QUICK REMINDER: The first "Edit Party" of Ripe For Execution starts on Facebook Live in just under 2 hours!
If you’re able to join, make sure you head to www.fb.me/ripeforexecution for 2pm GMT!
Don’t worry if you can’t make it, though. Facebook Live videos remain available for catch-up viewing afterwards. Plus of course the second "Edit Party" will begin tomorrow from 7pm GMT.
Hope to see some of you there, though! Ciao for niao...
In this update:
Money raised for Donate4Refugees | Pre-order issues | Join me as I edit Part 9!
Thank you so much again to everyone who pre-ordered last Wednesday thru’ Friday! As promised, I’ve matched the value of your pre-orders by 125% and sent it to the cause of Donate4Refugees:
However, as explained in Saturday’s update, there may be some of you who thought you’d pre-ordered but, in fact, haven’t. A reader called Adam finished his order on a page which triumphantly stated, "Your pre-order of Ripe For Execution is confirmed!" But, alas, he never received an email confirming the fact; nor was payment taken from his account.
So his pre-order doesn’t seem to have reached Inkshares. If anyone else tried in vain to pre-order between Wednesday and Friday, they may have also contributed to the gift to Donate4Refugees – I just can’t know it yet.
Could you be one of those missing pre-orders? Please check your emails to make sure you’ve had a confirmation from Inkshares, and/or check your bank statement to see if payment was taken. If either of these are in the negative, let me know by emailing chip.colquhoun@gmail.com or send a message via Facebook or Twitter. I can then check if your name’s on my reader list and, if not, invite you to try again.
Inkshares haven’t confirmed they’re looking into this yet – but maybe that’s because they’re only just getting into their office and checking their emails in the US...
In other news... Want to know how an author writes and edits a novel in the 21st century? Then join me as I edit Ripe For Execution "write" in front of your very eyes!
Yup! To help me make time to edit the Part 9 you’re all waiting for, I’ve decided to commit to two live broadcasts in which I’ll be editing the novel! Join me on Facebook Live and I’ll reveal the software I use, how I use it, and then start editing the novel right on your screen.
The live edits will take place at the following times:
Wednesday 28th Nov, 2pm–3pm
Thursday 29th Nov, 7:30pm–8:30pm
NB: All times are GMT.
Editing via Facebook Live also means you’ll have the opportunity to provide feedback as I work... $;-)
To make sure you don’t miss out on last-minute reminders, why not follow me on Facebook or Twitter if you haven’t done already?
Cheers folks! And remember – we’re 205 pre-orders away from winning a publishing deal, so please keep nudging your friends and family to help out...!
Ciao for niao...
IMPORTANT MESSAGE: Did you receive an email confirmation of your pre-order?
A gentleman by the name of Adam posted to our Facebook Page this morning, excitedly sharing the image of the Inkshares’ website confirming his pre-order.
However, he later realised he hadn’t received an email confirming his pre-order – nor had any payment been taken from his account.
As I know from pre-ordering other authors’ books, a confirmation email arrives pretty swiftly, and payment is taken from your account the same day.
If none of this happened for you, then I’m afraid it means your pre-order wasn’t successful. And that means your interest isn’t yet helping us get closer to the 250 pre-order target – but it could be!
What’s more, I could owe far more to Donate4Refugees than I think.
Please check your emails and/or bank accounts – and if you haven’t received a confirmation or had payment taken, please retry your pre-order via www.bit.ly/ripeforexecution
I’m so very sorry to have to ask this of you. Rest assured I’ll be frantically thinking of how I’ll make it up to you. Certainly a visit to a bookstore near wherever you are once we’ve won the competition will be in order...
Thanks so much, folks! And I’ll be in touch again soon...
Hi folks!
I originally attempted to post this update from my phone, but Inkshares’ website doesn’t work too well on mobile Chrome. But I wanted to share this update with you as soon as I had a note around lunchtime that Donate4Refugees had only just found and retweeted my "125% donation" offer — a few hours after the deadline!
So, to be fair to everyone, I’ve extended that deadline. It’s now pre-orders placed between Wednesday and midnight tonight that will be donated on (by me, not Inkshares) to Donate4Refugees at 125% their value.
But I’ll also use this opportunity to thank everyone who’s helped with the pre-order drive so far, and/or those who’ve joined our readership since Wednesday. For in the last 36hrs alone, we’ve had 8 more pre-orders placed. That’s closer to a publishing contract for me, and £80 on its way to protect those fleeing war and persecution.
So thank you incredibly much! Please continue to spread the word this afternoon, and I’ll let you know the final donation figure tomorrow...
Take care, folks! Ciao for niao...
In this update: Why I’m giving 125% of every pre-order in the next 24hrs to charity.
I’ve just enjoyed a trip down to London for a marvellous evening of storytelling with some highly distinguish tellers, poets and musicians – including Sef Townsend, Pippa Reid and Andy Beck, to name but a few – all organised by the inimitable fireball of enthusiasm that is Andy Copps.
Every performer worked voluntarily, as the event was in aid of Donate4Refugees – a passionately active and dedicated charity founded in response to the washed-up body of 3-year-old Alan Kurdi on a Turkish beach. He’d been fleeing Syria in 2015 when his family’s boat capsized.
I was highly honoured to be part of this event, since the refugee crisis struck quite a chord with me. Back then, I’d just discovered a folk tale that would become the subject of my 5th theatre show and 3rd children’s book combined: The Eel Catcher’s Daughter, in which the Viking King Canute (more famous for his encounter with the waves...) befriends an English family and protects them from some villainous monks.
Canute crosses numerous boundaries at once in this tale – gender, age, culture, class – and, given that he was the first king to officially refer to his kingdom as England, it’s only a small step to the theory that Canute, as king, liked bringing people together. His laws enshrine this: he issued the country’s first ever decree of racial equality and inclusion in 1020.
And then, almost 1,000 years later, we had a referendum which prompted a few British parents from my county to give some notes to their children, and send them to school with express instructions to stick them into the backpacks of their Polish classmates. The notes read "Now go home."
This made national headlines. Regardless of your views on the referendum outcome, you have to admit this is a sickening abuse of children – and somewhat hypocritical, given the fact that Britain, being an island, was formed by immigrants and refugees. Even more hypocritical once you have the knowledge that Canute founded the kingdom of England on the principles of inclusion, equality and togetherness.
As I considered this for tonight’s storytelling, I realised that my belief in our welcoming nation had been part of my creative journey for a long time. Oral storytelling itself is an art which thrives on sharing – we pass folk tales down the generations, and require our listeners to create the tales afresh in their minds every time they’re told. What can be more inclusive, equal and together than that?
But even before I was a storyteller... Back when I was in my mid-teens, harbouring dreams of becoming a novelist, I watched the chaos unfolding from 9/11 and I thought... Is this really the world we, as a species, want to live in? Surely we should concentrate on what brings us together?
One thought led to another. I realised, of course, that we were brought together by terror and rage. But even in the wake of 9/11 there were tales of people coming together out of compassion and courage too.
From these ideas, Ripe For Execution was born. It would be another 5 years before it had a decent enough plot, and another 10 years before it had a first draft manuscript. But now it’s here, ready to share its message with the world. As explosively as possible.
You are helping to make this happen, of course, by pre-ordering and sharing in this Inkshares’ competition. But I want to give something back for the inspiration that’s got me this far. And that’s why I told the founder of Donate4Refugees that I’d give her charity 125% of the value from every pre-order of this ebook within the next 24hrs.
125% of $10 works out as around £10 in British money – so that’s what I’ll be donating for every ebook pre-ordered between now and midnight end of 22nd November. (I’ve pleased to have already had to give the first £10.)
The reason for the deadline was to give the audience at the event a chance to go home and get on their computers. But, sitting here on the train back, I thought I’d like to extend it out to everyone.
So please share this news with your friends, family and colleagues too: if they pre-order before midnight at the end of Thursday 22nd November, they won’t just be helping a kid achieve his dream of publishing an exciting yet thought-provoking crime novel – they’ll be giving an enhanced donation in the ongoing battle to protect families fleeing the biggest crises of the modern world.
I’ll update you with a picture of my donation after I’ve checked the total on Friday.
Cheers folks! The link to support is www.bit.ly/ripeforexecution
All the best to you all.
In this update:
We’re 4th! | We need another 220 pre-orders to win... | A special gift to you
WOW! First, a huge thank you to all of you – especially those of you who’ve pre-ordered in the last few days. I’m now in a solid 4th place, and only 7 pre-orders behind 3rd.
However... in my excitement, I had a quick reskim of the competition rules – and had something of a chilling revelation. Inkshares write that prizes of publishing contracts will be given to "the top three projects as determined by the highest unique reader pre-order counts (as long as they have a minimum of 250 unique readers)".
That emphasis at the end there is mine – and I’d completely missed that element before! So although I’m only 7 pre-orders away from being worthy for a prize, I’m still 220 pre-orders away from being eligible!
Gulp! I really want to be focused on editing the final draft of the manuscript so it gets to you as soon as possible after the competition closes – and also so you can preview a few more of the chapters here on Inkshares’ website before then. But it looks like I need to concentrate on getting a fair bit more crowdfunding support first...!
Please could you help? If each of you can interest at least 3 others in pre-ordering the ebook, I’ll be nearly 50% closer to sharing the ending with you. That’s one family member, one friend, and one colleague each...
When recommending others to www.bit.ly/ripeforexecution, please feel free to also point out that they’ll get their £10/£8 back if I don’t win the competition or hit the funding goal.
Another way you could help, though, would be to leave a review and/or a comment about the book so far on the Discussion and/or Review tabs on the book’s webpage. Should the book go into print, I vow to visit a bookshop in every town where a commentor resides to make sure they get a signed physical copy of the book as a thank you.
That will be my special gift to you, wherever you are in the world. So please get commenting – and please get sharing!
Ciao for niao...
Hi folks! Chip here, with a little update on how things are progressing with Ripe For Execution.
My readthrough video of the first chapter seemed quite popular! In fact, I’ve even had a request from Dean Fearce and Michael Welch to read some of their fantastic crime-novel-in-development, Ruining Boise – which I’ll get round to as soon as I’ve shaken off this rather untimely cold. (NB: You can read the brilliant opening for Fearce & Welch’s novel by clicking here.)
Fortunately, though, the cold arrived just after I’d decided to read all of the first part of Ripe For Execution for you. So if you’re too busy to read it yourself but could have it playing in the background while you work/eat/drive/etc, click here to play the first video and then just let it run – it’ll move to the next chapter automatically.
Already listened to the first chapter? Not a problem. You can click here to go straight to the second chapter and find a link to play the reading there.
In fact, if you made it as far as chapter three, just choose chapter four from the read list in the bottom right corner (that’ll be the one titled "Chloe") and you can start the read from there. Actually, you can start the read from any chapter you like.
It’s been a combination of work and cold that’s held me up getting Part 9 online for you, but please hang tight: it’ll be there soon, perhaps also with an accompanying read.
In the meantime, though, we’re still languishing in fifth place in Inkshares’ mystery-suspense-thriller competition. If you haven’t already done so, please pre-order the ebook for just $10 and help us climb the ranks!
We only need 11 more pre-orders to reach third place and get that publishing deal. So if you’ve already placed a pre-order, please could you encourage at least one friend, family or colleague to do so too? Then you’ll be helping this exciting, explosive book hit the shelves of libraries and bookshops around the world!
Tha’s all for now folks. ’Til next time, stay safe...
Good morning fellow readers & followers!
Yesterday, I noticed there are quite a few of you who are following my novel Ripe For Execution, but who have yet to place a pre-order. Hopefully that’s because you’re discerning folks who will only support something once you’ve had a chance to sample it – and, so far, you simply haven’t found the time to read those first few chapters.
So, to make it a little easier, I’ve read it for you! If you head to www.bit.ly/ripeforexecution right now, you’ll see a YouTube video of me reading the first chapter. So you can hit play, then keep it on in the background while you get on with another important task such as making a sandwich, feeding your pet, washing the dishes, etc.
Please do consider placing a pre-order when you can, though. It only costs $10 (c.£8), and if each follower who hasn’t pre-ordered yet were to do this then Ripe For Execution would shoot to 3rd place in the competition – and that equals publishing deal!
And even if it’s not your thing – or if you’ve already pre-ordered – but you’d still like to show your support, please forward the link above to all the friends, family and colleagues who you reckon would be intrigued by this explosive new novel.
Cheers folks! Thanks again for reading, and I’ll be in touch again soon...
Perhaps the best thing about publishing in this way is that you folks get to influence the manuscript before it’s committed to print. Sure – if just one of you tells me you don’t like something, I might choose to leave it for now because I honestly think I’ve done the best I can. But when two of you make the same point, that’s proof that something needs sorting straight away...
That’s why I spent some time this afternoon editing the first section of my first chapter. For at least two of you, Jake’s section had appeared a bit too staccato, disjointed, and repetitive. While both these readers agreed it was a good way of conveying the youthfulness of Jake’s POV, they also made the valid point that it could be too difficult a read for the very first page of the book. And, after all, we want folks to read on...!
Not only that, but it seems a few of you have missed the fact that the first chapter comprises several sections – not your fault in the slightest, but rather due to my own decision to put each section on a different webpage. So I’ve cleared that up (I hope) by putting all of chapter 10 on one page, marking each section with a new header. That’s probably closer to how it’d look in print or ebook format anyhoo.
There’s the odd little change elsewhere, but nothing major beyond the edit of Jake’s section. So if you haven’t read the whole sample chapter already, please give it a go now – or else, maybe just cast your eye over Jake’s section and let me know if you agree that it works better now.
Or perhaps you preferred it the way it was...?
Any which way, thanks for getting me to 5th place in the competition! It’s currently very close, though: if only 13 more of you pre-order, I’ll be in 3rd – and thus guaranteed a publishing deal.
So if you haven’t pre-ordered yet, please consider it now – it’s just $10 (c.£8), and you get that money back immediately if the book doesn’t win or raise enough crowdfunding.
And if you have pre-ordered, please encourage as many of your friends, family and colleagues to do so as you can!
Thanks again for all your help, folks. Now I shall spend the rest of the weekend working on the second chapter for you to enjoy...
TIME TO BRING OUT THE BIG GUNS!
Thanks for all your support so far, folks. I can’t express how much I appreciate it!
But now the heat is on. We’ve got 12 days to secure 202 pre-orders in order to win this competition...
...and remember, that’s 202 individuals we have to interest. It’s no good you folks all coming back to buy 5 copies each. The best way you can support me in getting this novel published is to encourage your partners, family and friends to buy their own copies.
So that’s why I’ve now elected to offer FREE GIFTS to anyone who pre-orders between now and the competition deadline, 14th December...!
Of course, this includes all those of you who are already readers! You and new readers between now and 14th December will each receive...
*...or a drink of your choice. $;-)
So please please please get asking everyone you know to put in the $10/£8 for the ebook – even if they live in the same home as you. Remember, you get your money back if I don’t win – but if I do, and I end up coming to your town’s bookshop, I’ll happily refund personally any ebooks bought by spouses/offspring under duress...
Cheers again for all your support, folks! And I look forward to sharing Ripe For Execution with you soon...!
Ciao for niao,
Chip