Hey, all. I've had a pretty busy week so I've been woefully quiet. I figured I'd send out a quick update now that I have a bit of free time and the Nerdist contest is over.
I discovered Inkshares for the first time well into the contest, so I never bothered to enter The Great Unlife. I knew it was going to be a nasty uphill battle as it was, and coming in that late pretty much guaranteed I wouldn't make the top ten, much less the top five. So I've been primarily focused on reaching out to potential readers in hopes of making that 750 pre-order goal, or better yet the 1000.
Having already published the book through Amazon, I know well the satisfaction and awe of holding my work in my hands. It's a glorious feeling. It's not quite so glorious watching it languish largely unread on Amazon and CreateSpace. Without the means (and aptitude, I might add) of marketing the book properly, it hasn't exactly seen the level of success that would give me free reign to write full time, as much as I would love to do so. There are a little over five hundred copies of The Great Unlife in the wild, which feels pretty amazing, let me tell you. But it's a tale that deserves to be read by more, and so I brought it to Inkshares to hopefully take advantage of the site's marketing and editing teams.
Do I think I can hit the goal that will let me do so? Honestly, I don't think so. Not this time, anyway. I'm a massive introvert, and for all the same reasons I haven't been able to increase the book's exposure on Amazon it isn't catching fire here either. But! Other than my friends and family that came to support my work here after having already supported it elsewhere, a large number of you have probably never read it or were aware of its existence. And that's progress! And while it would be great if everyone (and all their readers and followers!) picked up a copy, just having The Great Unlife on peoples' minds is pretty damn cool by itself, and hopefully will one day lead to a purchase.
So, what's next? Well, I hope to continue working with the Inkshares community to promote this funding campaign. I've met some amazing authors and readers in the few weeks I've been here! I have a new cover image in mind that I hope to make reality sometime over the next couple weeks, something a little more exciting than the beautiful, but not exactly thrilling, cover I've had for it since the book was unleashed last year. I also plan to put the book back up for sale on CreateSpace once this current campaign ends. While I hope to start a new campaign soon after, I may take some time to focus on my other project here, Kananaskis On Foot . I've been steadily planning that book out, and I hope to have more information and a chapter or two sometime in October.
Alas, this is turning into quite the novel by itself, so I shall bid you farewell for the moment. Again, I can't thank you all enough for your support, and I can't wait to get The Great Unlife into your hands.
M.
