It’s announcement time!
As I’m sure you’ve noticed from the changes to the website’s home page…
Greysons of Grimoire is getting published!!!
It’s very exciting! I’ve been planning this for a while and have spent a lot of time revising, editing, and polishing the first Arc to make it the very best it can be. And now it’s actually… real! Like, really real! I have a copy of the book right now, and I’ve been using that, reading through it in print, for the final checks and revisions in preparation for its launch. Before we get into more details and questions/answers and stuff like that, take a look at the cover art!
It’s beautiful! I used 99designs to find a cover artist/designer, and was absolutely floored by so many of the design submissions, there were a lot of amazing options to choose from. In the end, there really was only one choice, the one that spoke to me the most and felt most like it captured the soul of Greysons. The soul of this story lives in the characters, and a character-focused cover illustration, with Caleb on the front and the other five leads on the back, just feels so right. So a special thanks to Andii Caramella, she’s absolutely fantastic and has made the best cover I could have ever hoped for.
Tentatively, the book is set for release on October 1st. If that changes at all, it’ll only be a small change, possibly a week later. This is my first experience with publishing, marketing, all that stuff, so I have a lot to learn. But it’s been a very exciting process, and doing this on my own — even though self-publishing is a lot more work for me than traditional avenues — is so fulfilling, so enriching, and it allows me to ensure Greysons of Grimoire: A World of Magic, as well as the rest of the series, comes to you in the very best form it possibly can. I’ve included plenty of thanks within the book itself, but I haven’t done this all by myself. There have been wonderful people who have helped me learn, helped me grow, helped me recognize my failings and mistakes and make better choices for the story.
Now then! Let’s talk about Greysons of Grimoire: A World of Magic. What is it, and why is it?
First of all, A World of Magic is a published version of the web novel’s first Arc, keeping the same title as that Arc. But it isn’t a copy-paste job. The web novel is very much a “first draft,” and while these may be the most polished “rough” drafts I’ve ever written, despite all my best efforts, you can still find typos and awkward sentences here and there in the web novel version.
So the published version is heavily revised, edited, and polished. It isn’t just about eliminating typos. Sentences, lines, paragraphs, and a few entire scenes have been heavily rewritten for the best reading experience possible. I tend to write very quickly, very stream-of-consciousness, and especially action scenes can sometimes struggle with clarity on a first draft. Lots of very long sentences that aren’t properly broken up or given space to breathe, meaning it’s easy for readers to get lost in what should be really exciting! (I do that a lot in blog posts, too, sorry about that)
A lot of love and care has gone into rewriting the first Arc of Greysons to make it a proper “finished” draft, the final version that improves heavily upon the first draft that many of you have already read.
Other changes include lore and foreshadowing alterations. There are some things I heavily foreshadowed and “seeded” in the original first Arc that… never went anywhere. I had plans, vaguely, but as the story took on a life of its own, some threads and seeds just got dropped. And it was for the best! But that’s part of what’s been changed in the published version. Seeds and threads started in the first Arc that ended up not going anywhere have been cut entirely. And the flip side of that is that I’ve also been able to introduce better foreshadowing and character elements earlier on in the story for what’s actually going to happen! This isn’t just an improvement to the first Arc. The published edition will also provide a much smoother, more cohesive reading experience for the entire series, and those changes in proper foreshadowing and seeding will continue and have a cumulative effect into the second book, the third, and beyond to the end.
You also get the book in whatever format you want! Many have shown interest in Greysons but haven’t actually read it because reading it on the website just isn’t an enjoyable experience. I understand that, and I’m very much in the camp of wanting to read books as books, whether they’re in print or ebooks. So A World of Magic is coming in paperback, hardcover, and ebook versions! You can read the beginning of the series in whatever format is most enjoyable for you, and this is also a great place to begin the series as a newcomer — you’re getting it as a book, and you get the best, most polished, most cohesive version of the story that exists. It’s perfect for newcomers and returning readers alike!
I think the changes I mentioned above will especially make A World of Magic a wonderful experience for my kind of people: re-readers! I re-read things all the time, I re-watch movies and shows, re-play video games, all that stuff. I love experiencing stories more than once, because I always seem to discover something new on a second (or third, or fourth, or fourteenth) visit! And that kind of “bias” has gone into the writing of Greysons as a whole — there are some really neat details and bits that are introduced earlier than you might have realized in a first readthrough, so I hope reading through the story again you’ll be excited to discover new ways in which the story fits together.
I hope that answers both the what and the why of Greysons being published now. It’s something I’ve been looking forward to doing for a while, but I’ve taken care and time to ensure it’s the best it can be, not rushing the process or trying to shove the book out there for a quick buck — that kind of frantic approach never works, anyway. I’m very excited, but this is a story I love, and that others love, and that I hope you’ll love if you’re new to the series, so I made sure to give it my very best on every single level. I didn’t put it together for publishing until I had a clear idea of what the story was, where it was going, and how I could best redesign the first Arc into something that is the best beginning to the series possible. Once you have it in your hands and read it, I hope you’ll agree that I’ve accomplished that goal.
As for the web novel, it will continue! Arc V: Daybreak is the final Arc of the series! Once Arc V concludes — and I’m not sure when that will be yet — then the web novel will remain live on the site for some time longer. But it won’t remain forever. Not as a means of “locking content” or anything like that, but because this was always a first draft, and eventually, it’s going to be good to have the final, best version as the only one out there in the world. I’ll explain more when we get closer to that time, but I think in the end you’ll agree that this is the best approach, as well.
It’s been nearly two years since Greysons of Grimoire began: the first chapter was published on September 18th, 2017. And just a short while after the two year anniversary, A World of Magic will be available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and just about everywhere else that sells books, in whatever format you prefer. Preorders will be open soon, and release day will be here before you know it! I’ll have more to say as we get closer to release day, and on release day, and after release day. I hope you’ll look forward to that. And if you have any questions, comments, or thoughts, you can comment below this blog post (unless comments aren’t working — I’ve been receiving mixed messages about that, but rest assured I’ll have them working properly soon enough if they aren’t at the moment), or contact me on social media. Links to my Twitter and Instagram are at the bottom of this page, and at the bottom of everywhere on the site.
As always, thank you so much for reading!
