Hi everyone,

I’ve been trying to write this short update for a few days now, but I keep being interrupted with more things to add in.

Friday night, I was having diner with family and my phone as vibrating like it was trying to make a break for it. I usually don’t look at my messages at the diner table but the whole point of having a mobile device is to be available in case of emergencies and, considering I rarely get any messages, I was wondering what was up. Turns out, I had sold a handful of copies of The Life Engineered in a very short amount of time. “Cool.” I thought, making a note to track down what as up later that night.

The thing is, I’m a marketing guy. My instinct when seeing sales is rarely about the money or about the visibility, it’s almost always about ‘where are these coming from?’. So as soon as it was polite to do so, I went to social media to see what had happened. Turns out, The Life Engineered, along with Sword & Laser, were the focus of a short article on io9.com.

I read io9.com daily.

Already that's pretty awesome and I wanted to put up an update about it. Then I got confirmation of this article by Alicia Smock being posted on examiner.com. It’s a great article and was fun to participate in. So I was going to include that in my update.

Then The Life Engineered gets mentioned on Geek & Sundry and I lose my God damned mind. I can only keep a rational, marketing oriented line of thought for so long before I become an irrational mess. This isn’t a client’s product being mentioned in the media according to plan. This is my book.

Finally, another article, this time on Inkshares very own newsletter pops up.

So there you have it my friends. The surreal events of the first few steps of promotion of The Life Engineered. If you’ve ever doubted that this little crowdfunding venture takes care of their authors, I think I can testify that we are handled with much love and care. And that’s just the stuff I feel comfortable putting on a public forum!

But wait! That's not all. Remember when I gave away a model of the character Koalemos to someone at Nerdtacular last summer? Well, I'm making more of these models (7 more for reasons obvious in the book). A couple of them are earmarked for people that need to be thanked for their help, but one is going to be raffled off to the people who pre-ordered during the funding campaign. I know more about building and shipping these things now. It's going to be cool. Check out who got the first model.

As always, you have my gratitude. It’s an incredible ride so far and none of this is happening without your support. Thank you.

JF

Good evening Machiners!

We have an exciting update tonight! We will be covering a lucky raffle winner, announcing the item to be raffled at 40 readers, and revealing a new surprise promotion. So lots of goodies here.

OK, first off, we have a winner of the 30th reader give away. As a reminder, the item was a super cool copy of Haunted Horror #12 autographed by Jack Katz above his illustrated story "Bride of Death." And the winner is, drumroll.... Janna Grace! Congratulations! Apparently you are full of raffle luck - I'm well up to date on my Tony Valdez Dax Harrison mug give away videos (which are amazing BTW - everyone go pre-order Dax Harrison immediately and let's get Tony published!) and clearly Janna is full of raffle luck. No videos here though. You all will have to take my word for it. It's legit, scout's honor. Janna, my people will talk to your people and we'll figure out where to send your comic!

Second, and this is serious business. I am astounded by the fact that The Last Machine now has 80 followers. That's incredible! I am amazed by the deep interest in the story. However, I am getting the sense that we have some readers sitting on the edge of the pool only dipping their feet. Trust me, the water's fine - it's time to jump in! Now for the little push straight into the deep end: For folks who are already following but haven't yet pre-ordered, the next ten who take the plunge and pre-order will receive a signed copy of The Last Machine's cover art. I will sign and so will the illustrator, Jack Katz. Now I'm done with swimming metaphors. But seriously, time to get wet.

And last but not least, when we get to our 40th reader - which we are quickly approaching - all readers will be in the running for a framed poem of mine that was illustrated by Jack Katz and appeared in the Alameda County Fair poetry competition this past summer. The poem and the illustration will also appear in California's Lost Gold, an illustrated poetry collection of mine also on Inkshares. Go check it out and give a follow to stay updated on progress there. The illustrated poem is called "Bound in Earth," and you can read the poem without squinting on the California's Lost Gold page. 

Carry on readers!

Dear readers,

I've made the difficult decision of placing The Children of the Forest into the sequel contest to the Sword & Laser contest. While I've been blown away by the support and success of the story, I ultimately decided that this offers the best chance for the book to receive maximum exposure. I really believe in my story, the universe, and the cast of wonderful characters. I believe it's a relevant tale of ecological-unrest, and I know that it has the potential to win. 

Recently I put the final touches on the first draft of my novel, and I've been working diligently to complete the second version of the manuscript. I've removed the previous chapters and added the novel's new forward, along with the edited copy of Chapter One. Chapter Two will be forthcoming by the end of the night. 

Now comes the part where I need to ask a huge favor of the community. You've all been instrumental int this entire process, and you've made my story a thousand times greater than it could have ever been without you. The feedback, criticism, and more have helped shape my writing, and the story into something truly wonderful and unique. Now I need to ask that everyone go and pre-order a copy to help me get ahead in the contest. If even just half of the original supporters come and purchase only a single copy, it should shoot me right up to first place! 

I'm banking on the support of everyone who has followed me and my work, and again, I'm eternally grateful for you all.

~ Until next time folks.