Hey guys!
It has been a busy couple months for me.
Book 2 has been updated here on RoyalRoad and has also been submitted to the publisher!
Book 5 has started on patreon, and we're almost to the end of book 4 here on RR.
This edit, and that's what I consider it since almost all of the plot remained the same, took the book from 119k words up to around 159k words. It wasn't nearly the massive undertaking the first book was, and overall I'm fairly satisfied with how it came out.
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Now, here are the patch notes:
-The prologue has a new scene from Adaega to kind of set her up as being in the world and as an important part of book 2 and 3. Aedan's original Flash scene makes an appearance as well. The biggest addition is the large addition of the first look at Roslyn with her own pov.
- Sloane's first arc (Chapters 2-9) got a bunch of changes at the beginning with chapters 2 / 3 being almost entire rewrites mainly to ease into the book and to expand some characters there. Chapter 4 got a big rework mainly to Count Kayser's section, now there's less torture and more interrogation and imprisonment. The rest is basically the same with some edits except for 8 and 9 which got some expanded scenes.
- Gwyn's first Arc (Chapters 10-15) Some new scenes here in 9 and 10, along with some expansion in 11-14. 15 got expanded and a new Roslyn scene.
- Sloane's second arc (Chapters 16-21) got a bunch of edits. The big long annoying runic chains are out in favor of just short mentions. Added a shopping scene for Sloane in 17. 18-19 got edits and some clarification. The fight scene in the ballroom was rewritten. 20 and 21 got some rearranging and additions along with some new scenes
- Gwyn's second arc (Chapters 22-25) decent changes to 22 to make it flow better and added a scene. 23 got some edits to help with the formating and help show what's going on a bit better. Those who know the formatting of Sabina's telepathy will catch it quickly. 24 got a new scene and some clarifications. 25 also got a new scene along with some more Roslyn.
- Sloane's third arc (Chapters 26-30) got some big updates. 27 got some edits but 28 has two new Giallo scenes. 29 got expanded with two new scenes of Sloane meeting with the Guildmaster and Captain Jorin to warn them about the approaching beast swarm. The fight in chapter 30 was completely rewritten. Less Sloane standing and turreting everyone and more actual fight. I think it came out pretty good.
- Gwyn's third arc (Chapters 31- 36) starts small with a bit of edits in 31 but 32 gets some decent changes to some of the church's backstory and the actual setting of what is confirmed as "Empyrea City" (think the Vatican in Rome) A little excerpt about the Church adds some worldbuilding and some hella foreshadowing. 33 got reworked with some better formating that originates in book 5, I think it really lends well to Sabina's power set. 34 got expanded with some new scene stuff. 35 got expanded slightly to set up the political showdown in the court. Finally, 36 Taenya's duel got a lot of reworks. The fight is almost entirely rewritten and should be a bit better.
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- Sloane's closing arc (Chapters 37-39) 37 got some reworks, namely instead of Captain Jorin's pov, it is now Nemura's pov as she's a bit more important for the story. Second pov is the same but the gender changed for narration purposes. 38 didn't get much but there is some edits that help with clarity and flow. 39 got a big rework to the scene with the count's army.
- Gwyn's closing chapter (40) got an expanded scene with Gwyn, the crew, and Emma. Taenya's initial scene got slight expansion.
- Epilogues - Chapter 41 (Artificer) is almost entirely the same. 42 is the Giallo and Kayser scene that was originally at the end of 39 but felt better being the last part of the book, so it's short.
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In other news, I got the copyedited version of book 1 back and I'm working on the comments from that. Book 1 will be pulled down from all sources starting mid December in preparation of a 16 January 24 launch date. Book 1 will be releasing on Kindle Unlimited, epub, paperback, and Audible simultaneously. I'll update the story title in probably November to warn people about the Stub.
With book 2 at the publisher, I expect that back in a few months. Its release date is scheduled for 21 May 24 with the same stuff as book 1. It'll be going down from all sources in April.
We have a while yet before book 3 needs to head to the publisher, so I will be putting all of my current effort into book 5 and the side stories. Mana & Mayhem (which I'll put a link in the below author's note) is about 6 chapters away from book 1's completion. After that, I'm gonna focus mainly on book 5 with maybe a single chapter side story here and there until I get my backlog going again. I do have the next longer side story planned and am excited to start it as soon as my backlog can manage it, although I will be posting that much slower than Mayhem and to Patreon first.
Gwyn's art commission is being worked on still, and I'm excited to see it and share it with everyone once it's done. The next patron push goal is for when we hit 100 patrons, and I will toss up a poll for people to vote on who will get art next. Toss a comment below on some ideas for that!
Thanks again for reading Manabound and I hope you guys are enjoying it! As always, your ratings and reviews help the story with exposure and if you're enjoying the story, I'd appreciate it if you can drop one! See below for some of the push goals for those.