Firstly: dear WordPress, why make it so hard to find a login page when I accidentally log myself out? Leaving a comment on my own blog doesn’t work, and just leads to the Orwellian situation where the comment gets screened until I verify that I’m not a spammer and unscreen it.
Secondly: dear people who are thinking of buying the books. Thank you! And dear people who are reading because you came here on a search for ‘palatino linotype’ or because you followed a link, or for some other reason, you are also welcome. 🙂
Anyway. Given that you can read The Maker’s Mask as a standalone but the story makes a whole lot more sense if you read both books together, would you sooner both books were published at the same time? Or would you prefer it if I made The Maker’s Mask available as soon as I’ve approved the proof copy, and published The Hawkwood War a couple of weeks to a month later?
Or should I pretend to be a real publisher and leave The Hawkwood War for six months to create some buzz for it? 😉 (I’m not seriously considering that one)
They will both be available in ebook form as well as paperback, if that makes any difference.
Also, now seems as good a time to say this as any: if you’re reading this blog because you know me but you have no intention of buying the books because they really don’t sound like your kind of thing, that is perfectly OK. Please feel free to carry on reading and commenting! If you wrote a book that was, I don’t know, a YA in which zombies were a not very well concealed metaphor for weight loss, I would not buy it, but I would still like you. And likewise, if you like the books but think my online persona stinks and you therefore don’t want to carry on reading or commenting, that is fine too.
In short, we can all be grown-ups. And if at any point in the future I’m not, feel free to point me at this post.
Also, I would like to apologise to anyone who finds this post by Googling ‘YA zombie weight loss’. 🙂
Ankaret Wells 
Hmmm, I’m not a very quick reader so a delay of a couple of weeks to a month is unlikely to leave me hanging for ages after finishing the first one. I don’t really have a preference, I guess it depends how keen you are to get the 1st part out asap, and whether you like the idea of potentially getting feedback before you have finished sorting out the 2nd book.
That is a very good point about the feedback, and one I hadn’t thought of!
My only thought is that people buying the hard copies might save some p&p if both are available at the same time.
That’s very true! Lulu postage does add up. Particularly if people have to order internationally, though I think Lulu now outsource UK orders to a UK printer.