Tao Wong
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Combo Business and Writing Update: Sickness & Hiatus
🕑 Added 2024-06-11 16:25:04 +0000 UTCSo, there's not been a business post in a bit. There's a good reason for that - I got sick. A minor complication - pink eye - that threw my writing off for a few days, and that still has lingering effects. I basically have some trouble seeing, and while it mostly (I think) requires a new pair of glasses, I did fall behind for a while because I couldn't see well enough to write much.
On top of that, while I am ahead of my release schedule for the most part, I have also realised that a lot of what I want, I might not get to in the next 3-5 years. At least, at the current speed that I am writing. So I am planning on increasing my current word count speed.
Which is where this post is coming from. But let's get to the overall updates.
System Apocalypse
System Apocalypse: Kismet 3 has just come back from editing. David is going to finish editing it, then we will have it out for proofing end of the month and have a release later in the year.
System Apocalypse: Relentless 4 is being written by Craig. It's a little slow going, but we're hoping for end of the year or early next year release for that series.
System Apocalypse: Liberty 1 is a new series in the universe that will be releasing later this year. You'll know the characters involved if you have read the second System Apocalypse Anthology.
System Apocalypse: Australia is currently on hiatus. While KT does want to get back to it, she has her own series to work on and we're waiting till that has launched and finished before she comes back. Sorry!
A Thousand Li
Currently, we've written, edited and released all the chapters of book 11 (in draft form) on the Patreon. The book is being recorded by Travis at the moment, or should be at least, and we will have it ready for release later this year.
Book 12's early, first draft chapters are releasing in the patreon. I will say that I expect there to be some significant additions and some changes to the first draft. I have a list of notes of what needs to be changed, including some aspects of the ending. Nothing substantial in Wu Ying's journey, just a refinement.
If you're ever interested to see how much change there can be between one draft and another, this is a great book to jump on and see. Some books there's very little changes, others like book 12 will be substantial.
Climbing the Ranks
We are going to be running the Kickstarter for Climbing the Ranks book 2 very soon. That's one of the major goals of the summer, since we did so well for the first year. I really love getting so much new art for the books and making them pretty. So keep an eye out for that and, of course, more chapters on Starlit Publishing.
I have written up to book 3 of Climbing the Ranks. It's going through edits right now and chapters will continue to release in first draft format for free on Starlit Publishing until at least middle of next year, I believe. Not sure exactly how many chapters we're ahead, but the answer is a lot.
The first 3 books completes the first major arc, after which we move onto the next arc which will speed up progression a little and feature larger aspects of Malaysia, the Towers and their effects on society. I'm looking forward to writing that, with the second arc probably finishing up around 3 books in, perhaps 2. At which point, depending on the success of the series overall, I might put the series to bed.
Magic Kingdom at War
My latest LitRPG foray, with a 4x theme. Currently volume 6 is in edits, with some minor changes expected while I write volume 7. I have plans to finish up to 12 after which, we will likely review to see how the entire thing is doing. I might end the series at 12, because the math is a pain.
Seriously, the math is a pain.
Thus far, sales have been muted because it's a novella but that's expected. If you've read it and enjoyed it, do review please - we're getting a lot of negative reviews due to how short it is, it seems. sighs
Anyway, expect to finish this up end of the summer, around July or so, if not earlier for all 12 books or at least a large chunk of that. I'll be editing ATL book 12 along with it at the same time, so timing is a bit ?
ATL Sequel Project
For those wondering what happens after book 12... I have a sequel series planned set in the A Thousand Li universe. It'll be a shift from somewhat progression fantasy into a more epic fantasy style. Lots of plans involved, with a lot of the groundwork for the series already created in ATL but it'll also be a fresh start and easy entrance into the world for those who haven't read ATL at all.
That's all I'm going to say till August probably, when we get towards the end of releases for ATL 12.
Other Projects
So many other projects that I could be working on but won't till at least Magic Kingdom at War is finished. Some of the things I want to do or started:
- A standalone Progression Fantasy that's at around 40k that probably finished at around 60-80k. This one might end up going tradpub, if I can find the energy to find an agent. It's more suited for that market than the regular prog fantasy crowd.
- Another go at a 4x world, this one more like Civilisation than Might & Magic like Magic Kingdom. It's only 18k in though, a lot less numbers based but with lots of crunchy loving. It's a weird one, and I'm not sure I will continue it. Really depends on the reception of Magic Kingdom after a few more releases.
- An epic fantasy. With dragons. And the Western Roman Empire. Yeah, there's an idea brewing for a few years (if any of have seen my various history books on that time period) that is going to get mashed up. I'm actually really excited about this one, and might make this my main other 'big' project, once I'm done.
- a sci-fi fantasy based on a short story I wrote, that's basically xianxia space fantasy. Very cool idea, some progression elements in it. We shall see, I don't have much beyond small bits of the world floating around in my head...
- at least one or two more Eternal Night novelettes just to finish up what I wrote for it. And another novelette or two in the Power, Masks & Capes universe. I know what I want to do for Eternal Night, not sure about the PMC world work thus far.
- System Apocalypse sequels. I have an idea of how to write the sequels, for various characters. I'm just not sure if it's smart (financially) to do so. I might end up going back to it in a few years, but it's probably not this year. Might be a next year project.
And that's all the major projects I have running or thinking of. There are other side projects I'm sure that will crop up, and of course, various work with other authors too, some of which might never restart. But if they do, I've got those to add... But just those ideas above are enough to keep me writing for another 5-7 years.
Which means...
Business Post on Hiatus / Ending
Frankly speaking, I'm getting a little burnt out of needing to do the business posts. So I'm just putting them on hiatus/ending them. I will still do them once in a while when I have a desire to write about stuff, but I don't have any intention of making money being a business coach, and I'd rather just be writing.
So, we're turning off the business post patreon side. People in there can upgrade/downgrade/remove themselves. And business posts will come when they do. One day, I might actually get around to finishing the books I intended to write but those are no longer - and really, were never - high on the priority list.
That's really it.
Tah!
