Dear Fine and Very Patient Readers!!

Books are coming, but so sorry to have to report another slight delay in the shipment of some of them. 

Here’s what happened -- I received 6 cartons of books to be signed and returned to Inkshares so they could then send them out to all who pre-ordered. I signed the books, boxed them up and sent them back. But in the process, not one, but two SNAFUS occurred!! 

SNAFU 1 - two boxes of books got lost in transition. Yep, just vanished!  Thanks USPS! Good work!!

SNAFU 2 - Some signed books did make it to Inkshares offices but there was a label mix-up and they were sent to the backers of another book! (The very fine The Knight Proper, by Adam Greven and Matt Deller -- check it out if you get a chance). 

So...here’s where we are -- the signed books that made it are being shipped tomorrow -- Tuesday July 9th. Unfortunately this is only half the amount, the other half being either lost or sent to the wrong place. But...good news: replacement books are on their way to Inkshares. They want to just ship them ASAP so they won’t, unfortunately, be signed by yours truly (if you are in the LA area and want a signed book, I’m happy to oblige -- or if you want to send me a copy, I could do that and send it back!!). 

So sorry for this delay. Physical books will be in your hands soon. If you’re still waiting after about a week, please feel free to email Elena at hello@inkshares.com 

Don’t forget eBooks are readily available to read now but I understand many of you prefer physical books (as do I) so sit tight...They are coming!  

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

Monday.

With the first week of the contest down, I’m still in the Top Ten with 41 pre-orders. I’m thrilled, but I know I can do more. A Beast Requires received two amazing reviews, and it is now up to 19 recommendations.  I crave reviews and recommendations. They’re crack to a writer, and feed my need to ensure that everyone is laughing their asses off. 

Good news. Laughing your ass off is an amazing weight loss program.

Speaking of asses, my ass will never be an artist. I have created concept art for a lot of the locations in A Beast Requires, and some of them aren’t completely awful. 

This is the Effenwood, because even an enchanted forest is ripe for urban renewal.

Thank you everyone for following me, and supporting my endeavor to publish A Beast Requires, and make it into one hell of a melee weapon.

- Jay

Ahem! It’s been brought to our attention that some of our backers who ordered paperback versions of the The Knight Proper received instead the equally awesome book, Women Like Us, which yes, you should read as well, but alas, not what you ordered. We’ll be in touch with Inkshares to figure out a remedy ASAP... in the meanwhile, I’m already on chapter 3, nice work, Jason Pomerance! 

Just a quick one for now.  Prior to my campaign I had stated that for every 50 followers I would upload a new chapter, and this first week of the campaign/contest has seen me sprint past 350 followers.  That means I’ll be uploading at least 1 chapter tomorrow.  I’d also been debating with myself whether or not to continue uploading chapters since I already have quite a large amount posted.  Truth is that I like sharing my story and world too much not to keep uploading.  Since I’m now in a campaign though, from this point on I’ll be basing chapter uploads on number of new people who’ve ordered rather than number of followers.  For every 25 new readers I’ll upload a chapter, and since we’ve already hit 25 readers that means I have a 2nd new chapter to upload.  I’ll be uploading those tomorrow.

That’s all I’ve got for now.  Look for a real update on Tuesday, and as always thanks for your time and keep reading!

THIS IS THE LAST DAY TO PRE-ORDER!