Progress on The Seclusion is happening on all ends!

At some point in the next week or so, my editor will submit the first three beautifully-polished chapters of the book to Ingram - a book distribution company that major retailers, and most indie bookstores, use to stock their shelves.

In other exciting news, the book is starting to pop up on major online retail sites for preorder!

The goal, as of now, is to shift from developmental-edit to copy-edit by April 1st. I’ll be hard at work every day until then to make sure we stay on schedule for a fall release, so that we can get this book in your hands!

I’ve been spending any and all free time over the last couple of weeks combing through the manuscript with two primary goals in mind - 1) Add to the inner voice of the protagonist, Patch 2) Flesh out additional world-building details. I regularly have at least one reference book open next to me as I work to sneak up on each scene from a new angle. My favorite as of late is The Emotional Craft of Fiction: How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface, by Donald Maass.

Last week, in an effort to soak up new world building inspiration, I used random photos found online and my favorite quick-marketing toy (Canva) to throw together a few concept images. Lately, I have these open as I hammer out my descriptive imagery for any given scene. Below are a few if you would like to take a look:

CHILDREN’S CLASSROOM

CITY CENTER

COMPLIANCE OFFICERS (COMPOS) AND PACIFIER (DIRECTED ENERGY WEAPON)

I am guessing that over the next month I will hear from the Inkshares marketing team, and that cover design will kick off soon.

Back to edits! Until next time.

-Jacqui

Today’s the day!! 

Yes, today is PUBLICATION DAY!!

That’s right. Now you can go into most major book stores and ask for Beyond the Code. You can go to Amazon and order it right now. It’s AVAILABLE!!!! The long wait it finally over! 

I am officially a published author and it feels amazing, but I’m not done yet. Now I have the task of making Beyond the Code a success and you can help. If you haven’t pre-ordered Beyond the Code, you can go to any major book like Indigo, Chapters, or Coles, and ask for Beyond the Code. If enough people show interest, they might think that Beyond the Code deserves a place on their shelves. Not only would that make it more accessible to people out of the loop, it would make a dream of mine a reality. 

If you already have a copy and you still want to help out in building the books success. You can go to Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, or Goodreads and leave a review or rating to let me know what you thought. The more reviews Beyond the Code gets, especially through Amazon, the more exposure it will receive. Reviews are an authors best friend. 

Thank you all for following me clear to the finish line and I hope you love this little slice of my imagination. 

Kelsey Rae Barthel

Unless there are delays,

BB will

release in thirty days.

It’s a poem I’ve been wanting to write for ages.  Congrats to us all, and I wish everyone FANTASTIC success!!!

Hello again my wonderful followers, 

BIG NEWS!! The ebook for Beyond the Code is READY!!!! That means that anyone who pre-ordered the digital copy or the physical/digital combo can read the book RIGHT NOW!!! And if you have yet to join the club and want to see what all the fuss is about, you can order a digital copy of Beyond the Code for only $6.99 and download it right away. No more waiting! 

And remember, once you have read Beyond the Code, make sure to give it a review on amazon, goodreads, or the Indigo website. Reviews are an authors best friend and I am eager to know what you think of my first published novel. 

Thank you all for staying with me on this journey to publication and I hope you all enjoy reading Beyond the Code as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it. 

Kelsey Rae Barthel

To all my patient supporters,

Happy New Year! 

Over the past several months many of you have reached out to me, or stopped me in passing, to ask about the status of my novel AFTER DEATH. One or two even thought perhaps it had already come out, and that they’d somehow missed it. 

An update is long overdue, and today is a good day to write one. 

Back in October, the very kind Avalon Radys, director of marketing and publishing operations for my publisher Inkshares, let me know that my book wouldn’t be entering developmental editing until 2018, as their priority had to be books with Spring release dates. 

A bit of a bummer, sure, but it made perfect sense to me, and provided me with the opportunity to do a twelfth draft of the novel, with the goal of further tightening the story and reducing the word count as much as possible.

That new draft is now complete and has been sent to Inkshares. So now, my friends, we wait.

Hopefully I’ll be paired with an editor soon, but even then it’s worth keeping in mind that it may still be a while before you are holding a copy of the book in your hands. After developmental editing there will still be copy editing, cover design, book design, and a slew of other steps I don’t even know about, I’m sure. The publishing process, I’m learning, is very slow.

In the meantime, there are a number of ways you can get a fix to tide you over:

1) visit the AFTER DEATH page on the Inkshares website here, where you can watch the updated book trailer, read sample chapters, leave a comment or review, pre-order copies, and recommend the novel to others. You can also sneak a peek at my new novel in progress, KING OF FIRE.

2) listen to the first chapter of AFTER DEATH, as read by actress Jessica Rothert, here (Vimeo) or here (YouTube). While you’re at it, check out the AFTER DEATH YouTube playlist I’ve begun assembling here, which features not only the trailer and first chapter, but also other related videos that hint at the ideas explored in the book.

3) visit and "Like" the AFTER DEATH Facebook page here, where you can stay updated on news, as well as the latest promotional material.

4) follow me on Twitter and Instagram. See photos of my cats.

5) check out more of my work at Dan-Lee.net, including my short story The Equestrian, which is available for a buck on Amazon.

6) check out and support the work of other talented Inkshares authors, among them Katherine Forrister, Matthew Isaac Sobin, Christopher Huang, J. Danielle Dorn, Tal Klein, J-F Dubeau, Kyle Cowan, Jacqui Castle, Evan Graham, Brian Fitzpatrick, Eric Heisner, and Erin Evan, who has written perhaps my most anticipated book of the coming year, The Pirates of Montana. 

Thank you all so much for your continued patience and support. This book has been my biggest creative project for nearly nine years, and it’s humbling and thrilling to know that so many people are excited to read it.

I’ll be sure to keep you all updated as things progress. And, as always, it means the world to me anytime you recommend AFTER DEATH to anyone and help spread the word.

Thanks again! You are all amazing!

Hi, readers! Welcome to 2018, also known as the year this book will, at long last, be in your hands. There have been a few delays to contend with which were out of my control, but now things appear to be moving along and, to celebrate, eBooks are now on sale for $7.99! Right now Phantom Forest is the #19 best seller in its genre, but I’ll bet we can do a lot better than that in the coming months before the big release. So if you feel like snagging an extra copy for a friend, take advantage of that sale!

I’ll update everyone as soon as I have release dates, official artwork, and social media pages set up. There’s much to be done in the next few months, but it will be an exciting process! Will keep everyone posted. Till then, enjoy the promise of an awesome new year and stay warm!

Hugs,

Liz

1/20/18

Ladies and gentlemen...we are published!!

After four years of development, the first book of the Storm of Fury trilogy has been released! You can order it here on Inkshares or find it on Amazon! If you pre-ordered, you should already have your ebooks, and your physical copies have shipped out to you.

I want to thank everyone who supported me from the beginning of my campaign and endured the long road to publication. I can’t believe it’s finally here! I’ll have another update for you in a few weeks, detailing my next steps and how you can help bring Storm of Fury to new readers. In the meantime, thank you so much for everything, and enjoy the novel!

Regards,

Andrew Wood

Greetings Inkshares Readers!