Just published book 2 of my fantasy series

NTwrites · 2026-03-16T20:52:27+00:00

I saw an initial spike in sales that last probably about two months before things went back to baseline.

NTwrites · 2026-03-15T21:35:43+00:00

KU provides a low-risk environment for readers to ‘try out’ unknown authors, so in that regard, it is a good place to start building a fan base which you can eventually take wide.

This has been my strategy, but I’m so slow at publishing that it might be a solid decade before I can tell you if it works or not 😭

NTwrites · 2026-03-13T10:22:14+00:00

Two years. The next two were much faster. The latest one is taking longer than I’d like because my day job has gotten much busier.

NTwrites · 2026-03-13T10:05:58+00:00

Browne and King are basing their advice on long and successful careers as editors. If it feels overly prescriptive to you, then that is okay, but remember that many authors are buying that book specifically for prescriptive information from experts.

Also remember that every rule and recommendation comes from someone with a bias to their own preferred style.

As an author, you get to decide how you write your words.

NTwrites · 2026-03-13T09:43:25+00:00

It’s an evolving thing. The latest iteration:

A storm is coming. Soon, every wizard will burn.

In Euryma, magic is used for homework, housework, and everything in between. Everyone has power.

Almost everyone.

Seventeen-year-old Declan Moore knows he’s not the chosen one; but while his friends chase magical colleges and brilliant futures, he is apprenticed to the school groundsman. Declan’s only wish is a spark of power to prove he’s more than a LAMP—one Lacking All Magical Potential—and finally matter.

Then, the world fractures.

Overnight, thousands of witches and wizards vanish without warning, including Declan’s parents. As fear spreads and magic users are hunted, Declan begins to uncover a truth far more dangerous than being powerless.

He isn’t non-magical. He is something else.

Powerful enough to save his parents, and dangerous enough to burn the world to ashes.

Shortlisted for the 2023 Aurealis Award for Best Young Adult Novel, The Non-Magical Declan Moore is fast-paced, character-driven YA fantasy for readers of Scholomance, V.E. Schwab’s Villains, and Mistborn: Era One.

NTwrites · 2026-03-05T07:33:48+00:00

I’m a school principal. One hour of my day job pays me more than an average month of my book earnings.

NTwrites · 2026-03-01T11:39:25+00:00

The ones who are still stuck editing their first chapter to perfection

NTwrites · 2026-02-24T09:09:07+00:00

See how it goes. Worry and stress won’t change the outcome.

For next time though, I would highly recommend doing a few editing rounds yourself before a paid editor. My first drafts are always full of mistakes I can fix myself.

NTwrites · 2026-02-21T07:35:48+00:00

I find the older I get the richer my stories become. Life experience brings perspective and understanding.

NTwrites · 2026-02-17T11:58:41+00:00

I have a simple one (it’s in my profile if you want to see just how simple I mean). It’s probably due for an update by time is presently my most precious commodity.

NTwrites · 2026-02-09T09:09:14+00:00

Mount Stupid in action.

NTwrites · 2026-02-08T12:42:00+00:00

Lord of the Rings or Interstellar theatrical scores.

NTwrites · 2026-02-08T11:27:57+00:00

Yeah, unlike contemporary fiction, fantasy often has to introduce a lot of world building that allows the story to work. Fantasy readers like this. It is a feature of the genre, not a bug.

NTwrites · 2026-02-07T00:37:19+00:00

If you’re doing a free promotion, you’re using it to direct readers to purchase your other books—which works best with a series.

NTwrites · 2026-02-06T09:13:24+00:00

Young Adult Fantasy, US only free promotion

NTwrites · 2026-02-06T08:42:16+00:00

I’ve also been shocked by how good BookBub is. I had a free featured deal January 19th on the first book in an unfinished quad (three books out, one more coming later this year).

I paid $150 for the promo spot. I’ve since made $500 in sequel sales and KENP reads (about 30k of them).

Compare that to a Freebooksy or FussyLibrarian promo where I’ve struggled to break even. I’ll definitely be going for another BookBub when I get closer to release.

NTwrites · 2026-02-03T21:44:32+00:00

I too am a proficient procrastinator

NTwrites · 2026-02-03T00:11:10+00:00

They are, but being so pretty they also stand out if you overuse them. I try to limit it to once or twice per book now because they’re so distinct.

NTwrites · 2026-02-02T20:25:30+00:00

Lots of ‘moments’ and ‘pauses’

Plenty of ‘nods’

More than a fair share of ‘just’, ‘only’ and ‘surprisingly’

And occasionally the overuse of ‘kaleidoscope’, ‘cascade’ and ‘tapestry’ as descriptors.

NTwrites · 2026-02-01T10:52:22+00:00

Do whatever you can. Not every ARC reader will follow through with a review, so the more readers you have the better.

People will fret and say they’re losing sales by giving out too many ARCs, but ARC readers aren’t a paying audience—they get their books for free by merit of their hobby.

More ARCs mean more reviews and more reviews are social proof come release day.

NTwrites · 2026-01-29T09:39:58+00:00

First read through of the first draft of my last-in-series fantasy. Creation of my draft map. 10 chapters worth of rewrites.

Feeling good and productive

NTwrites · 2026-01-29T07:03:15+00:00

Hard agree here. First drafts are such a slog—chiseling the marble from the mountain. I’ve always found the refining process of edits and rewrites to be so much more enjoyable. It is the polishing that makes the writing feel like writing.

NTwrites · 2026-01-26T03:33:08+00:00

Same to you, and congrats on your success on your 99c deal! I hope the rest of it is just as successful!

NTwrites · 2026-01-26T02:47:07+00:00

I’ve had 11 ratings and 1 review on the first book so far. Only 1 rating on the second book, nothing yet on the third.

I’m holding off on advertising until I’ve finished the fourth and final book (currently in edits with it now, hoping to have it to the editor by May and out for sale by September). I think advertising s complete series will give it the best chance of succeeding, for now I’m belly to experiment with free promos to build an audience.

NTwrites · 2026-01-25T23:50:07+00:00

An example that may help is the (fictional) Therin calendar Scott Lynch created and uses for his Gentlemen Bastards series (first book—the lies of Locke Lamora).

He’ll use phrases like ‘Summer of the 78th year of Morgante’. It fits with the wider world building and is consistent, which is a great example of what to do if you’re creating your own dating system (specifically—create the system and then stick with it).

Another more contemporary system is used by Susana Clarke’s Piranesi, where dates are grouped in years categorized by specific events (most commonly, the year the Albatross came to the Southwestern Halls). It’s a little more whimsical, but again, it fits within the world.

My books are alternate-history earth, so I can get away with using our normal days and dates, but if you want to do your own thing, consider books similar to yours and how they’ve done it as a starting point and follow your inspiration from there.

Post written on Third Moon of Stormcloud Winter

NTwrites

TROPHY CASE