Well, this is it. The curtain has fallen on this campaign. The deadline has passed for the minimum of 250 copies sold, and unfortunately, my novel didn’t quite make the cut.
First order of business: all money will be (or already has been) refunded to you. If it isn’t within the next couple of days, please let me know, or contact hello@inkshares.com to get it sorted out. I’ve heard of some backers not getting the e-mail informing them of this yet.
My campaign’s postmortem assessment could yield a host of explanations as to why the campaign failed, but it would be pointless to get lost here trying to sort through all of them. What I accomplished at Inkshares is far beyond what I ever imagined. I’m an introvert with no fanbase or connections in the literary world, and so it was enough for me to push myself outside my comfort zone as much as I did. I met a lot of great people along the way and learned a lot about the business. What’s really important is that I generated some genuine enthusiasm around my novel, which is priceless for future success. To me, this was a victory.
This outcome is okay, because this isn’t the end of the road for this novel. There are plenty of routes to go through traditional or self-publishing, and I will explore them. As I make progress on that front, I will continue to update everyone who backed me here. One huge gain at Inkshares was meeting John Robin, who is a talented writer and all-round great guy in the community (and author of the wonderful fantasy novel, Blood Dawn). I’ve already reached out to him about employing his services to perform heavy edits on my book so that it’s the best version of my novel when it is released.
I will still recommend Inkshares to other authors, because I think it’s a great platform that is supported by an overwhelmingly positive community of like-minded writers. I hope more readers discover Inkshares so that funding is easier for authors who are trying to find their audience. I’ve seen other authors’ dreams come true at Inkshares, and I won’t rule it out for funding future work.
The Inhabitants will remain on my radar as I polish up the first draft. However, I do have some real-life things to tend to. My first child will be born this month, and he will take priority over everything. I will work on the book when time permits, but please understand my time is going to be otherwise consumed.
Oh yeah, and the last and most important part: THANK YOU. Seriously, thank you SO much for supporting me and believing in me. It actually makes me tear up a bit as I type that. I will honestly miss making those awkward raffle videos, because that was my opportunity to give back to you, as hokey as they were.
Thank you to my early adopters. I will never forget who you are. I mean this. You backed me without hesitating, and that means so much to me.
Thank you to everyone who helped blast my novel across social media. You did it at the expense of annoying all your friends and followers, and I am extremely grateful for that.
Thank you fellow Inkshares authors for providing support. And by "support" I mean anything you did to make this whole experience less daunting. You are some wonderfully talented individuals, and it makes me blush to even share the stage with you. I hardly feel worthy.
Thank you to the staff at Inkshares. You’ve created a safe place for authors to display and fund their work. You obviously care about your authors and work tirelessly to create the best books possible when they reach their funding goals. You take a financial hit publishing these books, and it’s a sacrifice that shouldn’t be overlooked. You are doing a huge service to authors by giving them this platform and constantly improving the user experience on your website. Thank you for making this possible!
Goodbye for now, everyone. May your dreams lead you to extraordinary places.
Also, in other news, I’m looking to line up some help with developmental editing for this book, regardless of the campaign’s outcome. This help will come from a familiar face in the Inkshares community, but first I need a completed manuscript to hand over. I am looking forward to it!
As always, thanks for your support, and tell your friends about my book if you haven’t already. I happen to think they’d like it. :)
19 days left in this campaign and 101 copies to go before I can reach Quill!
Is it impossible? No. Is it improbable? Possibly. But it would be nice to finish strong.
I want this to be made. Like, I REALLY want this to be a thing on your bookshelf (whether physical or virtual).
Usually I don’t like to spam my updates with a call to action, but in this case, I think it is warranted. If you know of anyone who would like this book, please send them in my direction. And I know this has been stated in many updates from many other Inkshares authors, but it bears repeating: if you are following this novel, but haven’t pre-ordered, now is the time to act! PLEASE consider jumping off the fence and helping this campaign blaze past the finish line.
The usual raffle is in place: for every 10 unique readers, I will draw names for prizes. It’s simple, and it’s a win for you!
There isn’t much else to drone on about, so I won’t draw this out longer than it needs to be.
So I surpassed 100 unique readers! That’s splendid. I mean, seriously. Absolutely splendid.
This means it’s time to raffle off a $50 Amazon gift card! So I made a video. Or at least I thought I made a video.
Thanks to human error (in the IT biz, we refer to it as PEBKAC -- Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair), I kinda messed up my raffle video. Look, it’s been a very tiring week after moving to a new house, and I’m going to use Daylight Savings as a cop-out excuse like the rest of your co-workers inevitably will today, even though one hour shouldn’t make that big of a difference in our basic functioning. But hey, I’m not above playing that card if it gives me a pass for making fundamental technical mistakes.
Fear not, though. I still have something to present, and all prizes were still awarded!
If you want to know more about that and who won, you’ll just have to click this link to find out:
You’ve read and/or heard my pitch, and maybe it can be too general at times. Luckily, Jamison Stone, author of Rune of the Apprentice (coming in November) and Inkshares extraordinaire, allowed me to write a guest post on his blog. I am honored he asked, and you can read it here:
There’s a lot of material there that would never fit on my Inkshares page, and it’s probably the most specific I’ve ever been about what has driven my writing. I hope you enjoy.
The Inhabitants. Inkshares. The creative process. Kevin Smith. DeGrassi.
These are topics discussed in the inaugural episode of The Showdown, a new podcast hosted by my brother-in-law, Mark Fideler, and his friend, Ben Bohall. They graciously offered to interview me for their maiden voyage about three weeks ago, and I was very honored.
It can be streamed on Soundcloud by clicking the link below:
I reached (and surpassed) 90 unique readers yesterday, so I made a raffle video late last night. That being said, any pre-orders today weren’t included in the drawing, but will be in the next.
Also, like I’ve said before, when I hit 100 readers, I will be raffling a $50 Amazon gift card in addition to the traditional prizes.
I’ve been straddling the line between campaigning and writing lately, just to let you know where I’m at. If you know anyone who might be interested in my novel, please send them in my direction.
I hit 80 readers the other day, and that means another raffle. Feel free to watch my beautiful raffle video to find out if you’ve won, and hear about how I am raising the stakes a bit for future raffles when hitting major milestones.
Well, this is it. The curtain has fallen on this campaign. The deadline has passed for the minimum of 250 copies sold, and unfortunately, my novel didn’t quite make the cut.
First order of business: all money will be (or already has been) refunded to you. If it isn’t within the next couple of days, please let me know, or contact hello@inkshares.com to get it sorted out. I’ve heard of some backers not getting the e-mail informing them of this yet.
My campaign’s postmortem assessment could yield a host of explanations as to why the campaign failed, but it would be pointless to get lost here trying to sort through all of them. What I accomplished at Inkshares is far beyond what I ever imagined. I’m an introvert with no fanbase or connections in the literary world, and so it was enough for me to push myself outside my comfort zone as much as I did. I met a lot of great people along the way and learned a lot about the business. What’s really important is that I generated some genuine enthusiasm around my novel, which is priceless for future success. To me, this was a victory.
This outcome is okay, because this isn’t the end of the road for this novel. There are plenty of routes to go through traditional or self-publishing, and I will explore them. As I make progress on that front, I will continue to update everyone who backed me here. One huge gain at Inkshares was meeting John Robin, who is a talented writer and all-round great guy in the community (and author of the wonderful fantasy novel, Blood Dawn). I’ve already reached out to him about employing his services to perform heavy edits on my book so that it’s the best version of my novel when it is released.
I will still recommend Inkshares to other authors, because I think it’s a great platform that is supported by an overwhelmingly positive community of like-minded writers. I hope more readers discover Inkshares so that funding is easier for authors who are trying to find their audience. I’ve seen other authors’ dreams come true at Inkshares, and I won’t rule it out for funding future work.
The Inhabitants will remain on my radar as I polish up the first draft. However, I do have some real-life things to tend to. My first child will be born this month, and he will take priority over everything. I will work on the book when time permits, but please understand my time is going to be otherwise consumed.
Oh yeah, and the last and most important part: THANK YOU. Seriously, thank you SO much for supporting me and believing in me. It actually makes me tear up a bit as I type that. I will honestly miss making those awkward raffle videos, because that was my opportunity to give back to you, as hokey as they were.
Thank you to my early adopters. I will never forget who you are. I mean this. You backed me without hesitating, and that means so much to me.
Thank you to everyone who helped blast my novel across social media. You did it at the expense of annoying all your friends and followers, and I am extremely grateful for that.
Thank you fellow Inkshares authors for providing support. And by "support" I mean anything you did to make this whole experience less daunting. You are some wonderfully talented individuals, and it makes me blush to even share the stage with you. I hardly feel worthy.
Thank you to the staff at Inkshares. You’ve created a safe place for authors to display and fund their work. You obviously care about your authors and work tirelessly to create the best books possible when they reach their funding goals. You take a financial hit publishing these books, and it’s a sacrifice that shouldn’t be overlooked. You are doing a huge service to authors by giving them this platform and constantly improving the user experience on your website. Thank you for making this possible!
Goodbye for now, everyone. May your dreams lead you to extraordinary places.
-Michael
5 days left, 87 pre-orders until Quill, and a raffle!
Tough odds, but I will continue to plug away. In the meantime, check to see if you’ve won:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SybeSKwKPPY
Also, in other news, I’m looking to line up some help with developmental editing for this book, regardless of the campaign’s outcome. This help will come from a familiar face in the Inkshares community, but first I need a completed manuscript to hand over. I am looking forward to it!
As always, thanks for your support, and tell your friends about my book if you haven’t already. I happen to think they’d like it. :)
-Mike
19 days left in this campaign and 101 copies to go before I can reach Quill!
Is it impossible? No. Is it improbable? Possibly. But it would be nice to finish strong.
I want this to be made. Like, I REALLY want this to be a thing on your bookshelf (whether physical or virtual).
Usually I don’t like to spam my updates with a call to action, but in this case, I think it is warranted. If you know of anyone who would like this book, please send them in my direction. And I know this has been stated in many updates from many other Inkshares authors, but it bears repeating: if you are following this novel, but haven’t pre-ordered, now is the time to act! PLEASE consider jumping off the fence and helping this campaign blaze past the finish line.
The usual raffle is in place: for every 10 unique readers, I will draw names for prizes. It’s simple, and it’s a win for you!
There isn’t much else to drone on about, so I won’t draw this out longer than it needs to be.
Let’s make this dream a reality!
Ladies & Gents-
So I surpassed 100 unique readers! That’s splendid. I mean, seriously. Absolutely splendid.
This means it’s time to raffle off a $50 Amazon gift card! So I made a video. Or at least I thought I made a video.
Thanks to human error (in the IT biz, we refer to it as PEBKAC -- Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair), I kinda messed up my raffle video. Look, it’s been a very tiring week after moving to a new house, and I’m going to use Daylight Savings as a cop-out excuse like the rest of your co-workers inevitably will today, even though one hour shouldn’t make that big of a difference in our basic functioning. But hey, I’m not above playing that card if it gives me a pass for making fundamental technical mistakes.
Fear not, though. I still have something to present, and all prizes were still awarded!
If you want to know more about that and who won, you’ll just have to click this link to find out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoRvK8Pv0v4
Phew, okay. Congrats to the winners, and let’s hope the next one is less bungled.
Toodles.
Dreams, dreams, dreams, etc., etc., etc.
You’ve read and/or heard my pitch, and maybe it can be too general at times. Luckily, Jamison Stone, author of Rune of the Apprentice (coming in November) and Inkshares extraordinaire, allowed me to write a guest post on his blog. I am honored he asked, and you can read it here:
http://apotheosisstudios.com/blog/2016/3/1/the-inhabitants-an-unremembered-life-guest-post-by-michael-sebby
There’s a lot of material there that would never fit on my Inkshares page, and it’s probably the most specific I’ve ever been about what has driven my writing. I hope you enjoy.
Happy dreams to you all.
The Inhabitants. Inkshares. The creative process. Kevin Smith. DeGrassi.
These are topics discussed in the inaugural episode of The Showdown, a new podcast hosted by my brother-in-law, Mark Fideler, and his friend, Ben Bohall. They graciously offered to interview me for their maiden voyage about three weeks ago, and I was very honored.
It can be streamed on Soundcloud by clicking the link below:
https://soundcloud.com/theshowdown123/the-showdown-episode-1-mike-shebby
I hope you enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed participating.
Hi everyone!
I reached (and surpassed) 90 unique readers yesterday, so I made a raffle video late last night. That being said, any pre-orders today weren’t included in the drawing, but will be in the next.
Also, like I’ve said before, when I hit 100 readers, I will be raffling a $50 Amazon gift card in addition to the traditional prizes.
So, here it is. Check it out if you’ve won:
https://youtu.be/SnuIx0myPWM
I will contact the winner later via e-mail.
I’ve been straddling the line between campaigning and writing lately, just to let you know where I’m at. If you know anyone who might be interested in my novel, please send them in my direction.
As always, thanks for everyone’s support!
Hi everyone!
I hit 80 readers the other day, and that means another raffle. Feel free to watch my beautiful raffle video to find out if you’ve won, and hear about how I am raising the stakes a bit for future raffles when hitting major milestones.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M4qdzVpSaU
Thanks for following, please consider pre-ordering if you haven’t already, and have a great day.
Take care!