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:

• Become a SUN PRIEST by ordering 1 copy, and get your name entered once in the contest
  
• Become a GOD-KING by ordering 3 copies, and get your name entered 3 times in the contest
  
• For those of you who are already SUN PRIESTS, this is a great time to become a GOD-KING! You'll get your name entered 3 times, and you'll have some extra copies of Blood Dawn to pass out to your  friends (as well as having your name printed in the back)
  
• For those of you who are already GOD-KINGS, there's never such thing as too much power (even if it means, like Azzadul, you might be struck down with a blood-consuming curse -- hey, at least you'll have that gift card). You can order as many copies as you'd like to (that is true for SUN PRIESTS and those still aspiring toward the priesthood). Just head on over to
  https://www.inkshares.com/projects/blood-dawn and you'll see the option to order multiple copies under the header "GOD-KING"
  

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...

100!
100!
100!


We did it! 100 readers! This was the goal I set for myself in my first YEAR after my book was published. It's not published yet, true, but this is still a big milestone for me. Thank you all so much.

Now I have to figure out who will win the illustrations... I think I'm going to print all of your names out, cut them up, and put them in a hat. Then we'll do a video of the drawing! So this is your last chance to like that one update to put your name in the running.

As for new art to share, I realized you haven't gotten to see what Ky looks like yet! Madeleine did her artwork a long time ago and Ky looks different now, so that's why I haven't shown you her impression of him.

But here's mine!


Ky doesn't know exactly how old he is... relativity, man. Relativity.

:)

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.

I've already started. I know I'm in the top 10, so maybe you don't want to help me get higher. That's fine. If anyone doesn't want to pre-order my book in return, that's okay... but I'm still ordering yours! Every single order serves as encouragement, and that's something a lot of writers could use. What will the cost be? With the numbers the top 5 are showing, the cost will be nothing but a bit of time. So go encourage each other. Order each other's books and promote them on twitter and review their excerpts! There are a lot of great books out there that deserve more affirmation.

Cara

Thank you all for following and for those of you who have, pre-ordering! I still need a lot more pre-orders before my book can be published, though. 

I've been busy writing short stories for a couple magazines who've opened submissions lately. Finished a 1.5k story in a day, and I'm working on the next! Good practice for compelling ideas and any rejected short stories, I can turn into longer novels if they work. 

I'm also 8k words into my next novel! It is...well, I'm not sure what genre it is. It involves an earth literally shattered into separate pieces, and immortals...it'll be the next novel (my third) that I'll have completed and will either submit here, elsewhere, or look into self-publishing once it's done. :)

Hey guys, I've got something cool to share.