Hello, everyone!
So, as you know, this campaign ends on August 19th. We need to hit 250 pre-orders by then if we want to make Quill.
We’re not going to do it.
This isn’t me giving up—in fact, it’s the opposite. This is me changing our battle plan, because this little skirmish of trying to see The Last Faoii in the hands of the fewest number of hands required to see any sort of publication at all is not nearly as big as the war we’re about to face. It was a worthy goal, and I would have been happy with it, feeling like I had brought The Last Faoii to a noteworthy and honorable end of reaching 250 readers.
Until your sudden influx of letters and support yesterday convinced me that that’s just not good enough.
Honestly, everyone—I thought that I’d had support before. I saw the 110 pre-orders and my heart swelled with honor and humility. I didn’t think I could feel more loved. Until suddenly all of you donned your battle gear and swore we were going to bring The Last Faoii further than even I dreamed possible. Until you told me to stop aiming my sights on this little hill I’ve been trying to surmount and instead to focus on the glorious mountain that’s in the distance. The Geek and Sundry Contest. Not a Quill Goal of 250 but a full publication goal of 750. You all said yesterday that you wanted to make it. So we’re going to.
That’s right. This little skirmish just turned into a war. And I’m granting every single one of you the title of Faoii (or Faoli) as of now.
In 17 days you’re all going to get e-mails that say we didn’t reach Quill. You’re going to get your money back and The Last Faoii will stop taking pre-orders. For a lot of people, that would be heart crushing. A huge disappointment.
But we’re not regular people, are we?
Because in 18 days, this Inkshares campaign going to start back up again, but this time every single pre-order is going to go not only to a Quill goal, but to the Geek and Sundry Contest. To full publication. Every pre-order is going to make The Last Faoii that much more noticeable to the hundreds of people who are following the contestants. And each pre-order is going to bring us one step closer to the top spot.
I’m not going to lie—we’re going to arrive late to the battle. The contest started yesterday and I can’t even enter until The Last Faoii has a clean slate. That’s 20 days late to a fight that dozens of books have already entered. But those dozens of other books haven’t been advertising and spreading the word for 90 days already. Those other books aren’t going to be able to start day one with (conceivably) 110 pre-orders. Those other books don’t have an entire army of honorary Faoii fighting for it.
Those other books don’t have all of you.
So, are you ready, Faoii? Because I’m drafting you into this fight right now.
You don’t have to take the title. I’m not forcing you. If you choose, in 17 days, you can take the investment you put towards this novel and you can choose to take it back. You can take your significant other out to dinner or buy that thing you’ve had your eye on. I wouldn’t begrudge you that. I’m just honored you stood by me the first time around.
But you can also choose to put that money right back into the place you already decided once it should belong—The Last Faoii’s future. You have the next 17 days to decide. I’m planning on using that time to make our battle plan. To figure out how we’re going to spread the word about The Last Faoii and create the army that will lead us to victory. And I need your help to do it. We’ve got 17 days before the REAL campaign begins.
Faoii, let’s go to war.
So commences the last leg of our journey to Tantalus 13...
That’s right. We’re about to go into our last three weeks of the pre-order campaign, and Tantalus Depths is currently standing at an extremely respectable 595 pre-orders. That full publishing deal is so close, I can smell it in the water.
We also hit a personal goal of mine this weekend. As some of you know, Tantalus Depths started its pre-order campaign on Inkshares as an entrant to the Geek and Sundry Hard Sci-Fi competition, wherein we came in 5th place. Well, this weekend Tantalus Depths officially passed Tal Klein’s The Punch Escrow in current pre-orders.
That’s right. Tantalus Depths now has more pre-orders than the book that won the contest Tantalus Depths lost.
Big thanks to Tal for setting that bar so high and giving me an extra lofty goal to aspire to.
If you haven’t already purchased a copy of his book, please do so. I’d be more than happy to have that bar raised above me again.
Unless I’m mistaken, Tantalus Depths is also the #1 most pre-ordered hard sci-fi book on all of Inkshares now. Another huge honor I barely feel I deserve.
There’s no time to gloat now, though. We still need those 155 pre-orders to hit that final goal (which is, officially, the last goal I have left for this campaign). Remember: when we hit 600 pre-orders, I’m releasing chapter 2 on Inkshares with another video of me reading it. That’s only five orders away right now. Let’s get there today!
Another huge thanks to all the readers, writers, and syndicates who’ve helped get Tantalus Depths where it is right now. We’re going all the way, guys. Don’t lose sight of that prize!
Just a quick update to let you all know that I am still working quite hard on Mr. Butler. I enrolled in Camp NaNoWriMo for July and set a goal of writing 70,000 words for the book in 31 days...and I did it in 30:
All 70,024 (and counting!) words were written for Butler. Every day I’m working to make this the best damn book I can make it.
Just thought you, my wonderful investors, my support system, and most importantly, my friends, should know that I am giving this project every single spare moment I have. I’m still aiming for a September manuscript submission. I will keep you updated!
Thanks for hanging in there!
Love to all.
-Michael.
Hey. What’s up? You’re looking good today.
Monkey Business is up to 45 Amazon reviews, which is awesome! I have you fine folks to thank for that. Unless you haven’t left a review in which case I just happen to have this handy little link right here:
Also you can buy the ebook everywhere for $0.99 right now so please invite, beg, threaten and cajole your friends and loved ones to buy a copy.
Thank you! Hugs and Kisses,
-Landon
P.S. Sorry no fancy graphic today #sadface
Hello everyone,
I guess I should talk about this shouldn’t I?
There’s a minuscule little article on The Tracking Board that talks about me and my upcoming book; A God in the Shed. Go read it. It’s fun. I’ll wait.
You’re back? Awesome. So what do you think? Yeah, I was a bit overwhelmed. Still sort of am. I’m not exactly wired to take compliments or bask in the glory of good news on that scale. I’d love to pretend that it’s because I’m humble and level-headed but in truth I’m just terrified of disappointment and incapable of processing success. My own issues aside, I think it’s important to know a few things about this announcement.
What this isn’t:
What this is:
The great Mike Mongo (Astronaut Instruction Manual) once told me; "However long you think this process is going to take, double that." and the awesome Adam Gomolin also shared this nugget of wisdom; "It’s a no until it’s a yes."
So I’m going to try and take it easy. Keep the day job and continue chipping away at my other projects (check out Arch-Android, the sequel to The Life Engineered, along with Too Many Controllers).
Thanks again for the support everyone. Go read that article again and while you do that, keep telling yourself; ’I’m part of this.’
Because you are.
JF
