Hello, everyone, and welcome to my March 2025 Writing Update!  Today we will be covering a few topics that are updates to already in progress items.  So here we go!

1.  Amazon - Due to a number of major issues I've been having with Amazon, and the fact that I'm selling absolutely nothing over there, despite everyone claiming that Amazon is the "must have" sales outlet for all your books, I have seen the exact opposite, and thus I will soon be leaving Amazon forever.  I have more sales through Apple and Barnes and Nobles than Amazon.  By a LOT even!  In contrast, compared to Apple and BN, I have had only ONE sale at Amazon over the past 6 months.  One.  Not tens, not hundreds, not thousands.  One.  Yet I've had hundreds across my other platforms.  So why should I bother staying there?  So yeah, I'm leaving.  No point pouring energy into a site that gives me almost zero sales, and mountains of unnecessary headaches.  Oh, and let's not forget about this.

This is Oort Perimeter at Amazon in the Kindle version.  Looks fine, right?  When it first went up there it was the information for Jenna's Journey, NOT Oort Perimeter.  They did fix that, but it took them 3 months to fix that, whereas everyone else had it right on day one.  And this is the print listing.  It hasn't been right since day one.  And that's the OLD Two Moon cover.  Plus, that's a used book.  Where's the new book?  Nowhere to be found.  Yet, oddly, they say the list price is $15.99.  Wrong.  It's $14.99.  And if you look at my print listing in Barnes and Nobles, it's correct, and has been since day one.  Oh, and it gets better.

This is my ebook listing for Lion in the Wind on Amazon.  Looks fine, right?  That's the print listing at Amazon, and it's been that way since day one.  Like, what?  Draft to Digital told Ingram about the issue.  Ingram told Amazon about the issue.  Amazon....has done absolutely nothing to fix this.  No matter how many tickets they've opened, how many times they've talked with Amazon support, literally Amazon has done absolutely NOTHING.  Yet look.  Barnes and Nobles.  Perfect listing since day one.  DAY ONE.  Anyone got anymore questions on why I'm sick and tired of this, and will be leaving Amazon?  Oh, but your ebook listings are perfect.  Um, *cough* 1 sale in six months vs hundreds elsewhere.  Nope, I'm done.  I refuse to deal with this nonsense anymore, and you probably should too.

Anyone who says that they're the best bookseller out there has apparently never been on the author side of things, because I've had these same issues for years with them, going back to 2009.  Why did I keep going back?  Because everyone kept saying, "You've gotta be on Amazon!  They're the place to be!  You'll never be successful without them."  Bull.  I've had constant problems with them, others have too, and ya know what?  I'm done with this.  Let others keep publishing there.  That's fine.  I'm not staying, though.  Seriously?  Why would I stay somewhere that's more pain and suffering than it's worth?  Especially when all my other outlets are killing it compared to Amazon?

2.  Print Books - Presently I've been able to get Land of the Lions 1 - Lion in the Wind, and Earthfleet 1 - The Oort Perimeter, out in print.  I should have Earthfleet 2 - Destiny's Mission, and the first two books of Offworld Chronicles, namely "The Race" and "Dragon's Gambit" out before the end of April.  After that I'm aiming to get the rest of Offworld Chronicles out, plus the last three books of Land of the Lions.  Again, this is a SLOW process.  So it's gonna take me a while to get these out there.  Thus your patience is greatly appreciated.

3.  Magefall Progress - The first book of the new Magefall series, "Epic Fails and Dragon Tails" is still on track for my planned August release.  There's a lot of work for me to do to get it ready for release.  But, the rough draft of book 1 has recently gone out to the feedback readers, and I expect to hear back from them in a few more weeks on what they think.  From there it's a race to the finish.  So get excited! :)  Yes, okay, it's still 5 months away, but come on, it's going to be a LOT of fun to read when it comes out.  So you have every reason to get excited!  Also, I'm going to target my release on this to include the print version as well.  If I'm not able to, then know that I'll make every effort to get the print version out ASAP after the ebook release.

4.  Wiki - The wiki upgrade project is still on hold, probably until late this year, due to things I'm waiting on.  So for those of you looking forward to the new look, eh, it's gonna be a bit longer.  Like, maybe 9 months longer.  But, when it comes out, it'll be worth it. :D  For those of you who don't know what that new look is, it'll be a wiki where everything is sandboxed off into its own individual spaces.  This way I don't have one series spilling over into another, and everyone trying to live side by side in one unified space.  Trust me, this will be well worth it.

5.  Audiobooks - It looks like I'm back on track for getting all of my books out in audiobook.  The catch with these is that 1) I need to find a new distributor (re: see item #1 above) and I need to get the print books out first.  So my estimated target date is likely mid 2026 for any of these.  But those will be coming.  My three pocket guides already have audiobooks, so those will only require me to move them to the new distributor.  Again, though, that requires me getting that new distributor first, which I'll work on once the print books are all completed.  So far Apple Books, Google Play, and Kobo have been suggested to me for landing places.  I'll let you guys know once I decide on which, or maybe even all, of them as where the audiobooks will live going forward.  I might even use Findaway Voices as the base distribution and creation platform, and start there.  Either way, I'll figure this out as I get closer to making the leap.

6.  Book Shows - Just as a clarification to those who don't already know, I won't be doing any conventions for 25 and 26, save only for Wizardcon this year.  Now, book shows, well, that's another story entirely.  I have one prospective single day book show coming up this summer, or early fall, that I will be going to on top of Wizardcon.  So stay tuned for details on that.  As more shows come up on my radar, I'll be adding those to my list of events I'll be going to.  But I don't know exactly who, what, where, when, etc yet, other than what I've already listed.  So just keep an eye on my events page on RealmsOfImagination.net to know what's coming up when, and where.

Anyhow, that's all for now.  Thank you, everyone, for being loyal followers, and fans of my books.  And thank you for coming with me as I step out into the world of writing again.

PS, for those of you who are new, and don't know, I had about a 10 year period where life kicked me to the curb, and I had to dial back to a very minimal level of publishing and activity.  But now that I'm free again to move forward, I'm taking it with the greatest degree of enthusiasm!! :)  So if you're wondering why I've been publishing since 2009, but only recently are going out into print and stuff, I'm really not.  I'm not doing a first time leap out into print.  I'm reentering the market after having to pull back.  I could explain all of what led to that pullback.  But, eh, let's say it's not something I want to talk about because some pretty sad things happened during that time that I'd rather not relive.  I hope you all understand.  Thanks. :)