So Here's The Plan...Part II

With the completion of the rewriting (and editing, and more editing, and then some more editing) of the second edition of FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM, I thought it would be a good idea to get some feedback on my original plan, so in last week's post I set up a poll asking my readers for advice. Two options:

• follow the original plan, which was strong but would have taken ages before any of the 13 books in the plan made it to publication.
• adapt the plan with shorter wait times and set a schedule I can keep up with that doesn't require readers to wait as long for publications to begin.

Honestly, I would have been happy with either answer. I loved my original back-to-publishing plan because it gave me plenty of time to focus on writing - what I didn't love was the wait time. I'm a work in progress and patience is not my strongest character trait, but from a marketing standpoint, I also worried about the patience of readers who have been loyal since the beginning of my writing journey. FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM took seven months to revamp, and this was a 13-book plan. With an estimated 7-9 months allowed for writing or re-writing each book, that would have meant a total of 91-117 months before I got the chance to publish anything new. At most, that's almost 10 years - and I've already gone almost that long without publishing due to various health problems and life circumstances.

What I love about the shorter plan is that I can still set a long schedule that gives me time to (hopefully) keep up, but it takes an enormous chunk out of the wait time for readers while still offering a bit of predictability. So with that said, here's how the vote went:

With the results of the vote, I took some time this week between writing sessions to calculate a timeline I think I can still keep up with, first giving myself the rest of this year to keep writing and then leaving 10 months between expected due dates of new releases. I think this is a great middle ground that gives me space to keep up but also allows my readers to know when to expect new releases from me. So with that thought in mind, here's what's coming next for the 13 books in the adapted plan:

This new plan will still complete all three of my open series; it includes 2nd editions of all of my previously published novels as well as the new ones needed, goes one series at a time, and also includes an expanded 2nd edition of my poetry compilation - but that's an awful lot of planning to keep up with (even with a head start and 10 months between releases) so I'd better get back to it! What do you think about the new plan? Which book are you most looking forward to seeing? Drop your thoughts in the comments!