So, I’m in the throes of another Colplatschki novel that has turned itself into two volumes. Given the period it is based in, I shouldn’t have been surprised when I realized that development. This series is probably going into the record-books as the longest one-off short story in the history of the English language, up there with the five books of the Hitchhiker’s Trilogy. Those of you snickering and pointing at me can just stop now, thank you. Someday your characters will gang up on you and then we’ll see who is laughing.
Anyway, here’s the question. This book (and its second half) really want to get published. They are better than the Colplatschki book I’d intended to release this coming fall, the one about the Great Fires. Is there any interest in my running that book (Fountains of Mercy) as a Saturday serial on the blog? It would still get published as a book-book, just not this calendar year.
Cat Rotator's Quarterly 
I would be interested.
Would I need to know any background since I have not had the opportunity to see anything else in the universe?
No, you wouldn’t. This book is the story of the background of the series, the so called Great Fires and how the main city in the series came to be.
Great. Even more interested now. 🙂
I wouldn’t have a problem with reading Fountains again for free, but I have a question of my own. Why not publish them both this fall? If you published them say two to three weeks apart, would that possibly induce greater sales, by having readers coming fresh off of reading the one book, and seeing another new release while you are still at the top of their minds? Or is there an advantage to not publishing books in quick succession?
I know it used to be common wisdom with the big publishers years ago, to not produce more than one or at most two books per year, or readers would consider you a hack. This is why several of Ludlum’s books (and none of his are small) were originally published under a pen name, because the publisher didn’t want to sully his name by producing too many books in quick succession. Of course I’m not so sure that being a hack writer is a financially bad thing. It certainly seemed to work out alright for L’amour.
The problem is my editor and formatter have become very popular. A little too popular for my desired schedule, but I can understand them wanting to be able to pay their bills on time and feed the kids. Four or five books a year is about all they can handle from me, given the rest of their load. Yes, I know, I could find a second place to work with, but I’ve had mixed results with that. I’d like to have six out a year, as long as I can write that much, but at the moment its a bit sticky.
More free ice cream? Heaven forfend!