I guess I ought to share the news I mentioned regarding the Palladium Wars. Unfortunately, it’s not all sunshine and roses.
47North has decided not to continue the series. I don’t know the reasoning behind the decision because they did not share it with me, and it doesn’t matter in the end whether it was sales numbers, budget issues, new editorial direction, or none of the above. The bottom line is that Palladium Wars #5 (the “E” novel, for those of you following the alphabetical naming order) will not be published by 47North.
That doesn’t mean it won’t be published at all, of course. I don’t intend to chop the series off at four installments without a satisfying conclusion. What it does mean is that I’ll most likely have to self-publish future installments. There’s always the possibility that my agent will find a new home for Palladium Wars, but the odds of that happening are very slim. It’s highly unlikely that any house will want to take on Book Five in a series they don’t own completely.
I’m not new to the self-publishing game, so I don’t have a problem with the prospect. I’ll have to hire my own editor and cover artist, of course, and the book will be available on Kindle and in paperback, but the audio version will depend on either my agent selling the audio rights to Audible (an easier proposition than selling the series rights to another house altogether), or me hiring an audiobook narrator for the job. All of this means expenses out of pocket for me, and good narrators and cover artists do not come cheap. I’ve thought about doing a Kickstarter for the fifth installment, but I’m not fully sold on the idea yet, and I may just decide to eat the expenses instead of asking readers to commit to a pre-buy like that.
(Self-publishing would mean there’d be no pre-orders because there’s no way to do those on KDP, so I’d be flying blind as to potential reader interest, and I may end up holding the bag fronting the production costs.)
Sorry I can’t give you better news on that particular front. I am very fond of the series (I think it’s superior to Frontlines in many ways), but I also recognize that the stars haven’t always been aligned for it. I had the distinct misfortune to get four different audiobook narrators for the four books in the series, and that’s been a cause for a lot of negative reviews even though there’s precisely nothing I could have done about the situation. (To recap: Luke Daniels didn’t have time in his schedule for the second book, Angelo DiLoreto untimely passed away before the third book came out, and Korey Jackson…well, maybe I’ll get to that in a later post. The fourth artist, Seth Podowitz, may or may not be available as an independent hire, so we’ll see whether we end up keeping our streak of a different narrator for every book. Hey, at least we’d be consistent on that front.)
That’s the current state of The Palladium Wars for you. I fully intend to write Book 5, and unless it finds another home in the meantime, I’ll be making it available on the Kindle and in paperback formats once it’s done, but right now that’s all I can tell you with any certainty.
Totally love the series. Will definitely pick up Book 5 if it gets released. Maybe GRRM can help out with finding a new publisher?
Please have it completed!
I cannot agree though the Palladium Wars is superior to Frontlines – they just different. Love both series, w/o any reservation
I’m disappointed to hear about 47North’s decision. Hang in there, do whatever you need to do, take your time, and let us know if you need anything. Since we’re talking about book 5, I think it’s safe to say that we’re mostly die-hard fans at this point. We’ve got your back.