Ohio #3: Net gain of 1079 words … and quick notes about The Emerald Sun and the Moon & Sun series

As always, I started out the morning by doing a quick read-through of what I got the day before, doing light edits (and sometimes removing stuff that does not work), and then rolling from there into writing the new scene.

I lost a chunk of words to having managed to say the same thing twice yesterday in different words — I kept the better version. Still ended up with a net gain of 1079, and I’ll take it. It was a tougher-than-usual three hours, but it ended well.

Changing topics: THE MOON AND SUN SERIES

Years ago, I sold a three-book YA series to Scholastic — The Moon & Sun series. And wrote the first two novels, The Ruby Key and The Silver Door.

And then got the news that “the series isn’t doing as well as we had hoped.” The series was cancelled, and I never wrote the third book.

There has been a bit of a discussion going on elsewhere in this blog about that series, and about the still-not-written Book Three (The Emerald Sun).

To bring that conversation into this decade, I did get back all rights to the first two books, and last year I started into Book Three.

However, I realized that I have no hope whatsoever of making back enough money on those books to pay me for the time it would take me to write the last one, edit and typeset all three, pay for the cover art for them, and republish them.

There weren’t that many readers in the first place, all the folks who’d read them are now adults…

My problem is that I still want to finish the series.

And with the Ohio Novels — a world I love set in a place I love with characters I love, and that is in the popular Urban Fantasy genre — if the Ohio Novels are successful enough, maybe I could afford to write the third book of the Moon & Sun series and not have it pay me a working wage.

I figured this out last year, and put The Emerald Sun on hold, and started into the still unnamed Ohio series.

If the Ohio Novels sell well enough, I’ll take a one month to finish the revision of the Cadence Drake novel The Wishbone Conspiracy, and another month to get it into print. And then I’ll take six months to write The Emerald Sun, and over the next year, working on those three books after getting my day’s words on the sixth Ohio Novel, I plan to bring out all three Moon & Sun novels in my own editions.

It won’t be fast… and I’m sorry about that.

And if the Ohio Novels don’t take off for me and start bringing in an income that will cover speculative projects, it won’t happen at all.

But that’s the chance I have, and I’m going to take it.

If you happen to be one of those folks who has been waiting forever for those those books, sign up in the form below to get my weekly updates. If and when I’m able to start into the Moon & Sun books, that’s where you’ll hear about it — and where you’ll be able to get special private-list-member early-buyer prices.

When (if) I can afford to write and publish the Moon & Sun books, you’ll find out first here. Sign up below.

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Comments

5 responses to “Ohio #3: Net gain of 1079 words … and quick notes about The Emerald Sun and the Moon & Sun series”

  1. Lyssa Avatar
    Lyssa

    I loved those first two books when I was in high school, I reread them a couple times and I remember I used to Google what the third book was, when the third book would come out, and when I couldn’t find anything I got sad and decided to wait as I knew it could take sometime. Today as I was unpacking some boxes, I found those two books and I reread them and I decided I was going to find the third book, I am so happy to have finally found it and I am more than happy to wait for it, when my son comes home for the summer I intend to read these books with him, because I know he will love them. Thank you so much for fighting so hard to finish the series that I consider one of my favorites.

  2. Talia Bergman Avatar
    Talia Bergman

    I read these books when I was young I remember buying them at the book fair with the money I saved from my job working on a farm. I’m now a mom to a daughter and son. I really want to read these books to them. I understand now why the 3rd book was never finished. However it broke my heart. I was so hooked on the series, I hope you do finish it and if you do no matter how long it takes; I’ll be waiting ready to buy it and read them to my children. Those books are one of my favorites from childhood I’m still holding out hope you are able too. Thank you Holly for attempting and being committed to trying to finish the series

    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      Thank you, Talia. I was crushed when the publisher let me know they were cancelling the series, but very grateful I had a good agent who got me the rights back, so that I CAN continue the series. I’m still on deadline with the Ohio novels (past the middle on Book 4, with one more to go before I can do the revisions of all five. It’s a big project, and I still have at least another year before it will be completed and all the books will be on sale.

      If they do well enough, they’ll buy me the time to write Moon & Sun 3. Thank you so much for letting me know the first two mattered to you — I want very much to finish telling the story so you can read it.

  3. amelia Avatar
    amelia

    Thank you so much for the update on The Emerald Sun! I hope that you are eventually able to write and publish it. It’s really amazing that you’re even open to doing that if you’re unlikely to make much money on it, but I can’t tell you how happy I am that you are!

    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      I loved the books, and I was heartbroken when Scholastic lost faith in the series.

      So, even though completing it with The Emerald Sun hasn’t been something I could afford to do, and still isn’t, I’m hopeful that following the release of the five novels I’m writing now, I might win some breathing room and a window of opportunity to finish Moon & Sun.

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