Fragmented News

Right… I got some news piled up here about the upcoming Order of the Spirits book, Fragments, so I’ll skip the intro. No banter, no nothing, let’s just jump into it!
 

1. The Cover

It is done! The cover’s been done for a while now... Cristiana finished it shortly after my last update about it. The reason I decided not to reveal it yet, despite my excitement, is that I realized it’s too soon…

  The book won’t be out for another couple of months, and using the cover now to build up the hype simply seems premature. And trust me, this cover will get you hyped! Here’s a little sneak peek to back it up:

  As for the full reveal, I guess it’ll happen somewhere closer to the release date (which is still scheduled before the end of 2020).
 

2. The Maps

Yes, Order of the Spirits: Fragments will feature two maps, and the cool thing about them is that they’re both already done!

  Being blown away by Cristiana’s work on the cover, I was wondering if she’d be interested in continuing our collaboration by doing some maps and illustrations for the interior of the book, and long story short: We now have professionally drawn maps!
 

3. The Illustrations

Next to the maps, the plan is to also have a few sketched illustrations in the book. There won’t be too many of these, but they’ll be a sweet edition if everything works out.

  The illustrations will also be drawn by Cristiana (because she’s amazing and she can do anything), and we’ll start working on those in September.
 

4. The State of the Manuscript

Right now, the manuscript is with Courtney, who’s hard at work line editing the entire thing. I’m expecting her to send me the updated manuscript any day now, so I can review her changes and bounce it back to her for that one last editing pass. (Yes, Courtney is very thorough with her work, and I’m very grateful for it.)

  Seeing how I’ve already worked with Courtney on the developmental edit of one of the stories featured in Fragments, I’m absolutely certain that the manuscript will be top-notch once she’s done with it!
 

5. What’s left?

After the editing and the illustrations are done, I can get back to the interior design, and prepare the book for publishing on a technical level. I’ll also need to run a few print tests with Amazon (which will be tricky since I’m not a US/UK citizen). I should also consider finding a proofreader... Oh, and coming up with a marketing plan (somehow...) is probably a good idea.

  So yeah. There're still some things left on the to-do before publishing list, but we’re getting there!
 

~ ~ ~
 

I know we’re still a few months away even from the earliest-possible release date, but things feel like they’re moving rather fast right now. It’s invigorating, really... However, since there’s currently nothing for me to do on Fragments, I’ve been redirecting that energy these days towards finishing the next book in the series.

  One could write an entire series of posts just about that process, but it's probably best I keep my future updates Fragments-related. After all, whether the sequel sees the light of day or not will mostly depend on the success of this first book...

Anyway, that's about it for now.
Peace!