through all of the progress bars that I've shared thus far. As always, if you ever have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me at contact@qolpress.com -- I'm always happy to hear from you.

(Gif warning--I've placed the gif beneath a cut to be on the safe side.)

Progress Report 6: Editing

I've been hard at work over the last several days on a manuscript swap with another writer I know. I took her manuscript, and she took mine. She plans to release that particular book around December, which is when Untold Memories I: Rayai is slated for release. I'll be sure to let you know the details once it's closer to the release date in case any of you are interested; she's a strong writer, and I'm very fortunate that she was willing to swap with me.

Unfortunately, my other editors have not yet gotten back to me, which is stalling the editing progress bar up there. I'm expecting some more responses in the next week or two, but I'll have to send out reminders if I don't hear back from them by then. Since I've sent it out to eight people for editing, even if a couple fall through on me, I should still be able to get the book into tip-top condition.

In other news, Open Book Audio has not responded to any of my emails. I have therefore dropped audiobooks off of the list for now; I'll try looking around for other options when I have spare time, but I'm just not sure that I'll be able to afford it, no matter how much I want it.

Beyond this, I've also made a lot of progress in publishing preparations; all of the remaining aspects require a finalized interior or finished artwork, so I'm about as far as I can get for the moment.

All in all, I'm already done with everything I'd planned for June and July on my Grand Master Plan, so I'm trying to get a jump on anything that's possible right now.

While I wait for edits and other feedback, I will:

• Finish prepping the paperback bonus packages that have been ordered thus far
• Search for audiobook alternatives
• Work on rewriting the sequels so that they'll be ready for release on time

As always, let me know if you have any questions or concerns! I'm always happy to listen.

Approximate Timeline

So I spent a long time today figuring out when I hope to have everything completed by. Emphasis on the hope part--after all, I can't predict major illnesses, life events, or disasters. There are a lot of things that could bring any parts of my plan that come after this December crashing down around my ears.


Even so, I thought it'd be a good idea to post it here. This is my current plan of action--if you see any flaws in it, anything that I missed, please let me know! I don't want to overlook anything, but there are a lot of pieces in motion right now. I'm doing my best to account for everything, and I think I've been pretty comprehensive, but having another set of eyes always helps.


Take a look at the details under the cut!

A brief aside on merchandise...

So, when not editing, I've been spending my time working with the artists and overall trying to get the production process of the book underway. Since the KickStarter funds haven't yet hit my account, I can't quite move into the next phase of all this--ISBNs are expensive--but I've been thinking about what else I might be able to offer to readers.

You see, I'm the sort of person who, were I wealthy, would buy all sorts of merchandise of series that I love. Harry Potter wands, parchment, and posters? I would love them. Lord of the Rings memorabilia, buttons, and stickers? Yes, please. It's kind of predictable, at this point; I often name a fandom and hope for merchandise when people are at a loss about what gift to give me. (Although, of course, a new book is always a welcome choice.)

So, when I look at my own series, I can't help but think of things that I would love to see if I were my own fan. Posters of maps, trading cards with characters, bookmarks with scenery, 3D printouts of my monsters... I've been looking into the logistics for everything that I can think of--well, when I can spare a moment. Many of them are out of my price range at the moment, but I have a lot of ideas.

What about all of you? What do you think of merchandise? If you like it, what sort of stuff do you most covet--and what are you most likely to buy? If you don't like it, what would you rather see from authors? (For example, short stories, art books, background information, etc.)

Progress Report 1: The Grand Plan

Key Points:

• Introduction (and details on the master plan)
• Notification: Livestream tomorrow at 1pm PDT - watch setting concept art get colored live while discussing books with me!

See below for the details!