Ask the Author: Alis Franklin
Answered Questions (4)
Alis Franklin
The answer is sadly "not for the foreseeable future".
The third book (BAD MEME) is written and the fourth (TRUTHTELLER) is outlined, however the former hit some snags on the "queer urban fantasy" versus "m/m paranormal romance" front and has now been, sadly, trunked.
I talk a little more about it here, for those interested: https://alisfranklin.com/wyrd/publish...
The third book (BAD MEME) is written and the fourth (TRUTHTELLER) is outlined, however the former hit some snags on the "queer urban fantasy" versus "m/m paranormal romance" front and has now been, sadly, trunked.
I talk a little more about it here, for those interested: https://alisfranklin.com/wyrd/publish...
Alis Franklin
Arin is the Wisdom of Crowds; a modern goddess born from the Internet.
As for the car, we'll be seeing more of the car in the next book. So... stay tuned! ;)
As for the car, we'll be seeing more of the car in the next book. So... stay tuned! ;)
Alis Franklin
The tl;dr answer is "not at this time, no."
The longer answer (with emphasis on "longer" because this is an issue I have Srs Feels about) is that, when I was considering publishing offers for Liesmith, there were options for print which I didn't pursue, choosing instead to stick with digital-only.
The rationale is, firstly, that print urban fantasy in general can be a hard sell at the moment, particularly for debut authors, which is due to a complex quagmire of bookstore shelving issues, particularly along the "urban fantasy vs. paranormal romance" split. Liesmith isn't, I don't think, quite "romance-y" enough to fit on the PR shelf (read: potential disappointment for PR readers who think they're getting something with more kissing and less hitting) and yet it's probably too romance-y for the straight-up fantasy shelf (ditto, in reverse).
So there's that.
The second issue is the fact that, yes, the romance in the book is a queer one. This is one of those things that shouldn't be a consideration but, in reality, it sadly is, and one of the side effects is that things like in-store placement and treatment of books with GSRM characters and themes can sometimes be... not the best.
Printing a book is a risk for both publishers and authors, because of Reasons about how bookstores operate, and basically there are a bunch of commercial and discoverability trade-offs in here that meant that, in the end, I decided to go digital-only for Liesmith's debut. Because even if publishers were prepared to support the book in print (which they were), whether or not bookstores would was an unknown. Bad print sales are kind of Instant Death for a book series and, dammit, I have some sequels in me yet! Hence going digital only was a "safer" bet.
Which is a bunch of inside baseball, but I guess what it boils down to is that a paperback edition of Liesmith depends on in-physical-store market demand for not just this book, but other books like it.
In other words: go buy more books with queer protagonists! And buy them, wherever possible, from local physical stores (most of which also have websites that sell ebooks, I will note!). If they're not stocked, request them from the counter; even if they're from small-press publishers bookstores don't "usually" sell (in most cases the store will still be able to get you a copy).
There is, I think, growing demand for diversity in books in general, and GSRM books in particular. But... that message might take a little while to trickle down to the shelves of your local bookstore. Until that happens, Liesmith will stay digital.
But... we'll see.
The longer answer (with emphasis on "longer" because this is an issue I have Srs Feels about) is that, when I was considering publishing offers for Liesmith, there were options for print which I didn't pursue, choosing instead to stick with digital-only.
The rationale is, firstly, that print urban fantasy in general can be a hard sell at the moment, particularly for debut authors, which is due to a complex quagmire of bookstore shelving issues, particularly along the "urban fantasy vs. paranormal romance" split. Liesmith isn't, I don't think, quite "romance-y" enough to fit on the PR shelf (read: potential disappointment for PR readers who think they're getting something with more kissing and less hitting) and yet it's probably too romance-y for the straight-up fantasy shelf (ditto, in reverse).
So there's that.
The second issue is the fact that, yes, the romance in the book is a queer one. This is one of those things that shouldn't be a consideration but, in reality, it sadly is, and one of the side effects is that things like in-store placement and treatment of books with GSRM characters and themes can sometimes be... not the best.
Printing a book is a risk for both publishers and authors, because of Reasons about how bookstores operate, and basically there are a bunch of commercial and discoverability trade-offs in here that meant that, in the end, I decided to go digital-only for Liesmith's debut. Because even if publishers were prepared to support the book in print (which they were), whether or not bookstores would was an unknown. Bad print sales are kind of Instant Death for a book series and, dammit, I have some sequels in me yet! Hence going digital only was a "safer" bet.
Which is a bunch of inside baseball, but I guess what it boils down to is that a paperback edition of Liesmith depends on in-physical-store market demand for not just this book, but other books like it.
In other words: go buy more books with queer protagonists! And buy them, wherever possible, from local physical stores (most of which also have websites that sell ebooks, I will note!). If they're not stocked, request them from the counter; even if they're from small-press publishers bookstores don't "usually" sell (in most cases the store will still be able to get you a copy).
There is, I think, growing demand for diversity in books in general, and GSRM books in particular. But... that message might take a little while to trickle down to the shelves of your local bookstore. Until that happens, Liesmith will stay digital.
But... we'll see.
Alis Franklin
Yes! STURM UND DRANG (which I suspect will get renamed prior to publication, but that's the title on the MS I submitted) is the sequel to Liesmith.
It's set a few months after, but otherwise picks up with Lain, Sigmund, Em, and Wayne (as well as Munin, Hel, Lain's car, and a whole bunch of new characters... including a dragon!) more-or-less where we left off.
It's set a few months after, but otherwise picks up with Lain, Sigmund, Em, and Wayne (as well as Munin, Hel, Lain's car, and a whole bunch of new characters... including a dragon!) more-or-less where we left off.
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