So the several year long journey of getting Ghosts of War: Retribution to publication day has finally come to an end. Many, many hours of writing and editing and deadlines and design and planning and crowdfunding and... 

I got a cold on release day, proceeded to be wiped out, and forgot to do an update... 

Go me. 

But fear not! The book is just as released today as it was yesterday and here are three simple things you can do to help the book as it takes it’s first steps into the wider world. 

1. Read it! 

Unsurprisingly the first step is to actually read the book. If you haven’t yet received your print copy (they’re on the way!), you should be able to download the ebook from the Inkshares website. If you haven’t bought it yet, and would like to here are a few places you can do that: 

Physical 

• Amazon: http://a.co/bSrMEBY (Note: Amazon seems confused about the release date at the moment) 
• Inkshares: https://www.inkshares.com/books/ghosts-of-war 
• Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ghosts-of-war-paul-robinson/1127930360 
• Indigo (Canada): https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/ghosts-of-war-retribution/9781947848900-item.html
• Booktopia (Australia): https://www.booktopia.com.au/ghosts-of-war-paul-robinson/prod9781947848900.html 
• Indiebound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781947848900 
• The Book Depository (Worldwide free shipping!): https://www.bookdepository.com/Ghosts-War-Paul-Robinson/9781947848900   

Ebook 

• Kobo (US Only): https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/ghosts-of-war-10 
• Inkshares: https://www.inkshares.com/books/ghosts-of-war 
• Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Ghosts-War-Retribution-Paul-Robinson-ebook/dp/B07DJ5PH3B 

2. Leave reviews! 

The next step is to head over to Amazon and Goodreads and leave your reviews. I believe the magic number is 50 reviews for Amazon before it does something magical with their algorithms. So lets aim for 50. 

Every review helps grow the books profile, and will help to get it in front of more peoples eyes. 

• Amazon: http://a.co/bSrMEBY 
• Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39858389-ghosts-of-war 

 3. Tell some people about it! (or everyone even)

Spread the word. Tell people about the book. Encourage them to buy a copy (and leave a review!)

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I think that’ll do for the moment. Lastly though, I want to thank everyone that helped make this thing a reality, you’re all awesome. It still feels weird. It still doesn’t feel real. But I am a published author today (er, yesterday) because of all of you.

I do really need to go lie down now though.

Hi Readers!

I come bearing some pretty great news. As of this week, The Phantom Forest is being moved from the Quill collection to the "full" Inkshares catalog. So, what does this mean? 

Well, first of all it’s an awesome opportunity! Quill is a limited release platform, in which I had to do a lot of the marketing/design legwork myself, or hire outside vendors. The bump up to the Inkshares catalog basically means the book will get greater marketing/publicity support, more reviews, updated artwork, and likely an additional pass with their fantastic in-house editor. The best news is that we are still shooting for the same release date - November 13th! There’s a lot to do before then, but the team is working hard and I’m hopeful we will pull it off. 

Now, how did this happen? Because wonderful people like YOU started telling everyone how much you loved this book, and the Inkshares team listened. The Phantom Forest will enjoy a wider release and become accessible to even more readers because you made your voices heard. I am SO thankful I can’t even think straight. 

This will likely be my last update on the Inkshares website, as I’m going to move everything over to an email listserv. Next time ya’ll hear from me, I’ll have many more details about this new and exciting process! 

Thanks again everyone - this is truly a reader-driven platform and it appears the readers have spoken. You’re truly the best!

Liz

Hello friends!

I know what you must be thinking, “Eudai..what? Meghan, who?”

Which is a perfectly normal response when you haven’t heard from someone in months. To recap, I am Meghan Godwin and I wrote Eudaimonia, and you (very graciously) helped me get it on track to be published. We are now inexorably linked. Hooray!

I have been working diligently for the last few months to spruce up the Eudaimonia manuscript based on the comments, suggestions, and feedback from the developmental edit letter. Today, I am proud to report, I’m done… with that part. I have just emailed the first round of developmental edits for Eudaimonia. Double Hooray!

We are still a ways from “totally finished”, but this round of edits is a nice mile marker to pass on that road to “done”. And, as we keep passing mile markers I will keep updating you on our progress!

Thanks again for your help and support!

Pals forever,

Meghan Godwin

P.S. - To my new friends and followers, if you haven’t pre-ordered Eudaimonia yet you can do so here: https://www.inkshares.com/books/eudaimonia-48b598

EIGHTEEN DAYS

Dear friends and followers, I just looked at the calendar and realised: there are, as I type this, just eighteen days (and a couple of hours) to go until 31 July, when "A Gentleman’s Murder" is officially released into the wild.

If you happen to be in Montreal for the week following, there will be a book signing and launch event at the Indigo bookstore downtown (Place Montreal Trust, 1500 McGill College Avenue) on Saturday, 04 August from 1 pm to 4 pm.

In the meantime, if you’re in the U.S., there’s a GoodReads Giveaway happening with 25 free copies of the book to be won. Check it out and tell your friends.

And speaking of GoodReads, we’ve got a few reviews there already from readers with advance copies. Reviews have so far been complimentary -- let’s hope the trend keeps up! And I hope you’ll consider adding your own when you’re done.

EIGHTEEN DAYS!

It’s Pub Day!

I’ve been having a blast all day talking up the book, hosting games and giving out prizes, watching the reviews come trickling in. I almost forgot to ping you all and let you know the book is officially out there. Published. For reals. We actually ran OUT of books, if you can believe it. Multiple outlets are out of stock of the paperbacks, that’s how well today has gone. I am told that if you order them Ingram will print them to order, so if you’re looking to get a physical copy, ordering from Amazon or walking into a brick and mortar store will probably be your best bet.

And once you have read the book, please consider leaving a review. That would be super cool. So far readers are loving the book. It’s got five stars on Amazon and Goodreads, but the more the merrier, so please consider taking the time to toss a review up on your platform of choice.

I’m beat. It’s been a long, amazing day. I love you all.

May the Code replicate Eternal.

Updates, Faoii! Listen up!

Happy summer Supporters of Crow’s Gambit!

After talking to several of you last week as the ASEE conference I know there is some confusion on the book. Never fear we did meet the required Pre-Orders for Quill publishing. However, actually getting a book from draft form to your hands takes some time. And given my schedule lately it is taking even more time.

Right now we are in the phase called Developmental Editing. That means I am rewriting some portions of the story to make it flow better…and hopefully make it super exciting and interesting! I will be working with a developmental editor who will help make the story even better by offering lots of suggestions for improvement.

After that we go to Copy Editing and Line Editing with Inkshares. This process will clean up the actual words; making sure names are consistent, punctuation is used correctly, words are spelled correctly…you get the picture.

So, please be patient. The book has not disappeared. It is alive and well but it will take some time to get it into your hands.

PT

Hello, readers! Must be a tradition... my last update was at Memorial Day, and this one’s at the Fourth of July. I guess the next time you’ll hear from me will be at Labor Day. :-)

Big news - the book is now in the developmental editing phase. If you’re unfamiliar with the stages of editing, this is the phase where we take a close look at the story and find ways to strengthen it by changing key pieces. With the help of my Inkshares editor, I’ve taken HOW TO REMEMBER down to the studs. My awesome writers’ group helped me find a few lingering issues, and I submitted my revised outline today. We are one step closer to getting a great book into your hands.

I’ve also begun blogging with a bunch of great friends and Inkshares writers over at Writing Bloc. Follow us on Twitter at @Writing_Bloc for lots of great content! We’re currently working on a short story anthology, and I’m the lead on editing.

Last but not least, I’m nearing the midpoint of the draft for THE ENIGMA VARIATIONS, my latest project. All in all, the writing world is busy and good for me right now!

Let me know what you are all up to, readers - I’d love to hear from you! Happy week!

It’s July! We’re moved into our new house and just in time. I received my developmental edit letter from my editor on Friday! If you haven’t heard of a developmental edit letter, you aren’t alone. I hadn’t either until I started this process. It’s basically a giant letter explaining eveything that needs to be changed in your book. 

I’ve been super nervous to receive mine since I’ve heard the editor is very thorough. Some of my Inkshares author friends have gone through 9 or 10 drafts! Sure enough, the letter suggests I restructure my whole story, take out some characters and plots, make some changes to focus on a different audience (young adult!), and work a lot on my descriptive prose and character arcs. 

The extent of the suggestions wasn’t a surprise, but my reaction was! I really expected to be very defensive and sad and overwhelmed. Instead I feel incredibly honored that someone as skilled as my editor gave such thoughtful and helpful comments and incredibly grateful that you all gave me the chance to work with him. This book is going to be so much better because of it.

I just submitted a revised (4000 word!) outline based on his suggestions and we’ll work on that until we agree it’s time to move forward to a rewrite. I’ll keep you all updated!

Thank you for following along with this journey and for giving me the opportunity to experience this process! It’s so exciting!

Hello everyone! No news to speak of regarding Tantalus Depths since my last update, and none expected for the next month or two, but I figured I’d drop a line and let you all know that an interview I did for Writing Bloc is up now. I announced it earlier in a reader update for Proteus, but since not all of you are supporting both books, some of you may not have seen it yet (although, really, you should have all jumped on Proteus by now. No time like the present!)

So here’s the interview. I discuss a little bit of everything, from crowdfunding, to world-building, to my atrocious writing process. We talk about both Tantalus Depths and Proteus, so jump on in and take a behind-the-scenes look at how these worlds came alive!