The Last Book Drops

I published my first book in 2020 with the release of The Ascension Legacy - Book 1: The Shamed Ranger. It was a process that started in 2019 and took me nearly 18 months to complete in my ignorance and newness to the publishing world but it was the start of a five year journey that finally came to a close this year with the release of the last book in the series. June 1, 2024 was the official release date of The Ascension Legacy - Book 6: The King Revealed marking the end of my journey to see the full series released.

The Ascension Legacy - Book 1: The Shamed Ranger

The Ascension Legacy - Book 2: A Legend Confirmed

The Ascension Legacy - Book 3: A Hidden King Found

The Ascension Legacy - Book 4: A Fallen Hero

The Ascension Legacy - Book 5: Conquest & Conflict

The Ascension Legacy - Book 6: The King Revealed

There have been a load of ups and downs between 2019 and now, both personally and with the books, but with Book 6's official release it feels like a load has been lifted from my shoulders. I was never under any contractual obligations to publish all of the books since I was using vanity and self-publishing techniques to release them but it was a hardline goal that I had set for myself. In fact, I had originally set a goal to publish 1 book every year until the full series was released. By that goal, I am actually ahead of schedule since I was able to get books 3 & 4 both released in 2022.

While my Ascension Legacy series is the favorite of the stories I had completed so far, it was the one I wanted to release first despite knowing little about the publishing world. With a series, it is harder to find an agent (I'm told) so I wanted to use this multi-book epic adventure story to both learn about the publishing process and entertain others. I knew the odds of finding an agent as an entirely new author with an epic series like this was a long shot but by releasing them the way I did I was able to learn a lot and make a number of contacts that could be beneficial with getting my future books to a wider audience.

I don't feel as if I sacrificed my Ascension Legacy books though. I feel very confident in the quality of work that I did put out and hope that as my literary career and adventure continues that I'll find enough success at some level to see these books brought back around to see a wider appreciation through an elevated quality of exposure than what I can provide them today.

So what's next for me?

Well, I'm going to take a break from publishing. I have 3 more books finished today and several others in development. I think I want to take some time to more fully explore marketing techniques and practices now that the full series is available to be marketed as a whole. At the same time, I want to focus on finishing some of those other stories. So much of my time has been occupied by the publishing processes over the last few years and trying to market each individual book that I've not been able to focus on writing as much. And while I would like to see my books sell, I didn't write them to get rich but rather because I enjoyed writing them. I want to get back to doing more writing and less managing.

I know, that does sound somewhat contradictory that I want to do more marketing but at the same time more writing that has been delayed because of my marketing. But the sentiment is more of I want to market the series as a whole through podcast interviews, book signings, etc. rather than constantly creating and managing online ads for each individual book. I plan to create a couple of different ads for the series and just let them run so once the initial setup is done I won't have to manage those much. Hopefully, that will give me more time and less stress that allows me to do more writing since that is really what I want to do.

With my future releases, I hope to explore a more traditional publishing route and get more involved with contests and critic reviews that are essential for maximizing a book's exposure. 

I'm done with this series but I'm not done writing. I'm done with the war for Corsallis but I'm not done with Corsallis or its inhabitants.

Here's to the end of this publishing era and to what the future may hold. Cheers!