DOODLE. Sorry for the spam and the delay. This one has the doodle proper. Apparently GIFs don’t work in these newsletters.

Greetings, Space Fiends! 

Hold position for your daily update. I know I contacted some of you already today, so I hope you’ll forgive a blast message filled with good news!

First, We’ve Been Granted the Syndicate Award! I’m so pumped! To loop you in on what that is, one of Inkshares highest selling authors of all time, Gary Whitta, has selected The Traveller’s Cup as the first ever receiver of the award. And he comes with a team full of backers, which as significantly boosted our pre-orders. If you haven’t already you need to check out his book, Abomination, which sold over 9000 copies!

Our Position is Moving! We’re only about 20 orders away from bumping into 5th, and the road between 3rd-5th looks a lot smoother. I can’t thank you guys enough.

The Sci-Fi Geeks Club Podcast went live last night, and we’re now in the intro ad! The initial plan was for us to be somewhere in the midst of the contest, but I’m very pumped to be given the lead-in spot. Give it a listen here if you’re the podcasting type. 

It’s a bit crazy how I can start a day stressing about how far there is to go and end it with such celebration. You guys are all amazing supporters of me and this book, and I’m doing everything I can get to make sure it ends up in your hands. 

Sample Chapter Coming Tonight, as usual, and there will most definitely be one tomorrow, since we’ve already zoomed past today’s 10 orders. 

Here’s the Doodle of the Day! 

Your Captain Who-Isn’t-Crying-I-Promise,
-AC

IT’S OVER 100!

We crossed the 100 mark today, folks, and the orders are still streaming in. This is fantastic progress, and I could only be slightly happier with the results. 

The reality is that we are still 50 unique pre-orders away from third place. Because this is a contest, and as we gain support, so do other people. We’ve had 10 every day for a few days now because you’re amazing. Help me make 10 happen in total today for another sample excerpt tomorrow.

So now, as time is quickly running out, I need to know: are you in my crew? We have 5 days left, which makes this mission critical. Today will you commit to sending the order link and a personal recommendation to one more person?

Now, onto so much news!

First! It’s just been confirmed that The Traveller’s Cup will be mentioned on the Sci-Fi Geeks Club Tonight! Thanks to my friend and promo pal JF Dubeau (author of The Life Engineered, which you should immediately check out), we’ve managed to get the folks at Galactic Netcast to feature this humble space book. You can check that out tonight at 9:45pm EST right here: http://gncasts.com/category/thescifigeeksclub/

For a Spacey Special Offer: The person who orders the 125th copy will receive a super space collection of three short stories in the same universe after the release. These will be first-edition, otherwise unpublished stories!

Of course, other prizes are still available. If you refer three people to pre-order this week you’ll get: 

•  A signed first-edition draft version of the book complete with random scribbles of frustration
  
  
• A collection of sketches of characters and setting, 10 in total, as a bound art-book
  
  
• A pack of 10 Traveller’s Cup bookmarks

• A custom Traveller’s Cup mug so you can enjoy your hot caffeinated beverage of choice with your new book

All of these items will be delivered physically to you after the release date, complete with a spacey thank you note. If you refer by word of mouth, that counts too. Just send me an email or message telling me how you know the person. 

Your next hard-earned sample excerpt will be available tonight, so stay tuned for that! If you liked the last one, or if you didn’t, please leave a comment or a review on the main page. Since the book isn’t yet published, I still have time to make changes. That’s the beauty of crowd-funding a novel; we’re on this ship together!

And with that I leave you the doodle of the day. 

"Space crew, what does the Inkshares say about our pre-order count?"
"...It’s over 100?"

Your slightly overzealous space zealot,
-AC

Will you guys get out pitchforks if I update twice in one day?

See, I realized I left out a few things. You can skip this one but I promise I made it special for you. 

1. The Sample Excerpt is coming right up! It’s here and ready for you. I just wanted to preface it by letting you know where in the story we are. I’ve gone back to the original chronological order, so you’ll be reading from Damaus getting left in a room with the Contessa. dundundun!

2. More Contest FAQ. I know we did this awhile ago, but I probably left out some details, and a lot of you have joined the crew since then. 

This contest is important because it’s a publishing deal, but it’s also more than a publishing deal (that’s the quick spiel I give for busy folks). But you, my dedicated backers, deserve more info. 

The truth is, this partnership with Nerdist and Inkshares won’t only publish my book, but will give me a solid publishing house to edit, revise, and distribute my book. They have the power to put me in book stores and libraries, which is something I would never expect to accomplish through self-publishing. When I say these guys can make me a professional author, I really mean it. 

And you should know that despite all the hard work they’re willing to do for the top three winners, as an author I still make a significant amount of the profit back. Not that the money is so important, but it helps when you want to treat something like a job!

And the usual disclaimer that if for some reason I don’t win this contest, and don’t meet the Inkshares funding goals after that, you will be refunded your contributions. 

3. Video Update! Some of you may not be aware but my other side gig is music. I used to do some embarrassing acoustic videos and now get to work on things more exciting than that. Regardless, some people have found the video format works for them, so if you’d like it you can view it here. 

4. Doodle! It was pointed out to me that I didn’t include a doodle of the day. I guess this is a thing now. This has been me since last night when we jumped into 6th. 

Guys, how do you keep topping yourselves? 

We’ve got 95 pre-orders! We bumped into sixth last night and have already surpassed it by 5! We’re less than 50 orders away from the goal. Thank you all so much for being a light at the end of my chaotic tunnel. 

I haven’t forgotten that I owe you a sample chapter for your hard effort; that’ll come later today. And since you guys did it again last night, you’ll see another tomorrow! 

I seriously can’t thank you guys enough. My inbox has been positively exploding with your orders, follows, and support. So much that I’m having a hard time keeping up with everything. I know there are probably a few of you I owe shout-outs to that I just haven’t been able to make yet. But I sincerely thank you. 

Like I mentioned above, we still have 50 orders to go, and that gap can easily increase. I need you, as my crew, to advertise with me. Please continue sharing on your social channels, and also, we’re still in the midst of referral week. Can you get 5 of your coworkers or guild-mates to order a copy? What about 2 family members (spouses count too!)? There are prizes after the release for anyone who refers 3 individuals to place an order.

Thanks for being the best crew a space captain could ask for. Your chapter will be hot off the press later this evening.

pew fweep explosion space laser,
-AC

Wow, guys! Wow, wow, wow. 

Would you believe we went up 10 pre-orders in a day? I knew you could make it happen. So as promised, by tomorrow you’ll have a brand new sample chapter! 

The level of encouragement I’m seeing from you all is astounding. It reminds me why I started this book in the first place: to reach people like you with a wacky idea for a space opera. 

Now for the important news...

This is officially the last week of the Nerdist Space Opera Contest! Next Tuesday the contest will close, and that means that whichever authors have books in the top three will be set up with a publication deal. 

If we aren’t there it means we’ll have to work a lot harder in the future to make sure this book sees the light of day. I don’t know about you guys, but I’d rather finish this now so I can make sure the book goes to market in this collection.

Again, this is referral week! I’ll reiterate what that means for the newcomers and folks who don’t read the bottoms of every email:

If you refer three people to pre-order this week you’ll get: 

•  A signed first-edition draft version of the book complete with random scribbles of frustration
  
  
• A collection of sketches of characters and setting, 10 in total, as a bound art-book
  
  
• A pack of 10 Traveller’s Cup bookmarks

• A custom Traveller’s Cup mug so you can enjoy your hot caffeinated beverage of choice with your new book

All of these items will be delivered physically to you after the release date, complete with a spacey thank you note. If you refer by word of mouth, that counts too. Just send me an email or message telling me how you know the person. 

So with that out of the way, I again want to say a space-sized thank you to you. You belong in this crew because of your dedication to our mission: to make more space books and send them to the worlds beyond. 

Your Overworked But Determined Space Captain Whose Blood is Now Caffeine,
-AC

Greetings, Travellers!

Let me start by wishing you the best possible Monday. This weekend has been filled with your encouragement, which I needed to curb my panic at the approaching Nerdist deadline. 

Here’s the link to the contest and where we stand: https://www.inkshares.com/contests/nerdist-space-opera-contest

We’re doing well. If we double our pre-orders we’ll hit 3rd. And coming in 3rd still means a publishing contract, so I need your help to make sure that happens. Last week I issued the word of mouth challenge, and a lot of you must have responded because the orders spiked a lot. 

This week I’m looking at referrals. If you refer three people to pre-order this week you’ll get: 

•  A signed first-edition draft version of the book complete with random scribbles of frustration
  
  
• A collection of sketches of characters and setting, 10 in total, as a bound art-book
  
  
• A pack of 10 Traveller’s Cup bookmarks

• A custom Traveller’s Cup mug so you can enjoy your hot caffeinated beverage of choice with your new book

All of these items will be delivered physically to you after the release date, complete with a spacey thank you note. 

If you refer by word of mouth, that counts too. Just send me an email or message telling me how you know the person. 

Up, up, and away!
-AC

Guys, you are rocking this. 

Thanks to you we’ve gone back up to 7th and are currently standing at 72 readers. This is miles ahead of where we were a few days ago. Thank you so much for your support. 

While we didn’t get 10 in a day like I was hoping for, we got a lot overall. I have your weekly chapter excerpt coming hot off the press momentarily. Don’t mind the spam; it’s all in the name of spaaaaace. The new excerpt is jumping ahead in time a little, giving you a glimpse at what awaits the crew beyond their home system.

That said, we are really running out of time. I need your orders now if you’re a follower who hasn’t placed one yet. 

And if you have ordered, let’s wrap up this word of mouth week by telling our significant other, best friend, or colleague about the book and letting them know where they can order it. If everyone who’s ordered a copy gets one more person in on this we’ll be in great shape to win the Nerdist deal.

Because while I’m sure all us space-nerds are excited about the project, it’s a story intended as a "first foray" into science-fiction. I’ve described it to you a myriad of ways, so let me give you a comment from one of our own:

It’s like The Goblet of Fire meets Hunger Games with a main character who doesn’t appear to be an underdog for once. I find that to be a nice change. (Thanks, Rebecca!)

So if you’ve been holding out to the end, now is the time to pitch your $10 for an e-book, tell your friend to do the same, and spam your social channels incessantly. 

Your Innocuously Insatiable Interplanetary Space Captain Suffering From Incurable Imposter Syndrome,
-AC

Happy 3-03, Space Crew!

I hope the day is treating you well. It’s chaotic over here as I scramble to prepare things to show you and continue promoting The Traveller’s Cup. 

So here’s where we stand. Yesterday we had a few more orders come through, but not the 10 we needed. In fact, it appears we’ve slipped into 10th place from 7th. We still have time to make up for it, but it’s running fast. 

If you’re a follower of this book but haven’t ordered your copy yet, now is absolutely the time. I need your enthusiasm and momentum to keep this project alive. The contest will close in less than two weeks. 

This book is extremely important to me. I want to write for you all for a living. Something about this idea resonated with you, and it needs your support to continue. This is a single story that could become a universe. I think it has what it takes to make you laugh, forget to breathe, and cry. I believe in this book, and if you do too, I need your pre-orders now. 

Every day that we hit 10 pre-orders I will provide a new excerpt from the story. If we hit 20 in a day I’ll include a visual comic page of one of the scenes. If we hit 50, who knows. Maybe I’ll shave my head. What would you like to see?

Either way, if you believe in this book, please share it and please order your own copy. We’re running out of time. 

Your Totally-Got-It-All-Together Space Captain,
-AC

A very merry Wednesday to you!

You guys are great. Like, seriously great. I know a few of you have been spreading the word because more orders came in overnight. Only 7 more to go by midnight if you want to see a new excerpt tomorrow.  

I also noticed a lot of new followers, so thank you guys for your interest! Please let me know what I can do to convince you this is a book worth ordering. 

For those of you who have placed an order, I doodled a little badge that can be shared across your social channels if you like. 

Download Link Here

I’m considering putting more together with different themes, so you can let me know if that’s something you’re into.   

Just to recap, this week is about sharing via word of mouth. If we all tell a different person each day how excited we are about The Traveller’s Cup, it’s bound to keep gaining attention. And that puts it in line for publication. 

Reminder: For every day we get 10 or more pre-orders I’ll provide a new excerpt from the story. So let’s get the remaining 7 by midnight EST!

Your Irreparably Chaotic Commander,
-AC