April 2022: Marathon editing and crowdfunding

Taking a bite out of April with vampires, a clockwork android, and Elvira

Hopefully, everyone has been enjoying the spring season, and those who celebrate Easter, Passover, Ramadan, Songkran, and/or one of the many other important events occurring in April had a lovely holiday. While I’ve shared the importance of Excel in balancing my current workload, surprises still throw a wrench into my work schedule sometimes. Surprises in the form of having to proof about 140 pages in one day. Despite having edited the content before, it was definitely a challenge regardless to meet such a fast turnaround time.

This experience taught me to include a clause in my contract for either an increase in my rate for quick turnarounds AND/OR that I need at least a set amount of lead time before taking on such a job. To my fellow editors, this clause will protect you from a stressful scramble and ensure that you get paid appropriately for your labor. First and foremost though, remember to take care of yourselves!

My brain is still recovering from that rush job. But before and after that monolith of editing work, I had plenty of other things keeping me busy as well, which I’m happy to share with all of you below!

What I’m Editing

Scout Comics

You’ll certainly be able to get your vampire fix since April marked the release of the second printing of Cult of Ikarus #1 (meaning a new and awesomely gritty cover!) as well as Cult of Ikarus #2 hitting comic book stores for the very first time.

April also marked the time when the catalog for June 2022 books hit Previewsworld, giving comic book readers a sneak peek at some upcoming titles. There are two issue twos that I’ve been editing, which debut in June: the epic fantasy series By the Horns: Darth Earth #2 as well as everyone’s favorite geeky magazine Sartorial Geek #2.

Zoop and Kickstarter Campaigns

Currently, two of the projects I am editing are live on Zoop and Kickstarter.

The Sentience Zoop campaign marks my first exciting announcement related to the freelance editing work that I’m now doing for Band of Bards projects (more news to come there!). Sentience is an original American light novel that has it all: prose, illustrations, and sequential art. It also features an amazing all-female creative team and a clockwork android!

In a very different vein, Retribution #2 features the return of R, brought back from the dead to avenge his lost love. This is a dark story compared to the likes of Spawn, Crossed, and The Crow, and be prepared for important topics such as mental health, suicide, and trauma.

And a heads up for people who want to get notified right as a future project starts, consider following two other upcoming Kickstarters that feature projects I’m editing: Turner Family Terrors #1-3 and Battle Panda #1: Big Trouble in Panda City!

J-Novel

See the tense romance triangle blooming in the fifth volume of the light novel series Culinary Chronicles of a Court Flower. I previously teased this volume in my January 2022 update, but it is now available on Kindle. Work has already begun on the next volume as well.

What I’m Writing

Screen Rant

You could tell I was busy in April because I only had time to write one Screen Rant article: Death of Elvira Is Killing the Horror Icon for Her 40th Anniversary. This article specifically focused on the IndieGoGo campaign celebrating horror hostess Elvira’s 40th anniversary. She does seem like a super cool person, both within the comic book universe and in real life. The campaign ended with $102,748, which is a whopping 1541% over their intended goal.

Interviews

Kickstart the Week In Our Dreams Awake #1: A Cyberpunk/Fantasy Adventure

Fans of Sandman, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Blade Runner, and A Nightmare on Elm Street get to experience dreampunk, steampunk, and cyberpunk all at once when they read In Our Dreams Awake. Check out my interview with co-creator John McGuire, who talks about the process of essentially having two creative teams working on one story!

Keep Springing Forward and Relax When You Can

Believe it or not, I will be taking a break for a week in the month of May, but there will still be plenty going on before and after that. Some of which are related to the announcements above, and some of which are related to additional exciting news that I haven’t been able to share yet. So, if you want to hear those announcements first-hand, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter!

How did your April go? And have you ever had a last-minute project dropped on you? How did it go and did you remember to sleep? Let me know in the comments below!