THE MANUSCRIPT IS IN!!!

After two months of rewriting and revising, with the help of my friends Peter Ryan and Cari Dubiel, and. of course, my wife, I’ve turned in a fine tuned 76,900-word manuscript after the first round of developmental editing. That’s nearly 10,000 darlings killed. It was probably closer to 15,000 of the original words that suffered their terrible fate, but I changed a couple of scenes and added about 5,000 words back in. It was all for the better, and I’m proud of what this book has become. 

I know I promised mid-January for turning in this manuscript, but I’m going to play the sympathy card, because I was hospitalized in January for acute abdominal pain and had my gallbladder removed and subsequently stolen. They wouldn’t bronze it and let me keep it, the jerks, they just took it God only knows where. But, I’m glad it’s out. The good news is that I got my author bio picture in the process: 

That’ll sell a lot of books on its own. Might even make it the cover of the book. Not sure my publisher would go for that, though. 

Speaking about the cover, design will start happening in a few months, but I already know one thing will be remarkably different when it’s done: the title. 

Yup, I am almost sure I’m changing the title. The book is in two parts now, and I’ve named part one "The Madness of Mr. Butler," while part two is "The Courage of Mr. Butler." As much as I love the title as it has been, it doesn’t really sound like a science fiction book, which it mostly is. I’m changing the title of the book to "The Man Who Stole the World," which, for those of you who are in need of improving your musical tastes, is a play on the title of a David Bowie song. (And David Bowie might have a cameo in the story, but I’m not at liberty to say at this point).

wink

So, what’s next? 

Right now, we wait. Matt Harry, my editor, already got back to me that he’s currently working on a few manuscripts and plans on starting on mine in a few weeks. So, it’s probably going to be a while before I can report on further progress. But, this means that this year will begin the next levels of edits on a manuscript that is actively in production. I feel great about it all. I’ve had a wonderful experience with Inkshares. 

Thank you all for your support. Your investment in me is something I think about and appreciate daily. I’m working my tail off to get you the best version of the book. Thank you for the opportunity. This is all because of you. I hug you.

In the meantime, if you wanna interact outside of email, you can find me on Twitter and Facebook, and fairly soon I’m getting my blog back up after some reconstruction. 

Hang in there, it’s all coming together!

Love always, 

-Michael

Progress on The Seclusion is happening on all ends!

At some point in the next week or so, my editor will submit the first three beautifully-polished chapters of the book to Ingram - a book distribution company that major retailers, and most indie bookstores, use to stock their shelves.

In other exciting news, the book is starting to pop up on major online retail sites for preorder!

The goal, as of now, is to shift from developmental-edit to copy-edit by April 1st. I’ll be hard at work every day until then to make sure we stay on schedule for a fall release, so that we can get this book in your hands!

I’ve been spending any and all free time over the last couple of weeks combing through the manuscript with two primary goals in mind - 1) Add to the inner voice of the protagonist, Patch 2) Flesh out additional world-building details. I regularly have at least one reference book open next to me as I work to sneak up on each scene from a new angle. My favorite as of late is The Emotional Craft of Fiction: How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface, by Donald Maass.

Last week, in an effort to soak up new world building inspiration, I used random photos found online and my favorite quick-marketing toy (Canva) to throw together a few concept images. Lately, I have these open as I hammer out my descriptive imagery for any given scene. Below are a few if you would like to take a look:

CHILDREN’S CLASSROOM

CITY CENTER

COMPLIANCE OFFICERS (COMPOS) AND PACIFIER (DIRECTED ENERGY WEAPON)

I am guessing that over the next month I will hear from the Inkshares marketing team, and that cover design will kick off soon.

Back to edits! Until next time.

-Jacqui

To all my patient supporters,

Happy New Year! 

Over the past several months many of you have reached out to me, or stopped me in passing, to ask about the status of my novel AFTER DEATH. One or two even thought perhaps it had already come out, and that they’d somehow missed it. 

An update is long overdue, and today is a good day to write one. 

Back in October, the very kind Avalon Radys, director of marketing and publishing operations for my publisher Inkshares, let me know that my book wouldn’t be entering developmental editing until 2018, as their priority had to be books with Spring release dates. 

A bit of a bummer, sure, but it made perfect sense to me, and provided me with the opportunity to do a twelfth draft of the novel, with the goal of further tightening the story and reducing the word count as much as possible.

That new draft is now complete and has been sent to Inkshares. So now, my friends, we wait.

Hopefully I’ll be paired with an editor soon, but even then it’s worth keeping in mind that it may still be a while before you are holding a copy of the book in your hands. After developmental editing there will still be copy editing, cover design, book design, and a slew of other steps I don’t even know about, I’m sure. The publishing process, I’m learning, is very slow.

In the meantime, there are a number of ways you can get a fix to tide you over:

1) visit the AFTER DEATH page on the Inkshares website here, where you can watch the updated book trailer, read sample chapters, leave a comment or review, pre-order copies, and recommend the novel to others. You can also sneak a peek at my new novel in progress, KING OF FIRE.

2) listen to the first chapter of AFTER DEATH, as read by actress Jessica Rothert, here (Vimeo) or here (YouTube). While you’re at it, check out the AFTER DEATH YouTube playlist I’ve begun assembling here, which features not only the trailer and first chapter, but also other related videos that hint at the ideas explored in the book.

3) visit and "Like" the AFTER DEATH Facebook page here, where you can stay updated on news, as well as the latest promotional material.

4) follow me on Twitter and Instagram. See photos of my cats.

5) check out more of my work at Dan-Lee.net, including my short story The Equestrian, which is available for a buck on Amazon.

6) check out and support the work of other talented Inkshares authors, among them Katherine Forrister, Matthew Isaac Sobin, Christopher Huang, J. Danielle Dorn, Tal Klein, J-F Dubeau, Kyle Cowan, Jacqui Castle, Evan Graham, Brian Fitzpatrick, Eric Heisner, and Erin Evan, who has written perhaps my most anticipated book of the coming year, The Pirates of Montana. 

Thank you all so much for your continued patience and support. This book has been my biggest creative project for nearly nine years, and it’s humbling and thrilling to know that so many people are excited to read it.

I’ll be sure to keep you all updated as things progress. And, as always, it means the world to me anytime you recommend AFTER DEATH to anyone and help spread the word.

Thanks again! You are all amazing!

Today is a great day, thanks to you, and Inkshares. 

I can honestly say I wouldn’t be where I am without the experience I had working with Inkshares on Sunshine is Forever. I have had both negative and positive experiences with the company, but I know their editorial process really improved my writing and taught me a ton. I want to thank Inkshares and all of you for supporting me with this book. You helped elevate me to the next level.

I’ve been querying to get a writing agent for 7 years. Well, I can finally announce that I have officially accepted representation with Jennifer Soloway at Andrea Brown Lit. I am thrilled! Here’s to a long and prosperous writing career! 

http://www.andreabrownlit.com/

I appreciate all of you! Don’t forget to review Sunshine is Forever on AMAZON!

Kyle T. Cowan

Happy Holidays to all of my amazing friends and supporters!

As this year comes to a close, I want to thank you all again for your generous contributions towards making Curio Citizen a reality. I also want to give you all a brief update on what’s happening in the publishing process.

As of now, I am still waiting to begin the process of editing, cover creation, and everything else that needs to happen in order to get Curio Citizen ready for bookshelves. Inkshares has many books currently in production, but I’ve heard through the grapevine that they are nearly finished with their current round of books, and after the new year will begin focusing on the next batch, which I’m happy to say, includes Curio Citizen.

I still don’t have an estimated publication date, but as promised, I will continue to give you all updates as soon as I know more. Thank you many times over for making 2017 a sparkling year in my life. Hopefully, 2018 will reward your generosity by sending a copy of Curio Citizen your way!

Much love to all and Happy New Year!

-Katherine