Well, folks, it’s been a while since I’ve put out a formal update on all things Jake Bible Fiction. But with chaos comes patience, so I appreciate y’all hanging on until I could work a few things out.
There are so many components and things to announce, that I’m going to have to break it up into parts. Read on!
Part One: The Day Job!
That’s right, y’all, I am back in the workaday world of an 8-5 job!
I am now the Director of Communications for Strivven Media. It is a very cool gig at a very cool company and I get to use my entire skill set to write and create some cool stuff! I’m digging the job and plan to be at it for a long while.
Or until Hollywood hands me a few millions. I’ll reassess when the zeroes hit six in a row. But I am not holding my breath.
What does a day job mean for JBF? Well, it means I’m not stressed out 24/7 worrying about income. That’s a MASSIVE plus. But it also means that fiction output will slow down considerably. I’ll talk about that a little below.
Keep reading!
Part Two: Zelaunch!
Have you heard the good news? I have the rights back to Z-Burbia and I’ve relaunched, or ZELAUNCHED, the ebooks and audiobooks myself!
Why is this significant? Because the entire series is available through all major retail outlets! You like Google Play? I got ya covered! You like Kobo? Covered there too! B&N, Amazon, Audible, Apple Books, iTunes, everywhere!
Click the banner and check out my announcement. Then pick your poison and see all the new covers and descriptions and FREEDOM OF CHOICE!
Part Three: SlideShow Cinema!
Some of y’all may have noticed my announcements regarding a little fun project I’ve been working on.
What is SlideShow Cinema? It’s a series of very short films (1.5-3 minutes each) where I play with public domain stock photos and create some fun little stories.
Right now the first series is Season One of “Drabble Hell Café”. I got to play with my drabble format by writing exactly 100 words of dialogue per episode. Fun!
More series/season will be happening over the year, so be sure to subscribe/follow/stay tuned!
Part Four: Kaiju!
I have been talking about my Kaiju Winter series for a few months now.
Good news: the series is complete and I got the edits for book four -Kaiju Ruin- back and the novel is glorious!
Bad news: it’ll be several months before I can release the series.
Why several months? Because I learned a lesson with the previous launch of the series. Severed Press released each book individually, but sales dwindled from book to book. Book three sold so poorly that the series was scrapped.
BUT it turns out that kaiju fans want a series complete and ready to go when launched! I got enough emails and messages from angry (some VERY ANGRY) readers that it was 100% clear as to why the series died.
So why not release the series if all the books are done? Because the audiobooks aren’t done. Kaiju Winter is in the can and Kaiju Storm has begun, but until I have Kaiju Inferno and Kaiju Ruin recorded/edited/finished then the relaunch is on hold. It takes me about 4 hours of labor to create 1 hour of finished audio content. By my calculation, there’s about 144 hours of work left to do. So…months.
The relaunch needs to be coordinated so that readers/listeners can only complain about my writing, not lack of availability of a format.
Like I said, it’ll be a few months. In the meantime, go check out the new covers!
Part Five: The Other Stuffs!
What about all the other series I have? What about the podcast?
Well, the short explanation regarding new novels is I plan to continue the following series at some point: The Flipside Sagas, MEGA, Z-Burbia, DEAD MECH/The Apex Trilogy.
Let’s break it down!
The Flipside Sagas: This series was planned as a trilogy. I intend to finish the third book at some point. But there are two issues: the publishing rights are still licensed to Severed Press and the audiobook rights won’t be returned to me until 2025. Severed has been very gracious and flexible, so I can give them the third book without it extending the contract. But ACX (the audiobook part) is not so gracious and it’ll be 2025 until I can redo the series in audio.
I have options to “make it work” so fans and readers get the third book sooner than 2025, but the options are complicated and not worth getting into here. Let me just say that if I can finish the series and still release a third audiobook without extending the contractual timeframe then I will do so. We shall see what I come up with.
MEGA: There is a second series for Team Grendel in my head and it’d like to get out! So what’s the hold up? Contracts! Are you seeing a pattern? Yep. Contracts are pesky little shits.
As with The Flipside, the MEGA audiobooks are under contract until 2025. If I write the second series, I’d like to launch the first new book at the same time as relaunching the original series. So, 2025 is the absolute soonest new Team Grendel will happen. Odds are it’ll be 2026 or later.
DEAD MECH/The Apex Trilogy: This one has been percolating in my brainpan for over a decade now. I know how I can continue the series, but it is gonna take some serious prep. A whole lot of work to get it right. Until I can devote my full attention to this project, it’ll remain on the back burner.
Z-Burbia: There are plans. Trust me. Sisters of the Apocalypse will be rebooted. I have ideas for Greta and Charlie and their stories. I also have a sidequel series that has been bopping around in my head. Don’t ask when any of this will be written. I could be old and retired when I’m able to get to them. Only time will tell…
What Won’t Continue: Pretty much everything else. Roak may keep going once contracts are up, but I don’t expect to continue anything else. Sorry. I’m sure, though, that after reading everything above you understand the issue: time!
The Podcast: I am still re-releasing episodes from my old podcast. The Americans will continue for several more episodes. After that, since I don’t have any more old stuff to put out, there will be new content.
What new content? Probably me reading chapters of novels, maybe some new short stories, maybe some audio versions of my drabbles. The sky is the limit!
As for the future of WIS Redux, that is in flux. I plan on playing with the format a good deal until I find the right fit for me and the time I have available.
Part Six: The Future!
Okay, that’s a lot of info to take in. I get it. So I’ll wrap it all up by saying that the best way to know what’s happening in the world of Jake Bible Fiction is to subscribe to my Substack.
I’ll update my website often, and post here and there on social media (yuck), but by subscribing to my Substack you’ll get all the news you need when I feel you need it.
I say “Stay Tuned!” a lot and my Substack is how you stay tuned!
And that’s it, y’all. Subscribe, enjoy the Friday Night Drabble Party and other goodness, and hang until new announcements come out.
Cheers!