Galaxy’s Edge, by Jason Anspach & Nick Cole

I don’t really do book reviews any more, so I’ll keep this short: the GALAXY’S EDGE series by Jason Anspach & Nick Cole is both interesting and really good, and it’s worth your time to read.

The books’ marketing hashtag was #StarWarsNotStarWars. In other words, space opera adventures. And the books did it! They’re a sweeping military sci-fi saga about Space Marines, a corrupt Republic, a rising Empire, smugglers, space pirates, spies, sardonic androids, and, of course, Evil Space Wizards. (In fact, the side novel that contains the origin story of the Evil Space Wizard, IMPERATOR, was one of the creepiest and most interesting things I’ve read lately.)

A usual marketing formula says that “If you liked X and Y, you’ll also like Z!” So, if you liked Timothy Zahn’s HEIR TO THE EMPIRE trilogy and the original STAR WARS movies, then you’ll also like GALAXY’S EDGE. I’ve read them all and definitely recommend them.

Also, speaking of marketing, the authors’ marketing is at the top of the game. Like, I’ve been self-publishing long enough that I’m approaching Crusty Veteran status (nearly done with novel #77!), but I was still impressed. The use of both their email list and the double-edged sword of Kindle Unlimited is excellent. For that matter, check out the book page for the first book in the GALAXY’S EDGE series – the authors got into a program Amazon offers (I forget the name off the top of my head) that lets merchants enhance their product page, so the book’s page looks like the product page for a fancy laptop:

Seriously. The Amazon product page for the first book in the series is a thing of beauty.

So, if you want to self-publish your books, you could do much worse than to observe the marketing tactics of the authors.

And if you’re not a writer and you just want something excellent to read, then check out GALAXY’S EDGE.

-JM