Well, this is it. The curtain has fallen on this campaign. The deadline has passed for the minimum of 250 copies sold, and unfortunately, my novel didn’t quite make the cut.

First order of business: all money will be (or already has been) refunded to you. If it isn’t within the next couple of days, please let me know, or contact hello@inkshares.com to get it sorted out. I’ve heard of some backers not getting the e-mail informing them of this yet.

My campaign’s postmortem assessment could yield a host of explanations as to why the campaign failed, but it would be pointless to get lost here trying to sort through all of them. What I accomplished at Inkshares is far beyond what I ever imagined. I’m an introvert with no fanbase or connections in the literary world, and so it was enough for me to push myself outside my comfort zone as much as I did. I met a lot of great people along the way and learned a lot about the business. What’s really important is that I generated some genuine enthusiasm around my novel, which is priceless for future success. To me, this was a victory.

This outcome is okay, because this isn’t the end of the road for this novel. There are plenty of routes to go through traditional or self-publishing, and I will explore them. As I make progress on that front, I will continue to update everyone who backed me here. One huge gain at Inkshares was meeting John Robin, who is a talented writer and all-round great guy in the community (and author of the wonderful fantasy novel, Blood Dawn). I’ve already reached out to him about employing his services to perform heavy edits on my book so that it’s the best version of my novel when it is released.

I will still recommend Inkshares to other authors, because I think it’s a great platform that is supported by an overwhelmingly positive community of like-minded writers. I hope more readers discover Inkshares so that funding is easier for authors who are trying to find their audience. I’ve seen other authors’ dreams come true at Inkshares, and I won’t rule it out for funding future work.

The Inhabitants will remain on my radar as I polish up the first draft. However, I do have some real-life things to tend to. My first child will be born this month, and he will take priority over everything. I will work on the book when time permits, but please understand my time is going to be otherwise consumed.

Oh yeah, and the last and most important part: THANK YOU. Seriously, thank you SO much for supporting me and believing in me. It actually makes me tear up a bit as I type that. I will honestly miss making those awkward raffle videos, because that was my opportunity to give back to you, as hokey as they were.

Thank you to my early adopters. I will never forget who you are. I mean this. You backed me without hesitating, and that means so much to me.

Thank you to everyone who helped blast my novel across social media. You did it at the expense of annoying all your friends and followers, and I am extremely grateful for that.

Thank you fellow Inkshares authors for providing support. And by "support" I mean anything you did to make this whole experience less daunting. You are some wonderfully talented individuals, and it makes me blush to even share the stage with you. I hardly feel worthy.

Thank you to the staff at Inkshares. You’ve created a safe place for authors to display and fund their work. You obviously care about your authors and work tirelessly to create the best books possible when they reach their funding goals. You take a financial hit publishing these books, and it’s a sacrifice that shouldn’t be overlooked. You are doing a huge service to authors by giving them this platform and constantly improving the user experience on your website. Thank you for making this possible!

Goodbye for now, everyone. May your dreams lead you to extraordinary places.

-Michael

[Sorry everybody, it’s time for a serious talk about the status of this crowdfunding project;  put plainly, I think it’ll take a miracle to get 189 backers in the month that remains.  The contest got me excited and I jumped the gun with this project.  We had a fantastic start, I really appreciate that, but just haven’t been able to keep up that pace.

So I’m going to pivot the business model, and today I started up a Patreon.

First thing’s first?  If this doesn’t reach that funding goal, you all get your money back, a full refund.  Don’t be worried about that!

Also, don’t worry about Over The Stars.  I’m still going to publish this , but it’s likely going to be either a Kindle Direct product with print-on-demand options, or I’ll go the Kickstarter route.  I’ll keep you posted as best I can.  The book will happen, and it will probably be a lot cheaper than $10 for an e-book, FWIW.

Some of what I have planned for this universe is shorter fiction, little vignette pieces that flesh out a character’s back-story, or show a different perspective on a major battle.

In order to support that (and other) short fiction, in order to go ’hands on’ with my writing and help shape some stories, in order to get unique geeky loot, and in order to be first in line to get updates on the status of Over The Stars, please consider supporting that new Patreon page.  

In the meantime, stay tuned here for a few more pieces of preview fiction, which I hope you’ve all been enjoying.  Thank you so much for trying to help get this project off the ground, and I’m sorry I couldn’t hit Inkshares’ pledge goals.]