Acolytes of the Church! 

As some of you may already know, Inkshares is changing the way they do business. The good news? A small goal! 250 copies sold for a light publishing deal, and 750 copies for the full publishing. The bad news? No more free copies. (NOOOOOO!) Actually, this is a smarter move by Inkshares, so I can't say I'm surprised.

Starting on October 30th, the price of a pre-order will rise from $10 to $20. You can still get $10 in credits if you sign in and leave a quick review. (This is greatly appreciated.) But from the 30th, you will have to spend some real cash. 

If you've been putting off buying a novel, please do so for free while you still can!! 

In other news, we're just one copy short of 75! That's so awesome! Remember, I'll be uploading Chapter 3 when we reach 100! I'm also pleased to say that I will soon have maps to show you all. 

Thank you all for your support thus far. This story is very important to me, and I really appreciate the effort you are putting into making this story a reality! Keep sharing and I'll see you all next week. Thanks again!

Your illustrious leader, Zealot Andrew

G'day Rebels and Royals,

Time for an update of epic proportions!

Nano and the crazy month of November.

I'll be going radio dark from here until early December. You won't be hearing from me during November because I'll be shackled down with cramping fingers, a drip feed of coffee in one arm, beer in the other. Nanowrimo is a week away. 

Cue Rocky-like training montage with far more sitting.

I've sworn a blood oath to finish the draft during the month of November, and right now I am embracing the crazy like a teddy bear filled with razor blades. For those of you that don't know anything about Nano, it's a challenge to write a fifty thousand word novel in 30 days. That is 1666 words a day. Mind you I already feel Finn and I are doing Nano.  We smashed out a section of the novel last night and when I calculated the word count...6666 words. I wonder if my muse is trying to tell me something? I'm sure it's just a coincidence.

Laptop story!

It happened. My poor abused laptop pushed me over the edge. Not only did the G and H key decide to go on strike, other keys joined the revolution. The quote tag key went next in an early showing of support followed closely by the left shift key. When the touch pad decided to join the party, there was a brutal police action. It wasn't pretty. I now have a new laptop just in time for Nano and so far, all good. It's performing nicely. I'm keeping a small memento of the previous laptop nearby, just in case. Remember, if you can't rule with love and kindness, abject terror works just as effectively in the short term.

Pre-order!

Hah! Made you look. Nope, I haven't pushed that button yet. I'm only going to push that button when the first draft is done. I'm a man of my word. BUT, I am going to tell you I think I'm right on track for the beginning of December. There will be ceremony...and beer, lots of beer. Of course, Inkshares just changed the funding goal structure. 750 is the goal. 

Right now if I take off my shoes I can count my followers and because I haven't pushed that button yet, or done any kind of social media campaign, I have a grand total of 0 pre-orders. So I have a fair bit of work to do. It's time to get a little bit creative and put on my stunningly handsome hat of temptation +5. I'm thinking about what to offer very deeply and I'd like suggestions. What do you want? I know what I want. I want to go on a plane. "Every author who hits the new pre-order goal will receive a trip to San Francisco to sign copies for their backers, including a round-trip ticket, one-night’s hotel, and lunch with the Inkshares team."

I'm not sure if Jeremy realized the cost of flying me out to America to sign books and enjoy lunch with the Inkshares team. Can't take it back now Jeremy, please don't make me fly long-haul coach. Maybe Finn can go, he's in SoCal. He could probably drive there.

Awesome daughter!

I've said I have an awesome daughter. It was in my description until Finn joined the crazy train. Not sure if you appreciate how awesome she is, like I do. She's very creative and she's done images of the main characters...anime style. Now to see if I can upload an image into this update somehow...

That's all the time my muse is giving me readers, back to the manuscript. Where was I? Oh right, North Pole...

Ladies and gentle men, I come to you with some good news, nay....great news. 

Ghosts of War is getting published by Inkshares. 

How can this be you ask? Well, today Jeremy Thomas (Inkshares' CEO) announced some changes to the way Inkshares will work going forward and the changes mean only good things for Ghosts of War. 

 You can read the full blog post about the changes here, and I recommend that you do: http://blog.inkshares.com/post/131749557025/inkshares-funding-goal-announcement

 But these are the most important points for right now: 

• Since it is over 250 copies sold, Ghosts of War qualifies for Inkshares' new 'light publishing' option. This is what Inkshares has to say about the new option: 

 Any project that reaches 250 pre-orders will qualify for the “light-publishing” option with a new, yet-to-be-named Inkshares collection. These books will receive a light edit, an ISBN, and limited distribution (including physical and digital on Amazon.com). Backers will receive physical copies printed through our print-on-demand service. We will reserve the right to push any of these books through our full production process, and as with all of our books, the rights will remain non-exclusive if the author wishes to publish elsewhere.   

So that's pretty awesome, but there is a small catch: After October 30th the pre-order prices are going up.

• From then, it'll be $20 for a paperback and $30 for a hardcover.
  
• There will also be a $15 International shipping fee. US shipping will remain free.

Now this bit is all in bold because it's the most important of important things. 

If you pre-order a copy of 'Ghosts of War' before October 30 (or have previously pre-ordered a copy), you will still get it for $9.99 with free shipping. 

Any copies ordered after that will cost more, so if you've been on the fence about it, please, dive in, especially those of you who are in Australia or other non-US countries. Right now is when you can get the best deal.

In closing, I want to thank every one of you who's ordered a copy so far, you got me here and it's because of you that Ghosts of War is getting published. I can't thank you all enough.

I think it's going to take a while to sink in that this is really happening, but until then...we can have a party.

Thanks to Inkshares' new announcement, we just need 250 pre-orders to have a limited print run!! This starts at the end of October, so for those that haven't done so, it will be the time to pre-order the book. Especially at the $10 price as Inkshares will be increasing the pre-order price to $20.

That time of the week again.  Update and map Friday.

I was quite excited to read the news of the changes coming to the funding model 10/30.  I'm sure most of you have already heard of them, so I won't go into detail here.  I will say though, that any of you who have followed but not ordered should order before 10/30 if you want to get in at the super low price of $9.99.  Starting 10/30 that will increase due to the changes, but if you order before then you'll still be getting it for the lower price.

Other than that I don't have much to say, since I don't want to bog you down with details of what I'm doing in the background.  So, with that out of the way its map time.

This week it is The Top of the World.  Again I apologize for the quality, but I'm a horrible artist and this is perhaps the most simplistic area of the world.

This is the world's north pole, which I suppose in hindsight makes the compass a bit misleading.  While only a few days northwest from the Dragon's Head Peninsula by boat, it is one of the most unexplored regions in the world.  This is in large part due to its unusually high population of quite old dragons, as well as the near impassability of its seemingly unnatural mountains.

The hole at the center ranges from 20 to 30 miles across and seems to have no bottom.  Most legends say it was formed at the conclusion of the Demon Gods' War some ten millenia ago as a result of the final confrontation between the Demon King Cirdresse and one of the twin elven goddesses Saeriscia Lataria.  These same legends also claim that the hole runs through the world and that a nearly identical opening exists at the south pole.  No one has ever been brave enough to try and verify this last claim.

That's all for this week.  Thanks for your time and support, and keep reading.