Additional Music

After experimenting and learning the ropes of new AI software as well as music editing software, I've taken on the task of creating music to go along with all of the books. Certain circumstances have led me to want to complete this for all of the books before I continue my rewrite of the second book, even though I had gotten past my previous case of writer's block. It's hard to describe the satisfaction of hearing my own written lyrics, born from the stories I work on, turned into music.

The first album is already out on the website. The second album will also be ready within a week or two. I already have 21 songs complete for that album, but it's a long one. The pricing is going to be the same for each one. Each song will cost a dollar, like on most platforms, but the whole album will price out each song at 50 cents. Playing the music on the website is free. There are no limitations on this. The lyric sheet, containing both lyrics and album artwork, should come with the purchase of each full album, but there will also be separate links for every document in PDF format that can be downloaded for free. I am also having to deal with a coding bug where the previous listed price shows as the current one after clicking the purchase button. Worst case scenario, these will only be off by one cent as I work to fix the issue.

I also have plans to rework the book trailer using this new technology and essentially use music instead of the terrible audio that the current trailer uses. I have wanted to update this video for years without having the proper means to do so, yet I still require better video editing software, which will be its own learning experience.

One more housekeeping item will be to lower the base volume of all background music on the website by editing the files (now that I have the means to do this). The music is helpful, if not necessary, to set the tone of a given page or book theme, but I also realize the sudden sound can be jarring when you least expect it. I've previously contemplated removing it altogether. I have had a similar dilemma with the page dedicated to the Surveyor, hoping to shed some light on an important character that is revealed later in the series while also avoiding spoilers. But even with the addition of relevant art, and even ideas for a completely different type of book trailer, I found it best to simply scrap the idea to avoid confusing potential readers.

All in all, the music should be done in a few months, as it takes me roughly a month to finish each album. These albums will be based on each book, primarily the poetry and songs already written for them. Some poems will actually be combined together to create better songs, while other songs will require new lyrics in addition to the content that is already there. I have even adjusted the order of some of the tracks to grant more thematic sense instead of simply listing them out based on how they appear in the stories. This will still mostly be the case, but certain poems and songs discuss past events, and it seems best to pair songs together based on the subject matter if both concern the same event in the story. Updates will be ongoing.