Another week of the campaign has come and gone! Knowing that The Walls are Closing In has passed the light-publishing goal and will be in your hands in the future is an amazing feeling, and reaching that milestone allowed me to take a few days to refocus and come up with advanced marketing plans.

To achieve the full goal of 750 orders, I can’t afford to slow down for long. The campaign halfway point is in a few days, and there are a couple of marketing efforts in the works. The Walls are Closing In will see some online publication attention in the coming weeks, and I will share those links as they become available.

To continue spreading the word on social media, I have started a giveaway. I invite all of you to enter for the chance to win a bundle of 5 dystopian books! All are eligible to enter in a variety of ways - those who have preordered already, and those who have not. Let me know if you have any questions. Thank you again for your overwhelming support!

Friends, Readers, and Sorcerers All,

The Walls are Closing In has reached the Quill light publishing goal!

This means that The Walls are Closing In will be published through Inkshares!!! Once the campaign ends, the book will be assigned a production timeline. This is a dream come true, and I am grateful to each and every one of you for helping me get to this point. Thank you.

There are still almost two months left of the campaign, and I will continue to strive for the full contract (which adds perks such as advanced marketing to bookstores, developmental editing, professional cover design, and representation for TV/movie rights).

455 orders to go!

In the past week, the book was chosen for two syndicates on Inkshares (bringing the total to five). Thank you to all members of Break the Bechdel with Strong Female Characters syndicate and Rite of Passage syndicate for the support.

Syndicates are groups of Inkshares members that pool together to support one book per month. To say that it is a tremendous honor to be selected would be an understatement, as there are currently 320 books funding on Inkshares.

Writer John Robin recently interviewed me on his epic fantasy blog! You can check out the interview here. 

We are only 5 orders away from 300. Once 300 is reached, I will post a new novel trailer, with teasers! I am also trying to come up with some other clever ideas for future milestones. Tossing around an audio chapter, giveaways, etc. Let me know if you have any ideas!

Below this I will be pasting a copy of the steps that can be taken to help with the campaign for the new followers who are joining. Feel free to either continue reading or just get on with your day!

Thank you all again for your support. Until next week.

-Jacqui

For those that are willing, there are numerous ways to help me reach my preorder goal. Every little bit helps a great deal!

1) The greatest way to help, the method that has been shown to produce the best results, would be to select people you know who might like this book (I think we all know those who would, and would not, like this book), and personally tell them about the book via email. Invite them to read the material that is up, and ask them to offer their support if they like what they read. Remind them that if they are one of the first 750 to order, they will be a backer, and will receive a signed, first-edition copy if they select a physical copy over an ebook.

2)If you are on this list and have not ordered the book, then order it, or two, or three, or ten (who am I to judge?)

3) Share the information for my novel on any of your social networks (there are share buttons on my book’s page), tagging those who you think would be interested. Share updates, reviews the book has received, the link to my novel trailer, and/or interview and YouTube links as they become available.

4) Preorder three or more print copies and receive your name in the back of the book.

5) Leave a recommendation on Inkshares if you notice that the novel has slipped off the front page of the site. Providing a recommendation places The Walls are Closing In under the "Recommended by Inkshares Readers" section on the front page of the website, thereby increasing exposure.

6)Send me any and all ideas that you have for spreading the word and getting this book out there!

Thank you again!

-Jacqui

The Walls are Closing In has received 200 preorders within the first three weeks. Thank you, thank you, thank you! And one more for good measure. Thank you!

First things first. I owe all of you a couple of things for helping me cross the 100 reader and the 200 order thresholds!

Using a random number generator and a spreadsheet of my first 100 readers, I have selected two winners to either have a minor character named after them or select the name for that character.

The winners are Robert Batten and K.L. Noon.

Congrats! Let me know what you would like to name your character!

As promised, I have also uploaded a mid-book excerpt to commemorate reaching 200 preorders. Experience Patricia and Rexx’s first steps into Zone 36, a town sealed off due to fracking-induced pollution and destruction, and meet my favorite character, Oliver.

The campaign, as it sits now, has a view of the full publishing contract with few obstacles in the way, but still has some hiking to do. If half of those who are following the book on Inkshares, but have not placed an order yet, order, then The Walls are Closing In will surpass the Quill light-publishing mark.

I have been working tirelessly to cross the Quill milestone early. It is important for a variety of reasons. It signifies that the book is happening! Though I am aiming for 750 preorders and a full publishing contract (think marketing, bookstore shelves, public book signing, cover design, and complete developmental edits), passing the Quill mark (think print-on-demand, ISBN, and Amazon listing) means that there will definitely be a book. Advanced promotion to reach outside of my already-tapped circle will then become much simpler, as those in the book-review world are understandably more willing to promote a sure-thing.

Thank you all again for rallying behind me and this book. A special thank you to both my grandfather Allen Ahearn and aunt Beth Fisher, of Quill and Brush, who shared The Walls are Closing In with their broad community of book lovers!

More milestone perks to come! At 300 orders I will release a new novel trailer with teasers.

-Jacqui

Friends, Readers, and Sorcerers All,

It’s been awhile. Things have been very busy here at the Codex Arcanum, in no small part because of all the wonderful book things that have been happening at Inkshares. Sorry for not updating sooner, but after three months of crazy crowdfunding, I think a little breather was in order for us all. 

But good things are happening. We got notes back from Staton, our editor. Lots of great suggestions for changes and improvements, which I am in the process of implementing. We got a production schedule from Avalon and a marketing plan from Angela. Both have confirmed that this is really a thing that is happening, and it’s now my job to make it as awesome as can be. 

We also have a release date - August 1, 2017! It’s crazy how close that is (in a good way), and how many items still need to be crossed off the to-do list (in an exciting way). But we will make it happen, fear not. We are sorcerers.

Finally - the moment for which you’ve truly been waiting. As you know, one of our last funding prizes was the offer to name a character in the book after one of you lovely book-buying supporters. So after consulting the tea leaves, throwing the bones, and clicking the button of a random number generator between 1 and 255 unique readers, the Fates gave us back the number 213. Going down the list, that means the winner is ...

MOE MOE!  

One of the best names I’ve ever encountered on a human now gets to be enshrined for all time as a character in the Codex Arcanum series. Thanks again to all of you have supported the book. We’ve got some cool info coming down the pike. Stay tuned ...

mh