Gentle readers,
Huge thanks to the following folks for their support this past week:
And especially Thomas J. Arnold, who was my 142nd, 143rd, and 144th preorder.
Going into the final six days of the campaign, I have been tightening up the outline in preparation to implement some draft notes I’ve received from beta readers, and working with Adam Gomolin to bring the second half of the novel from not existing to not sucking. It’s come a long way from the humble little novella it was in March, but I still need to sell 106 preorders in order for this project to reach Quill.
If you’ve already preordered your copy, consider preordering another to foist upon friends and family.
If you haven’t yet, I really need your support. If you’re not in a position to spend another $10, I totally understand (I’m not either, you’ll notice from the lack of "preorder swap" DMs) but would still appreciate your spreading the word on social media.
We only need to sell like 20 preorders a day to reach our goal, we can totally do this.
-J.
This will be quick! You know when one of those dorks is on some awards show and forgets to thank a bunch of people? Well, my bad here too. Yesterday I thanked a bunch of folks, and I was so focused on getting appreciation out for the actual production of the book, I forgot to mention a few very important people. So pardon me, but I’m going to rectify this situation right now! To Mom and Dad who are no longer here, the book is dedicated in your honor. Also to Sam, who has put up with a lot (Let’s move to Malibu! I’m taking up Surfing!! Get a Beagle, they said...Get two!!). Thanks to my big sister Jane Gallagher, my big brother John Pomerance, my stepmother Paula Diamond, who has always provided literary inspiration, all six of my nephews, Uncle Leo, all of my cousins, and all of their kids, Aunt Marlene, and to Sidney Sherman, a most extraordinary manager who has been there through thick and thin. Okay, that’s it! Now on with your day.
Ah, the moment we’ve all be waiting for!! Here is the real book!!
Okay, now that I’m done sobbing, let’s get to the thank you’s. Can’t tell everybody how amazing this is, and now I will try to express most sincere thanks as well as humanly possible.
So here goes. First, though, a short background of how this long, strange trip began. Women Like Us had a go-around with publishers when my TV/Movie agent at the time gave the manuscript to a book agent in NY. She loved it, and was just certain -- really one hundred percent certain! -- she was going to sell it. So out it went to a big bunch of publishers and while it came close in a couple of instances, the agent turned out to be wrong! Imagine that. Anyway, I ended up doing some revisions, had a parting of the ways with said agent and then was on the verge of a go-around looking for new representation when I read about inkshares in a piece on Deadline about its deal with UTA. Right around that time, an old friend was visiting, just as I was debating whether or not to give Inkshares a try. I gave her three chapters and was curious to see the reaction -- would she want to read more? Or not? Well, she did, and it pretty much inspired me to give this a try, and so first let me thank Kate Funk for the encouragement to just go for it and launch the campaign to get the book published. Also, I need to thank everybody who jumped on board in the pre-order phase. This wouldn’t have happened without you and I can’t express enough my appreciation.
Now let’s talk about the book itself. Marcia Parlow’s cover -- front back and spine -- is just beautiful, and I can’t thank her enough for all the hard work that went into getting it done. Thanks also to Claudia Domenig for the picture that became the cover, and thanks to Steven Murashige for making me look somewhat decent in my author photo! Thanks also to my two wonderful blurb providers, the hugely talented and generous authors Charles Dickinson and Joseph Asphahani. Meanwhile at Inkshares, can I say a word about Angela Melamud? Can I say more than one word? Angela has been so patient and kind and helpful through this entire process. She answers numerous questions (sometimes daily, sometimes stupid) with what always feels like a smile. I can’t thank Angela enough through all the editing and production. And Matt at Inkshares for the marketing advice, and Adam for legal (although Adam did make me take out the recipes section!). Over at Girl Friday Productions, the folks that did the nuts and bolts of putting the book together, thank you to first Bethany Davis and then Jaye Whitney Debber. Both of them, like Angela, have the patience of saints!! To all the other Inkshares authors who have provided support, I thank you all most sincerely too -- you guys are amazing and just to name a few: Amanda Orneck, Matt Sobin, Landon Crutcher, Billy O’Keefe, Joni Dital, Tony Valdez, Ricardo Henriquez, Peter Ryan and more!! If you haven’t checked out their books, do it!
So I’m going to get started signing books. Soon they’ll be in your hands, and if you’ve already dipped into an eBook I hope you’re loving it. One last request to everybody: as many of you know customer reviews are critical on Amazon so I’m providing the link to the Amazon Page. If you’ll scroll down to the ’write a customer review’ section’ and give it some stars and maybe a line or two, I’d so appreciated it. And it hopefully will get the book into even more hands. So that’s it for now. Again, many, many thanks.
Here’s that Amazon link:
Wednesday updates are becoming my favorite updates. I really enjoy taking a day off my campaigning to throw recommendations at other people’s books that I think really deserve at least as much of your attention as my own.
This week, I want to spotlight M. Robert Randolph’s book, Wings of the Crallow.
In the first paragraph alone, Wings of the Crallow snatches up your attention, then immediately subverts your expectations. This is the kind of experience you can expect to have throughout all of the story currently available to read. The highly symbolic prose of the story’s content lies somewhere between Stephen King’s Dark Tower and ancient epic poetry. Modern writing terminology doesn’t even properly convey what this story is. It’s not merely a story, it’s a journey. Wings of the Crallow is a timeless, utterly phenomenal story I cannot recommend higher. Pre-order it immediately.
And on a separate note, Tantalus Depths has just passed 600 pre-orders!
I’m completely over the moon about this. Tantalus Depths is so close to that finish line...
We still have a lot left to do, but we’ve made it so much farther than most books manage here. I feel destined to reach that sweet, sweet 750. We only have 19 days to get there, though, so everyone get ready for the final push!
Also, as promised, I’ll be releasing chapter 2 as a reward for getting us to 600. Expect me to upload that and my video reading of it some time tomorrow!
You are all such incredible people for getting Tantalus Depths this far. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Hello guys, gals, robots,
I figured I might as well keep you guys a little updated as thanks for following this project.
I’m a little behind schedule getting the Draft version of the campaign ready. Mostly because it entails having images and a video and a bunch of things ready to launch and I want to get this right.
On the bright side, the first draft worthy of being sent to beta readers is almost ready and I’m very excited about it. I had a blast writing it so I’m tentatively optimistic you’ll enjoy reading it.
As a ’treat’ for you who are early into this project, here are some sketches of the main characters’ heads in Arch Android.
I’m mostly trying to be a better feel of how I want them to look so I can make a temporary cover. I’m still planning on getting the amazing Eric Belisle to do his interpretation of whatever I come up with for the final cover. Hopefully I can convince him to do that.
Thanks for your support. Let’s get more people on board so that when this project launches it gets funded so fast I won’t even have time to get an ulcer (this time).
Cheers,
JF
