As 2010 comes to a close, I look back on the amount of activity surrounding The Awakened and realize that much has been accomplished in a short amount of time—particularly in the last six months.

As the expiration of my contract with a literary agent was nearing, I decided to self-publish.  Researching all my options, I evaluated various distribution models, estimated costs and profits, and pondered the pros and cons of each.  Ultimately, the end price to the fans—or potential fans—is what dictated my course of action.  To enable a competitive sales price, I had to start a publishing company—which I did.

And after all the paperwork and legal stuff, I set to work proofreading, editing, designing cover artwork, and formatting my manuscript.  I set an aggressive deadline of having my first novel available for sale by the day after Thanksgiving.  After running into a few technical setbacks, my deadline began to look unrealistic.  But I managed to hit it anyway.

Now that The Awakened is released and off to a respectable start, I’m looking forward to 2011.  It will be a year of promotion as I put more effort into getting my novel in front of potential readers.  In addition to increased blog activity and participating in numerous online discussion groups, there are a few writing/independent-publishing contests that I will be entering.  And because of the amazing growth in the popularity of eBooks, I plan to release The Awakened in electronic format (probably in the first quarter of 2011).

But what excites me most is the new territory to explore within my epic saga.  Already in the research and planning stage, my next novel will give me the opportunity to dive head-first into the mythological beginnings of the Wandering Stars series (I’ll post more on this in the next few weeks if I can squeeze it in).

It’s going to be a good year!