It has been just one week since the 90-day campaign began, and The Walls are Closing In has reached 123 preorders. This is phenomenal. We are halfway towards the Quill light-publishing deal already, and are on a brilliant trajectory towards the full publishing contract.
Thank you to everyone who has taken this leap of faith with me. I realize that putting down hard earned money on a book that is a ways off is not everyone’s cup of tea. I want you all to know that each time I see a new order come through, I am dancing on the inside ... and sometimes on the outside.
A special thank you to my super readers (who have ordered 3 or more copies), Inkshares authors and followers who have already sent referrals my way, and to those who have left a review or recommendation.
The manuscript is complete as is, though it will continue to be fine tuned until the last minute. I am spending long hours locked in staring contests with my manuscript, striving to ensure that the story walks the line between fact and fiction just enough. Sometimes it wins and sometimes I do.
As I mentioned in a previous updated, The Walls are Closing In has been selected as this month’s Thriller Night Syndicate pick. This was a huge honor. My book’s page now sports the Thriller Nights badge! 
Blog posts and youtube mentions will start to go live this week or next, and I will share those links when they do!
Today is a rough day for a lot of people, and I hope that all of you are able to stand strong, find solace in numbers, and surround yourselves with friends and loved ones. Buckle up. It will be a rocky ride.
Until next time,
-Jacqui
Hi, marvelous readers!
We’ve reached light publication (the Quill level) and joined the Quill collection here on Inkshares, so we’re moving into production! Yay! *throws confetti*
They’ve told me the timeline moving forward will be roughly ten months until readers get their copies in their hands; this has to do with time needed for a round of light copyediting, getting the back cover (design, any text, etc) done, shipping of physical copies, and so on. (I admit I was hoping it’d be a bit faster, since Inkshares is a nontraditional publisher - but I’m not complaining!) We’ll see if we can’t speed that up a small amount, though, since the cover art’s already done and it should be a fairly clean manuscript (I correct student writing for a living, after all...), but in any case: we’re into production, and I’m so excited! I’ll keep you updated as things progress...
We are almost at the end of my crowdfunding campaign. I’m not sure if we will make it or not, but I’m trying to push hard to the end. There are six days left. If you pre-ordered a copy, and want to see Manifesto in print, convincing others to pre-order and help the crowdfunding process in these final days would go a long way in helping. If you haven’t ordered yet, do it soon or you might miss the chance. There has just been a price reduction too!
Cheers,
Dan
Followers of Kill Creek!
I’ve reached 90% of my light-publishing goal! Only 25 more pre-orders to go. But there’s also only 6 days left in the campaign!!! If you haven’t ordered yet, please consider doing so now. I could really use your help. And to those who have ordered and/or helped spread the word, I wouldn’t be this close without YOU. Thank you for supporting my dream.
Or, should I say, nightmare...
See, I probably should have warned you. Indulging the spirits that reside in the house on Kill Creek is to invite them into your life. It doesn’t matter if you leave the house in your rearview mirror or close the book and set it on your nightstand. Whatever this thing is that walks the dark, dusty halls of the Finch House, it knows you now. It needs you. That odd scratching sound you hear in the dark could just be your cat’s claws as it creeps across the hardwood floor. But you’d be wise not to look. Just close your eyes. Do not peer over the edge of your bed. Because it isn’t your cat (you don’t even have a cat, what were you thinking?!). It’s that...thing from Kill Creek. And it wants you to go back...
Good luck sleeping.
Scott Thomas
Hello everyone!
I want to apologize for being MIA for the last two months. Things have been rather crazy in life, with the holidays. But, I was also offered a new job as the lead graphic designer for 117-year-old engineering firm. I’m going to be heading up (starting up, really) the department. So, I’ve been spending the last few weeks getting all the loose ends tied up at my current job. On top of that, my fiance and I are looking at wedding venues and preparing to move in three months. Needless to say, I’ve been a bit out of sorts.
I can officially say we are getting published because now we have a brand spanking new layout in Inkshares and it is no longer the funding page! That is so exciting! I’ve got to take down the incentives and get those out to everyone. Fancy mugs are in for those spectacular backers who bought 10 copies. I’m ordering the bookmarks and posters to send out to the other backers tomorrow, so I’ll be contacting you for your address so that I can send you your incentives!
Inkshares contacted me, but I have no real deadline for when the book will be published. Right now, they are working through a backlog, so it may be some time. The book is finished and it is almost completely edited after passing the first round of beta readers. As soon as I finish these edits I will be passing it off to the second round of beta readers. (If you’ve contacted me about beta reading, again, I haven’t forgotten)
I’ll be contacting those that I owe covers very shortly (today, hopefully) to discuss jumping back in to work on those. I’m looking forward to helping you guys out with them, and I apologize for the delay.
For quicker updates, go like my Facebook Page! You’ll find lots of links to other books that I’ve done covers for, you’ll get up-to-date news about the book, the editing process, and sneak peaks! https://www.facebook.com/KaytalinPlattAuthor/ Also, follow me on Twitter. https://twitter.com/KaytalinPlatt
That’s the end of the updates, so I’m going to move on to the sentimental, mushy, oversharing stuff that isn’t necessarily important to your interests, but still something I’d like to say. Rather, I’d like to share with you so that, if you are like me, you might not feel so alone in the weird need to disbelieve in the achievements you’ve made.
I suffer from imposter syndrome and have for pretty much a majority of my life and in everything that I do. If you don’t know what imposter syndrome is, it is where, no matter how well you do or what you achieve, you always feel like a fraud and that, eventually, everyone will realize how really crappy you are. Someone with imposter syndrome spends their life achieving things and expecting "the other shoe to drop".
So, I’ve got an amazing fiance, I’m gaining a wonderful family, a company actually thinks I’m good enough to start a graphics department and gave me a job out of the blue, and a book that I’ve dreamed about for the last 10+ years is going to be published. All of this culminating in the last six months or so, really kicked the imposter syndrome into overdrive.
I’ve wanted to write to tell you how much being published means to me, but I’ve been afraid to acknowledge it is really happening. It’s even harder to look people in the eye when they congratulate me in person. It’s not that I’m not grateful, just genuinely afraid that I don’t deserve it or that what I’ve loved and created is unworthy. It is definitely something I need to work on, and I am.
So, in moving past the imposter syndrome, let me tell you how incredibly happy I am. Let me acknowledge that happiness, let me announce it to you and to the world, and not be afraid. Nothing is ever perfect, least of all books. But, when you’ve worked so hard for something, when you’ve dreamed and fought and spent every spare second you had working on it, even people with imposter syndrome deserve to celebrate those accomplishments. I’ve day-dreamed half my life about sharing stories with the world, and you all made it possible.
Thank you. From the bottom of the heart, forever and always, thank you.
@Darcy Conroy It’s totally valid to have concerns, and while the company is in this chrysalis stage it’s natural to wonder about all the changes, particularly if you came in during the midst of it. Many of the current stable of writers are just as trepidatious as you are. No one likes changes, and we’re still waiting to see what everything looks like in the end. I honestly don’t anticipate the royalties dropping below 35% simply because at that point (as some have mentioned you’re getting much less than that since it’s a split of net profits) it just doesn’t make sense to stick with Inkshares. Adam mentioned in his email that they wanted to make sure their writers were still making double what they could at an old school publisher, and I think anything below 35% would put that in jeopardy.
My personal experience with the site is a little less brilliant than @Mike Mongo or @JF Dubeau . I have failed two campaigns and completed two, once of which was an anthology that won the last contest. The book that I succeeded with on my own only hit Quill funding (that 250 mark), but I did get the honor of being selected as a Sword & Laser collection book. I am more tied in with the writer community than the "excellent services" that Mike and JF have experience with. My little book is still in the editing phase, so I will probably land in the new version of Quill, whatever that will look like. But I’m sticking around for the authors I’ve met, and all I’ve learned from them. I have faith in what they are building here at Inkshares, but I am not so tied in that if the deal stops being good that I’ll still stay. Crowdfunding is rough business for introverts, and if I’m going to push past my social anxiety, it’s gotta be worth it.