My amazing friends and supporters, 

I have good news for you about Curio Citizen! 

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I have the privilege of working with Matt Harry, Inkshares’ Head of Story Development, as my editor. During the past few weeks, we have discussed my manuscript and decided on a few specific changes to strengthen the book. I am excited to start writing those changes based on Matt’s expert advice, and I know Curio Citizen will be an even better book come publishing time. 

Day one of writing those changes was not without distraction. This little Curio showed up in our attic this morning--I’m afraid we will not be integrating him into our society as Carmen wishes the paz would do for her, but something tells me this snake would prefer it that way also.

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But I will power through this and any other distractions thrown my way to get Curio Citizen into your hands as soon as possible, and in the best quality possible. Thank you again for all of your support and patience! I will continue to keep you updated as the process continues.

If you or anyone you know would like to pre-order a copy of Curio Citizen, follow this link! 

 https://www.inkshares.com/books/curio-citizen

--Katherine

Thanks to your continued support, Proteus has finally hit the halfway point in its publication campaign! We are now officially over the hump: from now on, we are closer to the end of this journey than we are to the beginning.

There is a LOT of work left to be done, though. It’s taken a full year to get this far (though that includes several long breaks while I worked on editing Tantalus Depths) and now we have only a little over a month to get the rest of the way there. That’s a lot of ground to cover, but I know we can do it, if we all work together. I know I say this every update, but I cannot stress this enough: telling your friends and family about Proteus is so, so important. If everyone who has already bought a copy found one other person and convinced them to order one too, this journey would be done overnight.

Remember, sharing social media posts is extremely helpful, but telling your friends and family about the book in person is even more impactful. Talk to your brother, co-worker, spouse, anyone you know who might be interested. You’ll be amazed how many people are interested in supporting the arts. I know I have been.

Even if the only thing you can offer is emotional support, I will certainly take that too. I’m not the kind of guy who takes to this crowdfunding thing easily, and it is the most emotionally draining thing I’ve ever done. I’m committed to getting this thing done no matter what, so I’m willing to take that toll, but words of encouragement are always welcome.

Alright, enough of the sales pitch. We’ve hit the halfway point on our journey, just like the crew of the Somnambule at the beginning of Proteus.  At the end of our journey is a publication deal for Proteus, but at the end of the Somnambule’s journey is something much more precious. I think it’s time we found out what’s so important that the Expansionary Coalition thought it was worth the massive undertaking of shipping 50,000 souls halfway across the galaxy, don’t you? Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the planet Bella Rosa: The Promised Land.

Here we go! The outdoor book you helped launch by pre-ordering 750 copies is leaving my office. Every chapter of ’My Place Among Men’ goes to Inkshares today! Publish date coming soon. -Kris Millgate

Good morning everyone!

I’m so excited to tell you that we have a release date of September 4th, 2018 for Inkshares backers and a public release date of September 25th, 2018, right before my birthday! 

I know you all have waited a long time, but we are finally in the home stretch. I’ll give you more updates along the way. I’ll also finally be reaching out to those of you owed a promotional item. I’ve been holding off on them, because for a while there I grew concerned over whether the book would stay with Inkshares or not.

To be honest, there wasn’t a lot of communication from the staff once I turned the manuscript over, and I began to ponder other publishing options do to fear that the book may not see the light of day without another avenue. So, I held off on spending money on the promotional items when backers could inevitably be refunded their money. However, now that publication is secured and I’m receiving more communication from Inkshares, the concern of having to find a new publisher has been alleviated and I can now begin filling those promotional items promised.

It’s away!

So, as most everyone was probably expecting, I did not manage to finish my second development draft of Tantalus Depths within one week, as I had hoped. BUT fortunately it didn’t take anywhere near as long as the first draft did. I have just finished my second development draft of Tantalus Depths and turned it into my editor. Only took two and a half weeks!

So once again, we’re all going to have to wait a little while before he’s able to read through it and give me feedback on this latest draft. Unless there are any significant problems left over after two thorough rounds of development edits, though, we should be able to move right from here to the copy editing stage. We’re really making headway!

Once we do officially enter the copy editing stage, the ball’s really going to start rolling. Shortly after that is when the interior page design and the new cover art will be approved (which I can’t wait for). We’ll also get an official release date around that time too, hopefully. We are well on our way to reaping the benefits of all this hard work and finally holding a real-life, fully-published print copy of Tantalus Depths!

One thing at a time, though. As you’ve undoubtedly noticed by now, no stage in this process moves quickly. I’d say we’re closer to the end than the beginning, but any number of things could happen to set us back, so I’m not going to jinx it. For now, we’re back to the waiting game, as my editor pours over this new draft. That means I’m going to be shifting my attention back to campaigning Proteus once again, and boy, I gotta tell you, missing that extra week and a half of campaign time really did not do my campaign any favors.

Proteus hasn’t had any new pre-orders in two weeks, so we have to make a lot of headway in not a lot of time. We can absolutely do it, but it’s going to take a lot of hard work. As always, please tell all your friends about Proteus and try and get as many of them to pre-order copies as you can. We still need to sell more than 400 copies to get that publishing deal, and we only have until the end of next month to get there. If you have it in your heart to order multiple copies and can afford to do so, that would be absolutely invaluable to the success of the campaign. I already owe you all a tremendous debt for the help you’ve offered in getting Tantalus Depths a publication deal, and for getting Proteus almost halfway to one of its own. I can never express my gratitude to you all for what you’ve done to get us this far.

As soon as I have news about this second draft, you’ll all be the first to know. Meanwhile, back to Proteus I go, and I hope to see you all there!

THE MOST IMPORTANT UPDATE....IN THE WORLD. 

 Want some news? Here’s some news... 

 To the best of my knowledge, very shortly (if not right now) Ghosts of War: Retribution will be off to the printers. 

That right, it’s D-O-N-E, done. 

 Edits have been done, copy edits have been done, covers have been done and finalised, the interior has been designed and finalised. Done. 

 So what now? Well, there is one thing that is rather important:

Shipping Addresses! 

 Since Ghosts had its backing period so long ago, undoubtedly some of you have changed address in the meantime. If you want to receive your physical copy of Ghosts of War: Retribution, it’s very important to update your address on the Inkshares site (or just confirm it to be super safe). Just follow this simple guide to fix everything up: 

 With that squared away, you should safely receive your print copy (provided you bought one) some time before the general release date of the 17th of July. If things stick to the current schedule, I believe that backer print copies (and ebooks) are set to go out around the 15th of June. 

And now onto some pretty things. 

Like the final full cover spread (the final book is 416 pages, and should be just under an inch thick): 

and the blurbs pages and title page:

That’s all for now. I’ll be doing a couple more updates in the run up to release, and I’ll make sure to keep reminding you all about confirming your shipping addresses. I want make sure everyone gets their books.

Until then...

I know what you’re thinking: Another update so soon? Well, this one has been a long time coming. Even the animals are talking about it...

That’s right! The team at Inkshares has informed me that production has really started ramping up for The Animal in Man I: Violent Heart, and the book will be hitting bookstore shelves on September 25th of this year! Granted I’ll need to keep my s**t together well enough to meet all the deadlines on my end, but I owe YOU - my supporters, my greatest strength through all this, the thing that’s kept me going - and I’ll get it done.

Friend me on facebook, look me up on Twitter, stay tuned to your email for more upcoming updates on book signing events in and around Chicago as that wonderful date draws near! And if you haven’t already, check out my new and improved promotional video for “The Animal in Man.”

Hi!  I’m finishing off the semester at SF State this week (20 units, and I expect all A’s except for one B), so I should be a bit more "present" in the coming months.  One more semester like this (only 19 units :D) and I’ll be out!

But my personal life aside, I’m happy to report that Amazon is up to 10 reviews, sales have been good, and copies are available at most SF bookstores, and even at Pegasus Books in Berkeley!  I’ll be driving about and getting copies on shelves in the coming weeks, so if you’re local to the Bay Area, keep your eyes peeled!

On a similar note, I want to thank everyone who has read Borehole Bazaar, but I also want to encourage folks to keep the book moving.  Much like a penny, the value increases with circulation, not just with initial sales.  If you know someone who would LOVE this story, even if it wasn’t quite your cup of tea, then please feel welcomed and encouraged to LEND THEM YOUR COPY.  

That’s right.  If those I wasn’t able to reach aren’t of a mind to buy a book, but they would enjoy reading the story, it’s to my net benefit that they have access, and that is where you come in:  Please share your copies.  What this does, first and foremost, is allows for the words to become more than just ink and glue and paper and and some pretty images.  It allows the book to take a step toward becoming real.  What it also does, and I kill the magic by stating this, is it potentially increases visibility among populations outside the mainstream, which in turn could drive future sales with recommendations or "cult classic" status in ten years or even encourage folks to keep their eyes peeled for Book Two, Three, ecetera all the way to Twelve.  

Now, don’t get me wrong here:  I’d love a proffitable sale as much as the next author.  But I can never forget when I was literally starving because I couldn’t afford food, when I wore three to six layers inside my house because my roommate and I couldn’t afford heating, when we left the TV off and read by daylight or one bulb on our rescue couch in the living room together.  Those days were made for free books lent by friends and acquaintances.  That’s when I developed my love of well-worn pages and discovering "mystery crumbs" in the binding.  I used to try and guess what they were, back then.  So, if you’ve got a copy and you’re not going to read it again for a month, keep the book in motion.  Don’t let it gather dust.  It’s not a statue or shelf decoration.  It’s a book, made all the more precious for each time its spine risks creasing.

TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS! QUICK!

In honor of #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek you can pick up a digital copy of #SunshineisForever for $0.99 through the publisher! Please spread the word!

https://www.inkshares.com/books/sunshine-is-forever

Be sure to review it on Amazon and Goodreads when you are done! Thanks!

Kyle T. Cowan