Hey all,
If I’ve learned one thing in this publishing process, it’s never to promise "we’re almost there" or "the end is in sight."
So I’ll just repeat what Inkshares is telling me: the book is coming out July 14th. There’s also this:
Happy Friday everyone. Thanks for your 4+ years of patience.
No matter what type of publisher you have...
Publishing my first book with Inkshares was the best thing I could have done for my career as an author! Today, I have my second book out, and it’s on a traditional contract with a NY publisher. But no matter what type of publisher you have, you have to share your work yourself. I don’t think mass emails work.
Below is the email I developed and sent individually to my close friends and colleagues to celebrate my new book birthday today. (Feel free to use as template/cut and paste if helpful.)
Wherever you are on your writing journey, hang in there and best of luck! If you’re a reader only, thank you for the support you give us!
Best,
Kris
Hey everyone,
Happy Corned Beef and Cabbage Day!
It looks like I haven’t sent out an update since August, which was…three, four years ago? I think many of you would agree that these past twelve months have seemed to stretch on forever. Hopefully as the vaccine rollout picks up steam, we’ll start to see more and more aspects of life from the Before Times returning to normal. You know, like people actually going to bookstores to buy books. Which was a really poor segue for a…
SHOWTIME UPDATE
I haven’t wanted to send out an update because, well, I don’t have much in the way of big updates to share. But I figured I should pop in just to let you know that I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth.
Anyway, I checked in with Avalon, my copyeditor, this week and unfortunately Inkshares is still seeing some lags in the development processes of their books (thanks, COVID), causing their schedules to be set back by a couple months.
I don’t want to share any potential dates for copyediting or release since that would only be disappointing if we’re not able to meet those dates. But when we have something firmly set in stone, I will let you all know. However, Avalon assured me that Inkshares isn’t rushing any part of the process, and she’s excited about getting to work on Showtime.
In a bit of good news, Inkshares’s publishing schedule for the coming months looks to be pretty robust (take a look on Amazon) with a good number of delayed books being released. So while it’s not my turn yet, the fact that books from their back catalog are being released is a good sign that things are ramping up again.
CONTEST AND NEW PROJECT
While news on the Showtime front is a bit quiet for now, my writing has not slowed down. The new book is done! It’s the most horror-centric thing I’ve written and is called Monsters. And no, it’s not about people who refuse to wear masks during a pandemic.
Inkshares is running a new contest, and I’ve entered Monsters.
Instead of pre-orders, Inkshares is choosing contest winners based on which books are nominated using the NOMINATION button that you’ll find on each individual book’s page.
Per the contest: “...we want to know what book projects have piqued your interest most. Which stories are the most compelling, and whose writing is the strongest?”
I’m not opening up the Monsters page for pre-orders (I cannot in good faith ask you to pre-order a new book when my previous one has not been published yet), but I am asking for something else. I’ve posted the first three chapters of Monsters and if you like what you read, please consider clicking the FOLLOW button, leaving a quick review, and, most importantly, clicking the NOMINATE button near the top of the page. It’s a short and sweet form that basically asks you why you like what you read and feel like it’s worthy for publication.
While potential publication for Monsters would be farther out, securing a slot in the Inkshares publication queue would give it a head start, effectively cutting out the long, grueling process of another pre-order campaign.
The nomination process will close on May 1st (with winners selected the month after), and here’s the page for Monsters: CLICK HERE TO NOMINATE.
ALL ABOARD THE DIABEETUS EXPRESS
As a fun side project, I started doing homemade sugar cookies with commissioned designs. If you have a need for custom sugar cookies in your life, let me know at rruszin17@aol.com.
AND NOW FOR THE COMEDY PORTION OF THE SHOW…
Q: What do you say to console an English major?
A: There, their, they’re
Thanks again for your support and patience, and I’m excited to share more news with you all when I have it!
Ricky
OK, folks, this is the news I have been waiting to share for … well, more pandemic-plagued months than I care to count:
Bane of All Things will publish on Nov. 9, 2021!
That means you will finally have your copy, or copies, for Christmas (depending, of course, on the cooperation of the postal service, if that involves print copies).
Nov. 9 is months later than it might have otherwise been without COVID, but a month or two sooner than we thought it might be a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of Avalon Radys, Noah Broyles and the rest of the Inkshares team, the train has left the station.
You can already see the placeholder for BoAT with its ISBN numbers here on Amazon.ca (it should be showing up on Amazon.com at any time). You have no idea how much I have anticipated the day when I could point you to that!
Sometime soon, we will get into layout and cover design. The next big milestone will be the cover reveal. The current cover is of course just a placeholder whipped up by yours truly with an Adobe Stock image.
I’ve said it many times before but can never say it enough – thank you to each and every one of you. None of this would have been possible without your support and patience.
Stay safe and keep reading!
Cheers
Leo
