Thomas J. Arnold liked an update for Dax Harrison

(Long update ahead, bear with me)
A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO PUBLISHING...

Hi there, friends! Family! Fellow authors! Perfect Strangers! (Points to you if you get that reference)

So the weird journey to publishing continues. Here’s a quick refresher in case you’re late to the party or if you simply forgot where we left off...

-I launched a campaign at Inkshares to publish my very first sci-fi novel, DAX HARRISON!
-With the help of reader pre-orders, I secured a light publishing deal. Huzzah! In short, Inkshares promised to publish my book to anyone who bought a copy, and continue to make it available online through all major outlets (Amazon, Barnes & Noble online, etc).
-I handed over my manuscript and have since been waiting for my turn to begin production (copy editing, review, etc).

BUT WAIT! THE PLOT THICKENS!

Inkshares has launched a new contest titled THE LIST 2016, gathering a handful of the best projects which either did not meet their campaign goal the first time around, or only reached light publishing (like yours truly). The winners will be guaranteed FULL PUBLISHING. That means all kinds of fancy things that light publishing does not include, such as developmental editing, professional cover design, marketing assistance, and getting books into physical book stores.

Why am I telling you all this? Because the contestants have been nominated by their fellow Inkshares authors. ...And guess who was nominated.

Yep. I am officially part of this new shindig, courtesy of my fellow writers who believe in my silly stories, or maybe just like me as a person. Either way, I gotta say I’m pretty humbled.

"HOLD UP, TONY! I BOUGHT YOUR BOOK AWHILE AGO, AND NOW YOU’RE TELLING ME YOU WANT MORE MONEY?!"

No, no, no! Again, I apologize for the long wait for the book, but NO I am not asking you to buy the book again. The point of this contest is to gather unique readers above and beyond my current readers. That means fresh new folks to join the adventures of Dax. While I appreciate your support, I don’t need you to buy 10 more copies just so I win this thing. What you CAN do however, is spread the word to friends, family, coworkers, strangers in passing, anyone who might enjoy a good fun read like Dax. Just tell them to head to daxharrison.com!

Per the contest rules, the top 3 books with the most unique orders will be guaranteed the full publishing deal. There are also guest judges who will have the opportunity to select 3 more winners of their choosing, beyond the top 3. So there will in fact be 6 winners total!

"WAIT A SEC, TONY! WHAT GIVES?! YOU TOLD ME YOU WERE ALREADY GOING TO BE PUBLISHED! NOW YOU HAVE TO WIN ANOTHER CONTEST?!"

No, no, no! I assure you, I will be published and you will have your book in your hands no matter what. This contest is more of a 2nd chance for the gold. If I fail, I will simply continue on with the light publishing deal as planned. So I have nothing to lose. But if I win? Professional edits, meaning the book will be better than ever. Cover design services, so I won’t have to pay out of my own pocket separately. Marketing support, needless to say, SUPER important. And getting my book into physical bookstores. Can you imagine walking into a Barnes & Noble and seeing Dax Harrison on the shelf?! I would melt, into a puddle of joy. A puddle, I say. And then I would apologize to the cleaning staff.

Not to mention, higher sales = more incentive for my publisher to hurry up and get my book out there and into your hands! ;)

More to come soon. See ya!
-Tony V.
like · liked by S.E. and 15 others

People who have liked this reader update

    Thomas J. Arnold liked an update for Devil’s Call

    Comrades!

    Two quick things, as I have a deadline and have been on my feet all weekend:

    1) Those of you who preordered already may have noticed you’ve been issued a refund. I lost track of the campaign deadline due to things happening that I’m not at liberty to discuss yet, but I’ve been issued a second extension because

    2) Apparently Inkshares has this The List 2016 contest thing happening and Devil’s Call was chosen as one of the contestants and if I get more readers/preorders than the other 34 people on the list then something happens. Publication, I think. Or bragging rights. IDK.

    Here is a gif to celebrate the fact that I have to cashier not only on Turkey Day, but on Black Friday.

    .

    Thanks for your support, as always,
    J.

    like · liked by Brian and 4 others

    People who have liked this reader update

      Jane-Holly Meissner followed Thomas J. Arnold
      Thomas J. Arnold
      A bumbling madman in an unholy relationship with the written language. Author of Exile, Magus; Exi...
      Follow
      Thomas J. Arnold followed Fae Child
      Fae Child
      A child slips through a portal into the land of the Fae and traverses the Otherworld with the help of a young elf, while her parents are left to deal with the changeling that was left in her place.
      Thomas J. Arnold liked an update for Exile, Magus

      Yesterday was... well yesterday was yesterday and that’s all I’ll say on that.

      Unfortunately Magus failed to fund and its campaign ended yesterday, so this update doesn’t get to be a celebratory one.  I also overslept and have to hit the road soon, so it also doesn’t get to be the detailed update (with pictures) that I had originally planned.

      In short, I’m not giving up on Magus and will continue working on a way to get into all of your hands.  I have a rough plan for that, but no time to go into it now, so I’ll just focus on the first step.  While posting up new chapters over the past year I’ve seen places to make relatively minor tweaks, so step one is to comb through the entirety of the book to make a number of small changes which I thought I had already done.  As they are small changes I don’t expect this will take more than a week or 2.

      Like I said this one is short due to time constraints, I’ll likely hold off on a more detailed update until next week when I’m further along with revisions and detailed planning.

      Thanks to everyone who supported this book.  Despite not funding I made the progress in 3 months that it previously took me 5 months to make, and that was with some new readers coming on board as well, so that shows me that I have managed to grow interest in this book which is quite encouraging to me.  Hopefully you’ll follow me into the future of this book as well.

      Keep reading, and enjoying!
      like · liked by Jane-Holly and 9 others

      People who have liked this reader update

        Thomas J. Arnold liked an update for LandFall

        So I have some news.

        http://blog.inkshares.com/post/153308043055/the-2016-list

        LandFall has been nominated for ’The 2016 List’, which is Inkshares’ new (and inaugural) end-of-year contest to highlight ’the top-voted projects that haven’t reached full Inkshares.’ What that means is that, should I enter (which I probably will), I’ll be starting a funding campaign up for that in the coming days.

        What it also means, is that I have to do a lot of work fairly quickly. 

        I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t expecting this, like, at all. The original plan for this was to start a campaign around June next year and to have a pretty big chunk of the book written before I even started. But this is an excellent opportunity to secure full funding for the book, something it needs to satisfy the vision in my mind. And it’ll be a long campaign, reaching well past the contest and into my originally intended timeframe to give it the right attention.

        When the announcement came this morning I had maybe 5% of the story outlined thoroughly, and another 10% vaguely bullet-pointed. LandFall’s page had a 10 line description. 
        I didn’t have much. 
        I had a general idea of where it started and where I wanted it to end, but nothing in the middle. At the same time though, it was obviously enough to garner some attention. 
        But I need more. Clearly.

        So, this afternoon I sat down, fired up ’Hamilton,’ and churned out a little over 1000 words of notes and scribbles that seem to have come together to be at least 3/5’s of a story. And it’s one I think I kinda like. It’s still all pretty general, and there are holes...chasms even...but things are a lot further along than they were yesterday.

        Any progress is good progress.

        Over the next couple of days, a campaign will likely launch, and it might be a bit bare in here for a little while, but I’m hoping to have that first chapter written this week. Or a version of it at least.

        Keep an eye on that horizon.

        You never know what you might see.
        like · liked by S.T. and 3 others

        People who have liked this reader update

          Thomas J. Arnold liked an update for Ghosts of War

          Update time!

           

          As you can see, things were a bit disrupted again this week, but I solved a few logic problems with Ghosts that I’m really happy about. The thing with this read-through stage is that it doesn’t generate a lot of words. I’ve identified a few areas that need expanding, so words will come then, but for now it’s just tightening everything up.

          You might have noticed the big blob of words for LandFall today. Well there’s a reason for that:

          http://blog.inkshares.com/post/153308043055/the-2016-list

          LandFall has been nominated for ’The 2016 List’, which is Inkshares’ new (and inaugural)end-of-year contest to highlight ’the top-voted projects that haven’t reached full Inkshares’. What that means is that, should I enter (which I probably will), I’ll be starting a funding campaign up for that in the coming days.

          What it also means, is that I have to do a lot of work fairly quickly. I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t expecting this, like, at all, and Ghosts will still be the primary focus until it’s done. So I’m taking the next couple of days to focus on LandFall and get it set up and then once that’s settled in, it’ll be back to editing Ghosts.

          If you want to follow along on the development of LandFall, you follow it at the link below:

          https://www.inkshares.com/books/landfall

          Oh! Before I go, I found a new thing hidden in the analytics that Inkshares gives us: It’s a heat map showing all of Ghosts of War’s readers. This really is a global book now, thanks to all of you.

           

          Until next time.

          like · liked by S.T. and 2 others

          People who have liked this reader update

            Thomas J. Arnold liked an update for Where the Sun Sets

            You know the phrase, ’Don’t judge a book by its cover’? Well, Where the Sun Sets doesn’t have a cover. Which begs the question, ’If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?’ (You’ll have to read Where the Sun Sets to discover the answer, or rather, Vole’s answer.)

            There are lots of ways to go about getting a book cover. But my hope is that this one comes from someone that it means something to. Someone who loves the idea of seeing their artwork, or the artwork of someone they know, on the cover of a fiction novel about a poignant love in a time-stopped world.

            So, I’m running a contest! 

            If the idea of contributing to book fabrication fascinates you, or someone you know, I invite you to take a look: https://www.facebook.com/Wherethesunsets/

            I promise, it’s a simple contest.

            1) Enter your image
            2) When the submission period closes (Sunday December 4), the internet will vote up a winner!

            PRIZES

            1) $150 Donation to Diyode, to go toward helping reduce waste while setting up a sustainable recycling business in Jacmel, Haiti*, made in your name.

            2) $150 Gift for your support and participation. Delivered in cash, or credit for Words Worth Books (your choice).

            3) Your art on the cover of Where the Sun Sets, sold through Inkshares.com! And (if enough pre-orders are made!) the possibility of having your art grace the cover of Where the Sun Sets, sold around the world (Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, independent book stores). 

            Additional detail posted to Facebook, but if you would like more information or to chat about details, please don’t hesitate to ask. 

            I invite you to share my contact information with anyone that you think might be interested in participating! With just under 2 months left, I’m almost at 50% of my Quill goal (250 pre-orders), and any bit of love helps :)

            Thank you for reading, & thank you for your continued support.

            Donna

            like · liked by Maria.Lagunav and 2 others

            People who have liked this reader update

              Thomas J. Arnold liked the forum thread, Ask Questions about The List 2016 here
              Sorry to everyone who just saw the comment count go up twice and thought the announcement may have been made. I added nothing to this conversation. :)
              like · liked by Marina and 3 others

              People who have liked this comment in the forum thread, Ask Questions about The List 2016 here

                More items