Dear #MarkedbyOdin,
After several months I return with a new #LetterfromtheAuthor very special to me. And it is that, after this surreal entry of the year 2022, in which our reality seems to become even more dystopian, many things are coming for me, both personally and professionally.
THE ASIATIC ADVENTURE
Since last year I have been telling you that one of the reasons for speeding up and forcing the launch of Ragnarok in 2021 was because 2022 was an important year for me. We recently announced that the books in our store would temporarily stop being dedicated by me from mid-April… The explanation is that I’m going to Asia for a long time, maybe a month, maybe five. That is why I will no longer be physically available in Spain in order to continue dedicating copies.
I have been waiting for and planning this trip for more than two years, which brings together both personal and professional motivations. I am leaving despite the convulsive times in which we live, with the shadow of war lurking in Europe and who knows if soon in more regions of the world… But I do so with the conviction that life must be lived as long as they leave us and we cannot live without doing the things that motivate us.
In a few days I will be flying to Vietnam, a country where I hope to rest a bit, take vacations (if that really exists), and also inspire/document myself for a new literary project that I have in mind. If you have finished reading Ragnarok, you may have already seen some clues about it… In addition, I also hope that this trip will serve to see business opportunities for my company, Megapop.
As you can see, I’m going to have some homework to keep me busy in the coming months. Hey, that does not mean that you lose sight of me. I hope to continue to be operational and accessible on Discord, our social media, WhatsApp and more. The advantages of traveling these days is that with the Internet and a computer, you can do everything from anywhere.
NEW SHIPPING METHODOLOGY
The fact of leaving will mean several changes, in addition to the fact that temporarily the books we sell will no longer be dedicated. As I am not present, I will have to completely delegate the entire logistical process of preparing the books and shipping them.
That is why, from April 18, we will group all orders to send them together one day a week. So, although after being sent they can reach you between 24 and 72 hours with Tipsa, it may take several days from when you place the order until it is sent and reaches you. I ask new readers to have a little patience and understand that this is the best possible solution I have found. The alternative (and the initial option I had in mind) was to close the paper sale while I was gone. In this way the new #MarkedbyOdin who want paper books will be able to get them during the time they are in Asia.
10% DISCOUNTS FOR WORLD BOOK DAY
My early departure has also been the reason why we have already announced and launched our annual 10% discount campaign to celebrate Book Day and Sant Jordi. My intention is to be able to stimulate the orders to the maximum these last days that I am available.
Until April 17, all editions of Mark of Odin in our store will have a direct discount of 10% applied with respect to their normal amounts. So if you’re thinking of gifting the books to someone or continuing the saga if you’ve been left behind, be it digital or paper, this is an unmissable opportunity.
RAGNAROK EXTENDED CONTENTS
Once I’m a bit settled I hope I can start getting serious about planning and publishing the extended stories for Volume 3 of the Odinpedia. A few weeks ago, on the occasion of the deplorable invasion of Ukraine by Putin’s forces, we shared a first story as a tribute. With ‘Heroes of the Earth #01: The ghost of Kyiv’ I started a series of chronicles that, like those of ‘Heroes of Seville’ of Volume 1, I hope to give new points of view of the events narrated in the last part of ragnarok.
There will be more content, especially focused on the main characters, although it is still early to give you a forecast of what you can expect and in what order. I’m still pretty suffocated creatively after the “birth” of Ragnarok, so I need to oxygenate. Also, as I anticipated at the beginning, I intend to take a short break to prepare a new independent book project (or not quite…) focused on Vietnam.
As for the first Ragnarok bonus chapter, I don’t think it can be ready until the end of the year. I hope to be able to give more details as soon as it is possible for me to have a clearer idea of my planning for the remainder of 2022. Regardless of the projects that may arise during my stay in Asia, by autumn I hope to also be able to launch a new video game with Megapop, which is just starting to take the first steps of development (I can’t give details yet).
WE KEEP GROWING
In these months I have not stopped working so that Mark of Odin continues to grow. This is attested to by the new editions and formats released on Amazon, with the fifth of The Awakening in January, and the fourth of Road to Valhalla in March. I have finally managed to harmonize all the editions of Mark of Odin books on Amazon. I hope to apply the changes and novelties in the next reprints that we make for the collector’s editions of our store.
In addition, just last week I had the opportunity to participate in the 1st Self-Publication Fair in Seville, in the Parque del Alamillo. In it, I was able to share The Mark of Odin and its literary model with nearly a hundred self-published authors, as well as with the readers who were encouraged to approach it. We have also exceeded 107,000 ebooks exclusively on external digital platforms. This brings us very close to being able to reach 110,000 books in total soon.
I finish now, hoping that the next #LetterfromtheAuthor will be written from Vietnam. As always, I encourage you to join our Discord community and also add us to your WhatsApp contact list (Say hello to us at +34 671 48 96 90). Keep sharing your impressions of the books, not just on the Reviews section, but also on external platforms such as Amazon, Google Play, Apple, Kobo, Lektu or Goodreads. Having a good rating and opinions there helps us a lot to attract new readers.
Remember, everything is connected.
Xavier Marcé
