A few weeks ago, a reader reached out to me to ask about print versions of some of my recent releases like “Sticky Fingers” and “The Kitty That Got the Cream.” It was pretty fucking awesome someone was even asking about print versions in the first place, but it dawned on me that I hadn’t told anyone about my master publishing plan. Well, allow me to rectify that.
I have big ideas for the Danny Diamond series. There’s a lot of ground yet to explore with these characters and tropes, and I have a number of novel ideas bouncing around my head. However, I’m also keen to expand the series and grow the setting/world by developing side stories and other novellas. There’s a lot I want to do. So here’s the plan going forward.
The Plan
As long as the Vella bonus is still decent, each of my stories will release on Vella first (including novelettes, novellas, and novels). That bonus helps me to bankroll things like editing, cover design, layout, promotion, etc., and that’s an important consideration for all of us if we want to keep me writing and out of the dog house.
The main Danny Diamond series will be comprised of full-length novels like The Money Shot. But between each novel, I’m going to issue a series of short stories and novelettes/novellas. These will help to build out my catalog and fill the gaps between novels, which will likely take a long while to put together. I’ll collect enough shorter tales to make a decent book, then bundle them and do a print anthology.
As far as the chronology goes, each novel will be a single number in the series—1, 2, 3, etc. Then the stories will fit in between the novels and be numbered accordingly—1.1, 1.2, 1.3, etc. They’ll bridge the gap between the novels and flesh out the stories of some of the supporting characters. I’ll do my best to make sure they are neatly ordered chronologically, but you never know where the winds of inspiration my take you. In general, you can expect a novel, four-to-five stories, followed by another novel as the general release cadence.
If you plotted out the chronology and installments as an outline, it would look something like this (apologies for the rudimentary Excel chart)
So What’s Next?
Those paying attention will have noticed books 0 and 2 already have titles. That’s because those are already loosely plotted in my head, and I’ve just been waiting to start on them until I bang out some of the shorter works. The prequel novel I have planned is called The Little Death, and it’s all about how Diamond got to be the jaded, lecherous prick he is at the beginning of The Money Shot.
Novel #2 is tentatively titled Double Tap. It will involve some MMF elements and explore the edges between bromance and something more. Not exactly bisexual stuff—crossing swords isn’t really my thing—but more like trying to answer what’s the dividing line. How far can you go with two men fucking the same woman and still maintain your heterosexuality? I don’t know the answer, myself, but perhaps Diamond will come to some insights of his own.
No Promises, Though
Don’t hold me to any of those specifics. Everything is subject to change if a better idea strikes me at some point, but that’s generally what’s in store for the future. God willing, there will be many more Danny Diamond erotic mysteries in the future.
I hope you’re along with me for the ride.
