June 26, 2018

Good afternoon!

I know I’ve been a bit silent on the status of "The Devil Inside" (formerly "The Devil You Don’t"), but it is still waiting patiently in the queue for its turn with the Inkshares editor.

My other Inkshares book, "Shadow King," is currently with the typesetter/design team and we’re still looking at an early October release for that. If you’ve been following "Devil" but haven’t taken a look at "Shadow King" please do check it out. (and in case the link is wonky: just google Inkshares Shadow King and you’ll find it!)

Will update you all soon with more information on "The Devil Inside!"

As always, thanks for sticking with me on this wild ride -- I’m looking forward to sharing more concrete production dates in the upcoming months.

Best,
Susan

Ladies and gentlemen, I have a huge announcement for Tantalus Depths!

Last week, my development editor, Matt Harry, sent me his notes on my last draft of Tantalus Depths. They were sparse this time and easy to address, so I made pretty short work of them. Last night I submitted my third full draft with the new changes added, and Matt gave this draft his seal of approval. We are officially done with the development edit stage!

So what does that mean? Well, for the moment it means we wait. In case you hadn’t gathered by now, the editing process is very much a “hurry up and wait” kind of deal. There is a queue for the copy editing stage, I’ve been told by the Inkshares staff that my copy edits probably won’t start for a month or so.

That might seem like a bummer, but it’s not. Once the copy editing begins, the gears start spinning a lot faster. I’ll be given a full production schedule, and we’ll finally be put on a set time table, with hard deadlines. We are almost at the top of the roller coaster now, and when we get over this hill, we’re going to seriously move.

I’m personally grateful for this downtime, for one very specific reason: Proteus.

I’ve had Proteus’s campaign extended one more time, and it now runs until the end of August. I didn’t want to, but we were down to just under two weeks to go and about 270 orders to go, so there’s just no way I was going to be able to hit that goal without driving myself insane. Fortunately, with the extension, I should absolutely be able to finish funding Proteus on time, and with this gap between Tantalus Depths’ editing phases, I should be able to finish the Proteus campaign before Tantalus Depths goes to the next stage of edits. I’ll finally be able to give Tantalus Depths my full attention during one of the craziest parts of the editing process.

The development editing process for Tantalus Depths was stressful, but absolutely worthwhile. I can’t wait to see what the next few steps in this process are like, or to see the finished product that is steadily creeping closer. Thank you all so much for supporting me this far. I know it’s often felt like nothing is moving anywhere, but fortunately I can say we’ve made major progress getting through this stage.

Greetings hexers and machina jockeys,

Today emails are going out with the ebooks of Sister of the Circuit. By now everyone who ordered physical copies should have them in their hands, which means Isidore and Dax, Surge and Evite are ready to sear your eyeballs with their adventures. 

It’s a surreal day. 

For my part I have been working with the amazingly talented Jill Crenshaw, finalizing the audiobook. My plan is to have that launch on July 3rd along with the paperback and ebook publication date (you know, for people who aren’t awesome backers like you). If you’re the sort of person who likes your books read to you, it will be available on Audible and I’ll send out a link when it’s ready.

If you’re a fan of reviewing things, would you mind reviewing the book once you’ve read it?  Every voice talking about Sister of the Circuit on Amazon, Goodreads, iTunes, whatever, is a huge help.  

Thank you so much for your support, and have a great weekend.

June 21, 2018

Hello everyone,

Sorry for the delay sending an update but my Inkshares account has not been playing nicely with my Twitter account and we’re still figuring out what’s up with that. (thank you Elena @ Inkshares for the help!)

So, the good and excellent news is that "Shadow King" is moving through production. I just finished going through all of the copy edits from Jessica and have returned them to Inkshares. Next step -- Shadow King goes to typesetting and starts to look like a "real" book!

Assuming we stay on track with production, everyone who has pre-ordered and backed Shadow King, should get their copies prior to the October 2 release date. 

I’ll send another update in July!

Best,

Susan

Hello (endlessly patient and wonderful) readers! 

Some good news today: we have a release date! The Phantom Forest will be available both online and in brick and mortar bookstores on NOVEMBER 13th, 2018. I know you’ve waited a long time to get these books into your hands, and I’ve been waiting a long time to see the finish line. Standby for more info about release-week festivities (which also falls on the week of my birthday!) as well as how to make sure your favorite bookstore has it in stock. For the most up to date info, be sure to follow along on Twitter (@liz_kerin). Once we have an Amazon page up and running I would love reviews from anyone who has read an advanced copy! 

SPEAKING OF REVIEWS: if you’re an Inkshares author who previously left a kind review on the book’s page, I’d love to pull a quote from your review for our back cover matter and additional promo materials. If you haven’t yet left a review but would like to cross-promote, please do so! I’d love to spread the word about your books as well.

Last but certainly not least - we have cover art! Titling and text is still in progress but artist Masha Stepanova created this stunning portrait of Seicha for the front cover and I couldn’t be more excited. See below!

I’m extremely grateful to everyone who has stuck with me despite the long waiting period. Couldn’t have done it without you and I can’t wait for November 13th! 

Huge and Heartfelt Thanks,

Liz

It’s been a long time coming, friends, but these little ladies have arrived. By now those of you who ordered physical copies should have received shipping notifications. When your books arrive, I’d love it if you posted a photo of them. I can’t wait to see how far the mech crew has spread.  

This is a book that was driven entirely by you, the readers. Without the interest in this book, it wouldn’t exist. It would still be a jumble of graphic novel pages, barely a whisper of what it would become. 

So today I celebrate you. Thank you for this gift of a book. 

May the Code replicate eternal.

Happy June!
We’ve been busy here preparing for a move, which is exciting, but also a good distraction from waiting for my turn with the developmental editor at Inkshares. It seems like he will get to look at my book this summer. 

In the meantime, I’ve kept busy with some other writing projects. I’m working closely with a new group called Writing Bloc, contributing to their blog and assuming the role of Project Manager for a short story anthology that should come out this fall. You can check out Writing Bloc and my contributions at https://writingbloc.com/.

I spoke at a panel on The Art of Publishing at the Claremont High School Literary Festival Word Play on May 19 and had a great time!

I also just finished outlining a new novel-- this one is speculative fiction and I’m really excited about it! I’ll keep you all updated as Rock of Ages moves forward. Thank you so much for your support!