Wow... what a month it’s been.

Since the launch of A God in the Shed, it’s been a bit of a wild ride. Did a couple of local signing events, went to a convention in Utah... started writing the sequel.

While I’d love to bore you with the nitty gritty details however, this isn’t my diary. There’s new I need to share with you. News you want to know about.

Let’s start with this:

Gorgeous isn’t it? Joseph Gates of Gates of Imagination is making six of these for me. Each will have a hand written, unique secret about the story inside. You want one? Well, good news.

When I reach 100 reviews on Amazon, I’ll be raffling off one of these beautiful leather-bound copies of the book. I’ll randomly pick one of the first 100 reviewers as the winner. If I can’t get in touch with them after 48hrs, I’ll pick another. Until I have an address where to mail this beauty. So if you read the book and have a few moments, might be worth writing a short review. It doesn’t even matter if you rate it 1 star. You’re still eligible. And if you have a few extra seconds, copy and paste that review to Goodreads.

What else? Oh yeah!

You want an audiobook of A God in the Shed? If Amazon isn’t lying to me, you’ll be able to get one on July 18th. So if you’re less of an eye-person and more of an ear-person, this might be up your alley. I know you can already pre-order, so there you go.

Finally, why not take a moment to check out my other project currently funding on Inkshares? The sequel to my debut novel, The Life Engineered, is taking pre-orders. You don’t even need to have read The Life Engineered to enjoy it (though it adds that extra layer, and The Life Engineered is only 99 cents on Inkshares right now). Check it out!

As always and forever, thank you friends. You absolutely rule.

JF

Happy Midsummer everyone!

It’s the middle of July and warm weather has finally come to Maine.  Birds are chirping, the black flies are (mostly) dead, and most fun of all is seeing the pictures showing up in my Facebook feed of people showing off their copies of It’s All Fun and Games.  It’s hard to believe it’s already been a year since it was released, but time has the tendency to keep moving forward, doesn’t it?

I keep running into people who want to know when the sequel will be coming out, so I wanted to give you an update on how More Fun and Games is progressing.  My summer teaching has been taking a bit more time than I’d hoped, which means editing has slowed down a bit.  I’m still chipping away at it, however - I’m maybe a third of the way through so far.  I’ve added Chapters 1 and 2 to the preview read on the project page, so you can read about the start of this new adventure.

Now my part is only half of the work.  YOUR part is the other half.  Inkshares only publishes books that a) cover much of the up-front cost; and b) show an established interest.  The 2400 or so copies of It’s All Fun and Games that have already been sold shows the interest.  Now we just need to cover those editing and design costs.  Please, if you’ve got the interest and means to do so, head on over and preorder your copy now.  

I also have one additional (less costly) favor to ask of you.  DragonCon, one of the largest fan conventions in the country, gives out the Dragon Awards annually.  I would deeply appreciate it if you could swing on by the nomination page and nominate It’s All Fun and Games in the "Best Young Adult/Middle Grade Novel" category.  Sure, it’s a long shot, but so was publishing in the first place, so why not give it a try?

As always, you can find me on twitter @llabak and on Facebook 

Thank you all for your continued support, and enjoy the rest of the summer!

Best
Dave

Greetings Jackolytes,

I’m currently in Saskatoon, Canada, the spiritual home of Jack and Sync City. Thursday morning at 7:50 am (CST), I’m going to be on the CBC Saskatoon morning radio show to talk about the book.

If you’re in Saskatoon, you can find it at 94.1 FM. If you are not in Saskatoon, then the following link will get you there: CBC Saskatoon Morning. You can find the live stream in the top right hand corner.

As I mentioned, the time is 7:50 am (CST) - you’ll have to work your local time out yourself!!

Enjoy the day.

Cheers,

Peter

I am still reeling with emotions after the crazy finish of the Nerdist Sci-Fi Contest. It is gradually sinking in that Mission 51 will be a published book and I will be a published author! It feels surreal. I am grateful beyond words for all of you. Inkshares publishes books only with the pre-order "approval" of the crowd. Mission 51’s publication could only happen on Inkshares with the support of wonderful people like you! Thank you very, very much!

I am truly not quite back to myself yet. I feel off-balance in a good, exciting way. I know this is a transitional feeling. For the past year and a half, I have been focused on writing and preparing myself for exactly this sort of contest. Now I will shift my focus to the goal of editing and publication. It feels like a brand new day full of hope and promise!

Inkshares has sent me a detailed questionnaire to help them help me through the process of editing, cover design, and marketing. I am to hand it in with my manuscript. I informed them I want to review it one last time and tidy up some loose ends before they start their process. I will let you all know when I have delivered the manuscript to Inkshares. It won’t be long.

Meanwhile, Mission 51 is now considered an Inkshares "property." I have a page on their "Properties" section, which is available to third parties in the entertainment industry who may be interested in the story. That’s pretty exciting, too! I haven’t completely tweaked that page, but if you are interested in what I have so far, you can check it out here.

Once I turn in the manuscript, I will join a few other works that have merited publication on Inkshares and are waiting for them to focus their professional resources on editing, layout, cover design, marketing, production, and distribution. It’s a thorough process that will take some time, quite possibly a year. I hope to have a better handle on the timeline once I hand in the manuscript. I will always inform you as soon as I know anything relating to the production of Mission 51.

Again, thank you for this incredible opportunity. I literally could not have done it without you!

Peace!

~Ferd  👽

Poetry lovers, art lovers, good morning! 

I hope you’re all having a great Sunday. It’s been a long while since I’ve updated this project. I have a new poem, and I want to share. A Jack Katz illustration to follow in the next week or two. Enjoy!

I’d like for you all to meet my editor, Matt Harry. He has been amazing in the journey toward getting The Madness of Mr. Butler published. As I’ve said, it is a long process, but that process is all in the best interests of the story, and in your best interests as my readers, investors, and friends. This man is doing great things to help make Mr. Butler a great story. He is challenging me and pushing toward making the final product the absolute best it can be. He is behind the greatest successes at Inkshares, and Inkshares decided that my little book deserves the attention of an incredible editor. Please enjoy the blog entry and video regarding one of his recent releases, "A God in the Shed" by J.F. Dubeau, here: http://blog.inkshares.com/post/162717697220/it-all-comes-back-to-story

As for Mr. Butler, great things are happening, and I appreciate your patience as everything remains under construction. We are still looking at an early 2018 release date.

Any questions? Please don’t hesitate to email me at info@talltalestold.com

Why the new email address? Because I am running an internet thing called "Tall Tales Told" now. It’s a home for everything I’m writing and thinking. I’m featuring music, stories of both fiction and nonfiction, and illustrated poetry. Please take a moment and visit if you haven’t already. You can visit by clicking here.

Thanks again for your support and patience. 

Love always, 

Michael.

Though it also means I can have a little bit of a break for a week or 2 while I wait, which will be nice. I need a break. - Me...5 months ago

Turns out my brain decided it needed quite the break.

The only real way to describe the last 5 months is that I haven’t really been...present. I’ve sort of just floated through 2017 so far and I can neither adequately explain the why or the how. None of it directly relates to the publishing of the book (other than delaying its submission) so I won’t go too much further into it. Suffice it to say, the ol’ brain box is a bit less floaty at the moment, so stuff is happening.

What stuff you may ask? Well, in the tradition of my people, here is a bullet point list of where things are at with the book: 

• The beta reading went well. I received rather positive feedback from everyone on the story and the characters. Also, everyone seemed to like the ending, which was a huge relief. 
• The book is more or less done at this point, I just need to go through and do a final pass over it to tidy up a few last things. 
• I still need to wrangle all the paperwork and extra stuff to go along with the manuscript when I submit it to Inkshares. 
• I also have a new (and likely final) cover. I’m quite fond of it. It even has a nice little spot for a cover quote, should I be lucky enough to get one.

So yeah, if I can keep everything in gear and on track, Ghosts will be submitted by the end of the month. After that, I’m assuming that there’ll be a bit of a wait since I’ll now be further down the queue than if I’d submitted earlier in the year, but it is what it is. 

I shall keep you all posted in the meantime.