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!

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  :-)

I just got off work, so my brain is pretty much tapioca at this point, but I wanted to reinforce how thankful I am to everyone that’s signed on and backed A Beast Requires. You’re support means the world to me, and I hope you are all enjoying the chapters I have uploaded.

To those of you who are still on the fence, there are still other ways you can help me out. If you have the time, write a recommendation or a review. They really are important, and can go a long way with helping others make a decision. And if anyone has any questions, or wants to drop me a line, either direct message me on Inkshares of hunt be down on Twitter.

I’ll have much more to say tomorrow, but for now, I just want to reinforce my gratitude to you all.

- Jay

Hello Cape’s Side Bayers!

Here we go! One month left in the campaign, 146 orders until we reach 750. It has been a long exhausting road, and the light is finally visible at the end of the tunnel! 

Hitting full-publishing is a close reality but not a given. Those of you that have pre-ordered already, thank you very much, but if you could recommend, share, insist on others that would be great. 

The last month will be grueling, I believe we can get there, and I believe in this book and cannot wait for you all to get a chance to read it!

https://www.inkshares.com/books/cape-s-side-bay

That’s all for now. Thanks for taking the time to read it. I’m excited for what’s to come!

James