Hello everyone, welcome to 2018!

Work on Blood Capital has been progressing at pace since NYE and we are now close to completing the developmental edits (at last!). Check the progress chart below and you can see I’ve almost completed the rewrite, and that all of Acts One and Two have had my second pass. Once this is complete, it should just be a matter of getting the final development notes from my editors and incorporating them, then we move into copy editing (grammar and spelling).

Everyone has been wonderfully patient with me over the past year, and that has made this process so much easier. Thank you. I’m aware the journey has been long — I had no idea how long it would be when I entered the competition back in 2016. To provide an idea of the work behind the scenes, I’ve been averaging almost 18 hours a week on the novel, which multiplied out over nine months (roughly how long I’ve been working on edits), adds up to more than six hundred hours so far. 

We are now on the home straight, and Blood Capital is set for release at the end of July. A marketing plan is coming together to support the launch, and I’ve now seen an early version of the cover art. As soon as the cover art is finalized, I’ll send out a special update, but for now I can tell you it’s going to stand out on shelves.

Cheers,

Robert
https://robertbatten.net 

Hello Dear Readers,

Just wanted to send a quick update to let you know that The Battle Within is entered in the fourth annual Kobo Emerging Writer Prize. 

Did you like the novel? Even if you didn’t, why not give it a rating on Kobo? The contest may use reviews and ratings as judging criteria and more importantly, it’s always great to hear feedback. If you want to leave a rating, just head over to the following link:  https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/the-battle-within-1

Stay tuned, the short list will be announced on May 1, 2018!

All the best,

Alastair Luft

Hello, readers. Long time no write!

By now, you should have received an email letting you know that you’re getting a refund for pre-ordering my book, Witherfist. Sadly, this isn’t a mistake. I’ve decided not to go ahead with publishing Witherfist at this time. 

Since successfully hitting funding of Witherfist in January of this year, I’ve come to a realisation. The book needs a lot of work and a lot of time before it’s in a position to hand to a publisher, let alone to send out to wonderful readers like yourself. Not knowing how long that will be, I don’t feel comfortable asking you to wait, not when you’ve already parted with your money, and so I have made the decision to request that Inkshares refund all of you. 

Whether you preordered the book because you genuinely liked the story of Witherfist, or because you wanted to support me, either as a friend or as a fellow author and Inkshares community member, I’m incredibly grateful. Having so many people rally behind this book - and me - really was amazing. You’ve all given me the confidence to share my writing with the world, and I can’t thank you enough for that.

Thanks again for all of your support. 

Please let me know if you have any issues receiving your refund.

 ~ Jenny 

Dear Readers,

Ready, set, GO! I have the green light to proceed with rewriting the manuscript. It’s taken a few storyboard drafts, wrong turns, and vision corrections, but we finally have a version of the story that both Inkshares and I are excited about. I think you’ll all love it, too. I was travelling for business the past week and a half, but now that I’m back at home, I can’t wait to get started.

Of course, there’s still much to do. I don’t have an estimate on how long it will take to rewrite the manuscript, as I intend to do much of it from scratch using all the great new story telling skills I’ve acquired, but I’ll have my older manuscript copies open for direct reference. There are about 300 pages and 80,000 words to compose, but I plan to keep at it daily and I hope to do 2000 words per day (40 days and 40 nights…hmm). Once I’m done, I will submit it back to Inkshares for the development edit, and there will be at least one round of edits at that point, maybe more. Then it goes to the copy editor. Then…actually I don’t know what the next steps are after that, but I’ll keep you posted!

Cheers, Debbie

Hello Dear Readers,

Progress! I have been working through the storyboard for APEX with Inkshares, which has taken several iterations, but we’re getting very close to a final version. Then, I’ll get the green light to proceed with rewriting the manuscript.