Saturday, January 4, 2014

2014 PROJECTS

As I sit here at my kitchen table, I look back to last year, and then forward to this upcoming year. Like I said before, 2013 was a transitional year for me. Honestly, I should say for us, my husband and I. Many things are in the works and I have a very busy schedule ahead of me. As some of you are aware, I pulled my debut novel, Bad Elements: Crystal Dragon, from a small publishing house and re-released it with Cryptic Bones Publishing. Granted, it was a quick release to get the book back on the market, so there were some minor changes with the cover. Cryptic Bones Publishing, my husband and I, knew that a few changes needed to be made. First off, the book cover. The original artwork, "Butterfly" was created by my daughter, Bridget Mullican. Though, I really didn't want to take it off of the cover, I opted for a change, preferably still with my daughter's artwork on it. Luck happened to come by when my new editor, Rainy Kaye appeared. A graphic designer, Kris Wagner, whom she is friends with, loved the butterfly. Hence, changes were made, with the butterfly still on the cover. We went through a couple of different cover options and finally settled on one. 

Two, re-edit. As a writer, I realize I'm going to be critiqued and that not everyone is going to like my book. That's fine and all but when you receive a book review that is so bad, one which makes you go back through your book with a fine tooth comb, you ask yourself, "Did the previous editor do what was needed for my book?" As I combed through mine, I decided, you know what, it needs to be re-edited. So, currently, Crystal Dragon is back under revision, and quite thankfully, I will admit. Rainy has done a fantastic job with it! She's picking up stuff the previous editor didn't. 

Third and lastly, book reviews and endorsements! They are difficult to get from other authors when they are busy and really don't have the time to do a book review. I've propositioned several authors, most of whom have turned me down due to time constraints. Crystal Dragon in it's original manuscript was almost 500 pages. The minute I told other authors the page length, they immediately said, "Sorry, I just don't have time to read it." Sigh! On to the next author.

So, Rainy approached me with the idea of cutting the book in half and making two books out of one. (At this point, I'll be quite honest and say, yes, I have thought about doing this before.) My husband supported the idea as well. There are a couple of advantages to this. One, it will be a little easier to get book reviews and endorsements. Two, this puts more books on the market thus more "sales". Three, financial agreements are a little easier to finance. 

So, what happened?

As most of you know, I agreed to the split of the book. The original Crystal Dragon is in the process of becoming two books. The first book in the Bad Elements series, Crystal Dragon will remain Crystal Dragon (of course, this seems the most logical thing to do). The second half of Crystal Dragon is going to be the second book in the series, Blood for Blood. The third book in the series, is The Hybrid. 

So, with that said, the third edition of Bad Elements: Crystal Dragon will be re-released in 2014 with the new cover and edits. For those of you who have read the original Crystal Dragon, don't worry, you don't have to pick up a new copy of the book, the edits are minor. The release date has not been set yet. 

As for Blood for Blood and The Hybrid, my editor has both books at this time. She is working on them, as well as other books, so once again, the release date for the second and third installments are not set. Once, I am able to set some dates and times, you'll be the first to know, okay maybe second. My family is generally the first. 

Question: So, you may be asking yourself, "Okay then, in between edits on the Bad Elements series, are you working on another book?"
Answer: Yes, The Shadow of Evil is currently underway but unfortunately, the Bad Elements series is taking priority at this time. So, when edits are completed by Rainy, they come back to me for completion which of course takes time away from the book that is being written. 

Question: Is The Shadow of Evil the next in line in the Bad Elements series?
Answer: No, it's not. It is a religious/horror novel unaffiliated with the series. 

Question: Will there be another book in the Bad Elements series?
Answer: Ah, good question. Yes, there will be. I'm taking a momentary break from the series to work on The Shadow of Evil. Once I'm done with The Shadow of Evil, I will most likely jump on the fourth book in the Bad Elements series. 

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to ask. I look forward to hearing from you. 
~ Lynn Mullican 

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