Hello, everyone! Hope you’re having a relaxing start to the weekend.

With 49 days to go, Witherfist has just hit the home stretch. 

The book has been fortunate enough to get some extra support and preorders this week from the Epic Fantasy and Rite of Passage syndicates. Both chose Witherfist as their November pick - thank you so much to everyone who recommended and voted, both in these syndicates and in others within the Inkshares community.

With over a month to go, and just 33 additional preorders needed, I’m confident that we can do this!

~ Jenny

Dear Supporters,

We now have a set of pictures - here is a look at Foster, the young elf boy who has accidentally brought Abbie through into the Otherworld.

Preorders have stalled out, with zero orders for the last week and a half, leaving us still with just 77 books ordered. I have been continuing to work on the book, taking November (as Nanowrimo) not to write 50,000 words, but to set a new writing schedule by getting up earlier every day so I have some quiet time alone with my keyboard. So far, so good!

I know I have a great story on my hands, and I want you to be able to read it. Please get the word out to your friends, or relatives. There are less than two months left in the preorder campaign.

Thank you for your support!

Jane-Holly

Hello, all! Hope you’re having a fantastic weekend. It’s a gloomy Saturday here in the north of England - fantastic weather for getting stuck into a bit of writing! So far today, I’ve made just over 3,000 words of progress on Witherfist today, and will be looking to do the same tomorrow.

In terms of preorder stats, there isn’t much to update you on. Since the end of the contest, the number of new readers joining the campaign has been relatively small. Currently, it’s sitting at 195 copies ordered. 

There are now a whopping 241 of you following the book. To anyone who has yet to purchase their copy, please take a look at the sample chapters and consider making your preorder today. If you’re already ordered, I would be incredibly grateful if you could share your interest with this book with one of your friends or family members. We need to reach 250 preorders by December 31st to ensure that this book is published. 

I know that we can do this. Thanks for your support,

~ Jenny

8th place! I’m absolutely chuffed with that, dear readers. 

To have placed in the top 10 of a contest full of wonderful stories and equally wonderful authors is a real honour. 

Though Witherfist didn’t place high enough to win the contest, the book’s funding campaign continues. The funding period for Witherfist ends on December 31st, so I will be doing everything I can until that date to ensure that the book reaches at least 250 preorders. I would love to hit the full publication threshold of 750 preorders, but to reach that level, I’d need a lot of help from all of you fantastic people who make Inkshares such an incredible, supportive community. 

I hope to have a book trailer video to share with you soon, but in the meanwhile - please continue to share Witherfist with anyone that you think might be interested in preordering. 

~ Jenny

PS. There’s one other contest I haven’t fogotten about! I’ve contacted the two winners of the Amazon voucher giveaway and am just waiting on confirmation of their details, to send out the vouchers.

The contest is almost over! 

By 12pm PST / 7pm GMT the Geek & Sundry fantasy contest will be over. That means you have only a few more hours to get your signed paperback copy of Witherfist and support the book as it punches higher up the top 10.

http://www.inkshares.com/books/witherfist

As a little end of contest treat, here is the last in the current series of character portraits. It’s time for Empress Lian to make her grand entrance...

~ Jenny

The Geek & Sundry fantasy contest ends on November 1st. Eek! Though Witherfist is a good 100 readers shy of reaching the top 3 - and the prize of guaranteed full publication from Inkshares - I am so thrilled and humbled by the amount of support the book has received.  While the contest is active, I want to push the book as high as possible in the top 10.  At the time of writing, Witherfist is tantalisingly close to the number 7 spot in the top 10, thanks in part to all of the new readers who have joined the campaign this week.  

I shared in a previous update some work in progress art, and now I’m happy to present the finished piece. Here is Karaben the Imperial interogator in all her glory. 

~ Jenny

Just a small update on this chilly Tuesday evening. Three new readers threw their support behind Witherfist earlier today, putting us ever-closer to 7th place in the contest top 10.

It occurred to me this morning that I’ve yet to share on Inkshares the character art of Sunderei, the Imperial scribe who appears in the third excerpt on the Witherfist project page - so here he is! 

~ Jenny

Hello all!

Fae Child is still moving forward. I have been working on the manuscript in my spare time, and hope to have it completed in the next two months. In other words, before the campaign is over! We have 67 days left to make 175 orders (to reach Quill) which means I just have to sell 2.6 copies every day until the end of the year! Is this insurmountable? No, it isn’t, but it does mean that I’m going to have to start doing something different, because what I have been doing is only bringing in 2-3 orders a week.

In that vein (of making changes) I have commissioned a bit of artwork. This is Abbie, after she first comes through the pond into the Otherworld.

There will be more to come! Please share Fae Child’s link with your friends, and make use of the "recommend" button on the page. I am thinking up a giveaway for referrals to launch after we’ve hit 80 preorders and I’ve given away the last dragon. 

Thank you all for your support,

Jane-Holly

Happy Monday, all! Guess what? We’re now at 152 copies, 132 readers.  This means Witherfist is now less than 100 copies away from Quill publication. I hope you’re excited about that as I am!

With new readers joining us, Witherfist has now taken the 8th spot in the Geek & Sundry top 10. There’s a narrow margin between myself and ’The Delicate Art of Soulripping’ - and ’Sorcery for Beginners’ is hot on both of our tails! Ahead, ’The Living God’ has a decent but not unshakeable hold on 7th place. I guess what I’m saying is - the final week of this contest is going to be exciting and every preorder now could mean the difference between shimmying up or sliding down the top 10. 

I had a great weekend at a local convention, giving out postcards and printed samples of Witherfist. I was one of only a few authors at the convention - the big draw of the day was the actor Jerome Flynn, who plays Bronn on Game of Thrones - but there were plenty of people interested in finding out more about the book and Inkshares in general. 

Here’s a picture of me, manning my little stall, wearing my Witherfist t-shirt. (Not pictured: my glamorous assistants or the unspeakable amount of Haribo that was consumed over the course of the two days at the convention.) 

 A couple of dozen people took my sample chapters (which were printed by the AwesomeMerchandise company, check them out if you’re in the UK!). Overall, it was a very enjoyable weekend and I’m hoping that many of the people I spoke to will be joining my list of followers and readers on Inkshares very soon. I think I might even have recruited a few would-be authors into joining the community. 

Thanks for reading and, as always, for your support!

~ Jenny

PS. Here’s a bonus work in progress bit of character art, this time of one of the book’s antagonists: Karaben. She is a peer and former ally of Irusai’s who has also made an ink pact with an ancient spirit. Unlike Irusai, whose tattoo is on her hand and arm, Karaben’s tattoo extends from her lower lip down over her throat and connects her to a crow spirit. I won’t tell you exactly what ’power’ she gains from the spirit she’s connected to, but I will say this: Karaben acts as a spy and interrogator of sorts for the Empress and the people she questions are often found as eyeless corpses.