Greetings wonderful followers,
Sorry for the long silence. I’ve have my nose to the grind stone, working hard to make Beyond the Code the best it can be. But even with how hectic this time of year can be and how hard I’ve been working I just wanted to take a moment and wish you all a Merry Christmas or happy which ever winter holiday you celebrate.
I know it’s been one hell of a year for everyone but it’s almost to a close so try and take some time to reflect of the good things that have happened and the great things we still have.
I, for one am grateful that I got the chance to connect with all of you. Thank you all for the fantastic support you all have given me and I wish you all the best in the coming year.
Kelsey Rae Barthel
Hello my friends,
It’s been a while hasn’t it? Thing is, when preparing a book for publication, things can get pretty damn hectic. Toss in an option from a production company and the stakes get really high, which of course means more work.
That being said, I’d be remiss in not taking a moment to thank each and every one of you for your support in 2016. There’s no way I’d be anywhere near even this modest amount of success without you. I owe it all to you guys.
So I hope you all have incredible holidays with your friends and families. That 2017 will be an awesome year for you and that you get to accomplish your dreams the same way you’ve allowed me to accomplish mine. And to kick off the next year on a good note, I’d like to unveil the final (kinda) cover for A God in the Shed:
The designer did an amazing job in creating something iconic and striking that will be a great visual signature for the story. I’m really looking forward to seeing this cover, wrapped around a book, in your hands.
Thanks again for your support and happy Kwanzhannukmas everyone!
JF
Psst! Hey friend,
Just a reminder that phone cameras are dumb and always make my forehead look like a fivehead.
Also, MERRY CHRISTMAS! And Happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus, etc...
Oh, and Life Day. Can’t forget the Wookiees.
7 days left until THE LIST 2016 contest comes to an end. Bought your copy of Dax Harrison yet? Good. Convinced all your friends and family to buy it too? That’d be swell.
Whatever the outcome, let’s hope the new year brings a swift publishing date for Dax and his pals.
Cheers!
Tony V.
A deliriously happy, surreal update today:
250 Pre-Orders Attained! Publication now Guaranteed.
We did it! We are now at 101% of the light publishing goal called Quill which means Kingdom of Dreams will be published!
This will now become reality, it’s staggering to believe:
I will serve up a what happens next/moving forward update when the campaign concludes on 12/31/2016. But today is all about gratitude, reflection, and relief!:
When I say we did it, WE should be capitalized. This is a crowd-funded project, meaning if there’s not enough people that literally invest their own hard earned money to move this project across the publication line, this book doesn’t happen. Because of YOU, WE are here.
I recently went through the entire list of my backers, and got pretty emotional when considering each name. There are so many of you I have known since I could first walk and talk, many more since that have become my family, or we were close once, but time, circumstances and distance have moved us into different spheres, yet you still supported me. I have some newer incredible friends from my recent years of acting and getting into the writing game, and you have been right there in the struggle with me, but we have continued to fight to do what we love-we can’t help ourselves can we? And then there’s the perfect strangers that have embraced this project with enthusiasm and given my creativity a vitality and confidence I haven’t been able to harness before.
Some of you have endured incredible hardships and losses this year that I can’t even begin to fathom. Yet, here you are supporting this book. Your selfless faith and encouragement has also given me renewed strength and a clean perspective. It seems like whenever I had doubts and wanted to quit along the way, one of you would pre-order or a fellow writer would answer an e-mail and say something encouraging or take the time to answer one of my silly questions. Or a friend would recommend a friend, and even though you were still completely fuzzy about why you weren’t getting shipped a book within a week, you still supported me. Thank you Inkshares as well for enduring what has been--like everyone else who goes through this--an emotional campaign to say the least. (Elena, you’re a rockstar!)
Most of all, I owe my wife Eileen everything for what she’s had to endure. She’s seen me rise and fall, drift off to Never Never Land probably far more often than I realize, and help me gently--and sometimes not so gently!--return to Earth. (Well, at least long enough to be somewhat responsible!) And then there’s my baby boy, my light in dark places, my motivation to show you can do what you love and be confident in who you are, who will now grow up with a dad who writes and illustrates cool books! I hope...I wish...I pray!
My pledge to you: I will give this book my all. Every last breath. Just last month, I realized the beginning wasn’t good enough. It was okay, but okay doesn’t cut it. I could do better, I could dig deeper, I could be more vulnerable, have more fun with it, be more creative. So that’s where things stand now, and I can’t wait to put this all together.
I can’t thank you all enough for the opportunity you’ve given me. Now it’s time for a strong finish!
Yours in gratitude,
1. 29 Pre-Orders Away From Publication!
So with about 21 days left in the year-and our campaign-we are 29 pre-orders away from publication. Please keep the orders coming. We are nearly there!
2. Toys for Tots Update
My apologies if my post was a bit confusing regarding how this is going to work: I am going to match the dollar amount of every pre-order until December 20th with a personal donation to Toys For Tots. Remember, Kingdom of Dreams is not a complete book at this stage that will be ready in time for this Christmas.
So how will this work? For instance, we’ve gotten 11 pre-orders in so far since I started this incentive (awesome!), so I will match the total of those books along with any additional orders that come in and donate a matching gift to Toys For Tots on 12/20/2016. Make sense? I’ll post the donation on the 20th in one of these updates.
That said, as a bonus gift for the future, if you’d like me to also donate your book or an extra copy or two to Toys For Tots when it is complete sometime next year, feel free to let me know and it’s a done deal.
3. Revised Chapters
The revised Chapter 1 is up. I’ll be sending this out later today to each of you as well. Chapter 2 soon to follow. Please feel free to read, critique, and review. This is a very helpful exercise for your contribution to the book and also encourages new readers to engage with it.
Stay well and stay tuned!
A year ago yesterday we started this Campaign. Its been a long uphill battle but in the last year we completely rewrote and edited this story, hit our sales goal and shipped the manuscript off to Inkshares. While we wait to hear of a release date I just wanted to thank everyone whose been a part of this since last year. thank you all so much and check out the Inkshares page. We’ve go ahead and thrown a few new Art piece up there!
