We’re now in the final week of the Inkshares Mystery & Thriller Contest and I’m hoping to finish strong with some more orders before December 14. In honor of the fact that I wrote the first draft during National Novel Writing Month (also known as November) last year, I donated $5 of every order to the NaNoWriMo.org non-profit. For the final week I’m going to double that . For every new order placed until the end of the contest, I’ll donate $10 to NaNoWriMo.org. Hopefully that will encourage a few more people who might have otherwise been on the fence to order a copy. If you can help spread the word, that is greatly appreciated. 

The book can be ordered at https://www.inkshares.com/books/gumshoe-rules

I’m 40% of the way through editing the third draft and there are now thirteen revised chapters available on the Inkshares site. There’s a tricky middle part I’m working on now. I’m stuck on a plane for 4 hours, so once I get through this scene, the story accelerates and it should be smooth sailing. The most recent chapters are posted under the READ tab below the cover on the Inkshares site. (Click here to go to the Prologue.) 

I’d like to thank everyone who has supported this creative project. It has been challenging but also a lot of fun. For anyone who has contemplated writing a novel or any kind of creative project, keep in mind the most important step is simply to start. The best way to accomplish a daunting project is to dive in knowing that you can make progress one step at a time. It isn’t always pretty, but the more you work on it, the better you will get. And if I can do it, I know you can too.

As a reminder, if you haven’t yet mentioned this project to others, this is last call! If you can email one person and encourage them to order the book it will make my day. Please mention that $10 of every order is going to a good charity. The more orders, the bigger the check I get to write. 

Thank you for all of your support!
--Z.Z. Traver

PS. I was able to meet up with my editor, Scott Couturier of Mission Point Press at a local writer’s gathering. Scott has helped immensely with his feedback and detailed notes on my manuscript. He’s also a published author of dark fantasy fiction and an all ‘round expert in noir and weird fiction. I highly recommend Scott to anyone looking for professional editing help.   

Greetings, Faoii.

Originally, I gave this campaign a year to fund. I figured our veterans from the first campaign would lead the charge and new soldiers would answer the call as word spread. I thought a second war would be easier, even if we did need three times as many blades to win. 

However, my warriors, we’re about halfway through the campaign, and only 13% of the way to our goal of making Faoii Betrayer real. It would be easy to say that it’s not going to happen. That the world or the writing or the army isn’t strong enough to pull this into being. That we’re going to fail.

But we still have 136 days.

136 days to find enough people to force this book into reality. You made it happen with The Last Faoii. And you kept battling after the initial war was won. You’ve read that book. You’ve reviewed it. You’ve rated it. You’ve asked your local library to get it in if you can’t afford your own copy. You’ve listened to the audiobook if you don’t have enough time to read. You’ve shared it on your social media pages pages. You’ve spread the word. You’ve shown the world that the first book was worthy and that the second book is worth it, too.

Right?

Because when I dubbed you Faoii, I did not give the title lightly. You’re a warrior now. You’re part of our army. And no one gets to rest until all the blades have been lifted.

There are many types of warriors. If you’re strong enough to pick up 10 swords (which is the maximum allowed by Inkshares) then do that. I’ve never had a champion of that magnitude before, but I know there are people out there who are capable of it, if we can only reach them. If you’re only able to lift one blade, then raise it high. If you’re only able to share the news on your social media pages, then shout your battle cry at the top of your lungs. I’m not asking you to mow down a thousand enemies on your own, my warrior. But I am telling you to fight for this. 

This dream might be mine, Faoii. But it depends on you. It will take an army to win this war. To make our cry heard over the millions of other authors out their scrabbling with toothpicks and cautious nips in a world that requires swords and shields. That require Faoii. And we’re the only army in the world that can boast that claim. This hill should be ours. It will be ours.

Keep those shields up.

Faoii-Tahani

 Happy December!
I’m still working on the prologue. I’ve now tried approaching it from three different character’s points of view and added period-appropriate dialogue and description. I’m dialing back the flowery language from the version I have posted to make the poetic bits more emotionally impactful. We’re getting there, I think.

In the meantime, I have exciting news! The Writing Bloc short story anthology, 
ESCAPE!, is available for pre-order NOW! I have a sneak peek of my story, "Aspirant," about a young aspiring nun at a Zen monastary, up on my blog! The whole anthology is only $2.99 until January 1, when it will increase to $5.99. You’ll get the book delivered to your device of choice automatically on January 1 and will have something to hold you over until Rock of Ages is ready! I’m really proud of my story and of all the hard work the cooperative has put into making this collection happen.  

I’ll keep chugging along with this rewrite and I’ll keep updating you! Please keep sending the encouraging words! :)

Thank you so much for your support, as always! 

Hi All,

Thank you everyone for following my novel or pre-ordering a copy. As I’ve posted before, this feed of Inkshares emails is deliberately quiet, as I send out most of my updates using my author newsletter. I do this as I have many subscribers from outside Inkshares and it’s the easiest way to manage things (and avoid hitting you twice with emails). If you aren’t subscribed to my newsletter, you can sign up here: https://robertbatten.net/sign-up/

I’m writing this email now to ask for your help. I’ve been made aware my newsletters have been falling foul of spam filters and dropping into many people’s spam folders. I’ve just sent out my November update and I’d like to ask the following favours of anyone who’s subscribed:

1. If you haven’t seen my author newsletter in your inbox, could you double check your spam folder? If it’s there, can you please click the "not spam" button?
2. Could you please add robert@robertbatten.net (the address my newsletter comes from) to your contacts? This will help tell the mail providers that you do want to receive my emails.

Thank you for your help. I hope everyone is excited for the holiday season!

PS: as part of my process to clean-up the mailing list and get back on the good side of the spam algorithms, I’ve had to purge many emails from the list. If you thought you were subscribed, but don’t have a newsletter in your inbox or spam folder, I may have accidentally purged you — sorry! You can re-subscribe here: https://robertbatten.net/sign-up/

Cheers,

Robert

Good day, everyone.

First, an important note: If you have purchased Bane of All Things but don’t recall receiving a thank you note from me (whether by email or on LinkedIn or Twitter) your purchase might be stuck in the system. It happens, and when it does, it’s not obvious to the buyer. If you suspect this, please email me at leo@leovaliquette.com.

Today’s update comes at an important stage for Bane of All Things (BoAT) – we are at the mid-point of the initial 90-day campaign. 

The good news: Sales have steadily gained since the campaign launch. Some fantastic feedback from Inkshares authors and supporters such as yourself gives me confidence that I have something good here. 

The not-so-good news: Based on our sales velocity to date, this campaign will not hit its target by the Jan. 12 deadline.

What does this mean?

There is always a Plan B. 

Funding campaigns are often extended at Inkshares’ discretion, but of course, they must have achieved sufficient momentum to warrant it. In fact, when I launched this campaign, I had the option of taking a longer funding window, but decided to test whether the default window of 90 days would spur a greater sense of urgency. 

It might yet – I have personally reached out to almost 1,000 people in my extended networks on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. That many more remain to be contacted. Many have responded favourably with an intent to buy and just haven’t yet. Sales have started to trickle in from the Inkshares community itself as readers active on the platform discover BoAT on their own.

What you can do  

You have already graciously given your support and I am deeply grateful. If are interested in doing more, here are some options:

1.    Spread the word. Please share this with any friends or family whom you think might also be interested. Some of you have mentioned talking about BoAT with your book club – how’s that going? 

 2.    Leave a review on my Inkshares page – that kind of endorsement always helps. 

3.    Buy again for someone else. You can make additional purchases. Take the ebook, for example. When BoAT publishes, you will receive your e-book copies as downloads in whatever of the main formats you prefer. That makes it easy to pass additional copies along by email as gifts. 

Remember – if you buy three or more print copies, you will be recognized as a Super Reader supporter in the back of the book. Pictured is an example from a current Inkshares title.

To date, 10 generous individuals have supported Bane of All Things as Super Readers.

4.    If you have followed but haven’t purchased BoAT, please do. If you liked what you have read and want to see more, now is the time to buy before we all get distracted by the holidays.

That’s all for now. Happy reading.

Cheers

Leo