All of you have received an email from Inkshares this week informing you of a refund for ILLEGAL. It was sent out in error. I’ve been struggling to figure out what is going on and how this will be fixed and I wish I could write and tell you what will happen but I can’t. Basically the Inkshares team says they don’t know what triggered the mass refund but they can recharge credit cards and get those orders back. However, they do not want to re-issue orders that used credits--when the campaign began the platform gave you credits to encourage participation and they have since discontinued that practice. This seems unfair to me and I’m trying to reach out to them to come up with a better resolution. I don’t know what that will be but I’m also not sure how long it will take to figure out and I know many people were confused and curious about what was happening and I wanted to be transparent and share all I know. As you can imagine this is a very frustrating situation for me and I appreciate your patience and support, probably more now than ever. 

Campaign Week 1

Day seven of the campaign and the crowdfunding competition is now drawing to a close.

It has been an intense week.

The support from my friends, family, and the community has been astounding. In seven short days, you have all ordered 125 copies of Human Resources! That is crazy — Human Resources is now 50% of the way to guaranteed publication on the Quill imprint!* What’s more, that has been enough to push the book into first place in The Launchpad Manuscript crowdfunding competition!

Unfortunately, second place has not been idle — they have been working hard to erode my lead in the competition, so we can’t slack off now! If you haven’t yet ordered a copy, it would be great if you considered doing so. Other things that are incredibly helpful are all the posts people have been making on social media, and the fantastic reviews / recommendations people have been leaving on Inkshares. Please keep it up!

I’m working on some special campaign content for the coming week -- keep an eye out for the next update :)

* If you would like to know what the Quill imprint is, and how it differs from the full Inkshares publishing service, I talk about it on my blog here.

Judges’ Top 50

Today the The Tracking Board announced the second round finalists from the formal judges stream — the Top 50. Guess what? That’s right, Human Resources made the cut!

Some more information about Inkshares

I know a number of you haven’t encountered Inkshares before, and some of you haven’t heard me speak about it before. I want to take the opportunity to familiarise everyone with the Inkshares model (my apologies for those this is old news to).

Inkshares is a book publishing company that selects the books it publishes through crowdfunding. The books not yet published on this site (i.e. Human Resources) are author drafts — they have not gone through a publisher’s editing process. When projects successfully fund, that means there is a delay before books are available for those who pre-ordered. Once a book is funded, before you receive your copy, the following must happen:

1. The author makes final changes to their manuscript.
2. Inkshares editors work through and enhance the manuscript with the author.
3. The polished manuscript is published (design, production, shipping).

There is more information available on the Inkshares FAQ and on their “How it Works” page.

The short version:

1. The excerpts you’ve all read are not the final versions.
2. The book won’t be available immediately after the campaign finishes.
3. You will be kept informed every step of the way.

Thank you again for your support,

Robert
https://www.inkshares.com/books/human-resources

Just a small update on this chilly Tuesday evening. Three new readers threw their support behind Witherfist earlier today, putting us ever-closer to 7th place in the contest top 10.

It occurred to me this morning that I’ve yet to share on Inkshares the character art of Sunderei, the Imperial scribe who appears in the third excerpt on the Witherfist project page - so here he is! 

~ Jenny

Greetings, Faoii!

Are you the type of person that likes to listen to chapters rather than reading them? Well, then you might like this audio version of Chapter 1 (I put it on youtube because I figured that was one of the more convenient ways for people to listen in). 

Greetings from Hell frozen over, home of the World Series-hosting Chicago Cubs...

First, the good news

Okay folks, this is it. By now, if you ordered a physical book, you should have received notice that it’s in the sky or on the highway and en route to your front door. (It may have even arrived already.) The books took a little longer than we’d hoped to get from the printer to the office, but I think the wait is worth it. Speaking honestly, they look even better than I’d hoped they would. I’m delighted with the finished product, and I hope you are too when it reaches your door. (Quick note: Despite what the email said, they are jacketed hardback copies and not paperback.)

(Quick note #2: If you haven’t received a shipping notice, check your spam folder, and if nothing’s there, let me know and I’ll pass the word on to Inkshares. They’re a small but terrific group of folks and they’ll get it sorted.)

Now some bad news, followed immediately by good news

Due to circumstances and scheduling issues, there was no time to reschedule my September flight to Inkshares HQ to sign the books. But because I want to make good on that, I commissioned a big sheet of personalized illustrated bookplates (fancy word for sticker) that I’ve signed and will send out to all who want them for their copies. Just send your address to me via email (billyok@mac.com) and I’ll take care of the rest. It’s not quite the same as me writing my name in your book, but it’s close. (Alternatively, if you’re local, let’s just meet up and I’ll sign it right before your eyes.)

Now some more good news

In fact, if you’re in the Chicago area on the evening of Saturday, November 5th, you can get them signed in person by attending a launch party at one of Chicago’s best independent bookstores. I’ll be at Lincoln Square’s The Book Cellar, 4736 N. Lincoln Ave., starting at 6 p.m. It’s right down the street from the Western Brown Line stop and there’s plenty of street parking in the vicinity as well. Come on by, say hi, and celebrate the imminent passing of this horrid election season.

And finally, a quick but hugely important favor

I’ll spare you the details and make this quick, but I cannot emphasize enough how crucial reviews are to an author’s ability to attract new readers on Amazon, Goodreads and Barnes & Noble. The benefits of receiving at least 100 ratings/reviews on each are tangible, and given how much weight those three sites carry, those benefits can be of make-or-break importance. So if you have accounts on any or all of these sites and can spare a few more minutes, I’m asking for your help in hitting that magic number. Even just a click on the star rating thing helps (though if you have some kind words to throw in, those are of course appreciated).

Here are links to take you straight to all three, all of which are accepting reviews now. Thank you so much (yet again) for whatever you can do.

— Amazon: [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1942645236#customerReviews]

— Goodreads: [https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit/30007120] 

— Barnes & Noble: [http://www.barnesandnoble.com/reviews/these-are-my-friends-on-politics-billy-okeefe/1123852462?ean=9781942645238] 

That’s all for now. Be nice to each other. November 9 is almost here.