Hi all,

A while ago I have made a campaign pledge to Norwood UK Charity: 2£ or 3.5$ (that equation was right before Brexit which resulted in the pound dropping in value -lol) from every order using a special referral account I have opened for them. 
I have kept the pledge for every order I got on the course of July (once the campaign was over).

Norwood UK is a leading Jewish charity supporting vulnerable children, families and people with learning disabilities. It costs £35 million a year for Norwood to provide their community services and it must raise £12 million from voluntary donations.
Norwood strives to ensure that everyone can live the life they choose, irrespective of their ability. They  provide professional help in a warm and caring environment, supporting people to be as independent as possible.
Their Family Services include children and family support, social work, an inclusive nursery, and special educational needs, while their Learning Disability Services include education, after school clubs & holiday schemes, transition, supported living, residential care, lifelong learning and health and well-being.
I wanted to thank Simon Walton, my close friend, for introducing me to this wonderful charity.

So here’s the math: 27 orders have been made using Norwood’s special referral, on top of that I got 5 orders after the campaign was over. 32 order * 3.5$ (let’s keep the dollar amount, it’s better for them) = 112$...
I expected more , so decided it is fair to double this amount to 224$, which is in today’s exchange = 140£ donation to Norwood (which is worth 175£ as I let them keep the giftaid tax relief).

That was done thank to you and your help - but if you want to learn or donate more - please please visit Norwood here.

As for "the Wolf" - I have submitted the manuscript nearly a month ago, after frivolous help from my wife and friend Micha Knopf to make sure all is proofread... I have submitted a creative brief on the same occasion and I am waiting to hear back from Angela our talented Marketing Manager & Girl Friday Production as to the editorial progress. Will keep you posted!

-Jonathan

Hello! The long campaign is coming to a close--just 28 days left. I am back in the US again and will be able to actively promote the project once more, but I need your help. Illegal has already surpassed the minimum funding goal and will be published but it still has a long way to go to reach the maximum goal of 750 orders (we sit at 426 as of this writing). The full goal will mean better editing and wider exposure. My ultimate goal, my dream, is to get the best version of this into as many hands as possible. Another 324 orders in less than a month is very ambitious but it is possible. Buy another copy for a friend, share on social media, anything to help me climb this mountain.  I’m doing the last major self-edit to the project this week and will share another sample once we pass 500 orders. 

Thank you, everyone, who has helped me get this far. The vast majority of books here never meet the minimum requirement and never get published and it warms me to have already gotten so much support to get this story out into the world. Onward!

Small update. First editing session now over. This will soon be off to the team at inkshares for the various stages before publication.  Now can I ask a small money free favour?  I’d like all my 250 followers to "follow" me over at the follow up site BRUGES BLOOD --- the next Chandler Travis and Duke Lanoix mystery.  All you have to do is click the link and FOLLOW me.  

Here’s the link  BRUGES BLOOD  thank you all so much for getting LOUISIANA BLOOD  published!  And here’s the cover for the next mystery.

Overnight, the Mission 51 funding campaign came to an end, and the project is now in “draft” mode. We finished with a very respectable 183 pre-orders, though that was shy of the 250 required for Inkshares to publish. The book will not be published at this time.

I’ll have to say, I am much, much more excited about the whole thing than I am disappointed. When I started, this book was not written. Now it is! - I became aware of Inkshares earlier this year, half-way into the Nerdist Space Opera contest. I had an idea for a book for quite some time, so I decided to jump in late in the contest, learning the Inkshares process as I went along. I basically started from scratch, hammering away madly, and by now have developed a solid story of which I am proud. Along the way, I have met a multitude of awesome people: readers, supporters, fellow authors, artists, and the folks at Inkshares. I am nothing but gratified and encouraged!

The final tally for Mission 51 was 194 followers of the project, of which 128 wonderful people pre-ordered 183 copies of the book. I received 14 high-quality recommendations, was chosen as a “Staff Pick,” and received the support of the GREAT SCI-FI for the 21st CENTURY and BEYOND SYNDICATE. Wow! Thank you!!!

Now that Mission 51 is officially in “draft” mode, all of the readers, who have my everlasting gratitude for your interest and generous support, will get their money back. The project will remain listed on Inkshares, will continue to gather followers, and I will be able to communicate with you through this forum, to keep you updated on the continuing progress of Mission 51.

I will continue to revise, enhance and beautify the book, including the art. It is possible that I will engage in another funding campaign here on Inkshares, but I will not do it until the book is entirely finished, which it nearly is. I will await another suitable contest before that happens. When that moment comes, I will be completely prepared to deliver a top-notch product! I hope you will decide to support it again at that time.

For now, I have entered Mission 51 in the 2016 Launch Pad Manuscript Competition. I’m pretty excited about that! It opens several other opportunities for publication. Please check out the link. I’ll let you know how that turns out.

In any event, like I said before, I can assure you that this book will be published one way or another. I would love to have the backing and services of a formal publishing house like Inkshares, or some other publisher, but I have self-published several books before and I will self-publish Mission 51 if the need be.

So stay tuned for future developments. I will keep you posted. I am not going away!

Again, thank you all so very much for supporting me and Mission 51. I have truly felt the love!

Peace!

Ferd  :-)

Second Mini-Update!

Child of Secrets now has 3 pre-orders and 20 followers--none of whom know me outside of Inkshares! That’s awesome! A special thank-you to M. Robert Randolph (author of Wings of the Crallow) for his review and recommendation!

I felt like my "About the Book" blurb wasn’t punching the way I wanted it to, so I tweaked it and added a section about the world of Child of Secrets: Athonassyar. I’m also working on some excellent changes to the prologue (mostly inspired by comments and critiques from you guys!) that I’ll post sometime tomorrow.

It’s going to be fantastic. I’m excited.