So things have been progressing nicely with the project, and since I’ve got some more info for you I thought I’d pass it along.

First, you can now find It’s All Fun and Games on both B&N and Amazon’s web pages.  The book obviously isn’t out yet, but it’s cool to see it available for preorder on the big sites.

Second, we are getting ever closer to having the finished product.  After copy editing was done we moved into proofreading, and that process is now done as well.  So the book is pretty much in its final form.  The amount of care that went into every step of the editing process was amazing - the proofreader actually caught a letter out of a word that wasn’t italicized when the rest was.  Talk about professionalism!  The editing team over at Girl Friday has been great!

So where are we now?  Well, the marketing work has begun.  The folks over at Inkshares and The Nerdist have been sending out galleys to influencers and other folks who might be willing to write blurbs for the novel.  We’re hoping to get a couple great quotes to stick on the cover before we go to print.  Speaking of which, at the beginning of May the cover, with all the text added, will be finalized and the files will be sent to the printer.  Copies have also been going to bookstores, book clubs, etc., drumming up interest for the book once it is released.  

The printed books will be in San Fran by the end of June, with backer copies going out not long afterwards and the book in Bookstores August 2.  Ebooks will be available early July as well, so folks will be able to get started even before getting the physical copy.  

The marketing blitz will be starting up in another month or two as well.  Inkshares has so far been keeping cards close to the chest in terms of initial print run, so your guess is as good as mine, but the sense I’m getting is that most, if not all, of the stops are being pulled out.  Super cool.

Now I’m sure you’re wondering how you can help promote It’s All Fun and Games!   I’m glad you asked!  There are a couple things we can do now before the book comes out.  

First, don’t forget to join me on Facebook here and Twitter @llabak.  Then, you can share updates and tweets with your own social networks.

Second, if you use Goodreads, you can do a few different things:

- Add the book to your list of "Want to Reads"  The book page is here.

- Share the book with your other Goodreads friends.  Inkshares is sponsoring a giveaway - 5 copies of the advance galley will be given out in a random draw of all those entering.  It’s an advance copy, so you can enter too and get the book before all your friends!

- Vote for It’s All Fun and Games on the Goodreads lists, and ask your friends to do the same.  If you visit this page here you’ll see a bunch of lists that it is a part of.  A couple dozen votes in each of those may help increase visibility and create an avalanche effect as more people gain interest.  

So that’s where we stand.  I also want to remind everyone that Inkshares and the Nerdist are continuing to partner for more contests.  The last contest, for a Space Opera, just recently ended with the top three books getting right around 300 buyers.  There is a new contest that just got started for Hard Sci-Fi, sponsored by Geek and Sundry (a Nerdist sister company).  If you’ve been sitting on a novel (or even an idea that you’ve been toying with), go for it!  The funding mechanism has changed a little bit, but it’s still super doable.

Thank you all again for your support!

Cheers

Dave