Hello, Readers! It's ya boi, the foxiest author on this website, back at it again with an announcement regarding the immediate future of my one and only work on this platform: Ultimatum!
The short of it? I'm going to be relaunching this book reformatted in such a way that it's more akin to a more typical webnovel. If you're a follower reading this and that's all you care to know, well, there it is, I will see you in a few hours, however long it takes, when I relaunch this bad boy and hopefully I'll be gaining your follow again along with any newcomers who are exposed to my story in this fashion.
The long of it? That requires a more thorough explanation.
See here's the thing: As I stated in my Afterward 'chapter', Ultimatum might be finished... but it's not done. I've been editing it and trying to find readers who are willing to read the latter chapters which have no received nearly as much feedback as the frontloading ones so that I can edit them for grammar and spelling mistakes, too. I've also been doing my thing and thinking about the story, as you do, and figuring out along the way, "Hey, this could use a bit of expanding." Or "I should add this detail in to make the scene more textured and the setting believable," or "Maybe it would be a good idea to change up this character's personality just a bit in order to really get across who they are. Really lean into that troupe a bit more." Etc. etc. etc. Things which, in my whirlwind rush to write and finish my first book, I didn't necessarily take the time to fully polish on my first go around. Hindsight is 20/20, and whoever decided that along with making foresight 10/30 needs to get fired.
So, yeah, there's the matter of editing to be done. But there's also another aspect to the 'why' of 'why am I relaunching this story', and that has to do with the arduous, as of yet untrodden road of publication. As I've been pretty vocal about to those who have interacted with me directly, I am not, nor have I ever been, nor will I ever be, a webnovelist. I said as much in perhaps too-many-words in my Afterwards 'chapter' where I explained that I do not write the conventional sorts of genre which are abundant on this site and others, nor is my book formatted in such a way that it is more... what's a better word for 'consumable'? At any rate, my intention has ever been to be a Novelist, capital 'n', in the traditional sense, with chapters which are bigger, longer, and uncut in their literary girth with prose that errs on the side of the college level in comprehension and a perspective which some have called 'confusing' vis a vis third person omniscient. Obstinate I have been about these artistic choices because this is my book and I will write it how I so choose regardless of what the masses on this platform prefer!! I wrote it for ME! Not any of you! Consume my work on my terms or move along to the comforting placidity something less challenging on the eyes, brain, and heart!
That's... been my stance for the past couple of years since I began to write on here and, I cannot lie, there have been some consequences. Namely, and this is something I've been told more than a few times by fellow writers on this platform, it's likely the primary reason why my follower and favorite counts are as low as they are, as well as a lack of ratings and what have you. Sure! I can stick to my guns and simply go about my days finishing up the editing of Ultimatum and then begin work on the sequel Exodus and then the one after that and so on and so forth ad nauseum. I can stick my head down into the sand like some kind of stupid ostrich and refuse to take this particular criticism! But then, in doing so, why should I be surprised when my numbers are not as satisfying as a result? If I make my work impenetrable to all those except for individuals who are willing to go the extra mile and meet my work as I prefer to present it and on my own terms as a writer, why should I be shocked to find that no one wants to cross the literary field of razor wire just to read a story which is decidedly very, very different from the norm?
Armed with this new perspective, I have thus decided to uh, not do that. For you see, my end goals do not lie here on Royal Road! Nay! Royal Road has been an immense help, and I still have nothing but gratitude for the readers of my work and those who have encouraged me! But my true aim has ever been to have physical copies of my book on shelves, in hands, being discussed, fawned over, theorized about and otherwise paid attention to by people out in the real world like all of my favorite books I have ever read have been. Shocking! Daring! Bold! I know. But, in approaching the prospect of publication, I've found that there are... numerous roadblocks still yet to hurdle, I shan't go into detail here, if you know you know, but! One which I can easily address and is well within my control is that of readership! And MAXIMIZING that readership so that any future publishers I do duel against can see that, yes, indeed, my story does have merit, is worth paying attention to, and can have money thrown at it to get the printing presses fired up and smearing ink on paper galore for that wonderful new book smell!
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
The only issue, of course, is that I would need a following a smidgen larger than 28 unique individuals to sell any potential publishing company on the idea. And that's where the relaunch comes in!
I've simply decided to get out of my own way and meet the forum on which I display my work halfway. People are intimidated by reading chapters which range upwards of 20k words in length because of the prospect of doing so on mobile or interweb browser? Fine. I shall heed the advice of literally everyone who has told me so, except those boarheaded as I have been, and butcher my precious baby darling work into smaller, digestible chunks of word salad for you all to chew upon! About 3k sized chunks, to be precise, give or take a few hundred words depending on where it feels best to end a 'chapter' in this manner. In doing so, I will stretch 23 chapters, a prologue, and an epilogue into the region of 76 chapters, give or take a chapter, as that most clownish of sciences maths tell me. May the Muses be good!
In doing so, my aim is to reach a wider audience, gain more followers, and thus a larger potential pool of future customers, in preparation for actually publishing my story into physical media. This is the next step in my journey as an author: Actual genuine publication! Whether that be through a publishing company (Dante Must Die difficulty) or through self publishing methods, I am not sure which would be more beneficial and easier to do at this time, research is ongoing and it makes my head hurt to do so while editing so I'm mostly focused on giving Ultimatum as much of a fighting chance as possible as I prepare to step into the ring of Publication and earn my keep thusly. I am being wholly transparent about all of this, one because I believe it's the ethical thing to do so, and two because it has always been my dream to make a career - an actual living wage - out of my writing. Unlike so very many of my fellow writers on here, this is not a hobby for me. It never has been. This is what I'd like to spend the rest of my life professionally doing if I can make it so, and soon, within the coming months in fact, I will begin on the journey and, hopefully, some of you will choose to follow and support me by buying a copy of my book wherever it ends up landing on whatever shelves, be they physical locations or (more likely) internet shops. I hope that I can count on your support moving forward!
But to earn that support, I first need to cast my net as wide as possible to reach as many people as possible and give my book the best chance as possible. Everyone tells me that formatting my book for the platform on which I have received feedback will do so? Fine. Let it be so.
Now, having explained all of that, what is this relaunch going to entail exactly?
It's pretty simple, really. As I said, I am merely going to be breaking up the chapters, some of which approach 20k words in length, into 3k chunks. This, evidently, is the 'sweet spot' for many as far as chapter length on either their phone or a computer is concerned for chapters which are satisfying to read but not too long.
Am I going to be releasing the edited versions of these chapters during this relaunch?
No. To be plain, the final edited version of Ultimatum will be for publication explicitly. Spelling and grammar mistakes, details about the setting and world I'll be adding in, aesthetic changes I may or may not be making - all of those will be found in the actual book itself in physical/digital form and will be available at a reasonable price as of yet determined. Here, on Royal Road, you will receive the raw, unfiltered, warts and all version of the story which I have posted here already. All things considered, with a book that has over 220k words in it, there aren't that many. But what mistakes there are will remain. I will be sure to say as much in a Forward 'chapter' for the relaunch as well, so that people know what they're getting.
The reason I'm doing this is two fold. One, as already stated, the finalized editing is meant for publication. Two, said editing is still a work in progress! In fact part of the reason for this relaunch is to, hopefully, help in this endeavor. It has been a tremendous help receiving comments and feedback regarding the spells, grammar, and sentence structure issues my writing has that I can be completely blind to when I get lost in the sauce and just let the words flow without taking the time to go back and make sure that what I've written is the absolute most coherent it can be. Editing is for when a work is finished in my case, not while I am midway through a chapter! Doing so leaves me into an ouroboros of editing, reediting, writing, and then editing that new writing over and over again and slows down my already snail's pace writing to a glacial crawl. Thus does it help to get new eyes and new perspectives on my writing so I can improve it, and my hope is that by breaking the story up it will naturally encourage readers to do so, engage with my story, and become a part of making it the best version of itself that it can be.
And, uh, with that said... that's pretty much it! Just a not-so-quick announcement informing those of you who have favorited and followed my story that it will be born again in more digestible chunks here shortly! Imminently, even. It's not going to take me very long to simply figure out where each 3k benchmark is in each chapter and then upload it after all. Soooooooooo yeah, within the next few hours, a day or so, you should expect to see my work again and to have the original, girthy, meaty version taken down. This is not an end, far from it, but a new, and hopefully, rewarding beginning.
I hope to see all of you there for it!
