Update: 3/8/2026

Hey everyone—just a quick progress update on what I’ve been working on lately.

I realized it’s been a little while since I’ve shared where things stand, so I figured I’d give a short report from the writing desk. Nothing fancy here. Just a straightforward look at what projects are moving forward, what I’ve been tinkering with, and where things are headed next.

Paperback Version

I’ve also been hard at work on the paperback release.

There was a bit of a learning curve at the start. I tried a few different methods for formatting the interior, and let’s just say some of those attempts ended with me staring at my screen wondering how something that looked simple could turn into such a mess. After a few rounds of that, I finally picked up a tool called Atticus, and from that point on things started moving smoothly.

The interior layout is now finished, and I’m really happy with how it turned out. It looks clean and professional—exactly what I was hoping for.

The next step is adding a little bonus content. I want to write a short story centered around one of the side characters that will appear at the end of the paperback. The idea is for it to act as a small teaser for Book 2. Alongside that, I’m planning a longer short story that I’ll publish here on the blog for newsletter subscribers.

Both of those should be finished within the next week.

After that, the final step will be reworking the cover so it extends across the spine and back cover, along with adding some new blurbs and the usual paperback details. Once that’s done, the book should be ready for upload.

At some point I’ll also write a more detailed post about the paperback process itself for anyone who’s curious about how that journey went.

Hardback Version

After the paperback is finished, the plan is to take everything I learned from that process and roll it forward into a hardback version.

Most of the heavy lifting will already be done by that point. It’ll mostly be a matter of tweaking the layout, adjusting the cover to fit the hardback format, and making sure everything looks right for print.

Realistically, I’m not expecting the hardback to outsell the paperback or ebook versions. But it feels like an important step toward making the book feel complete. There’s something about having a proper hardback edition that just makes the whole project feel a little more official.

And who knows—I might be wrong. It might end up being something people really enjoy having on their shelves. Either way, I think it’ll be a nice addition.

Book 2 and Book 3 Plotting and Planning

Alongside the paperback work, I’ve also been deep in the planning stages for Book 2 and Book 3.

Right now most of my time there is going into plotting and worldbuilding. I have all the major story points mapped out—the mysteries, the reveals, and the larger threads that tie the series together. What I’m doing now is working on the plots for Book 2 and Book 3 at the same time so I can properly seed those reveals throughout both books. When things finally come to light, I want them to land—and land hard.

A lot of that work is making sure the character arcs hold up.

One of the things I’m being careful about is not just trying to make everything bigger than Book 1. Bigger isn’t always better. Instead, I’m focusing on making the growth different.

Dain’s arc in the first book was largely about becoming a better and more mature man—learning some hard lessons about temptation, forgiveness, and the kind of person he wanted to be. For Book 2, I don’t want to simply repeat those same themes but louder.

Instead, his growth shifts into something new.

Without giving away too much (though this is a bit of a spoiler for anyone actually reading this blog), part of his arc will revolve around learning to become a role model for others—and figuring out how to be a good father while still trying to live the life of a heroic warrior.

Book 2 itself is actually coming together pretty well. I already have the title locked in, along with the overall structure of the story.

So keep an eye out over the next few weeks—I’ll likely be making a more formal announcement soon. Maybe even with an early cover prototype.

Reviews and Sales

Lastly, I’ve been putting some effort into building up reviews.

My goal is to get somewhere around 40–50 reviews before I start experimenting with ads and promotions. Once the paperback and hardback versions are live, that’s when I’ll begin testing some marketing to see if I can start driving steady growth.

So far, the feedback on The Templars of Alderath has been really encouraging. People seem to genuinely enjoy it, which has been great to see. That makes me pretty optimistic that once everything is in place, the book will sell—it’s just a matter of putting in the work and being patient.

That said, reviews are one of the toughest things for new authors to get.

So if you’ve read The Templars of Alderath and have a minute to spare, I’d really appreciate it if you dropped a review on Amazon. For a small author, those reviews are pure gold.

Conclusion

That’s where things stand for now.

Progress is moving along steadily, and I’m excited to keep pushing things forward over the next few weeks. There’s still plenty of work ahead, but it’s the good kind of work—the kind where you can start to see the pieces coming together.

Thanks for following along, and I hope you’ll check back in next week.