Josh Erikson
Author/Narrator
Know New News Now
Yikes, things have been quiet here for a while… Sorry about that! I’ve been frantically working on the latest draft of the sequel to Hero Forged, and I wanted to have something really juicy to tell you about when I kicked out a new blog post. Fortunately, I have several things!
First, I wanted to thank you for being here at all. I’ve had a bunch of new people sign up for updates since the audiobook came out, (woo hoo!) and I can’t tell you how cool that feels. I tried to do the professional author thing and get links and ads and stuff synergized to direct everyone to the right places, but I’m still not convinced I did any of it correctly. That means you probably had to make an extra effort to sidestep my clumsy directions to get here…which is so awesome of you.
Second, I wanted to thank everyone that’s gone the extra mile to leave comments, ratings and reviews. As I write this, Hero Forged has something like a thousand ratings and reviews across Audible, Amazon, and Goodreads combined, and that absolutely blows my mind. I’ve read them all multiple times, and I’ve loved getting that feedback and motivation as I tweak the next book. I wish I could respond to all of them personally, but most of the platforms don’t let me. Or maybe I just haven’t figured out how yet.
Next, I have Book Two news! The latest draft is finished and off to the editor, who will then hopefully help me find where I’ve gone wrong or stupid. I personally think it’s a really fun story, and it definitely kicks off quite a bit faster than the first book. The artist is also working on the cover design now, so I hope to have some news about that and the official title in the next month or two.
Which brings me to the release date for Book Two… I don’t quite have it yet. I mean, I’m 90% sure it’s going to be in January 2019, which is really not so far away, but there are a few too many moving parts to nail down an exact date. The book itself will probably be done and ready in another month or two, but I REALLY want to release in all formats at the same time. That means getting the recording and audio mastering done and submitted to Audible, which might not go perfectly to plan. So it will likely be November or December when I post a release date, and that’ll be followed with a flurry of news about preorders, cover reveals, contests, and other fun stuff. I promise it will be worth the wait.
Finally, Hero Forged is in a few contests. The first one is SPFBO (Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off) run by Mark Lawrence of Broken Empire and Red Queen’s War fame. He and ten big book bloggers run this year-long event to whittle 300 entrants down to 60(ish) semi-finalists, then 10 finalists who’ll compete for the lauded selfie stick trophy. It’s a really cool community with a bunch of amazing indie authors and bloggers, and Hero Forged moved on to semi-finalist status in the first round of reviews! It’s unlikely I’ll make it any farther than that based on the competition, but I’m thrilled to be where I am. You should definitely check out the other books in this thing. There are some real gems in there, not to mention some great bloggers reviewing great stuff you might be interested in.
And finally, I just found out today that Hero Forged has been shortlisted for Best Self-Published Novel in the Booknest Fantasy Awards! I’m not sure how it happened, but I’m thrilled all the same. And there’s a public vote going on right now for that and a few other categories until Oct. 31st. If you find yourself with an extra second or two, and you want to saunter over there to drop in a vote for me, that would be mighty nice of you! Again, I don’t really expect to win based on the quality of the competition, but it would be pretty cool if I did. The trophy is an engraved sword, you guys…
Thanks again for everything. If you want smaller, more regular updates, check out my Facebook page. Otherwise, I promise to get these blog posts out a little more often while still keeping them relevant to the books. I suppose I could pad out my posts with my random day-to-day thoughts, but I like you way too much to inflict that on you.
Josh Erikson 