Six Books. One Kickstarter. And a Paperback Dilemma… 📚

Hey, I’m back.

I know, I know. I show up in your inbox every Monday. But I like to say I’m back, even though I never really left. At least, I hope you expect me to show up. You do expect me on Mondays, right?

(Existential dread enters the chat) — Just kidding!

Last week, I announced a big, ambitious plan: all six books chronicling our newsletter adventures are coming to ONE gigantic Kickstarter this fall. 😱 Are you excited?

Because I am. Melinda didn’t say no when I floated the idea, so… it’s officially happening! 🎉

Now, about that plan…

New characters have popped up. No surprise, given there’s a portal between my world and yours, and its located right in my Scribe’s apartment, no less. So now they’re showing up and demanding stories. But I draw the line at that.

I don’t want my scribe to write their stories yet. So I convinced her to complete all the books about our newsletter adventures first. That way, everybody wins.

• 🟢 You get 4 brand new books.

• 🟢 Or 6 new books if you haven’t picked up the previously published newsletter adventures.

• 🟢 I get more page time (my favorite currency).

• 🟢 And the Scribe doesn’t get pulled off course by shiny new characters—yet.

So what’s coming?

📚 Here’s what’s in the new Kickstarter:

✅ Tales of a Curse Breaker in NY

This prequel trilogy is full of dragons, magic, found family, and all kinds of portals. It includes:

1. Catch the Scribe

2. Book Battles

3. Rogue Characters

✅ The Curse Breaker’s Companion Series

This one’s packed with dangerous orbs, evil queens, and lots of dragons. It includes the following books:

1. Dragon Spells

2. Rogue Spells

3. Storm Spells

So here’s the big question...

💭 How do you want your paperbacks?

We’ve noticed you love having physical books. Paperbacks are the more budget-friendly option, but they come with a big limitation: the spine.

Here’s the deal:

Paperback spines weaken when the page count goes beyond 500. The glue holding everything together just isn't made for that kind of stress, especially with print-on-demand (POD).

I know what you’re thinking:

“But Ran, Storm the Gates was over 600 pages and it's still holding up!”

That’s true! Melinda and I flip through it daily, and so far, the spine is okay. But now that we know better, we’re being extra cautious. We found out that for POD paperbacks, we should keep the page count around 500 pages.

Here’s why that matters:

• Print on demand printers glue the pages together and then they glue the spine to the cover.

• Offset printers can use Smyth-sewn binding—which sews the pages together before gluing them to the spine. Sewn = stronger. But they require a minimum order of 300+ books, so that’s not an option for us.

So… what do we do about those six books?

We have two options:

📦 Option 1: Six individual paperbacks

These books will be the retail edition with no illustrations, no foil, no fancy edges. You get just the story and nothing but the story.

📚 Option 2: Three special edition paperback omnibuses

Each omnibus contains two books, and they include all the illustrations, the fancy edges, and a foiled cover design.

(Since hardcover omnibuses can hold more pages, we’d split the six books into two hardcover editions instead of three.)

So we’ll need one more cover for the paperback omnibuses to match the fancy hardcover editions. But we’re happy to do that if it gets you the format you love most.

Why can hardcovers have more pages?

Fancy hardcover books can have head and tail bands. (The fabric at the top and bottom of the spine is between the cover and the book block, but they are glued in after the pages are glued together to form the book block and before the cover is glued on.)

That small addition gives the spine more support and durability. So we add them to every hardcover we order from the fancy printer in the UK since they are the only print on demand company that offers them. 🎯

Even with that added strength, we avoid going past 900 pages in hardcover books. (That’s our high-risk line.) Most of our recent hardcovers top out around 870 pages, and we’d love to keep paperbacks under 600 pages total.

Remember: we want these books to last a long time, whether they’re dog-eared treasures or collector editions!

📊 So it’s poll time!

How do you want your paperbacks?

• 🙋 Are you a fan of individual retail editions?

• 🎀 Do you want shimmery, illustrated omnibuses in paperback form?

We need to know now because Melinda needs time to:

• ✔️ Format the books

• ✔️ Upload them to the system

• ✔️ Order proof copies

(We always get test copies before a Kickstarter launches to catch any issues. That way, we can guarantee a smooth ride for backers. 🚀)

Wait, what about ebooks?

Glad you asked! Of course there will be ebooks available in two versions:

• Plain Retail Edition (no images)

• Fully Formatted High-Res Illustrated Editions

If digital is more your style, you’re completely covered.

⚔️ And that side quest?

So that's what's going on now, and no, I haven’t forgotten about the side quest. I still don’t have an update about it since Melinda didn’t finish Rogue Characters yet.

So I’ll have to update you next week about that. Hopefully, she’ll finish the core story this week so I can get an answer about that side quest!

Thanks for taking the poll and helping us decide what to do.

Until next time, read some fun books! I’ll see you in the pages.

—Ran, son of Sarn, from the Curse Breaker series

Follow the Kickstarter: