2026-22: Preparing to launch

The publishing rights to my Deviant Magic series are mine once again. There’s no drama, and I’ll always be grateful to everyone at Outland Entertainment for everything we’ve done together. They’re awesome!

For a while now, I’ve been thinking through what to do with some other writing projects I’ve been working on. I’ve been following a lot of self-published authors and small presses on social media, getting a feel for the lay of the land and how they’re approaching things. And the more I learn about the broader industry, the less interested I am in dealing with bigger traditional publishers. More power to anyone chasing that big advance, but man, that process isn’t for me.

In preparation, I created Giant Sword Publishing, LLC last August. I didn’t really do much with it until recently, since I had nothing to publish. Can I write a sci fi novella in four months? Turns out I can’t! But now, I’ve got a five-book contemporary fantasy series I can use as the venture’s anchor.

For now, I’m only publishing my own work. It seemed wise to wrap it all up as an actual business, creating an extra layer of separation from my personal life and finances. Once I’ve got all of Deviant Magic set up through it again, I may look at publishing regular anthologies with contributions from other authors, simply because I really like editing that kind of work. I won’t be publishing longer fiction from anyone else for at least a few years, if ever, and not until I’ve figured out how to make this work for my own stuff.

The little bits and pieces I’ve worked on so far have certainly given me an appreciation for how much of a pain it is to run a small business. There are endless things to make decisions about and then set up: branding, messaging, domains, websites, socials, distributor accounts, business checking, etc. I’ve already spent multiple hours swearing at Wordpress and Affinity Designer and the login page for the bank I chose. Yes, I forgot the user name and password immediately after I made both.

But I’m excited! I think it’s going to be fun, and I know I’ll learn a lot, and I’ll get to tell everyone I’m a CEO and be extra ridiculous about it.

(But seriously, when did Wordpress turn into such an obnoxious, poorly laid out, ass backwards mess? I hate it now.)

What else?

First win of the season for my softball team last night! Just a little last inning comeback. No big deal. And I’m feeling more comfortable at second base.

That sci fi novella? Still moving! Made a big change to one of the characters, a decision I may write about here next week.

I had a really fun time at a preview night of the new PickleBOS in Charlestown! Really nice pickleball courts. I’m sure the place will be mobbed every night.

Til next time!