You heard it correctly. I am done. The Bright Spot is complete. This probably comes as a surprise to you because it was for me. I hadn’t expected to be done so soon. My editor returned with her copy edits on October 31. I thought it would take me two weeks to do draft 5, the final draft, but it only took me two days.

I had everything else ready, formatting, cover art, etc etc all finished beforehand. All I needed to do was hit publish.

I figured, why wait? I’m happy with where it is, and my beta readers + editor agree. In a jiffy, I formatted it for e-book reading, zipped it up, and sent it to my backers who backed the E-book or a bundle with an E-book included. You may have been jumpscared by this in your inbox last night. If you did NOT receive your E-book. PLEASE reach out to me at [email protected]. I’ll get it fixed right away.

The manuscript is off to the printers. Backerkit Editions are being printed as you read this and will be at my ‘warehouse’ Mid mid-November, where I’ll sign and number sixty copies. This will likely be the only printing of the Backerkit edition. So try not to spill coffee on it as it COULD be worth quite a bit in the future 

In other news, the physical print is going to be bigger by about sixty pages. However, there isn’t much new text.

Sorry that you’ll have less room on your shelf, taken up by the glory that is The Bright Spot. See image below for an idea on the new length of the novel.

Sorry to my wallet who has to pay to print all those extra pages.

I’ll be printing sixty Backer Kit Edition copies for all you. That means a total of 3600 extra pages will be printed. Thats like three Oathbringers. Better watch your six, Sanderson.

It’s mainly a quality thing. There are quite a few pages I added in the beginning, as well as the end. Table of Contents, About the author, content warning, etc etc. I also readjusted the margins to better accommodate the text. Pressing the book flat to read whatever is written in the middle, sucks. Unfortunately, that fix added a ton of pages.

I had this written out on Friday. It’s no longer relevant.

The Bright Spot is finally on Goodreads. It was kind of a pain the b*tt to get it on there without an author profile. You can view it here! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/243144911-the-bright-spot?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=Yrz32eZjlP&rank=7 If you have a Goodreads account, add it to your Want To Read list!

Of course, don’t forget to review it when you are finished!

I’m always forgetting about this one. So here I am, remembering it for you E-book users. If you backed the project and pledged for the E-book, you will receive the files on the same day I send the files to the printer. That way you can read The Bright Spot before anyone else in the world has a chance to.

Edit: This was also typed on Friday. If you are a backer, you should have your E-book by now. Enjoy!

Sorry to all who didn’t back a bundle with the E-book. You might need to wait a bit longer to hold it in your hands. But that’s okay! I’ll be uploading the first ten chapters to my website for you to read right away. shawnraben.com/the-bright-spot and scroll all the way down until you get to the preview chapters.

Now if you’re a backer, your cards should have been charged with the shipping cost. Soon your addresses will be locked as well. If you need to make changes, email me!

Everything is looking like you all will get your copies before Christmas. AWESOME! I’ll start shipping to all backers late November. Trust me I’m going as fast as I can.

These bad boys came in the mail and look freaking awesome! All of the addon items are finally done! If you backed the bundles or had these as addons, they’ll come with your book.

Yuck my fingernails! I wouldn’t blame you if you burned your copy of my book after seeing that.

I’m not sure. I assume most authors would go on a vacation to celebrate this huge achievement. But I guess most (successful) authors have money to do so. I’ll spend my vacation behind a desk, celebrating my accomplishments by answering calls.

You can help pay for my next vacation (Or more likely my dog's seizure medication) by preordering The Bright Spot here!

I guess the sequel book is due. Almost 40% done with that one’s first draft. Next September or so, I’ll have a Backerkit campaign for that one!