WHAT'S NEXT?
A valid question, asked by (possibly) tens of readers, and one I'm happy to answer, now that we've successfully posted all of our first-in-series, posted and released The Libra Gambit, and completed the serial edition of The Crew Who Came in From the Cold.
Following that run, our next task is to get Crew properly edited (by us and then a professional copy editor) and released. As of this writing, Kelley and I have read through the first draft and are now in the cleanup phase of the novella.
In addition, we are slowly building up the beginnings of Fortune's Architects (A Gideon Quinn novel), and Fortune and Glory (An Errant Freight novel), which will be written in tandem as they take place over the same time period.
The next Zodiac is in its first, baby steps of development.
All good, but it's fair to say we won't be posting anything from those three books until we're a few chapters in, so we're sure of the direction (and have a little buffer time so we can deal with life and, you know, have a weekend here and there).
But that doesn't mean the website will be left to stagnate, oh no!
Because beginning February 1, I will begin posting Hidden Dragon, Book One of Syn City Blues, an urban fantasy that's been on the mental shelf for several years, waiting its turn.
As with Crew and Libra Gambit, I'll be posting Dragon as I go, and while I'd love to promise weekly posts, I'm going to instead promise I'll post when I have something. This may well be weekly, but after the burnout of 2020-21, I intend to remain mindful of how much I can reasonably get done in a week (see two Fortunes, a Zodiac, and the Crew edits, above). All this plus there's jobs, family, etc, for the entire team.
WHERE WE ARE NOW
This is a little more complicated, but also, not horrible, so rejoice, because the TL;DR is, we can live to post another year!
By that I mean Fadge Press (the LLC under which Outrageous Fiction publishes), has enough in the bank to cover the cost of having a website, so we can keep the site live and continue to post our new works.
We also have almost enough to edit Crew for a spring release (thanks 100% to our Buy Me a Coffee supporters).
As far as book sales go, well—we sold some books.
Basically, all of our combined ebooks sales across Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Payhip earned from $10-20 USD per month in royalties for the year of 2022. These royalties are effectively divided by three (Soldier is free, so that's OF/GH/LG are shared royalties, I (Kathleen) get to hold onto the totals for Fortune's Fool and The Longest Shard).
All this to say, we are not making a living from the writing.
That said, as the owner of Fadge Press, I (Kathleen) am also NOT operating in the red. (It's more like a soft rose at this point). This is all doable because of the Buy Me a Coffee support, and the day jobs I've been lucky enough to pick up—my latest is actually perfect because it's physical enough to keep me fit, while allowing plenty of thinking time for the many, many stories we've got going. Plus, you know, paycheck!
Content-wise we're also hoping to get paperbacks going this year, and still dancing around more audiobooks. There are a few hurdles for each or those, so if you were wondering, they are on the to-do list, but not actionable just yet.
Lastly, in an effort to step out of the shadows, we now have a Facebook page where those on the FBs can visit, comment, and ask questions.
PS, you can also ask questions, comment here in the comments section below, or on Buy Me a Coffee.
We are also considering the value of a Discord group, should enough readers show interest in say, monthly calls, but that's a tougher proposition because all three of us are a on the introvert spectrum. It's not that we don't like interacting with like-minded genre consumers, it's that we have to recover after.
Basically, we are building a foundation for our outrageous fiction to find its audience, and to engage the audience we already have because it's you who keep us going.
How does all that sound? Do you want to try for Discord interactions? Want to visit us on Facebook? Are you curious about what we're reading now, or want to hear some more of our Dream Casting?
Let us know what you think, or are wishing for, in the comments.
And be sure to like, subscribe, or share this webstie because, y'all, we are a teeny tiny site in a vast ocean of content, and need all the help we can get.
Cheers to all, and Northern Hem folks, stay cozy!
PS: Sarah Andersen does a great job on illustrating how the introvert mind works:
