I don’t post much on forums. I don’t even lurk. I probably should because. Who is this asshole injecting his stupid opinion into our forums, right?

The changes don’t bother me. Some of you may (and already have) rolled their eyes saying that, of course I don’t mind the changes. After all, I’m one of the privileged few.

Fair enough! I am so far very lucky. I can’t deny my good fortune and while I’m nowhere near the level of success some have assumed I’m enjoying, it’s been a good run and that run is all because of Inkshares. As a quick clarification, I’m still working full time as a marketing director. I have yet to receive any sum of money that would be considered life-changing and the number of groupies that knock on my door is still at a manageable two or three per day. Perhaps four on weekends.

And that’s the crux of it really. If you’re anything like me, an aspiring writer who’s only just starting to build his career and reputation, money shouldn’t be your focus. If it is, more power to you and I get that the changes in royalties are a concern but money isn’t part of my plan at this stage. I’ve so far not made that much money from royalties anyways, so moving the dial 15-30% one direction or another has very little impact on my life. The visibility, contacts, opportunities and pure, distilled experience I’ve gained so far however? I can’t even begin to put a price on that. Money will come. I have no doubt. If I put in the work (20-40 hours a week on top of my current job) and I keep learning and growing as a writer, I’ll either build up to where I have enough fans of my work that I can do this full time, or I’ll get a lucky break that will allow me to move ahead in the industry.

I’m very lucky so far because I’m (hopefully) following in the footsteps of the incredibly talented @Mike Mongo, but I’m looking forward to the next writer who’ll be following in my footsteps (unless these footsteps lead off a cliff. DO NOT follow these footsteps!). Then the next writer. And another. Because that’s what’s being built here. There are a ton of people on this platform who are embarrassingly talented and creative. I feel ridiculous being a trailblazer for them, knowing that they will outshine me like the sun outshines the moon. I’m hoping to ride their coattails like a bronco into the sunset.

So yeah, I’m cool with the changes. I can’t ask you to be cool with them, but I can tell you where I come from and hope you understand and maybe share my feelings. I’m even cool with the lack of transparency. Why? Because Inshares isn’t a vanity press. They’re not a self publishing service either. In other words, I’m not an Inkshares client. They don’t owe me transparency and in many ways it is a curtesy that we get as much as we do (truth is that it’s a synergy thing where they benefit from our feedback, but the bottom line is that transparency isn’t owed to us).

I’ve written this stupid essay three times, each from a different angle and each time with a different level of aggression.

The big takeaways are these:

• The terms are what they are and they’re not aimed at ‘screwing us over’
• The invitation to leave isn’t meant to be dismissive but at the same time there’s only so much resources that should be put into keeping a disgruntled supplier, especially in such a saturated market
• The increased revenue from getting a bigger share of royalties will help make books more financially viable on their own, keep investors happy, allow for growth so that more services can be added and the current ones improved. It’s an investment by the authors in the future not of Inkshares but of their success as authors on Inkshares
• Communication is nice to have and I believe it is Inkshares’ philosophy to have as much of it as possible, but if they don’t have time to tell us everything they’re doing I’m fine with that too. I’d rather they work on publishing, marketing and selling books
• Every success on Inkshares benefits all of the authors on the platform. The rising tide lifts all boats

Essentially, the change is active immediately. And in nearly all cases–including for the larger part my own–this will be consensually retroactive.

Meaning, new terms have been created for authors and funding writers and they are going to affect new deals as well as established successes.

So you would think I’d be upset about that, right? Well, surprise, I’m not upset. In fact, I’m thrilled.

In a past life I did businesses. Lots of them. Some losers. Some winners. Some even lucrative. All–and I mean all–were great learning experiences.

When I got my deal with Inkshares I thought this is crazy. It was literally too good to be true. You cannot run a company on those margins. It is impossible. After the process of creating my funding book, I knew I was right. There is no doubt in my mind, Inkshares put around $30-$50k into my book while pulling only about $10k in funding and pre-sales. I’m no math genius but I’m a whiz at addition and subtraction, and those numbers don’t match up.

Retrospectively, even now, going into our third printing of The AIM, I know Inkshares hasn’t made its money back. Yet.

Of course, if I were an evil genius I’d being going BWAA-HAA-HA-HAA-HA right now. However, I’m not an evil genius. I’m not even a genius. I’m an astronaut teacher and author and Inkshares is my publisher who has done an absolutely astounding job of impacting the marketplace with my book: Third printing, audiobook deal with Penguin Random House, and of course the tv series deal with Legendary. Plus the creative freedom and rights I retain as writer and creator? Plus we are now working on THE COMIC BOOK (!!!)? 

Wow.

To quote from Kurt Vonnegut, "If this isn’t good, I don’t know what is."

Without Inkshares, I would have none of this. I LOVE INKSHARES. I WANT INKSHARES TO SUCCEED EVEN MORE. So if I have to make fair adjustments to secure and guarantee even more and greater success, I’ll tell you what I told  @Adam Gomolin:

“Count me in.”

And Adam had made it very clear. If the deal didn’t look good to me or if I thought I could find a better deal somewhere else, he’d help me with an exit strategy. 

PFFFFFFFFFT. Me exit Inkshares? Yeah right! No sir-ree-bob, I’m here to stay. I love the culture, I love the attitude, I love my fellow authors (@JF Dubeau, @Jamison Stone, @Gary Whitta, @Jim McDoniel I’m talking to you), I love the camaraderie, I love the community, and most of all I LOVE BEING AN INKSHARES AUTHOR.

The most telling fact I can share is everyone I know and love is staying put. What more, last week I think Inkshares had over 1000+ new book campaigns started. That means even more new awesome authors to share in this wonderful new model. ("Traditional publishing with crowdfunding front-end" I tell my friends.) We started Inkshares together. We have succeeded together. And we are now evolving together. Yes, I’m staying.

Heck, where would I go that is any more fun (and profitable and empowering and authenticating) than Inkshares? Like Montgomery Scott says in JJ Abram’s 2009 Star Trek reboot, "I like this ship. It’s exciting!"

–

PS one last thing. Speaking of awesome new authors, while I’m here I just want to shoutout a book and author being funded that has caught my (generally behind the scenes) attention. It is @Evan Graham’s Tantalus Depths.

Being an established author around here means you get to call the actual Inkshares’ Head Honchos and say, "Hey, I think you should take a look at this project." Which I did today about Tantalus Depths.

And like I told Adam, and while it may be early and maybe I’m wrong what do I know but in my opinion I think Evan writing and dialog is terrific and I think Evan has what it takes to win a Hugo.