October Progress Update

Hello, one and all and welcome to your October Progress Update!

This is going to be a short one because I’ve been on a bit of a break but I figured that I would at least give you guys something. Despite being on a break, I have been putting in a little bit of work with From Ashe in the form of new artwork which is now part of a new side project!

Cover Revamps

As Alex has grown and has begun to produce artwork more in line with anime style, I decided that it was time to start redoing From Ashe’s covers. Unfortunately, in the anime/light novel world, people DO judge a book by its cover and I know that mine weren’t always the best ones out there.

Therefore, I aimed to fix that. While I will have to do this month-by-month due to budgeting, my goal is to redo all six volumes that are out.

As of the time of this writing, Volumes 1 and 2 are completed and are currently live on Amazon!

Volume 3’s concept is complete and once I figure out next month’s budget, I will send it over to Alex to get it done.

For now, here are the two new covers complete with brand-new spines as well!

Volume 1’s new cover contains an updated version of the original pose against a background that depicts Ashe’s house, the path alongside it, and some nice scenery.

Volume 2’s new cover is a different take on the original. Those who read the first volume will come across a short story Ashe writes where she depicts Renji as a crow. Rather than have Renji looking over Jase’s shoulder to see him calling Ashe on his phone, I now have Renji, symbolically depicted as a crow (hence the crow’s blue eye) keeping an eye on Jase… as he’s calling Ashe on his phone. Jase notices the crow which plays into the storyline of Renji being suspicious of Jase and Jase becoming aware of that.

In a bit of a preview…. Volume 3’s cover will have an updated Renji in the same pose… just in Alex’s new anime style. The background is set to harken back to that same short story Ashe wrote about Renji as a crow.

Volume 4 will keep the same pose for the characters and contain Ashe’s living room/kitchen as the background

Volume 5 will be a complete redo while depicting Ashe in her red attire, Noah, and Mineko as we head into the finals of the writing tournament. The background will be the room where they are all competing.

Volume 6… the characters are already done. It just needs a background, I might take a page out of Bakuman and have some artwork on a table. I haven’t really decided but I want to use that cover to drive home that Ashe and Saraya are teaming up to help make Ashe’s dream come true.

Volume 7… wait. The one that hasn’t been written yet? Yeah. I won’t say too much but I have a really cool idea. It might backfire because non-readers of the series might see it and think the series is a fantasy-style story but… those who have read it will completely understand why I chose it. Can’t wait to bring it to life.

From Ashe Vol. 7

With Volume 6 launching 3 1/2 weeks ago, I decided to take a break and do a bit of recharging. It did me some good because That itch and desire to write has come back and I fully intend to devote October to writing the next installment!

This will leave November for editing and artwork and December for a tentative release.

I was dead set on December but… looking at finances, I’m wondering if I should dedicate the rest of the year to redoing covers 4-6 first and releasing 7 next year or if I should just go ahead and do 7 this year. If I do, a sacrifice will need to be made on covers 5 and 6…. which means, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7 will have new covers while 5 and 6 won’t.

The OCD in me doesn’t like that but making I’m turning a molehill into a mountain here?

Either way, I’m still writing the book… that’s not changing one bit. I’m excited to bring this storyline to a close with a particular character!

MyGF

Lastly, I just want to touch upon My Girlfriend Was Delivered by 2-Day Shipping. We are now in the second month of judging and I won’t know anything until November 2. That means next month’s progress update will be around the 2nd or 3rd of November as I want to let everyone know how I did, if I’m a finalist, and if not, what the plans are for this book.

I am unsure if the Honeyfeed exclusivity factor is waived if I am not a finalist or if I have to wait until the contest is completely over and all winners are announced but if I do not make it to the finals and/or do not win in my category then I do fully intend to self-publish the book with expanded chapters and artwork throughout along with an updated cover.

Those are the plans but everything rides on things 30 days from now.

Until Next Time

As I just mentioned, I’ll have the results of the judging round for you as well as, quite possibly, all of Volume 7 written. Today is Sunday, October 2 and I fully intend to start writing the book tomorrow (October 3).

Can’t wait to jump in! Also, I’ll probably have Vol. 3’s new cover to show off too so look forward to that!

Until then…

Ja ne!