Greetings Supporters of Crow’s Gambit,
The Nerdist Contest is only a few hours away from ending. I’m sorry to say we will not be finishing in the top 3. With 123 unique orders we are securely in 5th place. However, don’t feel bad. This is still a great accomplishment. There are some strong books in the top ten and according to Inkshares there were over 180 submissions.
I cannot express my gratitude for all the support the story has received. Orders were placed by strangers, co-workers, high school friends, local supporters, and even several of the top ten authors in the contest. I thank you all.
The journey is not done for Crow’s Gambit. While winning the contest would have been GREAT there is another option. I can still try to sell enough Pre-Orders to secure publishing. A full publishing deal would require 750 Pre-Orders…that is a bunch and probably outside my time available at this point. So I have decided to try for the Quill level that requires 250 Pre-Orders. This deal would not get the book onto physical store shelves and would only involve light editing…but the story would get published and that’s a start.
This means we now shift to Plan B and spend the next couple months trying to sell more copies. With 136 copies already sold we only need 114 to get to the Quill level. There are two things to remember in this:
So stay with me. Keep spreading the word to your friends. Updates will come a little less frequently but hopefully will include more interesting tidbits.
PT
Well folks, I have news and I have news.
None of it is very good, though.
We continue to fall behind in the contest. Right now we’re sitting at 22 pre-orders behind third place. On the plus side, we have been doing really surprisingly well with getting new orders in every day the past couple of days Everyone else has just been doing better than we have.
We all have good days and bad days, though. I’m hoping one of the next couple of days will be a bad one for them, and that all of mine are good ones. I lack the ability to quit, and I’m still way too close to the top three to seriously consider doing so, so I intend to proceed as if my victory is a given.
In other news, apparently Inkshares goofed and announced the wrong deadline. The contest ends not on the 25th, but on the 27th. So two extra days. Honestly, I would have preferred the closer deadline, but I can work with this too.
Please remember: I have absolutely zero hope of finishing this thing without your help. I’ll be honest here and say I am running out of people to ask, and I have nowhere near the time I’d like to find new ones before the end of this contest. I am heavily dependent on you who have already supported me this far bringing in your friends and families to help me. To that end, please remember I am running this promotion for anyone who successfully refers someone to pre-order. I like to think my art is at least passable enough as an incentive.
Press on, loyalists. Like the dedicated crew on The Somnambule, we are dedicated to one mission and one only: Always keep the ship moving forward.
Thank you supporters of Crow’s Gambit! What we have done so far is truly amazing. However, we are still in 5th place. If only half of you asked a friend to Pre-Order...and only half of them did...we would be in contention again. This is very doable...with YOUR help.
For my part I just posted the Question and Answer video I’ve been promising. I’ll admit I hate myself on video but hopefully you’ll learn something about the story or just have a chuckle.
https://youtu.be/KP7borfTwLg
The end date of the contest has been shifted. It will now be Tuesday night (6/27). That gives us a few days yet.
Stay with me...
PT
Hey there supporters of Crow’s Gambit. We are still battling in the contest (at 5th place) but could honestly use some love today.
To keep you up to date on the story I just posted and sent out an Excerpt from Chapter 13. This tidbit gives a little more background on the alien Sylph.
I am very grateful for all of your support and I know everyone’s time and money is limited. But if you have ANY friends (enemies are good too) who might be interested in the story please share the information and suggest they make a pre-order. Remind them that if the book does not get published their money is refunded. However, if the book does get published then part of the proceeds go to benefit the Le Sueur Public Library.
PT
The second I have news on Fortunes of the Space Sloth I will let you know. I promise. In the meantime I invite you all to consider Crow’s Gambit. It is entered in the Nerdist SciFi contest. We’ve been knocked out of 3rd with less than 5 days left. The story could really use some caring supportive readers to back it. If you have already Pre-Ordered it, thank you (now tell a friend to order). If not, why not have a look? What do you have to lose? $1 of every copy sold goes to the Le Sueur Public Library, a very deserving institution.
https://www.inkshares.com/books/crow-s-gambit
Short Description of Crow’s Gambit:
Confined by the alien Sylph to the surface of Earth mankind has lost the power of flight. Can one woman use her knowledge and skill to overcome human politics and alien indifference to regain the skies?
Comments on the Story:
“We take aviation for granted. Space technologies are now almost routine as well. Crow’s Gambit poses an interesting question. What if we no longer owned the skies? I’ll follow this project with interest!”
“Best of luck in the Nerdist contest! This book looks really cool - love the premise!”
“Funding for the Nerdist SciFi contest! Crow’s Gambit is exciting from the first little bits with the essay on how the Slyphs came to appear. Tension, mystery, and classic Human rebellion burgeon an intriguing story. Support it!”
Greetings followers of Crow’s Gambit! I’ve wanted to talk about this topic for several weeks and with the contest ending soon now is probably a good time. The topic is how I selected the book description of “The Day the Earth Stood Still in a Tom Clancy setting.” I’ll admit it was a tough decision and I’m still not completely satisfied with it. So let’s break it down.
Were there any runner up descriptions? Yes, War of the Worlds. Not the Tom Cruise remake but the 1953 classic. Aliens with technology far in advance of ours wipe aside our defenses in days. That kind of sounds like the Sylph. Except the Sylph never came down in landers and haven’t (as yet) tried to wipe out mankind.
Ok, we want advanced unstoppable aliens who really don’t care about us. How about The Day the Earth Stood Still? Not the Keanu Reeves remake but the 1951 classic. Klaatu comes to Earth and basically says they don’t care what we do to ourselves but if we try to spread our violence off the planet we’re done for. Ok, THAT sounds much more like the Sylph…except the Sylph haven’t even bothered to send a messenger down.
There’s something else about that movie that always struck a chord with me. After the saucer lands in D.C. everyone kind of goes about their business. I mean they just leave it sitting there with a couple guards on it. Proof of alien life in the universe but after the initial encounter everyone just goes home to take care of their lives. This is a lot like the world of Crow’s Gambit. Humans know they aren’t alone and they are outgunned technologically. A net of alien spheres surrounds the planet but after a time everyone gets on with their lives and just accepts it as the new reality. Except for a few people like Cassie and Darrow.
And Tom Clancy? That one was a given. Besides political intrigue and competing personal agendas Tom Clancy novels are always steeped in advanced, if not exotic, science and technology. Clancy described himself as a storyteller, not a writer. Really that’s what I’d like to be. A storyteller. I’m trying to entertain you with a good story.
I can’t do this without you though. We are close to the end and locked in a back and forth for 3rd place. Don’t just share the book link…call a friend and ask them to Pre-Order. Don’t just click Like on this post…write a Recommendation on the book’s page. We can do this!
PT
June 19, 2017
Hello everyone, I hope you’re all well! Time for another update on things going on in the Shadow King world and beyond.