How to Follow Me Without the Extras! (Plus a correction re: economics post) (AKA, how you can dodge future #150Daysto100k Posts)

Before anyone becomes upset, freaks out, etc, I understood when I started the writing challenge that there would be those who simply have zero interest in the behind the scenes work that goes into a book, those who simply have zero interest in writing, and those who just want news and nothing but news.

News regarding what is coming up after the preorder titles is located at the end of this post. (Read or not as you desire.)

As I will be doing a post or two a day moving forward, I wanted to take the time to a: cover the book news so those who don’t want to stay subscribed know what’s going on b: offer other locations for those who want book news but don’t necessarily want the excess clutter c: go over the spreadsheet I made after I did some alterations to better reflect ‘writing pay for me’ amounts and a better reality of series. (Because the new sheet IS being used to found future business decisions.)

But this post boils down to the following: this is my blog, and I don’t want to use it just to sell books to you. This blog has always been a mish-mash of helping other authors, announcing book news, and goofing off.

This blog will always be that way. Don’t think a subject interests you and you get updates by email? Just delete the email and don’t worry about it. If you miss some book news, honestly, it’s not a big deal. I repeat myself often, so you will inevitably come across the same news elsewhere.

So, let’s start with where you can go to get book news without the content you may not appreciate:

1: You can join Patreon as a free member. You will get release announcements of audiobook editions and new editions when they’re released to the Patreon store and that’s about it. You won’t get notices things are on preorder, etc. (Because Patreon users don’t preorder as a general rule; they’re waiting to get the notification they can just buy the book.) This is for those who want absolute minimum frills. However, Patreon WILL notify you of what I’m doing/when I post things because Patreon tries to convert people into being paying members. (I can’t do anything to stop their automated messages.)

Note: the paid patreon is a busy place. During the average work week, Pixies get a minimum of three posts a week. Sirens, Cindercorns, and Spicies get five. From what I know of Patreon, you’ll receive 1-2 mailings a week trying to convince you to join as a paying member.

2: Follow me on Bookbub. You will be notified of official book deals for my titles, new releases, and given preorder alerts. Here are my various identities on Bookbub:

• RJ Blain
• Susan Copperfield
• Bernadette Franklin
• G.P. Robbins
• Audrey Greene
• Lilith Daniels

3: Follow my various authors on Amazon. Note: Amazon is not highly reliable for such things, and Bookbub is generally going to be the better choice.

4: Set up an email filter to move all emails with “subject contains” “#150Daysto100k” to the trash. (You will never see the emails, and it will delete from your trash bin in approximately 30 days.)

The reality of the situation is that this blog is my space, and I don’t want my space to just be about trying to sell you stuff. I want to give you glimpses into the background, I want to help other authors, I want to do a lot of things, including share photographs of my new home and things I’m doing IRL.

I like talking with the huge spectrum of my readers. (And let’s face it, nobody wants to be treated like they’re just a source of money.)

But that means there will be content you simply don’t have interest in. That’s okay. Not every post is going to be for every reader, and I’m not even going to try to do that. That way leads to madness.

My intent with the writing challenge is to connect with a certain type of reader–and with other authors. I’ve been hugely fortunate in my writing career, and I want to help others enjoy similar successes.

And well, my blog is my space to do just that, so I will.

I respect and understand that this decision will drive some people away, and that’s okay.

The value of what I do for others is far more important to me.

But honestly, the subjects of the blogs will be pretty clear that it’s about the 150 Days to 100k project, so you can just quietly delete the posts you don’t want to read from your inbox. I’m not going to be including any breaking news in them as a general rule, although I will rehash prior announcements or talk about Rise of the Rift King. (And include opening scenes, etc from the story.)

Not every post will be for every human on my blog, and that’s okay! Come and go as you please.

Above all, I don’t want people to feel like I only want people to come to my website so they can pay me money. (And I appreciate being paid money, please don’t get me wrong!) But I also want to give back to the community that has been so kind and generous with me.

That’s part of why I’m so open about the realities of publishing behind the scenes.

So, about that. I made some changes to my spreadsheet… more accurately, I did some expansions to the spreadsheet to give every book a much farer chance of paying its dues.

Essentially, I sat down and did a lot of sorcerous math to figure out what my average pacing per month I write words. (Spoiler alert, it’s not as much as you might think. I just put in a LOT of overtime and enjoy writing, so I do it early and often.)

Then I broke that down into a formula that takes the word count and my average pacing to make a viable number I can use in calculations for ROI purposes.

This is the result, and honestly, the most accurate image I can give of each book.

So the good news: all books HAVE paid their absolute basic production costs, which include paying my cover designer, paying my editors, paying miscellaneous expenses, taxes required to earn enough money to pay for all those things, and so on.

This is a fundamental criteria for actually remaining a writer. If I can’t cover my basic production costs, I’m screwed.

My earnings for having written the book (and the taxes associated with my earnings) are not included in the production expenses.

Color coding is by series for titles/series names, etc. Red means below 100%, Green means 100+%, so pretty easy on that score.

This is sorted by Total ROI, with the most profitable books at the top of the list. 23 of 72 books are in positive Total ROI. So in reality, those books are paying for everything else. In reality, I’m overall in the red, but I’m earning enough to pay my bills NOW, which is important and really the end game goal here. Do I wish all of my books had paid me to write them? Yes. But as long as I can keep a: paying production fees b: keep paying my rent, the rest of the stuff? Details.

Also, anything between 100% and 108% total ROI cleared (Finished paying me) this year.

If you look at the “First Year of Earnings” column, most books have needed a LONG time to clear–3-5 years is not uncommon. That there are several 2023 books that have already cleared is phenomenal.

I know readers want now-now-now, but now-now-now doesn’t pay the bills. I’ll explain shortly.

But, yes, if I want to keep writing and producing, I DO have to pay attention to this chart. Just paying my production fees isn’t good enough. (I gotta eat! My kitties gotta eat. I’m very food motivated and become very distressed if food availability is at all in question.)

As I mentioned before, right now is when I’m deciding what books will be worked on, etc. This chart actually shows the problem nicely, focusing on the Jesse Alexander series.

I often loss lead book ones (See: Water Viper) in an effort to grow the series. But ultimately, the loss leads are just that: LOSS leads. That Steel Heart is so far ahead of Water Viper is a good thing; it meant people were invested enough to continue reading the series. But the fact that Water Viper hasn’t earned out for the time it took me to write it is showing that while it has a cult following, it’s just that: a cult following. This is evidence the series doesn’t have mainstream viability. For a comparison, look at Wolf Hunt and Wild Wolf; this is a healthy book one and a book two; there was minimal loss leading on Wolf Hunt, and enough people wanted to read Wild Wolf that Wolf Hunt isn’t far behind.

This healthy ROI for both books in the series is why I’m actively writing The Edge of Midnight right now. (I just finished the first scene yesterday.)

Another good example is the Balancing the Scales series; it’s in the same boat as Water Viper and Steel Heart; I released the third book despite the ROI gaps in the first and second book, and the result did not work well in my favor; ideally, I should have focused more on growing book one a bit more before releasing book three.

This is a case of not allowing the series to mature as much as I should have.

Ultimately, I will end up working on Stone Bound prematurely, but the final book in the quartet will be put on the back burner until the ROI numbers for all three books are closer to each other–or at least over 80% each. (After reviewing the numbers, 80% Total ROI is my current “Sure, I didn’t get FULLY paid, but I got paid enough” figure in terms of accepting I won’t get paid fully for that title for a loooonnnggg time.) That way, when the conclusion of the series does come out, I won’t shoot the series in the foot the same way I did with the Balancing the Scales series.

Of course, the high amount of dislike for Jake getting a redemption arc in the series has something to do with Old Secrets and its general lack of performance.

Moving forward, with my handy dandy spreadsheet, I’ll be able to better judge when it’s a good idea to move forward with a series. And no, releasing faster would NOT have helped.

If anything, it would have made the situation first.

And yes, I realize we live in a “I want it, and I want it now” society, but… I want to grow a healthy career, and that means having a long talk with the numbers to best strategize when to release new books in a series.

For the Mag Rom Com series, giving it some time off has been for the best. Everything had a chance to grow, and at least the preliminary numbers for preorders are looking healthy–definitely healthier than Whiskers on Kittens during its preorder cycle.

Sometimes, the best course of action truly is to just wait.

Had I put Dragon Her Heels up for preorder in 2024, I truly believe the preorders would have suffered as people were burned out on the series, resulting in the series becoming even more unhealthy than it was at the time I released Whiskers on Kittens.

The Susan Copperfield books are, on a whole, quite healthy. 30% total ROI and 199% production ROI not even a month after the release of the latest book in the series is absolutely fantastic. THIS is what a healthy series looks like.

It has paid its most basic bills, and it has immediately provided me with money so I can put food on the table.

So, with the 80%+ ROI thing in mind, I’m pleased to inform you that I will be putting Death’s Door in the rotation; Up in Smoke is at 79%, and Outfoxed is at 92%, which means this series has earned its keep. I’m not at 100% ROI, but it’s close enough to be worth starting the process for publication.

I will be looking to release Death’s Door the week of May 16, 2026. I am not ready to set up a preorder for the book, but when I do, the blog will be the first place to find out. (I am going to withhold setting up a preorder until one of my other preorder books is under the belt and I’m more comfortable with the deadline.)

Generally, a March release and a May release work well with me, but I want to have more progress on the OTHER books available for preorder before I’m 100000% committed. We shall see.

Failed Colony is going to be produced despite Experimental Voyage being fairly low on the Total ROI chart. Why? I love those books and I’m doing them for my personal enrichment.

All right, so, onto what you probably have been waiting for: the current “In Progress” line up:

All links head over to Amazon due to intense laze on the author’s part.

Currently Available for Preorder:

• Grave Intentions (Grave Affairs #2 by Lilith Daniels)
• Dragon Her Heels (A Magical Romantic Comedy (with a body count) #23 by R.J. Blain)
• Death Dance (Lowrance Vampires #3 by R.J. Blain)

Tentative May 16, 2026 Release:

• Death’s Door (Fox Witch #3 by R.J. Blain)

Currently Being Written / Played With / Has a File on my Pomera / Open on Desktop

• Whispers (Magical Mysteries in Mundane Miami #1 by G.P. Robbins)

• The Edge of Midnight (Wolf Hunt #3 by R.J. Blain)

• The Rise of the Rift King (Requiem for the Rift King #1 by R.J. Blain; this is the #150Daysto100k novel; I’m honestly expecting it to take me 300 sessions to finish the book at a minimum because I suspect it’s going to be a Chonky McChonk.)

• Murder at River’s End by R.J. Blain (standalone, sci-fi fantasy slipstream similar in vibe to Audrey Greene but darker.)

• Purple Stained Sky by Leanne Hearst

• Game On (Magic, Mayhem, and the Law in Precinct #153 by G.P. Robbins.)

• Year of the Dragon (Currently by R.J. Blain, but I’m probably going to move this over to Leanne Hearts because the genre and vibe are VERY similar. Just have to get the covers adjusted.)

• She’s Dynamite (Royal States spinoff; this will NOT be posted into the series, and it will NOT have a preorder; it will just one day show up, and we shall rejoice I gave Pat another novel.)

• Rider of the Sun Horse (Requiem for the Rift King World Novel I’ve been playing with.)

• Failed Colony by R.J. Blain (Space Opera Book); my heart wishes I could release this by November, but I don’t know if I’m able to. We’ll see.

Anyway, that’s all, folks. I have a huge amount of work to do to get the trade editions into circulation so libraries can order them, get templates set up for the books that don’t have print editions, and otherwise drive myself absolutely wild re: this work.

Note for kickstarter backers: I am waiting for a box of books to arrive so I can send some more stuff out. 19 boxes of books went out last week under the radar, and I’m looking at 1-2 weeks to pack the next group of boxes before I can ship them.

Okay, I’m off. The work isn’t going to do itself.

And yes, there will be a 150 Days to 100k post later today with the next assignment (and a bonus assignment at the end of the same post for those creating their own worlds.)