If you follow me on social media, you might have already seen this announcement early in the morning on October 14th:
I’d like to say that I did a happy dance and toasted the accomplishment… but truth be told, I went to bed. As you can see from the time stamp, I’d basically pulled an all-nighter to finish the last few chapters. Not the first time I’ve done that, and it definitely won’t be the last.
So, now that the line edit is done, what happens next? When will you finally be able to hold Blood of the Enemy in your hands?
First, I will say that I have a target publication date in mind. However, I’m not going to announce it yet. Because we’re entering the holiday season, there’s a good chance of hitting print delays. My goal is to have the hardcover version out before Christmas.
The paperback and ebook will come later. Here’s why:
With A Fallen Hero, I followed the traditional publishing model and released the hardcover first, then the paperback and ebook later. But with Phantom’s Mask, I was a little more ambitious and decided to launch all three at the same time.
That ended up being too much. The hardcover and paperback are different sizes, so they require different formatting. For Blood of the Enemy, I’m going back to the original formula. The hardcover is coming out first.
Next Steps to Publish Book III
After I (finally) wrapped up the line edit, a lot of pieces went into motion.
I’ve already sent the manuscript off to Literary Titan for an editorial review to use on the inside jacket of the hardcover, as I’ve done with the previous books.
Literary Titan is the same organization that awarded the gold book award to A Fallen Hero in May 2020 and Phantom’s Mask in September 2020. Which means the fate of BOTE is officially in their hands now. If they like the manuscript and give it a good rating, Blood of the Enemy will be entered into their competition for an award. If they don’t… it won’t. No pressure.
I also purchased another block of ISBNs from Bowker. Each format of each book requires its own ISBN (International Standard Book Number). Still on my to-do list: all of Book III’s information needs to be uploaded into Bowker’s system so the data can be retrieved if someone looks up the ISBN.
The Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN) is a separate number assigned to books. To get that number, I first needed to get the rough formatting down for the hardcover so I’d have a decent estimate of how many pages the book will have. The answer: 519 as of now. Yesterday, I submitted the application for a PCN (Preassigned Control Number). The PCN is for forthcoming books that haven’t been published yet.
Now that those technical pieces are out of the way, my big tasks are to fine-tune the formatting for the interior file and finish the maps that will be published at the front of the book. My Patreon subscribers got a chance to see me get started on the formatting and learn about the process.
Once the formatting and maps are done, I’ll upload the files to IngramSpark and order proof copies to make sure everything looks good. I’ve recruited most of my beta readers to help me with that to (hopefully) catch any errors in one round and move straight to distribution.
From there… it’s off to the presses!
Want to go even deeper behind the scenes? Members of my Patreon community get a variety of perks depending on their membership tier, including sneak peeks, deleted scenes, Q&A opportunities, early access, merch, and more. Patrons have already gotten to see Book III’s cover, vote on a character name, and read the first three chapters. Plus, I just introduced a NEW perk for my Alpha subscribers! Members who have been part of my Patreon community for at least three months will have a place or minor character named after them in a future book! (Note: this perk is currently in a trial phase.)
As an indie author, I don’t have the financial support of a publishing house. Subscriptions help me cover the costs to get Book III over the finish line and into readers’ hands. Learn more about how donations and subscriptions support my business.
I'm an award-winning fantasy author, artist, and photographer from La Porte, Indiana. My poetry, short fiction, and memoir works have been featured in various anthologies and journals since 2005, and several of my poems are available in the Indiana Poetry Archives. The first three novels in my Chronicles of Avilésor: War of the Realms series have received awards from Literary Titan.
After some time working as a freelance writer, I was shocked by how many website articles are actually written by paid "ghost writers" but published under the byline of a different author. It was a jolt seeing my articles presented as if they were written by a high-profile CEO or an industry expert with decades of experience. I'll be honest; it felt slimy and dishonest. I had none of the credentials readers assumed the author of the article actually had. Ghost writing is a perfectly legal, astonishingly common practice, and now, AI has entered the playing field to further muddy the waters. It's hard to trust who (or what) actually wrote the content you'll read online these days.
That's not the case here at On The Cobblestone Road. I do not and never will pay a ghost writer, then slap my name on their work as if I'd written it. This website is 100% authentic. No outsourcing. No ghost writing. No AI-generated content. It's just me... as it should be.
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