Right now I’m trying to get an idea of what my publishing schedule will be for 2018. (Or at least the first half of 2018. It’s hard for me to plan beyond six months.)

So this is what I’ve come up with…

Married In Haste will be out December 30

This is close enough to January 1 that I’m adding it to this list.  This is Book 2 in the Marriage by Fate Series. Book 1 is The Reclusive Earl. This is a Regency.

This is Brad Bachman (aka Lord Youngtown)’s romance. Brad was introduced in The Rake’s Vow (Marriage by Bargain: Book 2). He was Loretta’s older brother. In this book, we see the beginning of the end for Lady Eloise.

The Rejected Groom is projected to be out late February

This is Book 2 in the Misled Mail Order Brides Series. Book 1 is The Bride Price. This is a historical western. This is Anthony (Tony) Larson’s romance. Tony is one of the twin boys of Richard and Amanda Larson. Richard and Amanda’s romance was Wagon Trail Bride (Pioneer Series: Book 1).

The Marriage Contract is expected out either March or April

This is going to be the start of a brand new Regency series.  It is Book 1 in the Marriage by Fairytale Series. This is going to be Mr. Stephen Bachman’s romance. Stephen was introduced in The Rake’s Vow, and he plays a major role in Married In Haste. He is the younger brother of Loretta and Brad.

It takes place five years after the Marriage by Fate Series, so I don’t know if I’m going to end up going back through the five years and filling them in with other series. I’ll have to see how the storylines play out.

Make Believe Bride is expected out in May or June

This is Book 3 in the Marriage by Fate Series. It follows Married In Haste. In this we get to see what happens to Lady Eloise in more detail because Lady Stacey (the heroine in this book) is in Lady Eloise’s group. We will get to see some old Regency characters like Catherine (from A Most Unsuitable Earl: Marriage by Scandal: Book 2), Agatha (from His Reluctant Lady: Marriage by Scandal: Book 3), Loretta (from The Rake’s Vow), and Celia (from Taming The Viscountess: Marriage by Bargain: Book 3). We’ll see some old familiar faces from the gentlemen, too, but I routinely bring them back into my Regencies.

All of my Regencies take place in the same world. If you go to this page, you will see all of the books and the order they take place.

Right now I’m hoping to add a fourth book to this series, but at this time, I don’t have a solid plot line. So  I don’t know if it’s going to happen or not.

The Perfect Wife is due out next summer (June – August)

This will be Book 3 in the Misled Mail Order Brides Series.  This is Mark Larson’s romance.  I might or might not do a romance for Tony and Mark’s little sister, Annabelle. I have a vague idea for her, but it might not pan out.

****

I had to drop three books from the list.

1. Wanted: Mail Order Husband

I already posted about this one. The story went off track for this one. I’m not sure what happened here. I love the premise of the story, and I want to do what’s best for it. I think when I’m done with the Misled Mail Order Brides Series, I’ll come back and see if I can get this one straightened out.

2. The Outlaw’s Bride

I’m not “dropping” it altogether. I’m just not going to have this one out next summer like I had planned. This one is going to be longer because I’m not charging a price for this book. I had some recent financial setbacks, and this has forced me to focus on books that have the best chance of making money. Since this is a rewrite of The Stagecoach Bride and I bought the rights to it from the co-author, I promised I would make this one free so that people who purchased the original won’t feel cheated by having to buy this one, too. The main story will be the same, but there are a lot of changes. I am rewriting the entire story so that it crafts around my voice. Otherwise, the other books in the series will end too different.

Right now I’m only at 16,000 words. I have a long way to go. I only get to this book if I have time. I am currently 1.5 months behind my original writing schedule, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I only manage to get 30,000 words into this book by this time next year.

3. The Rancher’s Bride

Since this book follows The Outlaw’s Bride, it’s obvious why I put this on the shelf. I won’t be touching it any time in the near future.

***

I understand there are some of you who are itching to read the books I’ve dropped from 2018, but the time constraints hold me back from behind able to get them out that soon. I write books that average 60,000 – 65,000 words. Some of them are in the 50,000 range and some are in the 70,000 range. But I am not a novella writer. And I can only write so fast. I know there are some really good authors who manage 1-2 books a month, but I can’t do that.

My usual book output is 7-9 a year. That’s the best I can do. I would love to be able to go faster. I thought dictation was going to allow me to do that, but I ended up draining all of my energy this summer by dictating 4,000 to 5,000 words a day. My pace is best at 2,000 to 3,000 words a day and taking 2-3 days off a week to work on non-writing activities.  So because of this, I have to be selective in what projects I invest my time into.

And as much as I’d love to say money doesn’t matter, the truth is, it does. I’m going to continue publishing wide. I was considering putting a book or two into Amazon KU, but I ended up deciding to keep publishing them on all retailers. Some of you have been with me for years, and you shop at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks, and Smashwords. I posed a couple of questions on Facebook to find out where you are buying my books from, and I was surprised by how wide the diversity was.  I don’t want to shut anyone out.

So in order to keep things going, I am focusing more on Regencies since they sell better. I’ll still do some historical westerns. (I love both genres a lot.) I’m also going to test a higher price on The Marriage Contract. During the pre-order phase, I’ll have it marked at $2.99. After it’s released, the price will go to $3.99. I think it’ll stay $2.99 for the first couple of days after the release, but I’m not sure how long it’ll take for the price changes to take effect across all retailers. I want those of you who’ve stuck with me to be able to still get the book at $2.99. That’s why I’m not going to ask $3.99 during the pre-order phase.  I want to see if upping the price will help offset some of the loses I’ve taken from not being in KU. Since KU, I have lost almost half of my Amazon income. It’s gotten better since I’ve focused on Regencies, but it’s not what it used to be. I’m not complaining. I’m just explaining why I’m doing the price change for The Marriage Contract after it’s released.