Hi there friends,

Tony here. I know you haven’t heard from me in a good long while. You may have even completely forgot that you helped crowdfund a book nearly 2 years ago and have yet to see it. For that, I apologize. I assure you that these long delays have been out of my control. And more importantly, NO THIS BOOK HAS NOT BEEN ABANDONED, and YES, IT IS STILL COMING.

"Why the long silence, Tony?"

Well, frankly, I grew a bit tired and embarrassed of sending updates with no real news to speak of. I’m sure you may have grown tired of it as well, so I figured I’d lay low until I could come back with something real for you.

"Why the delays?"

Inkshares is a small publishing team with limited resources, and business decisions resulted in my book being put on the back burner for a very long time. It’s been unfortunate and frustrating, but there it is. The plus side is that I’ve had plenty of time to edit and revise. So the book you’ll be receiving is better than the book that would have been published a year ago.

"So what’s going on with the book now?"

As of a few weeks ago, I was assured by the Inkshares team that they should be able to get my book published and into your hands "by the end of summer". I have submitted the updated version of my manuscript to them and am currently waiting to hear back on the next steps of production. The book has been polished with the aid of beta readers, a professional dev editor, and my own neurotic nitpicking. I even added  a bonus prequel short story while I waited. Inkshares will assist with copy editing (sentence structure, punctuation, making sure things make sense, etc), formatting, slapping on the cover art, and it’s off to the printers. Again, hopefully, in an expedited fashion from here on.

"So when exactly is the book coming?"

I wish I had an official date to give you rather than "by the end of summer", but that’s all I got for now. I will let you know as soon as I have more.

"How about that cover art?"

Not that anyone asked, but I am excited to say the final book artwork is in progress. And if the concepts I’ve seen are any indication, it’s going to be something special. So whether or not you enjoy my writing, you will at least have a very pretty book to display on your shelf. ;)

All right gang, that’s all for now. Thanks again for your patience. I hope to have an official date and/or some art to show next update. See ya!

-Tony V.

I hope June has been good to all of you. In Australia, the end of this month marks the end of our Financial Year, so the joys of tax time commence! /faceplant.

The past month has been another busy one, but the statistics won’t reflect that this time — I haven’t completed any more scenes and my word count hasn’t increased. Instead, the time has been spent digging deeper into the world building with my editing team, making sure everything we include (or exclude) is rock solid. 

Coming out of this round of workshops, we have deeper science, more detailed history, and a path forward that will (hopefully) deliver something fresh to the genre.

Looking ahead, there’s still some work to complete before diving back into the rewrite again, but we’re close, and I can’t wait to get more of this to (digital) paper.

As always, feel free to reach out if you have any questions. If you haven’t already done so, don’t forget to jump on Facebook and give my author page a like, or sign up to my author newsletter (covers broader content than just this novel).


The following is a special sneak peek from a revamped prologue I’m looking forward to sharing the full thing:

Six letters ended the world. We didn’t realize it at the time — swept away by the excitement of advancing technology and endless possibilities. We failed to predict the chain of events which would follow, but in hindsight they appear inevitable. Sooner or later, someone was bound to be tempted as we were. Perhaps they wouldn’t have made the same mistakes. Perhaps they would have been more cautious. Perhaps not. History cares not for your regrets, pays no heed to your guilt. It will not change regardless how often or fervently you pray. History’s purpose is not the past, but the future. If we are lucky, we learn, move on, and build a better tomorrow. If we don’t, I fear we are all doomed...

Good news Sentients!

After a few false start, the campaign is now officially up and running. (Thanks to Thad at Inkshares for helping me fix whatever was going on there. You’re the best Thad!) I can already see some pre-orders rolling in and it makes the pump that moves blood around in my veins soar with joy. The pump is equipped with artificial emotional algorithms

So here we go. Arch-Android is now funding. Pre-order your copy(copies) and tell your friends. Let’s get this campaign over with so we can get on with the business of making a book.

Thanks again for supporting this project.

JF

Friends... I have some really cool stuff to talk about.

But first, I need a favour. You get this from probably every single author you support, whether on Inkshares or on any other platform. Once we publish, we all become these strange creatures that seem to feed on one thing and one thing alone: reviews.

The arcane mechanisms that explain why reviews matter so much in books sales are difficult to explain and keep changing (thanks Amazon algorithms!) but they are always important.

So go review A God in the Shed on Amazon and/or on GoodReads. Smarter people than I say that 50 should be a good goal for now, so lets go with that. Can we do 50 reviews in two weeks? I think so.

So what other cool stuff do I have to talk about? Well, that’ll have to wait. I want to have photos.

"I have such sights to show you." - Pinhead, Hellraiser

JF

And without further ado, here is the cover for Sunshine is Forever! I promise if you ordered a paperback you will be pleasantly surprised by how great this book will feel in your hands. Inkshares did an amazing job!Look for your copy on August 29, 2017! And don’t forget to follow my next book KARID on Inkshares so you can be the first to preorder a copy when it goes on sale.

FOLLOW KARID: https://www.inkshares.com/books/karid

Thanks again for all your support!

Kyle T. Cowan

Oh my goodness. I really don’t have words to express how grateful I am to all of you who have followed my journey with Curio Citizen from the beginning, or for those amazing supporters who got excited and jumped in last minute. I am truly amazed and humbled by your support and love.

And it paid off in more ways than just my eternal gratitude! Last night, Curio Citizen won 2nd place in the Nerdist Sci-fi Contest! We got 277 total pre-orders, and 270 of those were from separate readers who were enthused enough by Curio Citizen to pre-order! Back at the beginning of the contest, I repeated to many people, many times, that getting to 50 would be amazing to me. That number changed to 80, then 100, then I was SURE I would cap at 150 when I thought I had run out of people to ask. But you all rose to the occasion and showered me with pre-orders by spreading the word. I am FLOORED by the amount of support I have received in the past month.

I started writing Curio Citizen a year ago, and this summer, I was fully ready to begin the long submissions process to try to get it published. I am SO lucky to have had the opportunity this contest offered and all of you to rally and make it happen. I will now be a published author and can jump-start what will hopefully be a successful career. My head is full of stories to be told, and I cannot wait to share them all with you!

Many of you know the details of why being published is so important to me and my family, and what I have overcome in life to get to this point. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for giving me this chance towards an amazing future.

So, as of right now, Curio Citizen has won 2nd place, it is listed as #21 Best Seller in Science Fiction on Inkshares, and its status is officially "In Production". I am awaiting further instructions and information on the way forward, but I will continue to place updates here as I go!

I would like to also send congratulations to Ferd Crotte and Daniel Lee for their wins. It has been an amazing roller coaster of a competition, and I am glad the three of us succeeded. To all the other competitors, I have loved reading about your books, and I really hope you reach full funding through your continued Inkshares goals.

Thank you again, to every single person who pre-ordered my book. I am truly touched beyond words.

-Katherine

This is the best update of them all!

WE DID IT!!!

With the help of you who are receiving this email (the “follower” list,) we finished the contest in the top three and have won the publishing prize! That is the dream of every writer, to be published. I have ONLY YOU to thank for that. There are many excellent writers who never have this opportunity. The difference here was YOU!

Here are the numbers: Mission 51 has an awesome number of “Followers” on Inkshares: 419. Most of you helped with a pre-order. Mission 51 would not be getting published like this without those pre-orders! Pre-orders is what Inkshares uses to determine who merits publication. It can’t be done on Inkshares without your vote of confidence and crowdfunding support! - Many followers helped with public exposure and awareness by simply “liking,” and “sharing,” and “commenting” on the Inkshares site, facebook, twitter, and instagram. Even without purchasing a pre-order, drumming up support for Mission 51 like that was enormously helpful. The level of interest and enthusiasm for Mission 51 was phenomenal! I will point out proof of that in just a bit.

Of the 419 Followers, 246 of you purchased a pre-order. Wow!!! That’s the number that counted for the contest. That’s the number that was top three out more than 180 submissions.

Those 246 fabulous supporters purchased a total of 267 copies, as some people purchased multiple copies of the book. That’s the crowdfunding Inkshares is looking for to: 1. prove the project is worth it, and 2. provide funds so they can at least start the expensive process of pre-production and production.

Those 267 copies broke down like this: 63% ordered ebooks, and 37% ordered physical books. That amounts to over $3,600 worth of crowdfunding support!!! That’s HUGE!!! Inkshares will use all of that and more to provide world-class editing, layout, production, marketing, and distribution services. I will update you all later on the timeframe of this exhaustive and comprehensive process. 

So the Mission 51 project page on Inkshares suddenly changed at 3:00 AM EDT this morning as the contest ended. The part that said “Funding” now says “In Production.” I am so very, very happy and proud about that! The green funding bar has disappeared. But I’m happy that most of the content is still visible. 

There is now one new little badge which appeared under the title and description on the Mission 51 project page. It says, “#18 Community Interest in Science Fiction.” I am blown away by that!!! There are many Science Fiction projects on Inkshares. To be ranked as #18 in Community Interest is unbelievable! That’s the proof about "interest and enthusiasm" I was alluding to!

I am starting to receive emails from Inkshares about my next steps. I have a number of things to learn and to decide, as you might imagine. As I know more, I will continue to keep you all informed through this medium. I ask for your patience as Inkshares navigates Mission 51 through their pre-production process. The goal is to eventually have a professionally polished product in your hands as soon as humanly possible. It won’t be as soon as anyone of us would like, but I will do my part to make it happen as soon as possible. I’ll keep you informed.

Again, THANK YOU! From the bottom, middle, and top of my heart, THANK YOU!!!

Peace!

Ferd 👽

Greetings Supporters of Crow’s Gambit,

The Nerdist Contest is only a few hours away from ending. I’m sorry to say we will not be finishing in the top 3. With 123 unique orders we are securely in 5th place. However, don’t feel bad. This is still a great accomplishment. There are some strong books in the top ten and according to Inkshares there were over 180 submissions.

I cannot express my gratitude for all the support the story has received. Orders were placed by strangers, co-workers, high school friends, local supporters, and even several of the top ten authors in the contest. I thank you all.

The journey is not done for Crow’s Gambit. While winning the contest would have been GREAT there is another option. I can still try to sell enough Pre-Orders to secure publishing. A full publishing deal would require 750 Pre-Orders…that is a bunch and probably outside my time available at this point. So I have decided to try for the Quill level that requires 250 Pre-Orders. This deal would not get the book onto physical store shelves and would only involve light editing…but the story would get published and that’s a start.

This means we now shift to Plan B and spend the next couple months trying to sell more copies. With 136 copies already sold we only need 114 to get to the Quill level. There are two things to remember in this:

• While the contest was focused on unique Pre-Orders, Quill is focused purely on number of orders. If everyone who has already purchased a copy bought one more tonight we would be at Quill.
• The pledge to support the Le Sueur Public Library remains. If the book gets published $1 of the proceeds from every copy will be donated to the library.

So stay with me. Keep spreading the word to your friends. Updates will come a little less frequently but hopefully will include more interesting tidbits.

PT