If you haven’t seen my latest Facebook update, Inkshares has officially OK’ed an extension for Showtime’s pre-order campaign with the new end date being May 17th!

Over the next month, it’s more important than ever to show that Showtime was worthy of the extension. If you haven’t yet, now would be a great time to read my sample chapters (1-4 available now) and leave a review. And, as always, pre-ordering additional copies and sharing with friends and family would also be helpful.

Remember that 750 copies is only the ideal. Showtime still has a shot at publication based on our pre-order totals, reviews, followers, and time spent reading chapters. So if you’ve done one but not the other, would you consider checking it off your list? :)

Those of you who know me well enough know that I don’t as for things (favors, help, money, etc.)--must be the stubborn Italian in me--but this is the one time I am. So if you’re feeling extra-generous or extra-supportive or extra-really-wanting-to-help-someone-you-like-get-this-baby-published, I’d appreciate any additional help you’re willing to offer.

Thanks to everyone for sticking around with me a little longer. :)

Ricky

I am overwhelmed at the financial support you’ve all given to GOING, GOING, GONE! Last night we reached our pre-funding mark of 750. You might be relieved to know that I will no longer be requesting that you dust off your credit card and type in your numbers. 

Instead I ask that you mention GOING, GOING, GONE! to your baseball-loving friends. If you feel comfortable, bring up the topic in conversation, in email, or social media. PLEASE give out my email address. Mention that I’m on Facebook and Instagram. People can always order the book on Inkshares.

For now we celebrate as if we’ve resoundingly won our division in the regular season. Various levels of playoffs loom (7,500, 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 sales), and the World Series (which is a significant book contract for the next novel in the GOING, GOING, GONE! series). But for now, we celebrate, and I say THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!

Please email me your street address so I can say thank you with a real letter! SteveHermanos@yahoo.com / www.SteveHermanos.com

Good evening. Well, this coming week may be the one we have been waiting for -- I might hear from Inkshares with their assessment of Bane of All Things and whether it has made the grade for publication. Stay tuned with fingers crossed!

Whatever the outcome, know that each and every one of you have my deepest thanks and appreciation for all that you have done and the patience and support you have so graciously provided.

Bane of All Things is of course not the only title in funding on Inkshares. Another is Steve Hermanos’s baseball/time travel mash up Going, Going Gone!, in which a trio of over-pampered, modern-day baseball players are thrust back in time to the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

Today, Steve hit the 750 pre-order funding goal, which immediately put GGG! into the production pipeline for publication! It’s a huge accomplishment and a testament to his hard work. Steve is a baseball guy and well tapped into that community. He’s done an excellent job of mustering support from baseball fans and the results speak for themselves.

As I have said before, many titles are selected for publication by Inkshares without hitting that 750 pre-order target and I am hoping BoAT will be the next one.

Until the very last minute before I get that fateful email from an Inkshares editor, every additional pre-order does count to help swing the vote in my favour. So, if you have any inclination at all to order another copy (or your first copy) of BoAT, now is the time! Right now, before you go to sleep tonight!

Happy reading.

Cheers

Leo

Dear Readers,

Happy April! You know how every month has a few different things to celebrate? (Fun fact: April is National Poetry Month, and coming up in May is National Pet Month. My dogs are looking forward to that.) Well, I recently found out that it’s Indie April, and this is one I look forward to making all the people around me celebrate--because Indie April is about supporting independent authors, like me!

Independent authors may not have the stamp of a major publishing house, but that doesn’t mean we’re not talented. And there’s a really good chance we’re writing something you’d want to read--are you looking for something that’s not mainstream popular? Talk to us. So even if you think celebratory months have gotten out of hand, Indie April is still a good one to think about.

So here’s three ideas to help you celebrate:

1. Check out all the awesome titles published by Inkshares. Off the top of my head, there’s A Gentleman’s Murder by Christopher Huang, which was one of my favorites last year; The Seclusion by Jacqui Castle, which is winning ALL the things. Some epic fantasy titles coming out this year that I can’t wait for: The Phantom Forest by Liz Kerin and The Living God by Kaytalin Platt. AND SO MUCH MORE.

2. Leave a review! Most of the independent authors I know of live on reviews and coffee/tea. Reviews help our books get noticed more on sites like Amazon and Goodreads. (So if you liked The Fairy Stepmother Inc. and haven’t left an Amazon review yet... And a really enormous thank you to the people who have!)

3. Recommend us to your book club. Well, recommend us to anybody, really--anything that helps get our work out into different circles of people. I ran out of new people to talk to about my book a long, long time ago. That said, if you’re in a book club that might want to read a quirky fairy tale, I have a good recommendation.

Thanks to everyone here who’s supported me! I wouldn’t enjoy writing nearly as much if there weren’t people out there who would enjoy reading my stories.

As always, if you’ve got a question, or are having trouble getting your copy of my book onto the appropriate device, send me an email! I’m happy to help.

Happy Indie April!

Maggie