Re: I Knew Him and We Go Together
Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your May so far.
I’m writing to let you all know that I’ve written to the publisher of my first two novels, NineStar Press, and requested the publishing rights to be reverted back to me.
This means that both these novels, I Knew Him and We Go Together, have been pulled from NineStar’s distribution channels and will begin disappearing from retailer websites. Some retailers have long processing times, so you may still have a chance to grab copies of the original editions if you haven’t yet.
The audiobook for I Knew Him was produced independently from NineStar and will still be available through Audible and Apple Books.
Pulling away from NineStar was not an easy decision to make, and a lot of factors went into making it. I have been thinking about it off an on for months, if not years. But there was always something else going on. Some release, some personal task that I needed to deal with, a trip. There was always a reason to not do it. But finally, I’m ready to let go.
In the end, the decision came down to three factors.
First, I want to have control over what happens to my books. I want to be able to set a sale price whenever I want, to give them away for free when I want, and to be able to sell them on web stores like itchio or Ko-Fi (which I can’t do under contract with a publisher).
My second factor is money. I have been experiencing a decline in sales for a long time now. What I used to make in a month slowly dwindled to about 20 cents or even nothing over the last couple years. It’s not entirely surprising, as the books are older and hype will dwindle over time. But it’s still a factor in my decision. Even if I only sell one ebook per month, with self-publishing I can at least get a little more from one sale and also adjust my prices as I see fit.
The third and final factor is my next release. As I’ve stated here before, I’ve been working on a companion novel to I Knew Him, called Be True. It’s now in the hands of an editor, and I will be working on the edits this summer.
It’s been six years since I Knew Him, and I’ve learned a lot about writing and refining my craft. Be True reads as a much more mature novel in a lot of ways, and I started to feel like the discrepancy between the writing quality of Be True and I Knew Him would be too great in the state I Knew Him currently is in.
So, it seemed like the right time to ask for my rights back so I can revise the writing of I Knew Him and re-release it alongside its companion. This also means the formatting and covers can match both novels, and they’ll look more cohesive together.
I’m not sure how different the new version of I Knew Him will be. My plan is to keep most of it the same, just rework the writing flow, and possibly remove or combine some scenes. But it’s possible the revision process will inspire me to make bigger changes. I still have a copy of the original final version of I Knew Him, which I will keep unaltered. I may put it up on Ko-Fi or itchio sometime in the future for those interested in comparing the two versions. And the audiobook of the first edition will remain available.
As for We Go Together, I also plan on revising it and changing some scenes that didn’t land the way I wanted them to, but I will tackle it at a later time. I don’t want to push myself too much. I Knew Him is my priority.
After so many years of waffling on this decision, I feel good that I finally made it. Now seems like a perfect time, and I’m starting to feel excited by the prospect to see where these revisions take me.
I want to thank you all for reading my works and supporting my endeavours for all these years. This isn’t the end for either of these stories, and I hope you will support the new versions when they are ready to be released.
In the meantime, my poetry and Destined to Be Normal are still available for sale at most major retailers and itchio! And don’t forget that Bad Vibes Only is out now!