Hear ye! Hear ye! It's finally coming! For the longest time, I have been releasing special paid member's content for the book and now that it is drawing to its conclusion after three, nearly four, years... I'm preparing to slowly release this as my very first book series on Amazon.
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The cover art was drawn by Theles (DaRalu11) and the edits + titling font were by Kiki Scrybbles! They spent a lot of time working on the art for the book with me so please look forward to it!
In today's blog, I will write in detail the format of serialisation troubles I ran into for this concept. However, you should know that most writers won't find similar problems unless they're planning to release a paperback series almost as complex as mine.
Serial Sequencing
This is the part that most writers already know what they want. You usually write the series in chronological order like Harry Potter and perhaps switch the POV in a book like the Twilight Saga, but that's usually it.
Unfortunately for me, I've written a rather complex interlinking multiverse type of anthology over the three years of writing Time Cross Academy. Deciding the sequence between the canon chronology of couples and their special side stories proved to be a headache. Hence, after much agonising, I've decided to release 2 completely different serialisation formats with tweaks. Neither serialised paperbacks will have exactly the same content. There's no merit in making the same thing twice to wrap with a different wrapping paper for a collector and I understand that. Hence, this was my formula:
a) Couple Art Set [Anthology Set]
The official idea of this is to split up all the works according to the couple featured in the anthology from the academy meeting to post-graduation. As some couples have a shorter story as short as 20k words, I decided to include a specially written epilogue scene for each couple of this series as a bonus alongside a specially drawn cover of the couple involved. At the same time, there will be art inserts for this set.
Theles and Kiki Scrybbles have been very kind to assist me with the series' creation without charging me. They're definitely part of the book process and I will pay them for the art eventually after the series is completed. They are the artists for the book, so you will definitely see their names on the paperback versions!
b) Reader's Edition [Duology Set]
This is a more familiar format to readers who have been following the publishing from the beginning. The Duology will include two completed manuscripts without any scene censorship. The first book would be massively similar to what you see published on Goodnovel with the special inclusion of mini chapters that it presently only available for Patreons. The second part of the duology known as [After Stories] solely comprises those chapters written for paying supporters of the work.
Apart from the edit, there is a slight difference in content. A one-part special about Amanda and Asahina will be included in the Duology set that won't appear in the couple anthology set. It's similar to how you won't see the special couple epilogue included in this duology set. However, that slight difference shouldn't be anyone's loss. It was omitted for a more comprehensive experience for different styles of serialisation.
Formatting Art & Paper
The last time I printed with Amazon for E-Ghost, I received blotches all over the covers of 6 out of the 10 books ordered. This was highly traumatising. Moreover, I'm aware of the colour issue Amazon has. It's not always accurate to the colour reflected in the .psd file. Hence, my artists and I had a long agonising debate over the 'safest' options to use so as not to end up too disappointed.
Originally, I wanted to use cream paper as I experienced paper mould appearing on Amazon's printed editions with The Liberal Assassin before. However, it would affect the colour of the print too much if included in the book. Even without the concern of bleed cutting off the wonderful art, I'm concerned with the paper's thickness. The last time I printed with Amazon for 70gsm, the words could be seen through from the other side of the page. It was way too thin.
While I have not decided on the specifics here for now, I'm looking at a good balance between quality and price for the sake of my readers. We're still working on this.
Rome is not Built in a Day
Most of the books I published myself have been the product of mostly a one-aitsuji army. However, for this series, I'm beginning to realise just how impossible it is. I have a team of 4 girls at least working on this, myself included, just to ensure that I can bring the best to everyone. While I do most of the writing, editing and formatting, I also require a beta reader who is helping me with market analysis for the book, an artist for drawing my scenes to life (who is also a beta reader) and an artist who designs it according to Amazon marketability (who is also a beta reader).
Not going to lie, never thought the day when I find myself working with these three wonderful women all at once for a long term haul. More surprisingly, nobody has given up on me yet.
In conclusion...
This is just the first book. There will be more to come and I honestly don't know how long it would take before both series sets will be ready. It might take me more than four years to complete the release for both paperback series, the hardcover version for Duology Set and the Kindle edition.
Am I excited? Yes.
Am I stressed? You bet.
Will it be worth it? You tell me.