then
Happy Friday fellow robot enthusiasts,
I love this. I really shouldn’t, but I do. I’m currently juggling two projects at the same time. More than two but ultimately two major projects. On one hand I’m bounding approvals and changes on ‘The Life Engineered’. Now that the final manuscript has been sent to copy editing, we’re working on covers, interior layout, cover copy, etc. It’s all very exciting. Much like an artificial life form, every piece is played out, examined and added to the final assembly, bringing it one step closer to life.
On the other hand, I’m running this crowdfunding effort for ‘A God in the Shed’. This requires me to get in touch with as many supporters as I can and find ways of getting exposure for the project. Some of you may already have received emails asking for your support. I try to make these as personal as I can. You deserve more than just a mass copy/paste email, but it’s very time consuming.
All of this is emotionally draining but I love the excitement and the sense of purpose. While I do worry about being a pest with requests for help and pre-orders, I’m getting to really love getting in touch with those who pre-ordered ‘The Life Engineered’. My favourite is when people both pre-order a copy of ‘A God in the Shed’ and get in touch. The one-on-one interaction with readers is always a blast.
I’ll leave you with this cool thing that fellow writer Paul Inman (author of the upcoming ‘Ageless’ and currently funding ‘Motor City Chronicles') did for me. It’s a voice over of the prologue to ‘A God in the Shed’. I think you’ll agree that he completely knocks it out of the park. The tone, the atmosphere. It elevates the material. Have a listen, then pre-order the book and pre-order his books.
All the books.
JF
Hey Team Shaping Fate,
Happy almost weekend! It's been an amazing week. This project has gotten some new readers, new backers, but probably coolest of all, I'm making some new friends. A lot of contests can feel kind of like the Hunger Games, but the participants and readers here have been so supportive. For example, fellow author A.C. Weston. (We double initial authors have to stick together) Check out this excerpt from one of her recent updates:
"Anyway, I realized something pretty darn significant, people: it's possible, if an author were smart and inclined, for that author to trade pre-orders with every person in this contest - each person gets one new order, but in return, whoever does this methodically would receive potentially HUNDREDS of orders in return.
It's not cheating. Not at all!
It's just an ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT STRATEGY. Guys!!
There are 270 of us in this contest, and if one person pre-orders every book, that's (realistically) only 5 books they'll have to actually pay for... but if everyone pre-orders back, that's 269 pre-orders for a single person themselves. That would put you in first place!
But what if we all did it? Well, everyone would have more pre-orders and everyone would be elevated. We wouldn't all win, no, but that's not the point. It would be great for everyone's self-esteem - and what if we had a 200-way tie for 3rd place or something?!?! Wouldn't that be cool? It would be CRAZY.
So, hey Inkshares Nerdist competition authors: let's all do it.
Go and trade pre-orders. With. Everyone."
Not only is that pretty awesome of her to explain to everybody, but it's true. And I started doing just that, and guess what, I've gotten a few more backers already. So, participants, spread the love! Readers, thanks as always for your support. If you can't back a ton of projects, maybe leave a nice word about what you read or what you're hoping to see.
Here's A.C.'s link for her project "She Is the End."
Have a great weekend!
-V.R.
Today I want to let you all know about a very special guest on my blog, Jamison Stone, whose fantastic book, Rune of the Apprentice, is funding here on Inkshares. Jamison writes immersive epic fantasy set in the Universe of Numinous. I fell in love with Rune of the Apprentice at once--especially when I saw Jamison's maps!--and think if you enjoy epic fantasy, then you'll definitely want to check it out and consider backing this great project:
Jamison is my World Builders guest today, where he shares some of his philosophy about world building. You can also check out his amazing hand-drawn maps and read an excerpt from his book. I hope you all enjoy!
Here's the link:
https://epicfantasywriter.wordpress.com/2015/09/04/world-builders-jamison-stone/
Anyway,
Hey Lurks. This will be a short update, since I know you have a flood of these things to wade through, and I don't really want to write a long one today anyway, since my Spam Inkshares Followers hat is at the cleaners.
Thank you all so much for the support! I've got 29 days or so left of the Nerdist contest, so please share with everyone! I've posted two more excerpts from the book as well, so enjoy and leave me feedback! Love, Amanda
Dear readers,
I want to announce an exciting opportunity for you all!
Starting today, I am launching the 100 for $100 contest.
Here is how it works:
The names for everyone who orders the next 100 copies of Blood Dawn will be entered in a draw for a $100 amazon gift card (US funds). You can order more than one copy if you choose -- your name will be entered once for every copy you pre-order. As soon as I hit 204 copies (100 pre-orders from the 104 where I'm sitting now), I will print out all the names that go with the pre-orders, and I'll put them in a blue wizard's cap and draw out the name of the lucky winner.
If you've followed Blood Dawn but haven't backed it yet, this is the perfect time to jump in.
You can back the project in two ways:
Want to listen to the opening chapter, or read it, before you decide? Here's a link. You can click on the reading by Paul Inman at the top of the chapter:
https://www.inkshares.com/projects/blood-dawn/book_segments/opening
So, it begin! Initiates, time to aspire to the priesthood, priests, aspire to godhood, god-kings, reach far, far, if you dare...