Warriors & Mages 🗡️✨ Update
all the details for the upcoming release of book two
A little over a year ago, I began the serial release of Fire & Night, the first book in my cozy-meet-epic romantasy trilogy, Warriors & Mages. Since then, I’ve had tons of wonderful feedback and requests for the next book in the series.
Now, it’s finally time to announce Book Two’s release!
[Warning: Spoilers for Fire & Night below]
First, allow me to introduce you to the title and synopsis of the book:
Synopsis:
Evylin is desperate to escape her grief.
After losing her uncle, Evylin questions if the gamble she took, marrying Deckard for a life of adventure, had too steep of a cost. Clouded in sorrow and confusion, Evylin seeks solace in their quest to save Ephria and Wauld from the tyrant Night Mage, neglecting the one choice she can’t bring herself to make: Can she risk loving Deckard if that means she might lose him too?
Deckard is intent on proving his love.
Dedicated to the promise he made to Hewitt, Deckard will find a way to secure Evylin’s happiness, no matter the cost. But this new life of theirs, serving a traitorous organization to bring back magic, has twisted everything he’s ever known. When he is forced to make choices in service to Evylin that bend his ethics, Deckard questions the man he’s becoming.
Along with their Ephrian comrades and the Calder siblings, they enter Wauld to retrieve the next three Relics. Their journey turns perilous as they travel through enemy forests and marshes, evading capture from the royal guard, Mages, and bounty hunters. With constant danger pursuing them, Evylin works to unravel the mysteries behind the lost magic of the Warriors while Deckard faces the hauntings of his choices and a burgeoning power.
And for a little glimpse into the future . . .
Here’s the title of book three:
All the Details
When can you start reading Sword & Shadow?
The serial release for Sword & Shadow begins on July 2, 2024 and will run to the end of the year. Like Fire & Night, a new chapter will go live each Tuesday and Friday.
However, different from Fire & Night, this will be an exclusive, early access to the story only for paid subscribers to my Substack. (Plus, you’ll get a bunch of extras along with the second book.)
Don’t worry, this subscription is a very small price! There are two options: You can subscribe at a monthly rate of $5 a month (essentially the cost of a cup of coffee), or at a yearly rate of $50 (which gives you two months free).
And if you choose not to subscribe, Fire & Night and my monthly newsletters will remain free.
Why monetize?
The inevitable question in your mind may be: Why monetize?
It’s pretty simple really—I’m a struggling artist.
In the world of art, whether it be writing, painting, music, etc., artists throughout the years either had patrons or commissions that paid them to make their art. I am currently making the art without getting paid, and that’s unsustainable.
Essentially, by subscribing, you are funding the work that I’m currently doing as well as the plethora of future work I’ve got planned.
For the last 4 years, I’ve been making a serious go at being a full-time author, and I’ve seen very little return. Because of that, the pace at which I’m able to create is far slower than the pace at which I need to be creating in order to get my books out into the world.
I released Fire & Night completely free in order to help grow my audience, and while I intend on publishing the whole series in physical form, that costs a lot of money. As an indie author, that’s money I don’t have.
In order for me to release these books and others, I need help.
And your financial support can do that.
Just to show you what I mean, here’s a conservative estimate of how much it would cost to publish Warriors & Mages:
Copy/line edits: $3,000 per book
Cover design: $200+ per book
Professionally written blurb/synopsis: $150 (total)
Total: $9,750
That estimate isn’t including additional artwork, special products (like t-shirts, stickers, or bookmarks), or PR and marketing costs.
As an indie author who sells her books via print on demand companies like Amazon and Barnes & Noble Press, I only make about $3 per book sold. That means that for me to recoup my costs for the series, I’d have to sell 3,250 books. And only then would I ever see an actual paycheck.
Obviously, I write for the joy of writing and I love sharing my work. But that doesn’t negate the fact that I have to survive as well.
Why not crowd fund?
I have been asked if I’d consider crowd funding, and the answer is, yes, I definitely would!
It is ultimately a goal of mine to run a Kickstarter for the entire trilogy. However, with how much it will cost to produce this trilogy, I need to be quite confident that I’ll be able to pay for those products. And in order to ensure that I get the ~$10k required, I need a much larger audience anxious to purchase these books.
Therefore, I need to begin making money now to help me reach that goal sooner rather than later.
The benefits for you
What do you get out of subscribing to my Substack?
First, you get early access to Sword & Shadow and Relics & Thrones (coming 2025).
Beyond that, you’ll receive:An exclusive ebook copy of Fire & Night, Sword & Shadow, and Relics & Thrones (books two and three will be sent once their serial releases are complete)
Access to Terraeus’s wiki page (giving you a peek into the world of Warriors & Mages, plus other books planned in the world)(part of my world building series on TikTok)
First access to news, character art, fun merchandise, & more
Bonus rewards once the Kickstarter project is live
The benefits for me
Beyond simply getting paid for my work, your subscription will help me afford to pay for character art and other promotional items, plus marketing and PR. I have set specific “funding goals” that all of the money I make through Substack will go toward (e.g. once I receive my first $100, I want to commission character art of Evylin and Deckard). All of these things will help me get the word about Warriors & Mages out there faster.
As word gets out, that will then allow me to successfully run a Kickstarter, funding the project in its entirety.
So essentially, anything I make from monetizing now will help me get these books published more quickly.
Summing it all up
I’ll be honest, monetizing scares me.
I don’t want to ask people for their money. I don’t want to make Sword & Shadow inaccessible to anyone. And I certainly don’t want any of my readers to feel that I’m gypping them.
I want to share all my work without having to ask for a dime.
But unfortunately we live in a world where that’s not possible.
I am extremely excited to share the continuation of Evie and Deckard’s story with you all! I can’t wait to get Sword & Shadow out to your inboxes starting in July, hopefully along with some character art and fun goodies in the near future.
I’m beyond grateful to all of you for your support and the love you’ve shown for this story I’ve created!
Much love to you all,
🖤 Victoria, aka V.K. Dixon