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Angela Melamud
Assistant Director of Marketing & Publishing Operations at Inkshares
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Angela Melamud liked an update for A God in the Shed

Hello dear readers,

A lot has been going on and that’s kind of why I’ve been rather discreet in my communications. Also, I bet with three contests currently vying for attention, you get enough emails already. So what could possibly have taken up so much of my time?

Let’s start with how I had to do revisions to the manuscript for A God in the Shed. I had already handed it in but after a meeting at WeedRoad Pictures in L.A. a few weeks ago, several ideas to further improve the story demanded to be put to the page.

WeedRoad Pictures? What the hell is that? Well, that’s the second bit of paralyzing news. A God in the Shed has been optioned by Skydance Productions through the help of Akiva Goldsman from WeedRoad (props to Greg Lessans and Alexandra Neil for their part. Amazing people). I can’t do this news justice but you can read the article by The Tracking Board if you want to know more.

 So what does this mean? The short answer? I don’t know! It doesn’t mean that A God in the Shed is going to be a television show but rather that there are efforts behind making that happen. Needless to say that the book is in the hands of some incredibly talented and hard working people. I’m still reeling from the news and gathering the details myself, but as far as excuses for my silence, I think that’s the best I can do right now.

What’s next?

  • I think it’s obvious that this has delayed my plans and promises for Arch-Android (Give it a follow why don’t you?), the sequel to The Life Engineered. I’m still a few chapters short of a full draft but that should be taken care of before the end of November. I’m giving myself some room to work with this time so I can keep that prediction.
  • I’m also finishing another manuscript for The Ed Greenwood Group.
  • Obviously, the sequel to A God in the Shed, currently titled ‘CoudFire’ is going to be the first thing I work on after I’ve cleared these other projects. CloudFire is half written already, but it’s going to undergo some serious changes. Let’s just say that I’ve got a good skeleton to work on but I have to tear away the flesh and start that part anew.
  • I have some more good news coming up. Other cool opportunities and some new projects I want to toss out into the world.


Let me finish this with a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to Adam Gomolin and Brooklyn Weaver who worked like tireless maniacs to make this happen, along with the rest of the Inkshares crew for their support and of course, you guys, the readers, without whom none of this would be possible.

On to the next step!

JF

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    Angela Melamud followed Sparked
    Sparked
    A gripping mystery with supernatural twists, Sparked hauntingly portrays the complex relationship between sisters and the lengths that one will go to save the other.
    Angela Melamud liked an update for How to Get Run Over by a Truck

    Dear Sweethearts,

    I got up yesterday morning at 5 am to workout. As I dressed in the gray morning light, it reminded me of the years that I would force myself to get up at 5 am and drag myself to my computer to bang out bits and pieces of my memoir for the 2 hours I had before commuting into work. It was the quietest that my Brooklyn neighborhood was all day. It felt like I was the only person awake in the world. It was lonely, but it felt right.

    I struggled to put my feelings into words. I wanted to be honest with myself about who I was, how I felt and who I was trying to be. I did my best not to flinch about my ugly feelings, to stare deeply into my own mortality, fragility and also to dive in deeper past the negativity, to the beautiful hidden places where joy lived. 

     I spent my lunch hours tucked out of sight in unused cubicles in the back of the open trading desk where I worked - editing, crying, laughing. My evenings would bring me back to the same spot at the little desk in my bedroom, eating pretzels sipping tea and trying to get all of my memories out, writing with the fervor of a dying woman who didn’t want her life to get lost to time. 

    I wrote to make the pain more comprehensible, I wrote for old Katie because her story deserved to be told, and I wrote for the the stranger living somewhere in the world who might need a story like this, when they are feeling particularly hopeless. I wanted to tell them that the impossible happens all the time, we just don’t talk about it. It’s ok to be scared, it’s ok to laugh, it’s ok to cry - I usually do those three things in tandem. Even though I was writing this at my little desk by myself in Williamsburg - I wanted for the stranger to know, that they aren’t alone.  I’ve been there too. 

    I tried to make this book possible by myself, I sent it out to 75 agents across the country, I received their rejections, their emails and letters that told me that I wasn’t a good enough writer that the story wasn’t compelling enough, that no one would ever buy this book, I should hire a ghost writer. I took it to heart and I swallowed the rejection alone. 

    Then, I found Inkshares, and suddenly other writers were telling me that this book was something they thought was worth reading. From there, I found all of you, and I heard you saying "We believe in you. We’ll make this happen - we can do it together." And just like that, I wasn’t alone any more.  How to Get Run Over by a Truck stopped being just my story - it became all of ours. 

    I know that it is an imperfect piece of art, but it is a reflection of me and all of the pieces I tried to fit back together.  I love you for opening up your hearts to this story, to this book, and to me. There is no other way I could imagine bringing this book into the world today. Thank you for standing with me. To me, you are perfection. 

    Thank you for making this book possible. Yesterday was one of the proudest days of my life. I saw the book I have worked so hard on for years in the hands of people that I love, I got to read from the book in front of over 100 people who packed themselves into the KGB Bar on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. I cried and I laughed with people I knew, and with strangers. It was incredible.  Thank you for being a part of this amazing journey. I hope that you are enjoying your books! If you are, if you’d be willing to take a moment to leave a short review here on amazon.com’s website, I would be SO grateful! It will direct new people to the book, and hopefully get it into the hands of more people who need to hear this kind of a story! 

    I will be forever grateful for your kindness and for your support - thank you for changing the course of my life

    Heart,
    Katie 
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      Angela Melamud liked an update for The Animal in Man

      The Animal in Man is done. I can hardly believe it. No one doubted that this day would ever actually arrive more than me, I assure you. After months of what I called Radio Silence, I’m back - fingers trembling - to send out this reader update.

      So what happens now? Well, I’ve sent all 350+ pages to Inkshares just an hour ago, and from there they’ll put together my production timeline and all the other wonderful things they provide. I’ll collaborate with them to nail down some ideas for the final cover design. In the months that follow there will be edits… load upon load of edits. The more meticulous work, you see, is really just starting.

      I’ve never finished a project this massive in all my life, and yet, it’s not entirely finished. Still, I can’t contain my excitement. This is a turning point for me, and I couldn’t have done it without all the follows, all the interest (all the pre-orders!) for The Animal in Man. I just wanted to thank you all for your continued support. You’ll be hearing from me on the reg from now on!

      (“Natural Collapse” - Design by Diogo Hornburg via threadless.com)  

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        Katie Hayes followed Angela Melamud
        Angela Melamud
        Assistant Director of Marketing & Publishing Operations at Inkshares
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        Angela Melamud liked an update for These are my Friends on Politics

         

        Hey everyone. Friendly helpful PSA time.

        I ordered a physical book but was just told my ebook is ready to download. What happened? 

        Don’t worry. If you backed These Are My Friends on Politics, you’ll either have received or soon will receive an email informing you your ebook download is ready. That’s not a goof — every physical book comes with a complimentary ebook version you can load onto your preferred e-reader of choice. So you’re getting that right now while the physical books are being prepared for shipment. If you ordered a physical book (or three, or ten), that package will be heading your way before long. This is just a pre-order bonus.

        Sounds good. So what’s a .mobi file? 

        If your experience with getting ebooks comes from buying them straight from Amazon’s or Apple’s store, you might be a little thrown by seeing two different formats presented for your consumption. The download page has all the instructions you’ll need, but here’s a bonus quick cheat sheet. 

        ePub version: This is the .mp3 of ebooks, and it works on anything not called a Kindle. So if you’re using iBooks for iOS/Mac, Google Books for Android, or a Sony Reader/Nook/Kobo/basically any e-reader ever made that isn’t a Kindle, this is the format for you. 

        Kindle (.mobi) version: This one is for anyone using a tablet made by Amazon -- be it a Kindle Fire, the regular monochrome Kindles (Paperwhite, whatever weird name that new one is called) or anything else that has the word "Kindle" stamped on it. It also will display nicely on the Kindle desktop app for PC and Mac. The one place it won’t load: the Kindle app for iOS, which uses a different file format that’s laden with DRM and requires purchase through Amazon’s own store to display books properly. Fortunately, if you’re an iOS person, the ePub version plays perfectly with iBooks. 

        So should I read this ebook now or wait for the physical book if I ordered one of those? 

        Honestly? If I’m being candid, I’d wait, because I think the physical book is the best experience. I love ebooks, but I don’t think heavily-illustrated books are best served by that format. I also hope this is the kind of book people open up and enjoy together, which is something the physical book better allows to happen. It’s up to you, of course, but if you’re waiting on a physical book and choose to ignore the email about the ebook as result, you’ll get no argument from me. 

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          Angela Melamud liked the forum thread, New tool: 'Find My Audience' writer app available
          Hey authors,

          Although we haven’t used it ourselves yet, I wanted to pass along a potentially helpful resource/tool: www.findmyaudience.com. The CEO reached out a few days ago and it struck a chord. If anyone tries it out, I’d love to hear how helpful it is for you in case there’s integration potential down the line. 

          The founders describe it as a "micro-marketing app that serves as a lightweight lead generation tool for authors". They send daily or weekly emails with leads on social, publishing trends, and posts authors might want to read.

          Tutorial material: http://corporate.findmyaudience.com/resources
          FAQ: http://corporate.findmyaudience.com/faq
          Blog posts: http://blog.findmyaudience.com/

          Hope it’s useful!

          cc: @Thad Woodman @Angela Melamud @Elena Stofle @JF Dubeau @Tal M. Klein @Jamison Stone @Zachary Tyler Linville @Dave Barrett @Rick Heinz @Brian Guthrie @Ricardo Henriquez @Richard Saunders @Patrick Edwards and all y’all other first adopters!
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          People who have liked this comment in the forum thread, New tool: 'Find My Audience' writer app available

            Angela Melamud liked an update for How to Get Run Over by a Truck
            Happy Friday Sweethearts!

            I hope that you all are doing well and that you are having a beautiful day so far! I wanted to send you a quick email to let you know some exciting news, and also to invite you to an event! 

            I recently found out that a story that I wrote, "The Gift of Hope" that is a story based on "How to Get Run Over by a Truck, is going to be featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Angels and Miracles Edition! This book will be coming out in November, and I am honored and so incredibly excited!

            Also, I would like to invite all of you who are in Long Island and NY area to come to a reading that I am going to be having at The Dolphin Bookstore on October 13th, in Port Washington, New York! 

            Here are the details:
            October 13th
            7:00 pm 
            Dolphin Bookstore 
            299 Main St
            Port Washington NY 11050


            You can find more information here, and you can also RSVP! It would be so wonderful to see you in person, and to thank you for pre-ordering this book and making my dream into a reality! 

            I hope that you all have lovely weekends! 

            Heart,
            Katie 
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              Angela Melamud liked an update for Pilot X

              Hey there, I thought I’d update you on the progress with Pilot X as it’s been wending its way through the publishing process.

              First our AMAZING cover is finalized. You’ll see it updated on the Pilot X page here. Let us know what you think!

              Just got the copy-edited manuscript back. Copy edit is where they not only fix punctuation but also make sure the style is consistent and such. It’s less intensive than the developmental edit I told you about back in June. Just tightens things up so it all makes sense and looks good on the page. 

              I sent that back Tuesday so we’ll hopefully be on our way to proofs and galleys soon!

              All in all this means we’re still on target for a March 14 release. Thanks again so much for all the support.

              Cheers,

              Tom

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