Dear #MarkedbyOdin, more than two months have passed since my last #LetterfromtheAuthor in which I told you about my imminent Asian adventure. Well, today I start with the opposite. I just got back to Spain! So, if you think so, I’ll update you on what has happened in these weeks and what is yet to come for all of you regarding Mark of Odin.
THE RETURN OF THE AUTHOR
Last April 20 I arrived in Vietnam, after more than two years planning this trip. My initial idea was to be able to stay for several months, until at least August or September. My goals for going there were several, from personal to seeing options for professional projects and also to investigate and research for possible future literary projects.
These two months have been brutal, very exciting. A whole roller coaster of emotions, discoveries and mixed feelings. I have been able to achieve many of the goals I set for myself, but in the end, some personal circumstances of mine have changed abruptly. That, added to other important handicaps, have made me make the decision to return to Spain immediately.
And it is that in Vietnam I had to leave the country every 30 days to be able to obtain a new temporary visa for one month. Due to an internal audit at Immigration, the country is not extending visas or granting normal visas. Which has prevented me from being able to plan my stay in Asia well or to have a minimum of peace of mind when developing some of the projects I had in mind. To this we add the fragile international situation, with an abusive rise in air costs, with very pessimistic expectations for the coming months. All this has made me make the decision to shorten this adventure.
Even so, I return in general very satisfied and happy. I have been able to visit some of the locations that most interested me, research well and even share my experience with Vietnamese students at the University of Hanoi. It has been a pride to be able to count on the full collaboration of the Embassy of Spain. And that, in a country like Vietnam, where the bureaucracy is even more labyrinthine than in Spain, has been a luxury.
THE AUDIONAROK IN SPANISH
Well, it’s enough to talk about me. Let’s go for the great news for all the #MarkedbyOdin. I resume the production of the audiobooks in Spanish of Mark of Odin! That is to say, I have started the production of the audiobook in Spanish of Mark of Odin: The Awakening, which will be followed by Road to Valhalla and Ragnarok. It is a job that I have started in Vietnam and that I hope to be able to finish throughout this summer. That’s going to be my first priority these weeks. And here comes the best, just like with the English audiobook of The Awakening… All audiobooks will be free for all registered readers!
I have prepared a teaser of the audiobook of The Awakening so that you can have a reference of what it will be like. Please note that this is a raw recording, not well debugged or edited.
At the moment the idea is to offer you the audiobook version of the books. If possible, I’m going to look at the possibility of also offering you audiobook versions of the bonus chapters and also the extended stories. Although this is not going to be a priority, I will only do it this summer if I see that I can count on enough time and resources for its production.
RAGNAROK EXTENDED CONTENTS
Throughout this summer I hope I can also have the brains to get serious about producing the extended stories for Odinpedia Volume 3, as well as the bonus chapters. My ideal is to be able to combine all the projects to be able to get everything out little by little and that you can enjoy some stories soon.
WE KEEP GROWING
In these two months we have continued to grow unstoppably. In fact, we already have more than 113,000 readers in total, between external platforms and ours. To this we add that I have continued to produce reeditions, such as the fifth of The Awakening with which I have been able to further polish the book.
I am hopeful that we can grow even more and at a faster rate. In fact, with my return, we are back to normal in our store. So, the daily shipments return and, more importantly, to be able to send the books dedicated to all the new #MarkedbyOdin.
UNCERTAIN HORIZONS
Regardless of all of the above, I have to confess that I have to see how I plan and organize my life for the rest of the year. All my plans foresaw being out of Spain until September, almost.
On the other hand, the new video game that we are developing at Megapop is not going to be released this year, as I initially thought. Kuub, as it is called, is a 3D platform and puzzle game. The truth is that it looks spectacular and is much more ambitious than I thought. That is why we need more time to be able to develop and launch it. Which implies that this year I will have less workload than expected. And while this might be good for me to have time for Mark of Odin, it’s also a risk for my personal sustainability. So, I have to study alternatives that allow me to maintain the always fragile balance between my work and the saga.
On the other hand, I have in mind to see if I can awaken inspiration to try to write an independent novel that would be the first fruit of my trip to Vietnam. Let’s see how I manage to square everything, since we live in dark times and I’m afraid the situation will get worse in the coming months, so I have to be careful.
SUMMER READING
I end by wishing that together we can convince many people to choose the Mark of Odin books as their favorite summer read. It is very important to get all the possible support to be able to face the future challenges that lie ahead. As always, I encourage you to join our Discord community, the Telegram channel and also add us to your contact list on WhatsApp (Say hello to us on +34 671 48 96 90) and continue sharing your impressions of the books. Not only in 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
