Hydra's Wake discussion

Hey everyone, quick note from the author here about the 2nd edition of Hydra's Wake.

The reader experience between both editions is as colossal as the hydra on the cover. If you have a 1st edition copy from Amazon and want the 2nd edition, please reach out to me, we'll get that sorted out.

So without further to do, Hydra's Wake has had an interesting run, and like any debut novel there was a lot to learn from along the way. I want to thank everyone who gave it an honest chance, and an extra thank you to those who enjoyed it. What's below is for transparency purposes.

The 1st Edition had distribution trouble from Amazon using the wrong manuscript, and that issue persisted. Prompting the need to do a completely separate edition fairly early on in the book's life.

Back in 2021, when I was still putting everything together for it, I wanted to get the rough page counts for my cover artist. The rookie mistake of it all was uploading the manuscript in the Kindle Create program to get those page counts instead of getting it formatted manually. What that did was put the pre-edit manuscript in Amazon's system (And if you have read the reviews for Hydra's Wake, you see where this is going).

Between the end of 2021 and May 1, 2022 there was a successful Kickstarter campaign that made professional editing possible. And we did that, and got the fully finished and edited manuscript uploaded in March 2022. Well over a month and a half before release day.

It turned out that Hydra's Wake would suffer from Amazon's manuscript roulette. And several back and forths with KDP's support provided some fixes to the problem, and yet as recent as Feb 2025, we have proof that the original got distributed via kindle. (Not a print version from a secondhand store, an eBook of it... after I can't remember how many re-uploads and the folks at KDP saying the original MS was long gone from their system.)

[I will note the copies made through Barnes and Noble Press were not affected by this particular problem, thankfully.]

Work on the 2nd Edition started back in Jan 2024, when it became apparent that this problem was just not gonna be solved. The good news is that Hydra's Wake, even with the known issues, was doing better than expected and that allowed us to up the ante with the editing, and I found an editor who is incredible to work with. The original edited version was solid, and it's a shame too many readers were not given the chance to see that version.

That's all been fixed, the new listing on Amazon is completely separate from the old one. One side effect is that we lost all the reviews, (even the really awesome ones) which is sad, but I promise it's for the best. I'm excited about the re-edit, it's a superior product that I am very proud to present to everyone. It is exactly what you all deserved in the first place.
Hopefully it does well enough to turn the 1st edition into worthy collectibles

The 1st edition was sunset at the end of June 2025. The 2nd Edition released August 5th, 2025. If you've been to Camp Tor, I hope you'll revisit for a smoother experience. If you're riding with us for the first time, welcome aboard, it's never been better than it is now!