Hello Again All My Lovelies!

I had promised to send the revised manuscript to Adam end of June. It’s a couple weeks past my deadline, but this weekend I’m working through the draft with a final polish before submitting to the publisher. It’s been almost two years since that 2017 Horror Contest Halloween photo-finish with Mike Welch. There have been major edits, revisions, darlings murdered and rewrites to the novel. But what really happened, from my perspective, is a personal transformation as my editor urged me to dig deeper, write better and bring nuance to every aspect of the story. I am not that same writer from 2017. It’s hard to articulate what exactly I am now, but I believe that journey is captured in my story: MINE. Hopefully this draft will pass muster with the Inkshares team and you all will get a glimpse into this shadowy realm of becoming… 

Dear Followers and Supporters -

I have been radio silent for quite some time, but I do have news to announce regarding the status of Fae Child. 

Since the book funded in March 2017, I finished the first draft in July of that year. After that my family and I had several life changes that stole my energy and attention, including becoming small business owners and having a fourth child. The THIRD draft of the book is now underway with a few small tweaks to accomplish before I send the manuscript in to Inkshares.

At that point I will find out when they anticipate the book being published - there would be a copy edit to do and a few other miscellaneous things.

I have a cover for the book well underway with a talented artist, Aliana Wong ( www.alianawong.com ) and I have updated the cover on the Inkshares site to reflect the in progress work. I am in love with it already.

I also have had a short story accepted into an anthology which should be published later this year. Here is the link to the announcement: https://writingbloc.com/announcement-of-the-stories-and-authors-for-the-upcoming-deception-anthology/

That is all for now! I will send out another update when I am sending it off to Inkshares. 

Thank you all for your support and your patience,

Jane-Holly

Wow, only 12 days since Showtime’s campaign ended? It seems like longer. Maybe that’s just because I’m enjoying the lack of nail-biting stress from trying to think of new people to get to buy. Or maybe because it’s summer and I’ve lost all concept of time.

Anyway, I just wanted to share a couple updates.

NEXT STEPS

Inkshares now has my full manuscript and their aim is to have their editorial notes back to me by mid-August. Books typically go through two (if not more) rounds of professional editing—developmental (story, character, pacing) and line (sentence structure, spelling, etc.)—so how many rounds Showtime will go through depends on their initial impression of the manuscript. Either way, that’ll be the next step in the production process. Exciting, right? And scary. That too.

BOOK AVAILABILITY

Now that the pre-order phase of things is over (whew!), the official order page is now up and running. It’s the same link I’ve bugged you all with for the past six months, so if you missed out on buying another or if you wanted to still share with someone else, feel free.

A note about pricing: you’ll notice that the pricing is a bit different than during the pre-order phase, with eBooks now selling at $8.99 and print copies at $14.99. You might be thinking, “What in tarnation?! Didn’t I pay $10.00 for my eBook and $20.00 for my print copy?” Do not adjust your TV sets. Yes, you did. And no, it’s not a trick. The reasoning for the adjustment is that Inkshares bumps up the pre-order pricing to account for production overhead costs (the monies from pre-orders go straight to production). Now that pre-orders are over, the book is available, and Inkshares knows from the submitted manuscript roughly how many pages it will be to print, the retail prices have been set. There we go. Angry mob defused.  

PROPERTIES

I’m working on Showtime’s "Properties" page for Inkshares (which gives agents and people in the entertainment business access to buy film, TV, and audiobook rights), and need a couple books and movies to compare it to. Kind of like “If you liked ________ and ________, you’ll enjoy Showtime.” It doesn’t have to be exactly the same plot. It could be similarities in terms of story, character, tone, voice, whatever. I’ve got a couple, but need 1 more book and 2 more movies. If you’re one of my beta readers who has read the whole thing (or anyone who has read my sample chapters), feel free to let me know if anything comes to mind.

NOTE OF APPRECIATION

Thanks again to everyone who helped this happen. I feel like it’s going to go well (knock on wood) and it’s no hyperbole to say that it couldn’t have happened without your enthusiasm, kindness, and support. Everyone receiving this update played some part in helping get Showtime to publication. So no matter if you bought copies, read and reviewed my chapters, asked friends and family to order, or simply clicked the FOLLOW button, thank you. Money’s not everything (especially since someone who bought 1 book might mean for them what it means for someone else to buy 10), so thank you for doing what YOU were able to do.

That’s all for now. I’ll send out another update when I have more news to share.

Thanks again,

Ricky