September 2023 Newsletter

Joshua Scott Edwards -

Hey everyone! I'm back for another month of updates, and what a month it was! August, like the rest of the year, absolutely flew by. This month, it's because I kept particularly busy, so let's start off with the big news, shall we?

Sibling Suns 2 is Complete

At long last, the first draft of the book is finished! I estimated it would take another 30,000 words to reach the end – that guess ended up being a bit high. In reality, I wrote 25,300 words and finished on August 20th, still a great writing month by my standards!

A few months ago, I thought the book would end up being 180,000 words. Thank the Lightmother that wasn't the case! I'm happy to say the first draft is only around 142,000 words, which makes it comparable to An Ocean of Others at 135,000.

Not bad for a book that follows 3 characters' POVs and has way more happen in it than An Ocean of Others! So, what's next?

Well, I'm doing my first readthrough of the book and taking lots of notes. I'm about 30% through the book, and so far, there are definitely things that need to change, but the core of the story is working! That's better than I can say of any first draft I've written before, but hey, there's plenty of time for things to fall apart in the middle of the book when the outline becomes little more than a hazy suggestion.

We'll see! Hopefully there's not too much of that, because I've got to turn around the next draft faster than I ever have. On November 1st, I'll be sending it to my editors and alpha readers, then nervously awaiting feedback.

That gives me just under two months to finish reading, putting together a revision guide, and implementing the first major revisions.

The work is far from done, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't celebrate! It's not time for a cover reveal just yet, but for now, I can at least share the final title of Sibling Suns 2.

To Burn All Belief
Second Dance of the Sibling Suns

"Seeing is not believing when your eyes belong to them"

I hope you're ready. I don't have a firm release date to share yet, but I'm targeting Spring 2024 for the paperback and ebook. A few lucky readers will get to dive into the story a bit sooner, however...

To Burn All Belief Alpha Readers

Thank you to everyone who submitted an alpha readership application last month! To make sure I'm dealing with a manageable amount of feedback, I had to cut the list down by half, unfortunately. Apologies if you signed up but weren't selected, and congratulations to the six chosen to read the book early in November!

Thank you for all your help!

Keep an eye out for them to show up as side characters in the story – potentially ones who are killed off in some particularly vicious way 😉 While I wasn't able to accept everyone, I encourage you to sign up at later opportunities to become an early reader. I'll be giving away physical and digital ARCs when we're closer to release, so keep an eye out!

An Ocean of Others Anniversary

In just two days, An Ocean of Others will be one year old. I can't believe how fast the year went by. It feels like only recently I was sending out review copies of that book, with no expectations for it to reach an audience or any idea whether people would enjoy it.

Before I sent it out, I made some estimations, both optimistic and pessimistic, for how well the book would sell. It was my first book, and I had no idea what I was doing, so I made it a pretty big range. My optimistic target was 500 copies by the book's birthday, my pessimistic target was 100 copies, and I figured it would fall somewhere between the two.

As of today...

Paid KDP orders

501 sales on Amazon, a handful more scattered around other marketplaces, and over 3000 copies given away. I'm blown away, truly. If you've picked up a copy, whether paid or free, I'm sincerely grateful. 💚 Doubly so if you've left a review!

It only feels right to give a signed copy to someone who helped push the book over this milestone. A month ago, I posted this, and one person answered the call!

Thank you and congratulations to Jess (@GaigeMaid) for winning the giveaway! 🥳 I'll have your signed copy in the mail as soon as possible!

I had better get back to reading To Burn All Belief. Things are really getting good toward the end of Part I 😁

All that's left is to drop your monthly dose of Nazgul, who is getting quite big already! He's doubled in size from when he was the little potato I remember. My boy is growing up too fast 🥹

That's it for this month! I'll see you in October, when revisions to the book will hopefully be well underway. As always, thanks for reading!