Hello all!

Thanks for all the support as I tried out this new thing! I'm a little late with this final update, but you know how the end of the year gets. Or if you don't, then let's just say life gets busy and I start getting more interested in wine by the fireplace than staring at screens more than work requires. But I digress. New year, no holidays, the time has come to rev up my creative engines once more.

I would not be surprised if Inkshares has already sent out notes to you all on my behalf informing you that Beneath White Clouds is back in "draft mode." My book did not meet its funding goal for Inkshares publication by its December 31st deadline. This is not a shocker. 750 pre-orders were required, and I think I gathered sixty-odd. No worries, as promised, the book will plow on.

Business: If you pre-ordered under the old model, where your payment info was saved for future withdrawal, pending I hit my goal, well then no fundage will be charged to you. If you pre-ordered under Inkshares' new model, where payment was taken up front, then that money is back to you.

Seeing that my crowd-funding drive was going to stay in "I think I can" territory without actually getting over the hill, I started snooping around for other stuff to try out. Last December I participated in #SFFPit, a twitter event wherein authors hurl book pitches into the twitterspace and see if anything sticks. Pitches for Beneath White Clouds picked up a little love - 3 small publishers and 2 agents showed interest. As of this writing, I've contacted all but one of the publishers (who seemed shaky to me). "Thanks, but No" responses have come back from 1 agent and 1 publisher. I'm waiting to hear back from the others. Patience is the name of the game as things progress at the speed of the publishing industry.

If nothing comes from those avenues, I might try Kindle Scout - It's an amazon thing that works a little like Inkshares, but with no  money exchanged, just votes, and no hard goal. Just gather lots of votes, and some Amazon droog will take a look and deliver final arbitration as to whether the book gets Kindled. I dunno. Might try it, but on the other hand, I'd hate for the book to only be available for Kindle. On the other, other hand, it would cost nothing for anyone, I wouldn't be asking for money, and I might get paid. Eh, we'll see.

In any case, no matter what, I can always self-publish. I did that for BREAK!, and had a lot of fun doing it, and that's what really counts. (Oh, hey! As a thank-you for being a supporter, and for reading this far, here's a gift. If you like Epic fantasy, you can download BREAK! in any e-book format from here. Use the coupon code JA52C to get it for free. Enjoy!)

So, one way or another, Beneath White Clouds will come out in 2016. I'll keep in touch personally, and remember each contributor in the book. Look for news to come through e-mail from my addy: eland001@gmail.com. You can also keep up with all my ranting and occasional useful info through facebook, twitter, and ericlandreneau.wordpress.com.

It's been a fun attempt. Didn't work out, but I learned some great new things and made connections with some fantastic people. Can't put a price on that. Thank you all. Most of you are writers, all of you occasionally have to write something, so I'll end with my preferred send-off: Happy Writing!

Peace,

Eric Landreneau

Hiya!

I will be running Beneath White Clouds through #SFFpit on December 10th.

"Wait, what the googly-moogly  is--"

It's this.

The gist: it's a day when people with spec fic manuscripts like mine hurl tiny book pitches into the thrumming void of twitterspace, all because some guy named Dan says literary agents will be listening for the #SFFpit hashtag (see, I'm a trusting sort of guy). If an agent "likes" a pitch, then I'll pull Beneath White Clouds from Inkshares and put together a submission to that agent. If not, then I'll keep on trucking through various alt-pub options, like maybe this one :-)

If you follow me on Twitter (@LandreneauMakes) then I apologize in advance to the many many tweets I'll be dumping out about BWC. But while you're groaning about how I wont shut the tweet up, maybe you can help a little? Don't "like" any of the tweets with the #SFFpit tag - if you do, I'll think you're an agent, and if you're an agent, let's just cut to the chase and sign a deal, yeah? What you can do is retweet the heck out of me to make me look important and noteworthy. to literary agents.

Meanwhile, of course, send any friends of yours to my Inkshares page. One way or another, Beneath White Clouds will be published.

Peace, Love ya!

Aw crap I'm late for work!

Okay, so I thought it would be totally cool if I could draw some of my characters to share with you. Aaaaaaannnnnd I remembered why I'm an author of novels, not graphic novels. People  are freakin' hard. Check out the cover of my first book, BREAK! :It's not a coinkidink that I chose to do silhouettes only. If I do manage to draw something worth sharing, I'll do so. But meanwhile, I think I'd better stick with writing.

... Come to think of it, those are some kinda neat figures. I drew them by hand, scanned, then messed about in GIMP. It seems more arduous, but I think I need to get back to that approach. Pixel-painting sucks. Well, it doesn't suck, but it's hard.

New cover! Again! I changed the ground-level details to more closely reflect the book. What do you think?

Good News Everyone!

Change is coming!
That's a phrase some meet with trepidation, but not me! A little chaos keeps me jazzy!
Inkshares is going to shange how they do things a bit, and I like it.

The old: placing a pre-order = pledging to pay $10, should a project reach 1,000 pre-orders. In exchange for you pledge, you recieve both an e-bok and a paperback cop of the book you helped bring to life.

THE NEW: My project only has to reach 750 pre-orders to enter publication. Pledges will be higher - $20 for paperback and ebook, and $30 for HARDBACK and ebook.

YOUR CALL TO ACTION!!!
We're having a sale!
Well, kinda-sorta, depending on how you look at it.
These changes take effect October 30th. All pre-orders placed before October 30th will count to the new, lower 750 pre-order goal, but they'll still be only $10. So, all you good folks who were just holding off, waiting to place your pre-order clsoe to the deadline to give me that end-run boost... don't do it! Now's the time! Pledge your pre-order now, before the pledge rate doubles. Go in for three or more, become a Big Lifter! If you dig this project of mine (and if you're reading this, that's kinda a foregone conclusion, right?) then go on and tell your friends! spread th word. If you love something , say it loud and share it with everyone you know who might also love it.

As Modun says in Chapter 22, "Love is plentiful. It will not diminish." Why would he say that? You'll have to read the book to find out. But in the meantime, share good things - their goodness will not diminish. And a book you like by an emerging author for only $10, well, that's a good thing, ya?

It is time! First draft finished at 85,000 words. 1/3 the length of my last book! I got a skinny baby!

Beta readers now wanted!

Duty of the beta reader: read and give feedback, from proofreading to editorial criticism. I wanna know what the book is like for real readers, especially if you don't know me.

Benefits of being a beta reader: you get special first access and become more awesome through the effect of self-sustaining positive energy feedback cycle. Also you get the joy of seeing where you helped the evolution of a story from draft to final.

Detriment of beta reading: it can be hard and time consuming. There are annoying typos. You might have to tell me my art sucks.

Big rule: do not worry about me, just tell me anything you think I need to know. I have thick skin.

If you would like to help me out, let me know by emailing me eland001@gmail.com. 

Many many thanks!

Wooo! Got another Big Lifter!

I've reached the end!