Hello there,
Last week, I mentioned my heart has been heavy for some time because I feel a lot of pressure coming from different angles (click HERE to read that post). I’m still kind of struggling to articulate that, hence the delay in explaining what is causing me concern. There are several things as I said, but I’m going to focus on one, because it’s my author career. Over the course of a few days’ time, I found out that the publisher for twelve of the fourteen books I’ve had published is implementing some new policies for reasons that I cannot share. But the outcome is that I’ve had my Tomorrow’s Edge series rights reverted to me. Which for those not familiar means they won’t be published and sold by Expanse Books anymore. And if I don’t find another publisher for them (it would be unlikely to now) or self-publish them, then they go out of print and the Kindle store for good.
Self-publishing isn’t impossible of course, but it isn’t something I ever wanted to get into, because I’m not a salesy, business-minded person and when you self-publish you have to be, to an extent. More than that though, I felt cast out. Like a failure.
My hurt and worry depended when I found out Quest of Fire could have the same thing happen to it. The publisher offered me the choice of significantly improving some metrics around the performance of the series or immediate reversion of rights for it. I chose to fight for it, to do my best working with the publisher to meet the measures. But, honestly, it’s going to be hard. The very first thing that has to happen is I have to get the reviews for The Gathering Dark on Amazon up to 50 or more. It’s been at 33 for years and on Goodreads it has 54, but Amazon drives sales in an obviously more direct way than Goodreads. Upon reaching 50 Amazon reviews, I have to consistently improve on the numbers for the all books in the series, but the starting line to A LOT of work is the reviews for The Gathering Dark. And the difficult thing, the thing that has stymied me time and again from explaining all this sooner, is that I need help. And I hate asking this way, but I really need anyone who has read the Quest of Fire series or books in it, if at all possible, to leave reviews on Amazon. They don’t have to be long, but they need to be honest. I hate pressing for this because I know many of you have read and enjoyed the books, because you’ve told me that in person and I treasure that. In fact, if things were purely based on how things have gone in person, I would be fine. But that, unfortunately can’t be factored into the publisher’s decisions and, well, this is where I’m at.
As part of this you’ll see a flurry of new things, soon and importantly, a new cover for The Gathering Dark. Also, more posts from me about the book to better highlight it and the Quest of Fire series. Some of it will be a lot of fun, because I’ve always intended to share more of the behind-the-scenes lore, history, and themes of the series. More so than I have to now certainly. It also will at times be more akin to promo type posts, which I’m admittedly clumsy at and not looking forward to. The big thing is that this is going to take a bigger chunk of the little time I have for writing new works, which is unfortunate because I have like five new books in the works at the moment (which is a good problem to have).
So, even if you can’t leave a review (which, if you can, please, please do) please pray for me. As I said in my post last week, I’m not sure what the Lord will do and my eyes and heart are on Him to see what He makes of this. Whatever comes I want to honor Him. And I know I will need prayers for moments when it’s harder to see the truth that “all things work together[a] for the good[b] of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” *
If you’ve read this far, thank you so much. For hearing me out, for supporting me on this writing journey so much already. Thank you for the ways you have already encouraged me, so that I know as broken and battered as this has made me feel that it has all been worth it. And know that till the Lord tells my heart that it’s time to stop, I’m going to keep writing and sharing the stories He leads me to.
May the Lord bless and be with you, always.
Brett
* Romans 8:28, CSB
Brett Armstrong 
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