CONTEST UPDATE
Many of you have been asking me about how the contest concluded, and I've remained silent on the matter, not because I didn't want to tell you all about it, rather out of pure mental exhaustion more than anything. It is not in my nature to ask people to give their hard-earned money to a personal cause, let alone repeatedly. That is not to say that I didn't/don't believe the cause worthy, because IT IS—it's my dream to be a working writer. But I would rather people love my work and support me without my asking for it. So in the end, I am thankful for this contest for providing me the opportunity to A) Write for a specific purpose with deadlines. B) Foster a spirit of camaraderie and honesty in competition. C) Inform numerous people of my desire to write. Many of my closest friends and family have known for a long time of my affinity for word-smithing and telling stories, but not all of them knew that I was serious about it. I hope they do now.
In the end, I came in 9th place. Remaining in the Top Ten was all I hoped for, and because of you guys, I did that. This helped garner attention to my name among all people following and participating in the contest. I received an honorable mention in the contest results post by Sword & Laser and Inkshares, as well. It should also be noted that I came in 7th place for unique readership (e.g. If Grandma bought 50 copies, she was only counted once); I'm pretty proud of that.
Technically, my book is still a viable publishing option through Inshares' regular publication guidelines, as I am more than 25% funded. However, I would need to rake in another 500 pre-orders in 42 days—yikes! That does not sound like fun, and quite honestly, I have books to write. I'd rather spend my time working on actually writing than marketing.
Some lingering questions you may have:
What happens to my copy of the book?
You don't get it. Inkshares is only publishing the people who were in the Top 5.
Will my card be charged?
No. You were only obligated to pay if I won.
Will they still publish the 215 copies you sold?
No, but wouldn't that be nice.
Will I still be able to read the book?
Yes. I am currently working on a website where I'll publish These Old Bones, and other short stories, FOR FREE. I will send out an email to everyone when it's live. You can continue to support me by reading along and encouraging others you know who enjoy fantasy and science fiction to follow as well.
Thanks for all your love and support and for being my marketing minions during the months of the contest. See you on the other side.
If winning the first time was like meeting a unicorn, this is like that same unicorn wants to take you to McDonald's and swears that it won't eat your fries and only wants to talk about Kurosawa films and Stephen Universe.
Greetings, everyone!
What's your inbox been like without my constant presence? Cold and drafty? An email utopia?
I thought it best to give you all a break after the non-ending onslaught the past couple of months, but I wanted to give you a quick update and let you know the rough timeline for the the book.
First, foremost, and always - thank you all so much for your support. We wouldn't be sitting here right now if it weren't for you. I know I've said this a lot, but I honestly need to keep saying it until the eventual Heat-Death of the Universe.
Inkshares has already been in contact the past week getting a lot of information from me as they plan the production and marketing for AMOD. I haven't embarrassed myself YET, but that is a train that is never late.
The first deadline is : the finished manuscript is due at the end of July! This is not set in stone, I have a little bit of flex if I need some extra time, but as of right now I'm on target and want to stay that way. I'm projecting the finished draft to be north of 80,000 words, my trusty Google Doc is sitting on 22,000. I feel weird about word count - it's become the equivalent of Arcade High Scores in the writing community, so I really don't like talking about them - but you guys have already bought the book, so you get the sausage-making deets.
So, obviously - I'm going to be using every spare moment not at day job, rehearsal, gutter-drinking, sleeping, and eating just typing away like mad. I feel a wee-bit stressed, but the main feeling is excitement. You are waiting. I don't want to disappoint you. From someone who self-published their first two novels, Accountability is like a drug. Someone other than me cares whether or not I hit my writing deadlines or just play video games.
Now that we're all buckled in for the long-haul, I'll try to update you guys every week or so - just on my progress and other cool things that develop. After I turn in the manuscript in July, I'll start working on those backer rewards we talked about like the audiobooks!
Don't be surprised if my internet output drops to virtually nil as I get closer to deadline, I'll have to put on my Hermit Hat to make sure I stay on target. But you can always find me on Twitter @gderekadams or on my regular blog spell-sword.com [which I just realized I haven't even updated to with the fact that we won this honking contest. Oops.]
Later taters,
Derek