Friends, Readers, and Sorcerers All,

Big news today. SORCERY FOR BEGINNERS has been chosen as the November selection for Gary Whitta’s Nomad Syndicate. Yes, THAT Gary Whitta! Writer of The Book of Eli, After Earth, and this little unseen, indie gem:

I won’t lie, my heart is beating like a scruffy-lookin’ Nerf herder right now. It’s been a pretty awesome six weeks since we started this campaign, and we’re not done yet. You can still pre-order SORCERY FOR BEGINNERS, get a signed copy, and an extra-special "early adopter" prize which we’ll be unveiling soon. But you have to purchase before January 1. Tell your friends, tweet it from the mountain tops, and pick up a copy if you haven’t already! Darth Vader will thank you.

May the Force be with you all --

mh

Good afternoon, Sailors!

Well... we did it! It feels surreal right now, but it’s official! Storm Song is listed as the #2 finish of the Geek & Sundry fantasy contest.y The last 3 ’months have been incredibly intense and stressful, but so so so worth it. 

I’ll be keeping you guys updated on what’s what as this progresses. 

Thank you again. I’ll update again when I can be more coherent and not just a bundle of overwhelming emotions  

Until then!

- Allison

NaNoWriMo has begun! I’m going down-periscope, and will see you all at the end of the month with (hopefully) a finished novel! Please back the book, as we only have two months to go to get nearly 200 more readers!

Friends, Readers, and Sorcerers All,

WE DID IT!

We hit 250 pre-orders! Actually, as I type this, we’re at 261. Not quite enough to win the Geek and Sundry contest, but enough to guarantee publication. No matter what else happens, SORCERY FOR BEGINNERS will be printed and available for sale on Amazon. How do I feel about this?

Seriously, I am overwhelmed by the support you’ve all shown me and this book in the last month. Some of you are family. Some of you I haven’t seen in over ten years. Some of you are complete strangers. But from now on, I consider all of you friends and rock stars. A thousand thank yous are not enough.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

The contest may be over, but the crowd-funding period continues until January 1. If we can get to 750 pre-orders by then, Inkshares will put full marketing and distribution
support behind SORCERY FOR BEGINNERS. So keep mentioning it to friends and spreading the word, it helps us out a ton!

BUT WHEN WILL YOU GET YOUR BOOK?

Not until 2017, I’m afraid. When, I’m not exactly sure yet. One of the reasons I chose to publish with Inkshares is that SORCERY has a heavy design element. So we have to get notes from an editor, create around 30 illustrations, design a cover, and format every page to look like a "For Dummies" guide. I want to create something for you guys that looks really cool and different, but to do that will take a little time.

However -- if you’d like to read SORCERY earlier, simply let me know and I will send you a PDF of the full manuscript. I’ll probably make some edits myself before sending it to Inkshares, but I can send a PDF by Christmas for those who are interested.

Again, I’d like to take a moment to thank all of you for your support and friendship. Crowd-funding this book was one of the more scary things I’ve done, and your encouragement kept me going. Because of you, a book I wrote will be published and put into the world. Just knowing you have my back makes me want to be a better writer, and give you something you’ll really enjoy.

On top of that, you guys raised $570 for breast cancer prevention over the last three days! I know Jeannine and all the other cancer fighters out there will appreciate it. Thanks again, and I’ll be in touch soon --

mh

Greetings, Faoii! Are you all ready to hear which of our brothers and sisters get to name/design the seven characters in our contest? Yes? Great!

But first you have to wait and listen to me talk about something else for a second.

Today is November 1st. For many writers, this is the beginning of NaNoWriMo-- a month where we all set a writing goal and dedicate ourselves to bettering our craft. A lot of people spend this first day feeling bad about how little they wrote, promising to do better. But guess what! Even if you didn’t write a single word today, you’re still doing better than me! My word count for the first day of November: -3,000 words. That’s right. No matter how bad-off you are, you’re NOT in the negatives. So go you!

haha. I am still going through my final edit of The Last Faoii. When I first finished it and started querying it to agents 3 years ago, it was at an atrocious 117,346 words spread over 19 chapters. I, of course, had no idea that it needed so much help and sent it out to 200 agents without a care in the world. Thank god someone told me that it was too long and inspired me to truly look at it and see what was to be done. It has been through 15 or so edits since then, each one bringing it closer to perfection than the last.

I still have about 40 pages to get through, but as of now The Last Faoii is 97,096 words spread out over 41 easier-to-digest chapters. My fantoii cut through all that was unnecessary to the ultimate goals of our army, its blade dripping with superfluous description and bulky exposition. Nearly 20,000 words have met their end in the name of greatness.

Looking back now, the worst thing I could have heard at the time (It’s too long. It’ll never be published) turned out to be a blessing. Because it forced me to make something better. Something amazing. I read over the first 30 pages of both versions today to see the difference-- and I could not be more pleased with the changes that have come. 97k words is still probably too long for most publishers, but not with inkshares. Not with all of you backing me up. So thank you. And good luck with your own writing for NaNo!

Okay. On to the contest:

1. Current Name: Mollie-Faoii
Now in the hands of Zack Jordan

2. Current Name: Faoii-Leigh
Now in the hands of K.E. Madsen

3. Current Name: Ray Goodman
Now in the hands of Joshua Griffith

4. Current Name: Linda Goodman
Now in the hands of Megan Galindo

5. Current Name: Samuel Harkins
Now in the hands of Amanda Garner

6. Current Name: Faoii-Joanna
Now in the hands of Jesse Moore

7. Current Name: Faoii-Elizabeth
Now in the hands of  Scott R. Mcinnes


Congratulations to all the winners! I’ve contacted you with a direct message either on inkshares or on facebook! I really look forward to seeing what you all come up with! 

That’s it for today, Faoii! Dismissed and happy writing!

We did it!!! With your phenomenal last minute support, we pushed all the way into a strong 2nd place, just seven orders shy of first. 

This was an amazing experience all the way through. This past hour I’ve been getting calls, posts, and messages from everyone, all rooting for me and doing their best to post another pre-order or two. My heart has grown three sizes today from all the love I’ve received.

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart!

So what happens next? I’ve received some documentation from Inkshares I need to complete, Crypt TV (who sponsored the contest) has to choose one book to make into a TV special or movie, and I need to polish my second draft and submit it for Inkshare to edit. There will be lots of back and forth over the next several months. The ebook will likely come out sooner than the paperback copies, which I expect is about nine months out. I will keep you posted with updates all along the way.

You all rock my world! Thank you, thank you, thank you. :)

Cheers, Debbie