I know that I’ve been saying this for a while, but the second draft is nearly done. I’ve been hemming and hawing over the last couple chapters for far too long, but it’s time to just finish it. I know there are still problems, but that’s what the third draft is for.

The big question, though…is what do I do with it? Inkshares isn’t going to work…because screw doing all my own marketing. Bleug. No thanks. Twitter is a fun distraction, but I don’t want to spend all day every day “building my following” like some kind of cult leader. Chances are my Twitter is going to get me tossed in Gitmo by President Trump anyway.

Further complicating matters is the information that I got at WorldCon. Impervious is a big book and would present a big risk to any publisher, on top of the risk of taking on a first-time author. While I fully plan to query it out and try to find an agent, chances are that Impervious won’t be able to sell until I’ve sold a couple other books to “prove myself”. Even Brandon Sanderson started off with Elantris. Sure, it was a big book, but it wasn’t a huge trilogy like the Iron Principles is. And if I did sell it, there’s a very good chance that I’d have to change the ending so that it could be a stand-alone novel, just in case it didn’t do well.

Plus, nearly every agent and editor I heard at WorldCon said to not write the second book until after I’ve sold the first. Apparently having three books ready to go in a series isn’t actually a selling point…at least for a first-timer like myself.

So, how does this affect my plans? Well, in the immediate sense, not at all. I’m still going to finish up this draft, and probably do at least two more drafts to get Impervious in enough shape that I can query it out. If I find an agent, and it sells, awesome! I’ll take it and run, and change whatever they want  me to change. It’ll take a while, but you’ll get a book.

Assuming that doesn’t happen? Well, I’ve got a couple other options. The first is just to pay to get it professionally edited and put it up on Amazon, iBooks and elsewhere, go the indie route. I’m crap at marketing, but that’ll put an eBook with my name out there and then I don’t have to wait for a multi-book deal to write the rest of the series.

Something else I’m considering is seeing what I sound like reading it. There are a few authors out there who’ve gotten their start publishing their book in an audio format, one chapter at a time, recording themselves. I’m actually more than a little curious to give that a try and have been dipping my toe in the shallow end of that pool since WorldCon. You may or may not be hearing more from me on that in the near future.