SHORT UPDATE!
I’m working on the next draft after some interesting feedback from my editor. I’m still buckling down, still pounding out the words, and still crafting this book to be the best it can be. Just thought I’d let you all know and thank you once again for your support and patience.
I’ll let you know when I send in the next draft. Until then, feel free to reach out.
Thanks again, and I love you all.
-Michael
"Cry ’Havoc!’, and let slip the dogs of war!"
The time has come at last. It has been almost a year since my first attempt to fund Proteus. In that time, I have spent most of my time and resources working on my development draft for Tantalus Depths. I severely underestimated how long it would take for me to finish that first round of heavy edits (I fully thought I would have had them done well before the end of the year), but at last, they are finally done. I sent the manuscript back to my editor about a week ago, and while I wait for him to work through my revised manuscript, I finally have nothing I have to do with that manuscript.
Which means it’s time to switch gears again.
For the next month or so, I am free of any responsibilities with Tantalus Depths, and I plan to take advantage of that opportunity to finish my Proteus campaign, which I started almost an entire year ago. I am still very determined to secure a publication deal for this second book, and thanks to my extension, I still have all the progress we made the first time I campaigned this book. There is still a long way to go, though.
At present, Proteus has 275 pre-orders. It needs 475 more to receive the publication deal I’ve already earned for Tantalus Depths. As of today, I have 97 days to get those orders. This is very doable, but it’s going to be a big challenge. I’ll need as much help as I can get, from all of you.
If you ordered a copy of Proteus last year, your order is still active. You’ll receive your copy when the book eventually comes out. I could not be more grateful for the support you’ve all shown Proteus and Tantalus Depths already, and I absolutely hate having to ask you for help yet a third time. If you have not already ordered a copy of Proteus, I would be extremely grateful for your support: you will be helping me establish my new career as a published author. If you have already ordered a copy and want to help more, you can absolutely do so by ordering a second or third copy. I would be eternally in your debt, and I simply cannot understate how much such a gesture would mean to me.
If you’re not in a position to support the book directly by ordering a copy, you can still help. I’ll be posting a lot more Proteus content soon, and I need to get it in front of as many people as possible. Please like and share as many of these posts as you can, and tell all your friends and family about this book. The more exposure we get, the better!
Thank you for your support, and I look forward to sharing a lot of exciting new content with you very soon.
I’m sitting at my desk this lovely morning, watching the snow fall out the window of my mountainside home and feeling very grateful for all of you. This update is coming a little later than usual, and for that, I apologize. I was waiting to hear back on a few points so that this update could be a bit more substantial than the last few. And, it will be!
I have multiple exciting updates to share with you!
1) Developmental Edit Progress
Since my update at the end of October, I have concluded another round of developmental edit rewrites. The book is now back in the hands of my editor. He is going through one more time (he estimates this will take about two weeks), and then he plans to send the book to a beta-reader to get some third-party, objective feedback. We will then use that feedback to do one more pass before forwarding the book to a copy-editor.
2) Title change
While I like The Walls are Closing In (and we may still use it as a tagline for the book), we have decided that a different title is more marketable, provides a bit of mystery, and is catchier for the future selling of property rights (fingers crossed).
So, without further ado, the new title is:
The Seclusion
3) Genre Change
We are making a few changes to the plot and market the book as YA(Young Adult). This will only marginally change the story but will double the audience. It allows us to not only market the book to fans of books such as 1984, Fahrenheit 541, and The Handmaid’s Tale, but also to fans of books such as The Hunger Games and Divergent.
3) Release Date!
The book has been assigned a tentative release date and an ISBN number (this second part is probably not exciting to anyone but me).
The Seclusion is currently set to publish on:
October 2, 2018!
This is a bit later than I had hoped, but I am beyond thrilled that there is an official trajectory. Between now and then I will be doing everything in my power to ensure that the launch is a success.
One last note - the first two chapters on the book’s page have been updated to reflect the changes that we have been making. Feel free to check them out!
Until next time,
-Jacqui
Hey folks, first of all a huge thanks for making Pilot X such a success. I am beyond thrilled by how many of you have read it and the fact that most of you liked it!
With that in mind I wanted to tip you off that a sequel to Pilot X is in the works. It’s called Trigor and picks up shortly after Pilot X leaves the Fringe Cascade.
To make the sequel happen though, I need the same thing I got for Pilot X, you’re overwhelming support.
So if you’re into a sequel and want to help make Trigor happen, check out the Trigor page here on Inkshares and pre-order a copy if you can!
https://www.inkshares.com/books/trigor
Thanks all! I raise my coffee to you in salute!
Tom
Hi, everybody!
Time for another update.
A couple of weeks ago, word came down from The Powers That Be that Matt Harry, the suave and debonair head of story development for Inkshares, would at last be turning his attention to the three books that won the Nerdist Sci-Fi Contest.
In a month or two I can expect to receive a document from Matt full of suggestions on how to make my story even better than it already is. In the meantime, I’ve swapped manuscripts with the other contest winners — Katherine Forrister, author of CURIO CITIZEN, and Ferd Crôtte, author of MISSION 51 — and over the next several months, these talented writers and I will be working with Matt to make sure our final manuscripts are the best they can possibly be.
Once developmental editing is done, whenever that may be, the book will presumably move on to copy editing, cover design, and production design.
I will, of course, keep you updated along the way.
As always, thank you so, so much for your continued patience and support. I can’t wait for you all to read AFTER DEATH. I promise the wait will be worth it!
Hi folks!
It’s been a while since I’ve updated you all. As you all may know, The Love Fool has officially released this week, March 13 and as of today, it has sold over 1700 copies!!! How exciting is that?
Reviews are starting to come in – and I encourage you all to please add your review on social media sights for readers including here at Inkshares, Goodreads, Amazon and other sights.
In the meantime, please read this awesome professional review by Feathered Quill Book Reviews!
https://featheredquill.com/the-love-fool/
Thanks again everyone and keep reading!
-Lorenzo
At ease, Faoii. No orders today, only words.
Well, it’s been a long time coming, but finally I have a progress update for Tantalus Depths.
I’ve finally finished my first full reworking of the manuscript based on my editor’s feedback, and sent it in. I had intended to get this step of the process finished by the end of last year, but clearly these kinds of edits are a lot more challenging than I had assumed they’d be.
All told, though, I’m happy with these edits. I’ve extensively rewritten several chapters at the beginning and end of the book, but the book very much remains the same story I wanted to tell initially. These changes have helped me make Tantalus Depths a more effective piece of storytelling in the areas that really mattered to me.
At the end of my edits, my manuscript is now about 20,000 words longer than it used to be. Most of that added content was devoted to more fleshed-out worldbuilding, better character development, and better prose in my descriptive imagery. It’s longer now, but I believe the added content improves the pacing and flow of the story to such a degree that it will feel like it’s become shorter.
I originally wrote Tantalus Depths between 2012 and 2014. Since then, I’ve honed my writing skills, and I feel confident that this new draft showcases that improvement in my literary abilities. I’m prouder of this book than I’ve ever been, and I’m thrilled to carry it forward to the next steps.
So, what’s next for Tantalus Depths?
Well, now that I’ve turned it in to my editor, the ball’s in his court. It’ll be a few weeks before he gets the opportunity to read through my changes and send me back any new feedback he has for me. When that’s done, I’ll take a look at whatever other changes he feels I still need to make and then make use of that feedback in another draft. We’ll keep going back and forth like this until we’re both satisfied that the manuscript is as good as it can be. The biggest and most complicated round of edits is done, though, and each step in the development edit process should move faster than the one before it.
Think of the editing process like carving a sculpture out of a wooden log: first you go at it with a chainsaw and remove all the bulky bits you don’t want. Then you go at it with a chisel to get it to the precise shape you want it. Then, finally, you go over it with sandpaper to smooth out all the tiniest imperfections. I’ve just finished my “chainsaw edit.”
So what am I doing now that I’m free of Tantalus Depths for the next few weeks?
Well, until my editor finishes reading through it and sends me his notes, there’s nothing I can do for Tantalus Depths. I won’t be idle while I wait, though. I’m going to jump back into Proteus. My plan had always been to jump back into Proteus as soon as I was done with my Tantalus Depths edits, but I really didn’t think it would take me this long to get through with them, and my campaign for Proteus is almost over. So I intend to ask for one more 90-day extension for Proteus. I still need close to 500 orders to hit my full publication goal, so it’s going to be a lot of work, but during the time that I am waiting for feedback on Tantalus, I plan to devote myself fully to campaigning for Proteus. I’m determined to get both books the publication treatment they deserve, and to firmly establish myself as an up-and-comer in the writing industry.
So, stay tuned. As soon as I have more news for Tantalus Depths, I’ll be sure to let you all know. Meanwhile, I’ve prepared some exciting resources for my new Proteus campaign, and I think you’ll find them pretty interesting.
