Welcome (back)
The Afterverse is back, with a new website, new covers, and a new social media presence. Oh, and also a new book. And a new audiobook. You’re probably more excited about those last two than the rest of it.
Yes, the sixth book in the Beaumont and Beasley series, The Hare and the Hatter, is now available--along with an audiobook edition of Crockett and Crane #2.5, Hollow, superbly performed by Kieran Flitton.
Now, be that as it may, if you’ve been following my work for a while, you’re probably wondering about various changes that have happened and what they mean for the future. I’m going to try to tackle them all in this post, but if I’ve left anything out, ask me about it in the comments.
First of all, what the heck does “Aftermythos” mean? It’s just a term for the interconnected body of stories set in the Afterverse. And yes, it is pretentious. Use it or ignore it; I’m not bothered either way.
I want to explain my philosophy when it comes to release schedules and teasers for future projects moving forward. From now on, I’m not going to announce a release, or even tease it to any great extent, until the project in question is completely finished (or very close to being finished). As such, I’m not going to give even a rough timeframe for a new release if I’m not sure that I can meet that estimate. This will require me to be very tight-lipped about my plans, but I think it’s the best way to avoid disappointing my readers.
I’ve dispensed with the reading-order page I used to have on the old site, as it’s not really going to be necessary moving forward. The “rules” for the order in which my stories should be read are going to be a lot more simple. Basically, if you’re new to the Aftermythos, read all the Beaumont and Beasley books and Crockett and Crane books in order, though it doesn’t matter which of the two series you start with. Then, once you’re done with those, read the various Afterverse short stories in order so that you don’t get spoiled for the main releases by any of them. The short stories are going to be gathered into one or more collections to reflect this streamlined system (more on that later).
Those familiar with the old reading-order page will probably notice that a number of the planned books which were mentioned there are not listed on this new site. This doesn’t mean that those projects have all been canceled, only that I’m not going to promise releases for them until I’m sure that they’re going to happen. Also, keep in mind that future plans outlined on the reading order page (such as exact numbers of books in the series I’m currently writing) are subject to change.
That being said, some books I’d planned to release in the future have been “canceled”, though not really in the sense that the storylines in them will never be released. For example, due to low sales of titles such as The Janus Elixir novella, I’ve decided to take a different approach to the planned Blackfire series than I had originally intended. In essence, while the series itself isn’t going to be published as a stand-alone entity anymore, the storylines I had planned to explore in it will still form a major part of future Beaumont and Beasley books. This actually makes more sense than turning them into a spinoff, since they are very much part and parcel of the main story threads in the Beaumont and Beasley series. I would still very much like to publish a Blackfire series in the future, but I would like it to be less heavily-connected to the rest of my books so that it can be enjoyed on its own.
Because of the current economic situation, some elements of my publishing, such as series length and the speed of future releases, will be dependent on sales. I love writing Aftermythos books, but it’s not something that I can afford to do purely as a hobby, since I have a day job and freelance work filling up a great deal of my time. I don’t have any intention of bringing these stories to an end prematurely, but I can’t promise that they will be published rapidly. If you do want to get more of my books more quickly, tell your friends about them. I cannot actually sanction your duct-taping your friends to chairs and forcing them to listen to you reading aloud every single one of my books in succession, but please note that I’m not telling you not to do that.
You’ve probably noticed that I’ve been far less active online over the past couple of years than I was when I first started out publishing books. That’s probably not going to change much, even though I will hopefully be releasing books more regularly than I was before. I’ve left Twitter and Instagram because I don’t have time for those platforms anymore, and my Facebook presence is going to revolve more around marketing than personal interactions with friends and fellow authors. That’s not intended as a slight to the people I’ve formed relationships with online, or to the indie author community in general. I’m very grateful for all the friendships I’ve formed with other creators, and for all the support which the author community has graciously provided to me. This is about carefully managing my limited time, not any actual negative experiences I’ve had online. And despite all that, I can always be reached via email at kyle@aftermythos.com. Basically, if we’ve struck up a friendship online over the years, nothing’s changed, and you know where to find me.
In the same vein, my blog on this site is going to be devoted mainly to the latest news about my releases rather than other topics or events I’ve participated in before. While I’ve done a lot of cross-promotional events over the years, I will have to limit that significantly going forward so that I can keep up with my publishing plans. I may occasionally make exceptions for particular events, so you’re welcome to ask me if I’m interested in joining in something along those lines. Just don’t be offended if I say no; it’s not personal at all.
I’m not active on Goodreads anymore. At all. I have updated all my books’ info as best as the perpetually-clunky system on that site will allow, but I don’t check in on there or get any notifications about activity on the site. So if there’s something happening on Goodreads that you want me to know about, you’ll have to email me (kyle@aftermythos.com). If you’ve said nice things about one of my books on there and I haven’t thanked you, it’s because I haven’t seen it, not because I don’t appreciate it.
The format of my email newsletter has changed. I’ve really enjoyed writing “The Blackfire Circle”, which was basically a monthly fictional take on my newsletter narrated by Malcolm Blackfire. However, I ultimately wasn’t able to keep it up, due to the fact that I couldn’t write it on a regular basis and meet my deadlines at the same time. The new version of the newsletter will be simpler, just informing my subscribers about my latest releases and/or whatever promotions I’m running at the moment. That may not be quite as entertaining, but if it’s any consolation, it also won’t be as frequent, since I won’t send out a newsletter in a month when I don’t have any new releases or sales to announce. However, I completely understand if you’d rather unsubscribe due to these changes. You can still keep up with my news via the Aftermythos Facebook page, if you prefer.
Many of the short stories which I’d previously published on Amazon are no longer available. Don’t worry; they’re coming back. I’ve decided that it’s better for them to be bundled together in one or more collections rather than cluttering up my Amazon page with a bunch of confusing titles. I’ll announce release plans for these new collections (possibly featuring a couple of “lost” stories that haven’t actually been available to read for years) in the coming months, so stay tuned.
From this point forward, my books and audiobooks will no longer be exclusive to Amazon. On my individual book pages on this site, you’ll find links that will allow you to buy my stories on a variety of other platforms. In future, I will be adding additional options, such as buying books and audios directly from this site, and listening to my audiobooks for free on the (upcoming) Aftermythos YouTube channel. I may also explore possibilities such as hardback editions for my books in the months to come. For the moment, print editions of Aftermythos stories are still limited to Amazon paperbacks, but I’d like to expand that option to other stores and formats at some point.
The “omnibus” edition of the first three Beaumont and Beasley books which I had published previously is currently unavailable. This is because I plan to switch to publishing the books in combined editions of four books instead of three. A new collection should be released sometime in early 2023.
That covers everything I can think of, but if there’s anything else you’d like clarified, feel free to ask in the comments. As always, thank you very much for your support, and I’m excited to kick off a new era of the Afterverse with all of you.