On Jacaranda Street (Book #2 in my "Jack & Bea Mystery" series) came out just under one year after Ashgrove Park was launched into the world in April 2021. In the current 'rapid release' world of books, that is a bit slow. There's an awful lot of pressure on writers to rapid release, and it's hard not to cave in. I don't know how some writers release a new book every few months.
I'm a slowish writer. On a very good day, I can write 1000-1500 words, but the average is around 700. I follow authors on YouTube who post 10,000-word daily writing vlogs. No way could I write 10, 000 in one day.
So, I chug along at my own pace because what is important to me is quality. No, I'm not saying that rapid release books aren't good quality. I have no comment to make other than bravo to those writers for getting their books out fast. I angst over every word. There has to be poetry in my wording (because, first and foremost, poetry is my thing). I like a minimalist writing style (no unnecessary adverbs or adjectives, no 'purple prose'), and in the editing stage, I go through anything up to seven drafts of the book, although five drafts seems to be the average. By draft five, I've edited the crap out of the book and am happy with how it reads.
I'm also in no hurry to rapid release in the current 'book returning' climate. If you haven't heard about this yet on social media, readers are purchasing an e-book, reading and then returning it - believing they have the God-given right to do so and that authors who complain are 'privileged.' Amazon allows the return and it puts indie authors out of pocket because they have to foot the download fee. I read about one author who had 47 books returned in one day and that some authors are delisting their books on Amazon because of this. There's even a petition to sign to protect authors from 'theft' (as some people are referring to it as). Unethical is the word I'd use.
If people want books for free, there's an institution called a library. From what I'm seeing, there are people out there who are treating Amazon like a library.
It takes hundreds, if not thousands, of hours to create the content that makes up a novel. And it costs the self-published author money to have covers designed or e-books to be formatted properly, and so on.
I'm sure if the people returning books had their own books returned, they'd be jumping up and down. Then there are the people who look for free books only and the cheapest possible books. I was on a book review site the other day, where it was said the cheapest books are being selected first (for review), and the free/permafree ones are flying off the figurative shelves.
I find all this disappointing, but it's the way of the book world these days. If I want a particular book, though, I either (a) buy it and if it's not such a good read - oh well, caveat emptor and I take it to my local second-hand bookshop or (b) borrow it from my local library; or (c) request my local library buy it.
Not so hard, really. So, yeah: happy not to rapid release!