I wanted to give everyone a quick update to let you know how Welcome To Deadland is coming along! Three exciting things happened this week. First, I received preliminary concept covers. It was surreal looking over the covers and talking with the awesome team from Inkshares, Nerdist, and Girl Friday about which covers we liked and the direction we want to go. I can’t wait to have it all finalized so I can share it with the rest of you!

The second thing that happened was I turned in the next draft of the manuscript. A few weeks ago I received notes from my developmental editor, and I’ve been working diligently to improve the story and the characters. I’m extremely proud of how everything is coming together, and I don’t know how to thank everyone working on this project enough for the long hours they’re putting in to bring my dream to life. 

And the third thing, Inkshares and Nerdist are partnering for another contest! If you’ve written a space opera, or are currently writing one, you can find all of the details here. This is an amazing opportunity, and if you’re nervous about the idea of entering, I urge you to take the plunge and go for it. I was hesitant about entering the first Nerdist contest, and now my book is being published as part of their collection and I’ve made several genuine friendships with other authors. 

As always, thank you all so much for your continued support, and feel free to contact me through Twitter or Welcome To Deadland’s Facebook Page!

Thank you all,

-Zac

Hello, friends new and old! I didn't send an update last week because I'm trying to finish editing my book (yikes) and it is a slow (gosh) and steady (sheesh) process (no).  It's going to be great! (SOB SOB.)

I keep accidentally offering to help with other stuff, though. It's a great way to procrastinate! (ARGH!)

FIRST, I will now raffle off the original panel for the graphic novel page I'm doing for Amanda Orneck's Deus Hex Machina...

The winner is....

Matt Kaye! Congratulations!

SECOND, you need to all watch Amanda's promo video for DHM because there's an ALTERNATE REALITY GAME you HAVE TO PLAY. It is SO FUN, and by fun I mean super-frustrating but very satisfying to finish. Joe Terzieva and I worked on it separately, then when we both got stuck we worked on it together for part of a day and we FIGURED IT OUT!

You have to follow the clues and search through the shadowy reaches of the internet to save a scientist who has been sucked into the Grid!!! Go! DO IT!

THIRD, I joined a syndicate! Janna Grace created one for Strong Female Characters (strongly-written characters, not just tough characters, of course) and you know how much I love those. I just had to join. Check it out!!

FOURTH, if you are interested in any sort of, shall we say, tabletop gaming... stay tuned. John Robin, Joe Terzieva and I are working on something for Blood Dawn that you might want to be a part of....

FIFTH, JF Dubeau's The Life Engineered is being released March 1st!! If you haven't bought his book yet, that's actually a good thing - because we're doing an Amazon order drive on the day of the launch! This will hopefully get his book to debut on a top 10 list and get him more exposure, which is always good.

SIXTH, AND FINALLY, I am going into deep editing mode for the next month. I will be doing little "Writer's Log" updates periodically, but otherwise I'll be going internet-silent until I finish my manuscript.

(We'll see how that goes.)

We have a cover!!!!!!

Hi Everyone!  After several months of working like dogs, revising, re-revising, and tweaking, the design crew is ready for the big reveal.  Here it is!

Well I'm just tickled pink by it.  So cool, so cool, so very cool.

In other news, here's a quick update on where things stand:

The manuscript is currently with the copy editor, hammering out all those last pesky commas and such.  That should be wrapping up in the next couple weeks.  Once I've gone through and checked out all the comments it goes into book format, and another couple sets of eyes make sure the conversion from doc file to publishing file didn't muck up any of the formatting and stuff.  Then off to the printer!

The file is scheduled to get sent to the printer mid-April, with the ebook going live by early July and the finished book hitting bookstores August 2.  Backers should, in theory, be getting their copies well in advance of that August date - the late date has something to do with book store purchasing cycles and whatnot.  

So there we have it!  Thank you again for all your support!  Since the project went live the price has gone up somewhat from what you paid, but if you know someone who would like a copy, the $5 credit for new Inkshares users is still live.  And if they use your referral link you'll earn $15 in credit (only once per project), which you can use to order or pre-order other great books from the site.

Cheers

Dave