Hew-mons!
I’ve begun self-editing, for over 4 weeks now. Things have not progressed as fast as I expected, and that’s partly due to my cramming in reading a self-editing book (to/from work), Anne Leckie’s Ancillary Justice, Matthew Sobin’s The Last Machine in the Solar System, work and spending my time with my soon-to-be-walking 1 year old! No surprises that the last two taking up most of the time :^)
So, just chugging along... oh, there’s 19 days of funding left, so please do help me get a few more pre-orders if you can.
Yeah, that’s it... take care folks.
LLAP \V/,
Hello Friends
I was waiting for the book’s release date to be set before sending my next update, but that seems to be taking a little longer than expect it. So, in the meantime, I’ll share the latest regarding the production of The Catcher’s Trap.
Last week I had my kickoff meeting with my Production Editor at Girl Friday, Bethany Davis, and Marketing gurus Avalon Radys and Matt Kaye from Inkshares. I’m not going to bore you with the details of the meeting. The following GIF represents my feelings afterwards.
If everything goes according to schedule, the book will be fully edited by mid-June. After that, there are many other pieces to the process, including the whole marketing side, which will be another four months, at least. My hope is releasing the book in November, but, at the end of the day, is not up to me.
What I can tell you is that there is a dedicated group of people working hard to make sure The Catcher’s Trap is a great book that you will enjoy.
I also met my developmental editor, Ryan Boudino. Ryan is an author and has a lot of experience with the fantasy genre. So I think we are going to make a good team.
This is all incredibly exciting and still hard to believe. There are so many people to thank, including all of you, but especially those who went above and beyond the call of duty to make sure my book funded. You know who you are and, trust me, your names will be printed in the book’s acknowledgment page.
If you want to read some of my writing while you wait for The Catcher, follow my project Ysolda and The Coven of Fire. I will be adding chapters regularly to gather plenty of feedback before I go into funding mode (it will be a long time before that)
Lastly, there are over 100 people following this project who have not pre-order the book. I encourage you to do it. If you are hesitant, and you want to learn more, or if you are an author and you want to make a swap, reach me at ricardophenriquez@yahoo.com.
Have a fantastic rest of your week.�
30 days left and 62 pre-orders. Am I downhearted? Nope.
188 to reach Quill, but with the possibility of an extension, this is do-able.
My thanks in particular to Thomas J. Arnold for the review and recommendation. Wow. That bolstered my ego no end. Thanks also to everyone who has pre-ordered, and especially those who have shared on social media.
Yesterday I co-presented a book themed radio show on my local station. I was joined by published author Simon Dawson and we had a blast.
I read the weather in a variety of literary styles as suggested by Simon and we interviewed each other about our books. Not that anyone ordered the book as a result, but it was fun. I promoted Inkshares as well.
I have paid Facebook to put my posts in front of avid readers and lovers of historical fantasy although $15 later I have had three click-throughs and two followers. I’ll have another crack at that though as it may yet bear fruit. My Facebook author page is https://www.facebook.com/ollitooley/
I am also giving £1 (that’s $1.45) to Cancer Research for every pre-order between 02/08 and 02/29 £12 ($8) so far, but I hope to be paying out three figures on March 1st. This is regardless of whether I hit my funding goal or not, so don’t be afraid to order now.
My Twitter account just for me as an author was set up in January, and now has over a thousand followers. I didn’t pay for any of them. Tweet me @OTooleyAuthor
There are a few lovely but technologically inept friends who want a paperback copy but don’t want to pay $15 for postage. Some have no online presence (my mum) or are having technophobe issues. For those people I will be using a friend’s account to buy up to 10 copies. This will be genuine demand, so I am not "gaming the system" hope that’s ok.
On the subject of pre-order exchanges. There are numerous books that I have a sincere interest in reading but were I to buy all of them with my credit card, I would very rapidly go bankrupt. I’m sure many other authors feel the same way so if you are not pre-ordering my book for a genuine lack of funds you can always ask me if I am having the same problem with your book.
225 preorders - WOW! I feel like we ought to have a balloon drop or something! Thank you all SO much...
Well, no two ways of putting this, I’ve been away... derelict... near-defunct. The reasons why are complicated, deeply personal, and way too messy to get into in a reader update. But time and tide wait for no man, no matter what craziness he’s got going on back home. Consequently despite my mostly-absence we’ve still managed to accrue some
MAJOR NEWS
on the Feyside front! (Seriously, sometimes I think it would be best for me to just abdicate entirely and let this thing write and market itself...but I digress...) First off, somewhere over the last week, Feyside crossed the 200 order mark - quite the milestone! And yet not the biggest news of the week, given that-
Feyside is the February pick for John Robin’s Epic Fantasy Syndicate! This collective of book enthusiasts makes its picks on the basis of offerings demonstrating "grand epic fantasy with magic, a fully immersive secondary world, and series potential" - I am honored to in any way measure up to those mighty qualifications. Thanks to John and to all of my Inkshares author friends on the Goodreads forums for this enormous vote of confidence.
Finally, I’ve gotten my nose back to the editing grindstone and prepped another chapter or two for your review -- look for those shortly!
Best,
Peter
P.S. As always, a reminder to my colleagues on Inkshares and especially to anyone participating in the current Inkshares contest - I am happy to exchange preorders on a 1-for-1 basis, no prearrangement needed. Go ahead and order mine up to your limit and I will immediately reciprocate - PFB
Hey Everybody,
It has been a week since I launched the project and currently we are 4% funded. We still have a long way to go, but with over 80 days left, I’m confident we may reach 250 pre-orders.
If you have backed the project, I thank you. If you haven’t, please consider doing so.
I have started a Facebook page for the project as well. Here, I will be sharing supplemental material (photos taken by the characters, their journal entries and poetry, etc). Please like the page and share it on social media. Every little bit of promotion helps out.
https://www.facebook.com/Pixilated-Obsidian-Roses-227496980922194/?ref=hl
Finally, I have just posted an excerpt for the second chapter. Check it out and feel free to provide feedback. This is your project as much as it is mine.
Rob
I am honored to announce that Deus Hex Machina was chosen as the February book for the Break the Bechdel syndicate. I am humbled that a group of esteemed Inkshares readers identified with Isidore RAM and her story. As a small thank you, I will post the complete chapter two today, which introduces our inciting incident as well as Daxas Piers. Mechs ahoy friends!
This means that we blew past our 150 order raffle and are only 1 order away from the 160 raffle! Amazing!!! I will do the raffle pull later on today, since I really need to get that last scene written before I can post the chapter. It’s a biggie.
Sadie fans, we’re on a roll! With 2 weeks to go, "Sadie McGrady, Leading Lady" has reached 825 pre-orders. We’re nearing the finish line with 175 pre-orders to go! There are more than 300 people following this project. With your help, we could surpass our goal in a hurry. If you haven’t yet, please think of a few friends who might be willing to support this project, then make a direct ask.
Feel free to copy and paste this wording:
"Friends: please join me in supporting this new picture book (for ages 4-8) about a girl who runs her own campaign for President of the United States. Sadie helps kids explore what it’s like to be a candidate and an elected leader. I love that the main character is a girl! During February, you can pre-order this book for $10/copy (purchase up to 10 copies/customer) to help this project reach its goal of 1,000 pre-orders. I really want to see this book published. The deadline is February 29, 2016 and over 800 pre-orders have already been placed. You can help by placing your own order and/or sharing the project link with your friends. The link is below - you can also follow along on Facebook and Twitter. Thanks for considering!"
SADIE McGRADY, LEADING LADY: https://www.inkshares.com/books/sadie-mcgrady-leading-lady/
Be on the lookout for new images on Sadie’s Inkshares page over these last two weeks of crowd funding.
Thanks and Happy President’s Day!
Mary Parry & Corey Williams
