Hello friends!
When was the last time I updated you on things? A while ago I guess. We had the new cover and I might have bragged about being done with the editing at some point. Since then, we’ve had developments, but nothing I can share right away. Soon, I hope.
In the meantime, I have a favour to ask. I didn’t think A God in the Shed would be eligible for nomination for the Dragon Awards in 2017, but it turns out that the release date slips in just under the wire. Last year, my readers managed to get The Life Engineered nominated. It was an incredible honour and it gently convinced me to go to DragonCon in Atlanta. Well, I’m doing the same deal: help get A God in the Shed nominated in the Horror Novel category and I’ll once more drag myself to Atlanta, brave the crowds, and be present as someone else wins the Dragon Award.
All you have to do is click this link, follow the instructions and fill in the information, and you’ll be part of a potentially huge change in my life.
Thank you so much for your help. I really appreciate it.
JF
P.S.: There are other great books from Inkshares that you can nominate too! Pilot X, Rise, Rune of the Apprentice and several others. Make sure you enter all of the books you can and give as many authors a chance at being recognized.
March is winding up and significant work is progressing on Human Resources. During the past month, my developmental editor was assigned and read the manuscript. Since then, we’ve been working furiously on the planned edits to whip the book into shape. Matt, my editor, is brilliant. He’s been deconstructing the manuscript with insightful observations, making great suggestions, and generally keeping me working hard. With his support, a new outline for the novel is emerging, that trims away unnecessary distractions, crystallises the themes, and adds extra punch to the plot. The unfortunate outcome of this effort is more work, but I’m excited by the improvements. Human Resources will be dramatically improved by the time it reaches your hands. On a related note: feel free to send me all your caffeine, I’m going to need it :).
If you haven’t already done so, it would be great for everyone to follow my various online accounts — it feeds my ego, staving off the crushing self-doubt of a writer!
Finally, I wanted to point your attention towards two particular projects on Inkshares:
Sorcery for Beginners
A 13-year-old boy finds an easy-to-read, how-to manual for magic. Now he just has to prevent everyone else from stealing it.
Sorcery for Beginners is in production and written by my talented editor. It’s a fun premise and is going to be a great read.
Rule Britannia
A female airship Captain and her crew work to prevent a despotic Queen Victoria expanding her empire.
This new project is by a fellow Tasmanian and now funding. There isn’t enough steampunk in my life, and Rule Britannia will fill that void in an epic manner. The excerpts have me bouncing up and down for more.
Hi everyone,
Now that the dust has settled on the first couple of weeks since pre-orders opened, I’ve been turning my attention to trying to drive more traffic to the story page for Rule Britannia. I know I’m treading a well-worn path that a lot of you have taken before me, so I’ve been poking around your updates, social media, forum posts etc to see what has been tried, tested, failed and succeeded at.
I’ve spent my time over the last week or so working on my online presence. In addition to launching the Facebook fan page for Rule Britannia, I’ve registered a domain name with the intent of setting up an author page (stay tuned). I’ve been trying to get to grips with Twitter, and through Fiverr.com found a consultant who set-up a social media schedule for me to get my head around what to post when, and to where.
All this, and like most of the rest of you, working full-time. Roll on Easter.
Here’s my pick of the week(ish).
Everything is Normal: The Life and Times of a Soviet Kid By Sergey Grechishkin
"One eventful middle-class childhood behind the Iron Curtain in Soviet Leningrad. A mix of a fun memoir and social history of the years preceding the collapse of the USSR."
I said in my review of this book that history is written by social historians like Sergey, the sample chapters (which I enjoyed so much I stopped reading because I didn’t want spoilers for the full book), are engaging and full of the little details that pull you into a story and keep you reading. Sergey’s book has nabbed three syndicate picks, including the coveted Staff Syndicate, and as of today, is tantalisingly close to 750 - just 52 more pre-orders needed.
’till next time,
Helen.
Hello everyone!
So… I have a small request today. The nominations for the Dragon Awards are now open and my book is eligible! I know most of you haven’t had the chance to read past the teaser chapters on Inkshares but the book finally went to the printers last week so the wait is almost over!
Anyway, I would very much appreciate it if you could take a minute to throw a nomination in for the best fantasy novel! This type of thing can do wonders for the visibility of a new book.
There’s a tonne of categories but you don’t have to fill in any more than you feel like.
http://application.dragoncon.org/dc_fan_awards_nominations.php
Thank you all yet again!
65 days to publication! And just because - here is the updated cover now complete with blurbs :)
