December is upon us, which means that, for a lot of us, Christmas is around the corner. Don’t forget to get your shopping done early; and if you haven’t yet, don’t forget to give Amazon or GoodReads (or whatever your preferred online bookstore is) your two cents’ worth of thoughts on "A Gentleman’s Murder". Other readers will want to know about your experience. We’re currently at 39 reviews on Amazon -- not too far off from the 50 review mark, which is when Amazon supposedly begins to take a book seriously.

December also means that we have just two weeks before the end of the Inkshares Mystery & Thriller contest: two weeks to try for that magic 250 reader mark for "Cat’s Paw". We’re still a good distance off, but, well, ’tis the season of hope. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I urge you to do so. Every little bit counts.

And of course, don’t forget to have a great weekend! I know I will: I’ve got a carton of eggnog waiting for me.

Good day, everyone.

First, an important note: If you have purchased Bane of All Things but don’t recall receiving a thank you note from me (whether by email or on LinkedIn or Twitter) your purchase might be stuck in the system. It happens, and when it does, it’s not obvious to the buyer. If you suspect this, please email me at leo@leovaliquette.com.

Today’s update comes at an important stage for Bane of All Things (BoAT) – we are at the mid-point of the initial 90-day campaign. 

The good news: Sales have steadily gained since the campaign launch. Some fantastic feedback from Inkshares authors and supporters such as yourself gives me confidence that I have something good here. 

The not-so-good news: Based on our sales velocity to date, this campaign will not hit its target by the Jan. 12 deadline.

What does this mean?

There is always a Plan B. 

Funding campaigns are often extended at Inkshares’ discretion, but of course, they must have achieved sufficient momentum to warrant it. In fact, when I launched this campaign, I had the option of taking a longer funding window, but decided to test whether the default window of 90 days would spur a greater sense of urgency. 

It might yet – I have personally reached out to almost 1,000 people in my extended networks on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. That many more remain to be contacted. Many have responded favourably with an intent to buy and just haven’t yet. Sales have started to trickle in from the Inkshares community itself as readers active on the platform discover BoAT on their own.

What you can do  

You have already graciously given your support and I am deeply grateful. If are interested in doing more, here are some options:

1.    Spread the word. Please share this with any friends or family whom you think might also be interested. Some of you have mentioned talking about BoAT with your book club – how’s that going? 

 2.    Leave a review on my Inkshares page – that kind of endorsement always helps. 

3.    Buy again for someone else. You can make additional purchases. Take the ebook, for example. When BoAT publishes, you will receive your e-book copies as downloads in whatever of the main formats you prefer. That makes it easy to pass additional copies along by email as gifts. 

Remember – if you buy three or more print copies, you will be recognized as a Super Reader supporter in the back of the book. Pictured is an example from a current Inkshares title.

To date, 10 generous individuals have supported Bane of All Things as Super Readers.

4.    If you have followed but haven’t purchased BoAT, please do. If you liked what you have read and want to see more, now is the time to buy before we all get distracted by the holidays.

That’s all for now. Happy reading.

Cheers

Leo

Greetings Crow’s Gambit Followers,

Happy Saturday, everyone!

I have a few updates: First, I want to give a shout out to those who pre-ordered my story. (Check out the awesome works from the Inkshares writers). I appreciate it so much. Thank you! Again please share, follow, and/or pre-order We’re the Whiteheads: https://www.inkshares.com/books/we-re-the-whiteheads. 

Ferd Crôtte, author of Mission 51: https://www.inkshares.com/books/mission-51

A Reader (Corean Burns)

Dean Fearce, author of MINE: https://www.inkshares.com/books/murder-happens          and Ruining Boise with fellow author Michael Welch for the 2018 Mystery and Thriller Contest: https://www.inkshares.com/books/ruining-boise-060666

Anonymous (Boni Burns) 

Frederick Street, author of Ereshk for the 2018 Horror Contest: https://www.inkshares.com/books/ereshk

Woody Burns

Celso Hurtado, author of The Ghost Tracks for the 2018 Horror Contest: https://www.inkshares.com/books/the-ghost-tracks

Second, I plan to update another chapter for We’re the Whiteheads. I should have the chapter posted either today or in the next few days. I’ll also be sending the updated chapter to the story’s followers.

And lastly, I have a short story tilted I Wish it Happened, one of twenty stories featured in the Writing Bloc’s ESCAPE! An Anthology ready for pre-order on Amazon (link here: https://amzn.to/2Kx04Ew ) for $2.99 ebook until the January 1, 2019 release date. The price will then be $5.99. I am so excited, appreciative, and honored to be a part of such talented writers and their amazing stories. If you love to read a blind of genres from science ficion, fantasy, westerns, contemporary to many more, ESCAPE! An Anthology is a reading to enjoy.

Thanks,

Durena Burns

Well friends, we’re overdue for an update. I was holding off on sending one out until Tantalus Depths had officially been put into the copy editing phase, since I really wanted that to be the next news I could deliver, but unfortunately we’re still not there yet. I do have good news, though, so stick with me to the end of this update for that.

At the moment, Tantalus Depths is in a sort of limbo between the end of the development editing process and the beginning of the copy editing process. This is because Adam Gomolin, the CEO of Inkshares, has personally given me a new set of notes for further recommended revisions. Adam knows his stuff, and has helped other authors achieve enormous success with their debut novels, including getting TV and film deals. As much as I want to finish this process, get the book into stores and the hands of my longsuffering supporters, I have to take Adam’s feedback seriously. He wants this book to succeed as much as I do, and I owe it to all of you to make this book as strong as possible before wrapping up the editing process. He and I have been going back and forth over how to make improvements to the book for the past couple of weeks, and I should be able to deal with this final edit over the next couple weeks, aiming for an absolute final development draft by the end of the year.

So that’s where the book itself is sitting right now. I know it feels like it’s not going anywhere (believe me, I am painfully, intimately aware of that feeling), but progress is happening. That leads me to my first piece of really exciting news:

Tantalus Depths is going to have an audiobook!

We’ve signed a deal with Audible to produce Tantalus Depths as an Audible-exclusive audiobook. Audible will produce this audiobook in-house, with a professional narrator and crew. We don’t know any details about the juicy stuff like who the narrator will be yet, and production can’t really begin until we’ve fully finished the final draft of the manuscript, but this is really exciting news nonetheless. I’m a huge fan of audiobooks and have listened to them religiously on Audible for years, so I couldn’t be more thrilled. I’ll keep you all updated on this as it unfolds!

Finally, I have one more piece of exciting news. I’ve been keeping this one under my hat as a special surprise to you all, but the time has come to finally let the cat out of the bag!

I, along with 19 other published and soon-to-be-published authors, participated in a short story anthology, which will be released on New Years Day and is now available for pre-order. My brand new original short story, Breach, is a standalone story set in the same universe as Tantalus Depths and Proteus.

Breach is a tense, thrilling tale of desperation and peril as two starship crewmen struggle for survival in open space, trapped in a piece of debris when their ship is destroyed by pirates. Death surrounds them on all sides; can they hold it together long enough to survive the deadly debris field, their own diminishing air supply, and bloodthirsty space pirates intent on leaving no survivors? You’ll have to check out Escape: A Writing Bloc Anthology to find out.

After all these delays with Tantalus Depths, I am so glad I can finally present you a tiny peek into this universe of mine with this new short story. Beyond that, though, I am beyond thrilled that my work gets to appear alongside so many other incredibly talented authors in this anthology. I’ve read most of the other stories, and let me tell you, you’re in for a treat here.

Well, I’ve dumped way more than enough info on you all for now. I’ll give news on the final draft of Tantalus Depths, the audiobook, and the Escape anthology as soon as I’m able. Stay tuned!