The end is nigh! We’ve almost made it to the finish of the Nerdist Contest. And the level of support this project has received is stunning, and it’s still ongoing. I so appreciate your support and your help bringing more people to this project. Earlier today, we cleared 600 pre-orders and now are sitting at 535 readers. I’m uncertain where that puts us on the leaderboard as, at the time of this post, the page has been stuck on results from earlier today. Regardless, we’ve made good ground today. The goal is to get to 600 readers by Wednesday night at midnight PDT. To do that, we need to average 25 readers a day. We’re almost 2/3 of the way to that today. I think it’s doable, but it depends on you.

Shelf concept image from sketch artist

To those following who haven’t pre-ordered, all 164 of you. I’m not sure if you’re just another author who is not sure you want to help someone else win or a bystander just watching because you weren’t sure the project would have a chance. The math for you is simple. If all 164 of you go pre-order today, not only would that send us almost to 700 readers for the contest, but it would push us to 778 copies ordered. In other words, enough to earn the e-book only contract. You all can make it happen regardless of the contest results; although, let’s not kid ourselves. 164 readers right at the end of this contest would be a massive boost. First place is, at last count 72 in front of me. Finishing first isn’t the goal, but man it would be nice.

As promised, I’ve uploaded new chapters to the PDF copy for you to read. I threw in a bonus: you have all 32 chapters to start the book which gets you to the end of Act 2. I also included an appendix: a portion of a transcript from Logwyn’s interview with Quentin. Enjoy!

Also, a message is in the process of being transmitted from Logwyn right now. I hope to have it ready to send out by Wednesday, but we shall see.

It’s Friday! Time for an update.

What to tell you? We crossed 450 readers! We cleared 500 copies pre-ordered. We have 600 followers of the project. Those are some staggering numbers. I can’t convey to you in words how much it means to me that you all have taken the time to back this dream.

So, what’s left? There are 5 more days in the Nerdist Competition. We are currently in the top 5, thus eligible for the prize: a contract. We need to stay there. How do we do that? Keep finding friends! Keep spreading the word. It’s so easy to do and we all know that bringing new people to the project is the easiest sell: it’s free for them! So, just go find one person. Some of you have and some of you have multiple times. Amazing! Awesome! Stunning! Just a few words for all of you. Every one of you that has backed it. Not just those that have brought more. You’re all amazing.

I promised you more chapters in the PDF. I have not forgotten. My work schedule changed this week so I haven’t had as much time as I’d like to dedicate to things like that. I prioritize my family, my writing, and, for the time being, this project. I know, putting the PDF together is part of that. As a thanks for your continued patience, the next update will take you through chapter 30! That’s a ton of content to consume.

As a treat for you, here is a concept sketch done of a shell floating in that world.  It's made from descriptions given us in the transcript and details Logwyn has revealed.  The artist hopes to flesh it out in the coming days.

(well the picture was here.  I'll get it here sooner or later lol)

Also, I’ve made contact with Logwyn. A message is in the works. I hope to have it here and ready for you to see by Wednesday. We’ll see. Last word I received, their engineers had potentially come up with a way for us to talk back and forth. Considering the difficulties we’ve faced so far, I’m not holding my breath for that one.

Have a good weekend! And, everyone, go find one friend!

400! Thanks to Keliance of Eastwind for being the 400th person to jump onboard and order copy number 461. It means so much to me that you all have cast your “vote” by pre-ordering Rise. I usually limit these updates to one on Friday, but I felt 400 was worth noting.

But the race isn’t over. We’ve got a week left in The Nerdist Competition and are gaining on the two leaders. Go find that friend or uncle or cousin or coworker who you know would love to help and walk them through signing up.

In celebration of our meteoric climb into the Top Five, I’ll be posting more chapters to the project page and adding more to the reader PDF file found at this link (coming soon). Those chapters will be added before I go to bed tonight.

Thank you so much. I hope those of you following that haven’t taken the plunge will do so soon. Just some thoughts someone shared about this project that may help you decide. First, I will never, ever know whether you actually read it or not, unless you want to tell me. If you know me personally, you know my heart. I’m not trying to profit off of friendship, just asking friends to support a dream, one that I hope will bless many people beyond my family someday. And we all know some people have done this free using credits on the site. Just because it's free and in a contest for print doesn't mean it's not good. In today's world, even long-established professional authors are trying new publishing techniques, and marketing oneself is essential in today's tech-savvy, on-the-go, network-oriented world.

Onward and upward!

I knew you could do it. So glad to see RISE break into the top-5. Way to go, Brian. I'm hot on the heels of 18 - 20. I could really use a push. I'd love to burst onto the leaderboard, especially considering my late start in the contest.

Rise is soaring into the upper ranks of the Nerdist competition and it's all thanks to you, the readers! Many of you answered my call to you to go find a friend and bring them in. Some of you have brought several. One person went and brought 6 friends and family members! You all are amazing; each and every one of you. Keep it up, we're so close and the end is in 12 days.

For those following but not supporting yet, all 124 of you, I make a call now directly to you. You've been following for a while now. Please consider jumping on board. Many of you are authors, possibly with credits to spare. I know I have them. I'm working my way through every project currently enrolled in the Nerdist collection and backing them all, so I'll get to yours eventually and before Sept 30. Some of you aren't writers, just interested readers, maybe without any credits. I ask for your support as well. Sure, it's 9.99. But, that price is better than the market price later. The site projects 13.99. It could go higher. And, if it really is hard to find 10 bucks right now, that's fine. Go to the project page and recommend the project using the Inkshares Recommend, Facebook, Twitter, and email buttons. Send a message to someone you know to get them on board and have them use a link you send them so you earn that $15 credits. You'll have brought another person into this ecosystem and we all benefit from that.

Here's to a raucous last 12 days and many more followers and backers.

200 readers. Plus a few. 250+ copies! 25 % of the way there. If you're still on the fence, then you have to ask yourself: why?  There are currently 84 of you following that haven't made that decision to pre-order.  What would it take to push you over the line and click that pre-order button?

I usually avoid posting more than one of these every couple of days, but I thought I'd share an update with you.  We are six copies from 200 pre-orders, a few readers from 150, and back in the Nerdist Top Ten!  You guys rock!  Most of you I personally recruited on Facebook and I thank you for your help.  Want to do more?  Share that message I sent you with steps in it to all your friends and family.

Oh, and if you haven't already checked out J.D. Dubeau's project, do it now!  He's my mentor of sorts in this, a great guy who did a project earlier this year and won (so you know he's a good author), and the number one cheerleader for maximizing all of the authors efforts to blow the doors off this project.  Only 1 wins the Nerdist collection prize, and 4 others the guaranteed contract regardless of pre-orders.  But we all can earn that contract.

Greetings post the big event. The mighty dragon that surfaces every Labor Day weekend in the hot and muggy city of Atlanta came and challenged us all to a mighty encounter. We sweated and strained, herded cats, and stuffed our ears full of plastic to protect them from the roar and noise. Some of us left parts of us behind. But, in the end, the dragon lay slain as the masses of onlookers scurried back into their hovels and the hordes of volunteers that answered the call to slay the dragon march off to the farthest reaches of the globe to train and prepare for the return of the beast known as Dragoncon.

In case you haven’t looked, we blew past the next goal for reader counts. Three times. Additionally, we cleared 150 copies ordered! Fifteen percent of the way there! Have you shared it with someone recently? As a result of our reader counts clearing 100, this PDF with 6 new chapters in it, bringing you almost to the end of Act One of Rise.

As I stated before, I’m preparing a series of questions to transmit to Logwyn. If you have anything you’d like to ask, drop me a note on Twitter email Colberra@gmail.com, or on Facebook. I’ve had some interesting questions sent in already but I’m sure Logwyn won’t mind a few more.

On a side note, if you’d like just a taste of what my weekend at Dragoncon was like, check this video out and remember: I’m Captain America. Watch from where it starts to the 6:30 mark. It’s as funny to me as it is to you.

That’s it for now. I’m going to be compiling a list of other projects I think deserve your attention over the weekend and sending an update out to you.

Here I sit, my head itching like something horrible crawled in there and died (it’s actually just henna in my hair), my hands caked with paint residue, and every inch of me aching. But it’s a good feeling. Why would I say that? Because after months of preparing, tomorrow I head off to slay the convention known as Dragon Con. If any of you happen to be there, you have to go through Sheraton to register. Step upstairs (two full floors) to the Grand Ballroom and ask around for me. I’d love to chat, but understand I’ve got a room to set up for four days of programming so it will be a bit short. (unless you catch us while we wait for the riggers to do their jobs lol).

I just wanted to drop a line before I vanished from reliable desktop computing to say thanks for all the support. Copies sold have soared past 120 and we’re approaching 80 readers in all. That goal of 1000 is creeping ever closer and it’s thanks to you (yes, I know I pestered many of you with private messages; I appreciate your help even more because of that ;-) ). I won’t be completely out of contact while I’m at Dragon Con, but the hotels are notorious for eating cell signals so my connection will be tenuous during the day. Nevertheless, I encourage you all to keep recruiting more readers (some of you have even come back having earned more credits for your referrals and ordered more copies! You know who you are and you are amazing!) using the same method I used with you. If they’re new and they get followed, FREE BOOK! What’s not to like about that!? If I see an email come through saying “You’ve got a new follower” or “Rise has a new follower”, I’ll find a way to get to reliable signal and follow them back as quickly as I can manage. But you can, too. Just go to the page, click on the “### Followers” and a list appears. Usually, they are the more recent ones at the top. It doesn’t matter who follows them, just so long as someone does. 

Speaking of all the new attention, I owe you guys two more chapters, but I don’t have the time to add them to the PDF before I leave tomorrow. So I promise I’ll post them as soon as I get home next….week. Hopefully, I get to post more than just two chapters. We are almost at 80:-) Maybe we’ll cross the 100 reader mark. You never know. I am going to a convention of 65,000 geeks. Who knows how many people I’ll find that want to check it out.

Next update, I’ll be highlighting some other authors I’ve found on here that are worth consideration when it comes to spending those credits you’re going to earn referring people to Rise :-)

As I promised, the next two chapters are uploaded to the previous link.  For those that didn't get it before, go to https://brian-guthrie.squarespace.com/s/Rise-Preorders-1-6-Brian-Guthrie.epub and download the epub for your reading pleasure.  We're steadily climbing in numbers, approaching 50 readers and 100 copies pre-ordered.  Thanks for all the support.

Remember, if you have questions for Logwyn, send them to me on twitter @nidfar as a PM and I'll add them to the transmission.