We won!!!!

 I can’t seem to make myself fully believe it, still so I have to keep saying it! :)

I am incredibly grateful to each and every one of you for all the help and support getting word out about my book. The last month has been one of the most exhausting experiences I can remember – Sleep? No time for that, I have to message people in other time zones! Writing? After work, there’s only time for promoting the book!

I would like to take a moment to thank my family who went above and beyond in getting me through this contest, in particular - my sisters Kirsty and Laura, my brother Keith and my brother-in-law Cyril who each worked at least as hard as I did promoting the book; my parents Scott and Elaine who reached out to more people than I can count; and of course my lovely wife Margo who not only worked tirelessly alongside me, but also somehow managed to keep me sane.

I was also greatly helped in my efforts by a number of great friends including Sebastien Genest, Mathieu Pralus, Sara Hernandez, Isabelle Pottier, Eddy Lesert and so many others that I just can’t list everyone. Again, I am grateful beyond words.

And I can’t leave out the amazing authors who helped me out and made (and continue to make) the Inkshares experience as amazing as it is – John Robin the author of Blood Dawn and backbone of the whole author community, Julian Green the co-author of Suffrage – the First World Key, Cara Weston the author of She is the End, Billy O’Keefe author of These Are My Friends on Politics, Michal Sebby author of The Inhabitants: An Unremembered Life, and Janna Grace author of the Talkers are Talking, not to mention my co-winners Joseph Asphahani author of The Animal in Man, and Matthew Sobin the author of the Last Machine in the Solar System. All of their books are amazing and well worth checking out if you’re looking for something else to read!

 And now, I’d like to make my small gesture of thanks to my supporters: here is the video link of the 4X50$ gift card draws, and the draw for a themed cake by Lolai’s Yummies. Congratulations to the winners!

 I’m looking forward to a little break - picking up Fallout 4, maybe even making it in to see the new Star Wars movie, and most importantly getting back to my writing! I’ve started to miss my characters and wonder what they’ve gotten up to in my absence! There are also still some edits and rewrites I need to finish before the manuscript is ready to be turned over to Inkshares so that the process of getting it published can get under way :)

 Thank you all!!!!

Hello Rebels! Update Time!

Well the Sword and Laser the sequel contest is over and Suffrage languishes with the crowd the winners left in their dust. To the three winners, CONGRATULATIONS! 

Finn and I will try and pick your brains about the most successful ways you you sourced pre-orders. I found the contest a great learning experience, but my initial feeling that we weren't ready seems to be true. Oh well, keep moving forward.

So what have we been doing?

Surviving on only a few hours of sleep a night as we've built things, learned things, edited things, discussed things and generally been whirlwinds of activity. The manuscript is about 75% edited. It's really coming together and something that we are very proud of. We've had three readers reach the end and the feedback has been great. 

We've had...

• ;
  
• ...Phenomenal description, eating it up with a spoon...
•  and...The first section of this chapter, the (snip spoilers), had me completely transported, transfixed, and utterly enthralled...(snip)...it's a truly wonderful narrative cocktail.  

Both Finn and I are logical and perfectionists, and we have the whole Bah humbug social media skill set. So we've concentrated on polishing the novel, concentrated on the artwork, getting social media happening like Facebook pages, twitter accounts, etc...learning how to use them...basically all the things we should have lined up before starting a campaign or entering the contest.  

We've made a commitment to spend the next couple of months (once the edit bits are over) in marketing the heck out of this. Because we both want to move forward with the second book, throw #amwriting hashtags up on facebook and twitter and throw more sand into the sandpit. 

Well that's all for now, congratulations once again to the contest winners, next update will most likely be when we finish the edit process.

Julian and Finn

Dear royals,

A congratulations is in order. To Joseph Asphahani, Matthew Isaac Sobin, and Craig Munro, congratulations on winning the Sword & Laser Collection Contest! I wish you a great success in the publication of your book and may it be the nitro to your authoring dreams :)

To all the royals who have claimed a title, thank you so much for showing support during the duration of this contest. I might not have won, but I'm a winner already - having you backing me (as cliche as it sounds, it's true). So thank you! 

Now, what happens to The Slave Prince? Being that it was launched for the Sword & Laser Collection Contest, and being that the contest is now over, this book will return to being a draft project. The crowd-funding will be briefly put on hold, hence all your funds will be returned to you. As to when the project will go live again, I'm still considering the best time to do so. 

Crowd-funding is much more difficult this time around (and I thought the first time was tough already). Gathering support from readers is harder than from family and friends. But that doesn't mean I'm going to give up. Based on my 'findings' during the Sword & Laser Collection Contest, I discovered that less than 50% of followers of this project pre-ordered. So in order for me to reach the minimum publishing level of 250 pre-orders, I'll need 500 or more followers. Should I reach that number of followers, it's a guarantee I'll launch the project. But should I not, I'll have to think of something else.

If you'd like to lend an extra hand, please share this project with your bookish family and friends. Share it with lovers of adaptations and retellings. Share it with your book club over some tea. And share it with your cat-lady neighbour with the enviable book collection. Help bring the follower count to 500 so I wouldn't have to think of something else. I'm really hoping to have another book published this year, and I would really love for The Slave Prince to be it. Having your support would mean a great deal to me.

With all that said, I'll still be adding new chapters to The Slave Prince (should it be permitted in the project draft stage). And I'll be sure to let you know prior to relaunching the project too. If you have any suggestion or feedback, feel free to send me an email at jeynagrace[at]gmail.com. I'll be more than happy to hear from you :)

Once again, congrats to the winners! And to the rest, have a wonderful weekend!

As promised, here is my post-contest update.

Let me clarify up front: the end of the contest today is NOT the end of the road for me at Inkshares. My campaign will continue in regular funding mode until May 1st, so I will still be seeking pre-orders to hit at least 250 book pre-orders for a light publishing option, or, ideally, 750 book pre-orders for a full publishing option.

Even though I have congratulated them multiple times, I will do it one more time -- congratulations to Joseph Asphahani, Matthew Isaac Sobin, and Craig Munro for winning the Inkshares Sword & Laser Contest. Their novels, The Animal in Man, The Last Machine in the Solar System, and The Bones of the Past, completely deserve all the success they are enjoying.

"Published" is one of the sweetest words a first-time writer can add to his or her résumé. Every author on Inkshares craves it, but not all of them can achieve it. And it's usually not for lack of quality.

Sometimes it's difficult to get people on board with a completely unknown author. I have to admit, it's a very hard sell. Some authors are better at the sales pitch than others. Some authors are already connected in the literary world to some degree (I am not). Some authors excel at both, and it pays off big for them.

But I'm glad Inkshares exists, because it's a new route that challenges the old publishing establishment. Query letters and chasing down literary agents are part of a difficult game. Inkshares opens a direct avenue between the authors and readers to let the people decide what's worth their money.

I uploaded my first chapter back in early September while the Nerdist Contest was raging on. I was absolutely in love with the platform, but I had too much other stuff on my plate to commit to launching a campaign and entering a contest. So I sat on it for a bit, even joking in one of my updates that Inkshares should consider launching an early December contest right after NaNoWriMo. Imagine my half-surprise when they actually did.

I had no advance notice, so I found out about it December 1st -- the first day of the contest. This is not an exaggeration: I remember sitting in front of my laptop with my cursor hovering over the launch button to start the funding campaign. I asked my wife if it was the right choice as I dangled my finger over the button -- Would it be crazy for me to do this? She said, "go for it." So I did.

By the way, as I was typing that last paragraph, an owl hooted outside my apartment. In the three years of living in this apartment, I have NEVER heard an owl hooting nearby. I don't know what that means. But if you've seen my cover art, watched my raffle videos, or read the chapters of my novel, you know the significance of owls and strange coincidences is not something to be ignored.

Hmm...

Anyhow, running a campaign through the holiday season seemed like a bad idea, but I did it anyway. Do I regret it? Not remotely.

I told Matthew Sobin this today, but I thought I'd share it here, too: this was easily one of the friendliest competitions I have ever participated in. Inkshares is an amazing community in that respect. Everyone wants to help each other out. We're all in this together. Things like Cara Weston's Review-a-Thon and John Robin's constant championing of other writers on the Goodreads forum are just a couple examples.

I have learned so much from this experience so far. Everyone I've met on Inkshares is absolutely solid. I will try to repay as much goodwill as I can as I continue my journey.

As for my backers, you are the ones who are keeping me going. Every e-mail I get informing me of another order reminds me of why I'm doing this. It's easy to despair during a dry spell when facing seemingly insurmountable odds. How we react to these moments is what defines our level of resolve to continue chasing that dream, regardless of how far-fetched it may be.

I am so grateful to everyone who has pre-ordered my novel. Your names have been etched in my heart, and I will never forget any of you for supporting me. I will certainly remember the early adopters who, when I basically said, "Guess what? I'm writing a novel," they unflinchingly responded with, "Guess what? I'm ORDERING your novel."

This may all sound like a eulogy, but like I said, the campaign will continue. Nothing is ending here. There is still a lot of work to be done, and I'm ready for it.

Diligent writing and editing will continue. The raffles will continue. Everything is business as usual. This just seemed like a good time to stop and reflect.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must get back to work weaving stories.

Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend.

I won.

When you read that, how do you hear it? If it’s something in your mind like a soft, shocked whisper, the kind of sound you hear when someone speaks in the stillness of a slow snowfall, then you’re pretty close to how I’m hearing myself say it. I won. I won… I won? ...I WON!?! 

Whether it’s the Sword and Laser’s Tom and Veronica, journalist Alicia Smock, or other authors mentioning my name in their own reader updates or raffle videos, the experience of being exposed and showered with praise for my story has really validated all this hard work I’ve done.

And, …. wow… this campaign has been some hard work.

Somewhere in an article or something I said to somebody that I was back on what I call “The Skyrim Sleeping Schedule.” (I’m sure some former students of mine will recall EXACTLY how loopy I got soon after 11/11/11.) Basically 4 to 5 hours of fitful sleep every night for the past month has really racked my body. Even as I type this, my mind’s eye glances over its shoulder and sees my body tapping its watch, shaking its head. I hear it say “Joe, it’s time, man.” And I’m like, “Hey, wait! I got a raffle video to do! Six new winners, six more $20 giftcard giveaways, six titles gone from my priceless video game collection!” But in this vision, my body wraps its arm warmly around me and escorts me from the premises of health, and it says, “Maybe this weekend, pal.” So I’m about to give in and just get sick…

I am utterly exhausted. ...and I’m kind of numb. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m typing this all right now secretly from my work cubicle, clicking back to the work window whene….. …. …. …. ver someone walks by. But right at this moment, I can’t celebrate. I’m happy. I’m BEYOND EUPHORIA, in fact, but I can’t jump for joy just yet.

I haven’t yet mastered the art of embedding gifs or whatever the cool kids are doing these days - so this little graphic here will have to do to express my current state of existence:

(!!!!)

(What? I’m a man of letters, I tell ya!)

“Thank you all so much.” I know that track’s been on repeat for quite some time, but there’s no other phrase that can contain all of my feelings and gratitude toward your support. Thank you.

I want to write something deep and meaningful but in truth I can barely see straight. I can't stop smiling and I want jump up and down and yell at the top of my lungs!!! 

It's been an amazing ride, hasn't it?  

good day 

A little update to let you know that we are at 3 readers away from our first raffle ; 50$ gift card .

if you haven't pre ordered yet it is the time :)

thank you

As promised, I recorded my raffle video late last night, when I was at 63 readers. I have since gained two more readers, so the two of you will be included in the next raffle when I hit 70.

Check it out to see if you've won:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Cq3DmueyA4

I will contact the winner directly later to hammer out details. Congrats to that person!

Meanwhile, the Sword & Laser Contest wraps up in about two and a half hours. I mentioned a little bit about it in the raffle video, but I will send out a definitive post-contest update later when everything has officially ended.

As always, thanks for your support, and enjoy your Friday!

Tonight, and for one night only, I will be doing the unthinkable! I will not try to sell you my book or be promotional about it or myself in any way whatsoever, and instead will just let myself be entirely natural. I know I need the break, and the way I've been harping on ordering lately I suspect you all likely do as well. Mainly within the past few days I realized that this campaign is nearing both the 5 month mark and end date, and I've never really bothered to introduce myself or tell you about myself at all really, and that just feels a bit rude to me. I'll try to remedy my rudeness as quickly as possible with this update, though when being natural I tend to ramble so I apologize if I go overlong on this one.

I suppose I'll start with one of the chief elements which led my brain to the above thought, that being the number of times I've recently seen/heard remarks about how odd it is that there is such a significant difference between the number of followers for Exile, Magus and the number of orders placed for it. I'd thought the same myself at first, but I pretty quickly came to what I at least think is the answer: that I'm horrible at sales/marketing/promotion. This isn't a new revelation to me as I have pretty much always been my own worst advocate, and beyond that almost entirely incapable of creating anything resembling a sales pitch. This means that plenty of people think it sounds interesting enough to eventually check out so they follow, but then my lack of promotional ability ensures that I fail to draw them back to actually check out the project while also not driving them away and thus my follower count stays high without a proportional increase in sales. At least that's my theory, but I could be wrong.

With that being said, I have actually done far better than I ever expected to despite of my poor promotional skills. Admittedly, I have perhaps an overabundance of self-doubt so I may have not given myself enough credit going into this. Beyond my perceived promotional inability, I also saw my years of putting off even attempting a start at platform-building and my own somewhat extreme introversion to be insurmountable obstacles as well. I suppose to best illustrate the introversion I should point out that of my preorders only 7 have come from my own familial/social network, the rest have come entirely through pitching on Inkshares. With these thoughts in mind it may seem odd that I would launch the campaign to begin with but the reason for that is simple: I needed something to kick me out of a seemingly endless cycle(at that point it had been going on for 5 years since the completion of Exile, Magus' rough draft) of revisions(often very nitpicky & unnecessary ones), writing books further in the series, and writing then scrapping a now untold number of query letters without ever mailing a single one.

I'm sure at this point its likely seeming like this is intended as a negative/moody update, but that's not actually the point. Really the point of this update(and my own convoluted train of thought) comes down to a key point of the previous paragraph: all but a very small portion of the orders I've gotten for Exile, Magus have come from people who were complete strangers to me before I stumbled on Inkshares through the Nerdist contest this past August. Beyond that, of these strangers who I've gotten to communicate with many of them have shown what certainly feels to me to be quite a bit of faith in Exile, Magus, even going above and beyond anything I would ever ask/expect of them by reaching out to their own networks on my behalf. I feel a bit bad about not naming names here, but I'm trying for as much brevity as possible here and the list has grown quite large at this point. You all know who you are though, and if you read this know that your support and belief have been both humbling and heartwarming and I cannot thank you enough.

To come to a conclusion, and the full point of this update. It was only about 6-7 months ago when I was completing the most recent revision of Exile, Magus in preparation for writing a new round of query letters that I finally reached a point where I truly accepted what my primary beta reader had been trying to get across to me for years: this book is worthy of being published. Even with that realization I was still left with the doubt that there would be much of an audience for my peculiar tale - one which a person could describe as a mixture of teenage angst, human loneliness and the desperation it brings forth in a person, and the hopefully temporary and often unnoticed madness brought on by loss and survivor's guilt wrapped up and made palatable by the guise of high fantasy with an almost comic book style approach to action. Sure, it was perfected suited for me what with my own oddly nebulous points of interest/fandoms, but I felt certain that there could not be more than a dozen, maybe two dozen others the world over who would actually be interested in that sort of thing.

Well, now thanks to this experience and the people I have encountered(albeit only online) through it I realize that there is a larger audience out there. I've found far more of you than I ever expected to in a relatively short period of time, and this lets me know that I must continue digging to find even more like you. It won't be an easy task, especially since I will have to fight my own social anxieties every step of the way, but it will be worth every bit of exertion. It will continue to stretch my abilities and self in ways I hadn't before thought possible. Example: I'm not far from completing my first short story(kind of). Before they had always expanding out of control to be anything but short. Hopefully I can continue to create short fiction and maybe even write a non-rambling article or few to post on my blog and/or try to get published on other blogs/publications.

In conclusion, regardless of the outcome of this campaign, I couldn't be happier that I made the rather rash decision to jump into this Inkshares thing during the Nerdist contest. It was exactly what I needed when I needed it. And, at least as important, maybe more important, I can't thank you all enough for your time and support. Enough of this emotionalism though, I'm signing off here now. I'll see you all here again Saturday when I returning to my shameless attempts to get everyone to buy my book. Until then, be good, be safe, but most importantly – have fun!