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.

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!

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