A Little Bump in the Road

As anyone who read my Dear Agnes post knows already, I've had to push back I Buried a Witch from its original Halloween release date.

I'm truly sorry. I know it's disappointing and I know it's frustrating. For me too, believe me. And it's also expensive. I don't like doing it, but sometimes there just isn't an alternative. At least it's a relatively short delay. The new release date is November 30th, so maybe a little witchy mystery will make a welcome change from the glut of holiday releases? Or maybe not.

Anyway, it is what it is.

Of course, pushing one title back inevitably impacts other titles, so in order to NOT move Blind Side--which has been bumped so many times (and is now a sort-of-mildly-holidayish story), Haunted Heart: Spring is now scheduled for...spring. Which seems symmetrical--if also aggravating for everyone who was looking forward to that one.

So my release schedule for the rest of the year looks like this:

I Buried a Witch - November 30
Advent Calendar (including codas) - December 1
Blind Side (Dangerous Ground 6) - December 31
Hide and Seek (on-going serialized novel for Patreon)


Here's an insider's tip. If the book isn't listed on Amazon, the release date is not yet firm (even if I'm almost sure it is firm). And if it is listed on Amazon, the most it can be delayed by is thirty days. Frankly, that's more about how Amazon works than how I work, so you can rely on it. 

I've planned out next year, obviously, but the unexpected crash of this year's schedule has shaken my certainty, so I'm holding off scheduling anything for a bit.

A few readers have asked why I schedule release dates before a book is complete. Isn't that just asking for trouble?

Well, I schedule release dates for unwritten projects for the same reason most mainstream publishers and indie publishers do. In order to arrange audio, translations, even some marketing and promotion you've got to have some tangible proof the work is coming--and that tangible proof is a listing on a bookseller's site. From cover art to arranging for reviews, it's all interconnected, and the lynch pin is the book listing.

But I also need a publishing schedule for myself. If I don't have a hard and fast schedule (okay, a reasonably hard and fast schedule) with actual dates to aim for, I tend to wander around creatively. I jump from project to project, I change my mind, I lose confidence, I get lost in research or How To vids... Watching pre-orders pile up keeps me focused.

Each pre-order is like a vote of confidence from readers that yes, this is a book they really do want. This book is the priority.

So in that sense, the publishing schedule is as much for me as it is for readers.

(Just to be clear, I don't actually get ANY money until a book is published--and then it's usually 30-60 days (or longer) from when it goes on sale. So while there is a monetary component to preorders, I'm not getting any money for things I haven't yet earned.)

Anyway, there you have it. The book is delayed. I would love to be able to say it will never happen again--and for this book it actually won't ever happen again--but of course I can't in honesty promise that there will never be a delayed release date again. I can't predict the future. Things happen. Life happens.