Some quick updates:
- Defying Destiny (the third War of Broken Mirrors book) is out with beta readers. I sent it out in phases. The first beta (maybe more like an alpha) only went to a few people, mostly my immediate family. I’ve gotten notes back from two of them, which I used to make my first edits, then sent out the second beta phase. That’s a bit wider, and I haven’t gotten notes back from that yet. I consider the book to still be on schedule for a launch sometime around September.
- I didn’t get as much writing done this month, since editing took a lot more time than I expected. In the future, I’ll plan for a longer period of self-editing – I was making my own edits for close to the entire month, rather than just a week or so as expected.
- I did make some progress on the third Arcane Ascension book, but not a lot. I’d say it’s at about 7% progress, if we gauge based on the length of previous books.
- I made more progress on Diamantine, which seems to come to me a little more easily. That one is much further along, probably close to 30%, depending on the final length. (I expect this one to be about as long as Sufficiently Advanced Magic, unless I cut it in half. Which I might – shorter books on a regular schedule is often better for readers. I’m not sure on the route I’ll take on this yet.)
- I’ve also worked a little bit on side projects, but I don’t have enough on any of them to really announce anything new.
Thanks for your patience. I hope everyone enjoys Defying Destiny when it’s out!
Andrew Rowe 
Cool to hear – looking forward to DD.
Also, cutting Diamantine in half sounds difficult. Maybe ask Keres for help?
Hah! I wish I could.
Looking forward to it. I got one question though. When is the audiobook release expected?
My personal favorite is a good long book, so I am in favor of keeping it long! One question: Why don’t you send out an early finished copy of the book to your narrator so the audiobook can come out closer to your original release date? Nick does such a great job narrating your world!
Audio is quite a ways off, and with rare exceptions, it usually will be at least a few months behind the Kindle edition (if not more).
Giving Nick an early manuscript wouldn’t help.
First off, he’s scheduled way in advance – he doesn’t have a time slot to record the book any time I hand him one.
Second, handing him an unfinished copy would mean that he’d have to rerecord *tons* of it. There are going to be changes – often significant ones – right up until the last version of the manuscript. Even if they’re just a few words here and there, he can’t just rerecord one word at a time and paste it in smoothly – he’d have to re-record sections. And often times, my changes are larger in scale than that. I’ve already rewritten one whole scene as a part of the beta reader process, and it’s common for large changes like that to occur all the way up to the end.
Then, even after the recording is done, the publisher still has to do all the production work for it – meaning things like sound editing, etc. This usually takes another few weeks.
I know people want the audio quickly, but the logistics of it don’t work like that. Nick is a great narrator, though, and I’m sure he’ll be worth the wait.
That sounds very logical, I have not thought about the audiobook process in such a manner before. Whenever it comes out, I will be first in line to pick up a copy!
Rowe!!!! I’ve been reading you books for years now! I want to thank you on behalf of all of your followers for bringing this amazing world into existence! Is Diamantine the second part of weapons and weilders? I’m sorry, I don’t remember seeing this books’ name prior. Also, cutting a book in half has to take a lot of time and work, right? Won’t you need to find a perfect spot to sum up majority of the first book? On top of that you would need to leave a cliffhanger, making us the reader desperately desiring the release of the second book? I would think this as cruel and unusual punishment to your loyal readers. However, if you decide to do such a thing I’m sure we will forgive you. As long as you can tell us how to obtain limited signed copies. Also, I would be interested on getting a collector edition of SAM. The book should look like trails of judgement! It should have runes that Corin had practice and the sword’s runes. Is there a way to have this made? I know that you will have to look into that later. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Seriously, I’m sure I’m not the only person willing to get that gem!
Yes, Diamantine is the second Weapons and Wielders book.
So, cutting a book in half after the fact would take a lot of work. I’m not talking about doing that – Diamantine isn’t anywhere near close to that point. Rather, I’m talking about targeting an earlier ending deliberately.
If I just write my books “naturally”, they tend to go much longer than average books. Sufficiently Advanced Magic and On the Shoulders of Titans are 218,000 and 254,000 words, respectively.
I would consider my most similar writers to be people like Will Wight and John Bierce. Will’s Cradle books tend to be about 90,000 words. I don’t know what the word count is on John’s books, but I know Into the Labyrinth was even shorter.
If Arcane Ascension was written more like Cradle, it would be more like five books rather than two. This would have allowed more gradual releases, and it’s very likely I’d have more post-OTSOT content out by now. I think this would help keep the material fresher in people’s minds.
That said, I think I’ve created a precedent with the lengths of the Arcane Ascension books, and I probably won’t make the future ones much shorter.
With Weapons and Wielders, the first book was more of an ordinary book length (about 113,000 words).
I’ve realized that my original outline for Diamantine would end up making it closer to SAM’s length. This would take longer to write, and also potentially create an expectation that future books in that series would be as long as Arcane Ascension books.
So, at this point, I have a few choices.
1. Go ahead and write it as a longer book, like I’d outlined.
2. Find an early end point, then release it in two parts.
3. Keep the original story and keep it in one part, just make it shorter by cutting down some of the content.
At the moment, I consider all of these to be viable options, and I’m going to continue evaluating them as time goes on.
In terms of signed copies, I’m not planning to do that at any time in the near future. It may be more viable if I get an assistant at some point, and/or if I partner with a press to get hardcovers.
I kinda wish i could have got in to the beta read of it. Hope all goes well. Can’t wait for the next books in all 3 series. They are incredible other than the occasional missed spelling correction or extra word here and there that was missed in editing. If you want i can reread the old books and send you screenshots with the areas circled and corrections off to the side.👍
Hey so I know this is early but when can we expect to get the next arcane ascension? I have not had a series grab me so much in such a long time
Most likely next year, but I don’t have anything specific yet.
Books are great i have read them all and would give them 5/5 stars for content, i am very impatiently waiting for any releases…. i do wish you would stick to one series at a time though.
I have always preferred reading through one series rather than trying to mentally keep track of many different stories, characters, plot lines etc.
I am glad we will have an ending to broken mirrors soon, I am a lot more hook on the SAM books thoughand i am hoping it will not be 10 years before we see an ending.
Thank you for all the hard work you do writing these series. Can’t wait to read whichever comes out next. I really like how they all tie into each other. Normally I don’t enjoy re-watching movies or rereading books, but I’m finding it fairly enjoyable to go back and realize little details or names I might have glossed over on my first read through were actually way more significant to the overall lore, or a characters backstory, etc.
Also just got to say it’s been several months since I read OTSOT but I still think that line Mizuchi says questioning who is giving out legendary swords to children is one of the funniest things I’ve read in any story.
Thank you, I’m glad you’re enjoying the books! That’s one of my favorite lines, too. =)
Just want to say thanks for your amazing books Andrew, i live in Australia and have bought all your paper backs and audio books from Amazon/Audible. You have easily become one of my favorite authors.
Thanks so much! Looking forward to Diamantine!
You’re very welcome, and thanks for the support!
I’m making good progress on Diamantine and hope you enjoy reading it when it comes out.
Oh I forgot the most important part: your narrator for the audio. Nick. He is my most favorite narrator of the hundreds of audiobooks I’ve listened to. I don’t know if it just worked out, or you selected him. Thank you. He brings so much to his readings. What I wouldn’t give to meet him just to shake his hand and say thanks. It would be the least I could do for the hours and hours of enjoyment he has brought me.
Now all of this doesn’t make sense. This should have posted before the “Oh I forgot…” But… The internet and stuff.
If it is of any consequence, I prefer long books. However, I also hate the wait for the sequel’s. That being said it is really only a thing for books that I particularly enjoy. Which is so far all of yours. I started with Six Sacred Swords. Then found Arcane Ascension. Finished those two and re-read Six Sacred Swords after many things that felt arbetrairy now had context. I am not working my way through The War of Broken Mirrors. Overall seeing as running into Six Sacred Swords was a complete accident. I couldn’t be happier. Your sense of humour, emotion, and action are all very well done. You have created a new rabid fan in me! With all three series’. I absolutely love large world building and complex magic systems. I have passed all of them as recommendations on to everyone I know that would read this style of book. I know one of them has already begun.
As I am new to the blog here, thanks for updates and the like. Other authors could learn from your example. COUGH Patrick Rothfuss COUGH. As book three from him in Kingkiller is starting to feel like Half-Life 3 or the new Tool album. Except Tool is releasing a new album!
My friends and i were wondering if you plan to put out stickers, shirts or the like with symbols from the book or names/art. (we may have a book club just around the series)
I’m not planning to do any merchandise at this point in time. Maybe someday, but it’s probably a long way off. Thanks for asking!