Hi everyone!  Happy Fall!

Long time, no chat, huh?  It’s been about a month and a half since It’s All Fun and Games went live, and I’ve got all sorts of news to share.

The first thing is that I was fortunate enough to receive some pretty cool media attention to coincide with the release.  I had a nice sit-down with John Holyoke from the Bangor Daily News, and I was featured both in their online paper and on the front page of the Lifestyle section.  IAFAG also was in a segment on the 207, a statewide public interest show that airs nightly in Bangor and Portland.  It was fun hearing people tell me that they’d seen or read about me.  Look out Kardashians, I’m coming for you.

I’ve also been out and about for a couple public appearances.  I had my first public book signing at The Briar Patch in downtown Bangor.  If you live locally, make sure you stop on by – it’s a wonderful store filled with books, games, and other things that the little people in your life will enjoy.  And then at the end of August I was the featured presenter the Orono-Old Town Kiwanis (which, having just recently seen Calendar Girls at Penobscot Theatre Company (Season Tickets Still Available!), makes me chuckle at the role of “featured presenter”), where I talked about NANOWRIMO, Inkshares, and all the nuggets of stuff that go into making the sausage we call a novel.

I had the horrifying experience of being asked by my award winning voice actor, Cassandra Lee Morris, how to pronounce a few words and realizing that I never really thought about how those combinations of letters would actually sound.  Garbaldar is a tricky one to roll off the tongue, and don’t even ask me how to pronounce Gahrauah.  I actually just punted and told her to make something up.  Memo to me – read all future novels aloud before sending them for publishing and make sure the names are actually pronounceable.  If you’d like to read more about Cassandra, you can visit her web page here.  She’s pretty impressive, that’s for sure!

Sales have remained steady, though they have tapered off somewhat.  Word of mouth is a wonderful thing, so if you know anyone who might be interested in It’s All Fun and Games, have them swing by their Friendly Local bookstore or Amazon and pick up a copy.  Or grab it on an e-reader, or in a week or two the ebook!

Also, if you’ve read the book, please swing by Amazon, Goodreads, and (if you have an account) Barnes And Noble and leave a review.  They don’t need to be long – “I really liked it” is plenty!  I’m currently sitting at 51 reviews on Amazon, but there were 578 people who preordered the book.  It’ll take just a few moments of your time, and can make a huge difference.  We haven’t yet broken into B&N’s retail stores (which would be instantly several thousand copies sold), but a couple hundred reviews on Amazon and Goodreads would make a pretty convincing argument. 

In fact, go do it now.  I’ll wait. 

….

See?  That wasn’t so hard, was it?  And now you have a warm fuzzy cause you know you did me a solid.  Speaking of which, I’ve had a number of people tell me that they’ve let the book around their office or circle of friends.  That’s great, and I hope your friends all enjoyed the book too.  Please ask all those folks to leave me a review as well.  3 minutes of clicking and typing is a great price to pay for a novel.

So, I think that’s all the news that’s news.  You may or may not have received an email from Inkshares regarding new contests.  There are three right now.  Of perhaps the most immediate interest to backers of It’s All Fun and Games are the Geek and Sundry Fantasy Contest and the Crypt TV Horror Contest.  If you’ve got any interest in helping another author fund their novel, here are some suggestions of books written by some of the buddies I’ve met throughout my own contest process –

 A Beast Requires

Apex

Arcadia

Bad Medicine

Exile, Magus

Phew!  That was long!  Thank you again for all your support, and I promise not to wait so long between mailings next time!

It still hasn’t quite sunk in yet, but as of today I am a published author.

Almost a year after I first started pestering people with buymybookbuymybookifyou’rereallymyfriendyou’llbymybook harassment, it’s finally out.  If you’re reading this, you’ve already gotten your copy (I hope!), but now they’re available online at Amazon, B&N and others, and at dozens of independent bookstores all around the country.  

Thank you so much.

The amount of effort that goes into publishing a book is truly awe inspiring.  My editors Kiele Raymond and Michael Trudeau transformed some mediocre writing into the polished manuscript you received this past month.  I’m beyond over-the-moon about the cover Elyse Lyons produced for me, and Emily Zach and the rest of the production team at Girl Friday was professional 100%.

Meanwhile, at Inkshares, my marketing manager Avalon has been working overtime getting me interviews, reviews, and my books in stores, while newly appointed CEO Adam Gomolin has been in overdrive on the derivative properties side.

And then there are the Nerdist folks, who not only sponsored the contest in the first place, making this whole thing possible, but who also treated me like a real Author when I visited them at Comic Con in San Diego.

Thank you all for your tireless work to make this project as successful as possible.

Now, some news:

Monday night I was featured on The 207, a Portland and Bangor local features show on NBC.  The boys from Bull Moose were extremely kind in their promotion of my novel.

Today I woke up to a Bangor Daily News review, which was similarly positive.

I’m also looking at scheduling book signing events around the Bangor area over the next several weeks.  Check out my Facebook page to stay current!

Lastly, in case you missed it, I’ve got a Comic Con recap on my blog, which you can find here.

So that’s pretty much it.  

I can say thank you enough
Dave

PS: Leave reviews!!!!!!!!!!111

OMG 3 days left!

Hi everyone!  Quick Saturday night post before I go to bed.

1) Comic Con was awesome.  Met some great people, ate some great food, saw some great costumes, didn’t blow the royalties bank on souvenirs.  If you’d like to read more about my experiences out there, check out my blog post.

2) If you are local to Maine, you will be able to see a review of It’s All Fun and Games on "The 207" on Monday evening on your local NBC station (in Portland and Bangor).  I believe it airs in the 7pm slot in both cities.  I also had a great interview with John Holyoke at the BDN, so there should be a review/interview coming out in the next several days from them as well.

3) All backers should have by now received your book(s).  If you haven’t gotten yours yet, please email hello@inkshares.com.  The lovely folks out in Oakland will be happy to get things sorted out for you.  If you’ve read it (and liked it), the best way to tell me is to head over to Amazon and leave a review.  It doesn’t have to be long, or coherent, or even in English.  Even people shopping at their Friendly Local Bookstore (which I absolutely encourage!) check Amazon ratings before buying, so please take a minute or two and leave me a review.  

For what it’s worth, if you’ve read it (and didn’t like it) the best way to tell me is to never tell me.

So that’s the news from here.  I’ll have more to say in a few days.  In the meanwhile, enjoy the rest of the weekend, and read a book!

Thanks for all your support
Dave

Hi Everyone!


Three quick items I wanted to mention:  First, don’t forget that there’s a backer thank-you party this coming Monday night.  If you plan on coming, please RSVP at the facebook event page so I can get a good head count.  You can find the link here:

https://www.facebook.com/ItsAllFunandGamesNovel/events

Second, all the preorders have shipped!  If you were a backer, and haven’t received an email with a tracking number, check your spam box.  If there’s nothing there, email hello@inkshares.com  They’ll be able to let you know where your copy or copies are!

It’s super fun seeing everyone posting about having gotten their copies on Facebook!

Lastly, if you’ve read the book and enjoyed it, please consider heading over to Amazon to leave a review.  Amazon’s algorithms take into account the number of reviews received when deciding on "also bought," links and for emails.  I’d love to get up to 100 or so by the time the book releases on August 2.  You can find my product page on Amazon here:

https://www.amazon.com/Its-All-Games-Dave-Barrett/dp/1941758819?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0

Thanks again!


Backer Thank You Party!

Another update!  Crazy!  Save the date: July 18 from 6:30 to 8p at the Edythe Dyer Library in Hampden, I’ll be hosting a Backer Thank-You party!

Swing on by and say hello!  If you’d like your copy signed, I can do that for you.  If you wouldn’t like your copy signed, I can accommodate that, too!

RSVP here so I can plan the proper amount of munchies:  https://www.facebook.com/events/538821839652708/

See you then!

Cheers
Dave

EBOOKS ARE COMING!

Hi everyone!  Guess what?  We just reviewed the ebook files (both kindle and epub), and they’re looking pretty sweet.  What does this mean?  An early weekend present for all my backers - the ebook should be downloadable by this Friday, so if you’d like to dive into the story over the holiday weekend, you can!  Huzzah!

To access the ebook, you must return to www.inkshares.com, log in, and when you click on your profile picture (top right hand corner), select "Bookshelf."  From there you’ll be able to download the book to your computer (or other device).  Then transfer the file into whatever folder holds your ebooks, and boom, you’re good to go!

In other news, the physical books are in as well, and should be shipping out some time in the next week or so.  So if you’d rather have the feel of paper between your fingers, it’s not that much longer of a wait.

For those of you who live in the Maine area, look for a backer thank you party soonish, as well as possible events at Bull Moose stores.  I’ll be sure to let you know!

One last thing - in a few weeks I’m going to be leaning on you all to do me one more favor: post reviews on Amazon (and Goodreads, if you’ve got an account).  Amazon’s algorithms  take into account, among other things, the number of reviews a book has when it is deciding what to include in email newsletters, as well as "you may also like..." links.  They don’t have to be long, they don’t have to be good (though remember what your mother said about not having anything nice to say), they just have to be.  So look for that harassment in the coming weeks, as soon as the book officially goes live over there.

Thanks again for your support!  I’m so excited to deliver the book to you that you blindly ordered almost a year ago.  Super cool.

Cheers
Dave

Hey everyone!

So last week I teased you about some other exciting piece of information.  Well here it is:

We’ve sold the audiobook rights to Audible!  So in addition to ebook and paperback, we’ll be able to follow Allison and her friends’ journey while driving, walking the dog, or doing whatever else it is that people do when listening to ebooks.

Before you ask, I have no idea who’s doing to be performing it.  Audible takes care of all of that.  I just smile, wave, and wait to see what happens.

Thanks again for all your support.  Just a month from this Saturday is ebook day!  Perfect July 4 back yard reading!

Cheers
Dave

Hi Everyone!

Quick bit of exciting news - the file is off to the printer today.  There is no officially nothing to be done other than sit on my hands and wait for my babies to come back home.  The initial print run is going to be eight thousand copies.  So tell everyone you know to buy one too.  We need to move some inventory!

I’m also sitting on another exciting piece of news just waiting for final confirmation - look for another update in the next several days.

Cheers
Dave

Hey folks!

Do you like blurbs?  I LOVE blurbs!

Here are the ones that will be showing up in some form on It’s All Fun and Games’ cover:

  "What would I do if my favorite fantasy world came to life? It’s a question every nerd has asked him or herself, and Dave Barrett answers it in a tremendously fun, well-written story of swords, sorcery, and survival."  - Dan Casey, Senior Editor of Nerdist


"It’s All Fun and Games is as much a nostalgia trip for grownup gamers as it is a gateway drug for the next generation. The pop-culture references bridge the gap between geek parents and their kids. Dave Barrett writes with all the joy and love of a nerd who runs games for his kids—while cracking Dad Jokes. The result is a rollicking good portal fantasy starting with boffer swords instead of d20s." - Dave Gross, author of Lord of Runes  

"It’s All fun and Games is one of those rare books that makes you wonder if around every corner magic and adventure await. Kids and adults alike will find themselves swept away into the world Mr. Barrett has created." — Shannon Mayer, USA Today Best-selling author of the Rylee Adamson series

 "It’s fun and exciting to get lost in a fantasy world while roleplaying. It’s All Fun And Games shows that getting lost in one for real might not be as fun, but it’s no less exciting!" — Jon Verrall, co-creator of hit Geek & Sundry web series LARPs

In other news, the edit and design work is pretty well done, so next step is off to the printer - probably some time late next week - and then about a month and a half for manufacturing and shipping back to the warehouse.  We’re right on target for backers to get their books mid-July, with the e-books coming out a little it before.

Don’t forget you can follow the book and me on Facebook and Twitter!

Again, thanks for all your support.  It means the world to me!

Cheers
Dave

The update in which I ask you to buy other people’s stuff...

Hi everyone!  No shameless self-promotion this update.  Instead, I want to point out to you a few projects that I would like you to take a look at.

First and foremost, JF Dubeau’s second novel on Inkshares, A God in the Shed, is nearing the end of its campaign.  He has 4 days left to sell 14 copies.  I read his first novel, The Life Engineered, and gave it a rousing 5 stars.  This guy can write.  If you’ve got some extra scratch laying around, please toss it his way to get this book published.  You won’t regret it.

Second, Amanda Orneck, who I still owe at least one firstborn (if not two), for helping me with my interim cover during the Nerdist Contest, has a novel funding as well, called Deus Hex Machina.    It’s a Shadowrun-esque world, and the first bits I’ve read are great.  I’ve also read her first novel, Shadow of the Owl, which I really enjoyed (as has everyone I know who has read it...the ebook is only 99 cents at amazon - check it out).  DHM’s got a bit more left in her funding period, but she still needs people to commit to her project.  Take a look.

Lastly, something that came across my Twitter feed is a Kickstarter unrelated to Inkshares.  You may remember my championing Sadie McGrady back in the fall - empowering little girl-people is pretty important.  Kazoo Magazine is in its last week or so of funding, and still needs a whole herd of people to get on board.  It’s targeted at girls ages 5-10, so if you’ve got one or more of those in your life, take a look.

Thanks for reading.  I promise to self-promote much more in my next update!

Cheers
Dave

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