Hello my friends, and Happy New Year!

I know I’ve been missing for a bit, but I’ve been hard at work. And I didn’t want to update you with nothing to update. Sorry for the prolonged absence. It’s been a crazy year. 

But 2019 is already starting out to be a big success. As I have several outlets to update to, I decided to condense everything into the following blog post: 
https://talltalestold.com/2019/01/01/the-tale-of-my-first-published-work/

Long story short, as far as The Man Who Stole The World goes, I’m still hard at work, and I thank you all for your love, support, and patience. 2018 was a rough year, a busy year, but ultimately a good year. The book is still on, it’s still going to be a while, but it’s going to be great. I promise. 

Let me know if you have any trouble reading the blog entry or if you have any questions. 

I’m still here, still working, and, as always, I love you all.

I wish everyone a healthy and happy 2019. 

-Michael

Happy November!

I’m on to the next draft of Rock of Ages, and it’s more big changes, including a switch from first to third person. This will help me add more descriptive detail without worrying if it’s detail my narrator would have noticed or not.

I’ve sent a couple versions of the prologue back and forth with the editor, and it’s improving each time. When he’s happy with it, I’ll move on to the rest of the book. It’s important with this draft that I slooooow down and work carefully, so don’t expect the "I wrote a million words in three weeks" updates with this one. Instead, you can look forward to quality, quality writing that goes deep. I’ve posted the current version of the prologue for you all to read! I hope you like it. 

https://www.inkshares.com/books/rock-of-ages/book_segments/prologue-molly-1769

Thank you so much for your support as I create what I hope will be something really magical.

Becca

Phew! It’s been a busy first 10 days of the Inkshares Mystery & Thriller contest. I’ve managed to get 225 orders for over 300 books, which is very exciting! This puts me around 40% of the way to the goal. We’re still early in the process, but thanks to all your support Gumshoe Rules is in the #1 position. 

A few people have asked me about Inkshares and why I chose this route to publication. There were several reasons, but perhaps the most important is that I know two successful authors who have used Inkshares: Tal Klein (The Punch Escrow) and Christopher Huang (A Gentleman’s Murder).  Their books are available in bookstores and on Amazon. Coincidentally, they both sold film or TV rights, which is awesome. If you like Science Fiction, The Punch Escrow is a real treat. For fans of “golden age” mysteries, A Gentleman’s Murder is a modern take on a classic 1920’s genre. But why choose? Buy ’em both!

The other reason I chose Inkshares is more subtle. The publishing industry has gone through tremendous consolidation over the last 10 years. With the advent of the Kindle, eBooks and self-publishing, it seemed like the old model of spending a year to find an agent, pitching publishers and eventually get a book deal seemed like a slow boat to nowhere. Inkshares is a disruptive approach to publishing that takes out the gatekeepers and lets readers decide what kind of books they want to read.  Inkshares seemed like a good middle ground between traditional publishing and the wild-west of self-publishing. They get good distribution through retail channels and the process moves faster than traditional publishing. Seems like a win-win to me!

I’ve spent several weeks emailing everyone I know  and I’ve found that to be 10x more effective than Linkedin or Slack and 100x more effective than Twitter or Facebook. If I can ask you to email two or three friends or colleagues about the book, that is greatly appreciated. Every unique order counts towards the contest, so no one should feel pressure to order multiple copies. Send them a link to:  https://www.inkshares.com/books/gumshoe-rules   With your help I know we can get to 400 orders and beyond.

In subsequent updates, I’ll talk more about the authors who have influenced this book, where readers are coming from as well as answer any questions you have.

Thank you so much for your support!
--Z.Z. Traver
PS. At the Bouchercon mystery writer’s conference, I was able to hang out with Christopher Huang, author of A Gentleman’s Murder, also published by Inkshares