Hello, everyone! This has been a fabulous week. Thank you all for your enthusiastic support. I went from 188 copies on Monday to nearly 250 today. I am confident we are going to sell those last two books today!

Don’t forget to join me on Facebook for my Day of Reckoning event - the last day of the campaign, February 9. 7pm EST. https://www.facebook.com/events/1033802110094056/

I’ll be doing random giveaways all night, including copies of the book. I’ll give updates on where we’re going next, too. Finally, I’m giving $1/copy sold from Feb 1 - Feb 9 to Babywearing International of Akron Youngstown, so I’ll announce that total. I just realized it’s right before the opening ceremony for the Olympics, so we’ll probably wrap up a little early so everyone can watch that. 

I am so excited to bring you this book!!

Hello everyone, welcome to 2018!

Work on Blood Capital has been progressing at pace since NYE and we are now close to completing the developmental edits (at last!). Check the progress chart below and you can see I’ve almost completed the rewrite, and that all of Acts One and Two have had my second pass. Once this is complete, it should just be a matter of getting the final development notes from my editors and incorporating them, then we move into copy editing (grammar and spelling).

Everyone has been wonderfully patient with me over the past year, and that has made this process so much easier. Thank you. I’m aware the journey has been long — I had no idea how long it would be when I entered the competition back in 2016. To provide an idea of the work behind the scenes, I’ve been averaging almost 18 hours a week on the novel, which multiplied out over nine months (roughly how long I’ve been working on edits), adds up to more than six hundred hours so far. 

We are now on the home straight, and Blood Capital is set for release at the end of July. A marketing plan is coming together to support the launch, and I’ve now seen an early version of the cover art. As soon as the cover art is finalized, I’ll send out a special update, but for now I can tell you it’s going to stand out on shelves.

Cheers,

Robert
https://robertbatten.net 

Dear Sweethearts, 

I hope that you all are doing well and that you’re staying warm, and that you’re having a lovely evening! I am writing to share some exciting news, a video that Health Magazine did based on "How to Get Run Over By a Truck" recently went up online! You can take a look here :) 

Amazingly, after it was posted by Health - People Magazine, Hello Giggles and Real Simple all also shared it, and just this week it reached over 1 million views! I wanted to share this with you, because none of this would have been possible without you and your support of me and this story! 

I have said this before, but I REALLY mean it this time, thank you x 1 MILLION! 

Heart,

Katie 

Progress on The Seclusion is happening on all ends!

At some point in the next week or so, my editor will submit the first three beautifully-polished chapters of the book to Ingram - a book distribution company that major retailers, and most indie bookstores, use to stock their shelves.

In other exciting news, the book is starting to pop up on major online retail sites for preorder!

The goal, as of now, is to shift from developmental-edit to copy-edit by April 1st. I’ll be hard at work every day until then to make sure we stay on schedule for a fall release, so that we can get this book in your hands!

I’ve been spending any and all free time over the last couple of weeks combing through the manuscript with two primary goals in mind - 1) Add to the inner voice of the protagonist, Patch 2) Flesh out additional world-building details. I regularly have at least one reference book open next to me as I work to sneak up on each scene from a new angle. My favorite as of late is The Emotional Craft of Fiction: How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface, by Donald Maass.

Last week, in an effort to soak up new world building inspiration, I used random photos found online and my favorite quick-marketing toy (Canva) to throw together a few concept images. Lately, I have these open as I hammer out my descriptive imagery for any given scene. Below are a few if you would like to take a look:

CHILDREN’S CLASSROOM

CITY CENTER

COMPLIANCE OFFICERS (COMPOS) AND PACIFIER (DIRECTED ENERGY WEAPON)

I am guessing that over the next month I will hear from the Inkshares marketing team, and that cover design will kick off soon.

Back to edits! Until next time.

-Jacqui

Today’s the day!! 

Yes, today is PUBLICATION DAY!!

That’s right. Now you can go into most major book stores and ask for Beyond the Code. You can go to Amazon and order it right now. It’s AVAILABLE!!!! The long wait it finally over! 

I am officially a published author and it feels amazing, but I’m not done yet. Now I have the task of making Beyond the Code a success and you can help. If you haven’t pre-ordered Beyond the Code, you can go to any major book like Indigo, Chapters, or Coles, and ask for Beyond the Code. If enough people show interest, they might think that Beyond the Code deserves a place on their shelves. Not only would that make it more accessible to people out of the loop, it would make a dream of mine a reality. 

If you already have a copy and you still want to help out in building the books success. You can go to Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, or Goodreads and leave a review or rating to let me know what you thought. The more reviews Beyond the Code gets, especially through Amazon, the more exposure it will receive. Reviews are an authors best friend. 

Thank you all for following me clear to the finish line and I hope you love this little slice of my imagination. 

Kelsey Rae Barthel

Unless there are delays,

BB will

release in thirty days.

It’s a poem I’ve been wanting to write for ages.  Congrats to us all, and I wish everyone FANTASTIC success!!!

Dear Friends,

If you feel like you have not heard from me in a while, then you have not subscribed to my monthly newsletter. If you want to hear about my literary projects and other shenanigans, click here and subscribe.

I come to you with great news. The Bad Medicine: Zombie Slaying Queen manuscript is finished. It is an exciting day for yours truly. Bad Medicine is a work of love and much dedication. I am proud of the world I created and the characters who live in it and I can’t wait to share it with you.

. 

I know you have been waiting a while to get your copy, but there is still a bit of a longer wait. The folks at Inkshares are crazy busy editing, printing and promoting many amazing novels. My fabulous, but humble, drag superstar has got herself in line and she will be patiently waiting for her turn.

I will not bore you with a long reflection about the creative journey. I will say, though, that it feels great knowing that after so much time and dedication, I can proudly say, I am done and I love what I have done.

Another things that excites me is that the world of drag is more popular than ever. Don’t believe me? Check out this announcement from World of Wonder. Drag Queens on a Plane, is a thing and it will be a cluster of charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent.

check out the news 

Talk to you soon my pretties.

We’re 345 orders in!

It’s Super Reader Appreciation Day! Did you know if you order 3 or more your name goes in the back of the book? If we get to 750, Rock of Ages will be marketed and distributed internationally and your name could be in it! You you could give copies to your friends and family, a book club, or use them as gifts.

I’m going to sweeten the deal even more today. Anyone who purchases the Super Reader Pack (3+ copies), I’ll write a short fiction piece about. You’ll get 100 words for each copy you purchase. You will be welcome to share this or just keep it for yourself. Your own short story, with you as the main character, by a soon-to-be-published novelist!

Of course single orders are welcome and appreciated too! Thank you!

Thank you so much to all of you and especially, today, to my Super Readers!

Hi, readers! First, thanks to everyone who is new on the list. I am in the home stretch of this campaign, but I plan to thank everyone personally as soon as it’s over and I’m able to recover. 

A few news items: I’m doing live updates every day on my Facebook page: facebook.com/caridubielauthor - They’re really short, no more than 5 minutes so far, and sometimes include guest appearances from cute children. I’m also doing a Final Day of Reckoning event on there, February 9 at 7pm. We didn’t make the Amazon gift card this week, but I promise I will have lots of giveaways and fun for my supporters that night.

I was SO excited to be on Jungle Red Writers yesterday! This is a great blog full of talented mystery writers - both the bloggers and the readers - and fabulous fans. Check it out and give it a follow! Also, my podcast with Beth is back, although I’m still messing with the feeds, so you might have to go directly to Soundcloud to listen.

Hoping everyone has a wonderful day! 67 copies to go with just under two weeks! Please tell everyone you know, and if you feel so inclined, write me a recommendation on Inkshares. Here’s the link again.

Isidore RAM steps into the Font, sweeping the cables connected to her Shroud behind her like a train. She flips a switch, connecting her synapses to the Circuit and sighs one whispered phrase, like a prayer "July 10, 2018."