Dear #MarkedbyOdin, I have been delaying the new Letter from the Author, because I did not want to send it until I could not give you the news most awaited by all. So, without further ado, let me get it off the ground: I have begun production of the final manuscript for Mark of Odin: Ragnarok in Spanish!
THE BATTLE OF THE END OF TIME
Take it now! You don’t know how eager I was to be able to share this. Yes, it took longer than I expected, for a change, but hey, we are finally at that magical point of being able to focus exclusively on the final draft. The document in which I take everything written since the beginning of time (for the saga) and give it a remodeling, writing everything again, adapting all the changes that I have been making throughout these years…
Before continuing, as I am incorrigible, I want to share with you an audiovisual production that I have prepared to officially announce that Mark of Odin: Ragnarok will arrive this year in Spanish. I had the idea of making a simple video, but in the end, I got confident and, well, without further ado, I leave you with the first Ragnarok teaser in which I also advance the early pre-order campaign. I hope you like it!
LET’S DO IT
The first phase in this process is always to make a new version of the summary-index of the book’s chapters. That is, a guide in which I detail the key points of each chapter with which to have a clear and orderly structure of everything that happens in the story. This summary is very useful, since it saves me from having to go through all the time of what was written in the past, both on paper and on the computer.
I hope to finish this phase this weekend, so that I can get right to the book next week. At the moment I can tell you that I have already 15 chapters, a little more than half of the total (we’ll see). And what I can tell you is that in Ragnarok… There will be no time to breathe. I hope you get your strength before reading it, as it is going to have a very frenetic pace, with a lot of action and very dramatic moments. Not for nothing is the battle of the end of time!
Despite the fact that we live convulsive and complicated moments, my main objective is to be able to move forward with the production to meet the deadlines that I announced in my last letter. So, I hope I can have it completed by the end of the summer. This is a very important and tough challenge. I am not going to deceive you, facing it right now supposes a great personal cost to me, since, like many of you, I am not going through the best of moments emotionally. But I’m going to put all the gasoline on the fire to make it worthwhile for everyone. Road to Valhalla emerged at a time of personal crisis and the result was incredible. I am convinced that Ragnarok will far exceed all expectations. After all, I am the first one who is dying to share this brutal part of the story of Mark of Odin saga.
THE 3RD EDITION OF ROAD TO VALHALLA IN SPANISH
One of the main reasons it took me longer to finally get to Ragnarok was the third reissue of Mark of Odin: Road to Valhalla. After the 4th of The Awakening, I thought maybe I would have to make some corrections to the second book as well. The thing is that after rereading it in “fan” mode I realized that I needed a thorough revision.
Taking into account that in the Amazon edition I never got to apply the changes of the second reissue, because in the end I threw the blanket over my head to make a new deep reissue to maximize your reading experience. As I recently announced, this 3rd edition is now available for download on our website in digital format, as well as on external platforms. On paper it is also available through Amazon and in our store, it will be soon, as soon as we run out of the current stock that we have.
A RAGNAROK LOADED WITH SURPRISES
As I already told you for the third book, we are going to prepare an early pre-order campaign, with which you can get an exclusive edition at a special price. We are considering many options, but the idea is that each copy is unique for each of you, including not only a unique numbering, but also your names (apart from the dedication that I’ll write by hand).
In the price we will also include shipping, which by default will be express for everyone living in Spain (residents of the Peninsula). For those of you who are on the islands we will use the Post Office, since the courier prices there are prohibitive. Why do it like this? Well, after the experience of the launch of Road to Valhalla, I have decided that when making a mass shipment it will give us greater security if we do it through courier. This means increasing the cost of shipping, but as I said, it will give us all greater security that you can receive the books as soon as possible when we make the shipments. Keep in mind that shipments with Correos, although we do not charge them, also have a cost, but they do not offer any type of tracking. And while they usually arrive great and fast, other times they can take many days or even weeks. This in a daily basis is not a blocker, but in order to have to send many packages at the same time, in the same period of time, we prefer to minimize the problems.
I have also already told you that Ragnarok will include a very special musical theme, More than one light, composed and performed by the incredible Milena Brody. Well, I still can’t say anything, but I can already tell you that we are going to give you more surprises about it soon. If you have not yet read her introduction to the saga, you can do so in Åsa: More than one light extended story.
On the other hand, I am studying the possibility of including some type of special sponsorship with a selected brand, which fits with Mark of Odin and its history. Getting something like this would be a very positive reinforcement to support the launch, although at the moment there is nothing closed, but I am testing different options.
In addition, I also remind you that the idea is that, if we manage to reach fundraising milestones, we will add additional extras to your edition of Ragnarok. Whether it is brand pages and exclusive postcards, some type of merchandising, or even perhaps the option that you can buy special t-shirts. Of course, my greatest hope would be that we can offer the printed editions of the bonus chapters published to date and the Odinpedia stories with their full color illustrations. The limit will be set by you.
ROADMAP
I update and re-share the Mark of Odin: Ragnarok Roadmap:
- May-End of summer: Drafting of the final manuscript of Ragnarok
- End of summer: Beginning of the process of editing, layout, cover design, etc.
- September-October: Launch of the early pre-order campaign
- November-December: End of the early booking campaign. Start of the normal pre-order campaign.
- December: Sending of copies
WE NEED EVERY POSSIBLE #MARKEDBYODIN
As always, I encourage you to join our Discord community and continue sharing your impressions of the books, not only in the Opinions section, but also on external platforms such as Amazon, Google Play, Apple, Kobo, Lektu or Goodreads. Having a good evaluation and opinions there helps us a lot to attract new readers. Each new reader that we get in these months is going to be a very important reinforcement for the launch of Ragnarok.
I end by thanking you as always. I am very excited about this phase in which I enter with Mark of Odin. I am very hopeful that with the future launch of the third book, we will finally be able to break the barrier and that Mark of Odin can become the saga that all readers want to get their hands on. Go for all Valkyries and Einherjars!
Remember, everything is connected.
Xavier Marcé
