Greetings wonderful followers!!

We have gone through another holiday season and rampaged into a new year. I hope you have all had a fun and eventful time. Speaking of eventful, things have been happening with Beyond the Code and I want to share the news.

First off, for my Edmontonian followers, Beyond the Code has been included in the Capital City Press Collection. This is a program within the city of Edmonton to include works from local authors into the city’s many Libraries. This year, the books chosen will be featured in the brand new Stanley A Milner Library in the downtown core. See the link below

https://epl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2044774005

Secondly, the Beyond the Code audio book has received several reviews through Audible.com and now is standing at a 4.7 rating. Check out what they have to say and if you sign up with Audible, you can get an audio book for FREE! See the link below and give it a shot.

https://www.audible.ca/pd/Beyond-the-Code-Audiobook/B07XVNFSDS

Next thing, Beyond the Code has been reviewed on Onlinebookclub.org. 3 out of 4 stars!! Follow the link and see what they have to say.

https://forums.onlinebookclub.org/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=129849

And last but not least. This is something I am very excited about. Sometime ago, I entered Beyond the Code into the 2019 Screencraft Cinematic Book Competition and, I am happy to tell you, that Beyond the Code has made it through the first hurdle and is in the Quarter Finals!! Follow the link below if you want to know about the contest and the other Quarter Finalist and wish me luck. They will be announcing the Semi Finalist on Feb 12th.

https://screencraft.org/2020/01/08/2019-screencraft-cinematic-book-competition-quarterfinalists-announced/?utm_source=drip&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2019+Stage+Play%2C+Book+%26+Short+Story+Quarterfinalists+Announced

Thank you all for your continuing support and feedback. If you haven’t already, make sure to give Beyond the Code a review on Goodreads or Amazon. Reviews are the lifeblood of every Indie author plus, I love to hear what you all thought of my work. 

Thanks again for all your continuing support and I hope to bring you good news in the future.

Good day and Happy New Year! (Is it already too late in the month to still say that?)

Just a quick update on the latest. As previously reported, I sent back to my editor, Sarah Nivala, the revised manuscript for Bane of All Things on Dec. 13. This, if you recall, was the revision based on my first Editorial Letter that I received from Sarah back in September.

Earlier this week, Sarah sent back Editorial Letter #2 with their assessment of where the manuscript now stands. In short, the end is in sight. But as Sarah notes in the Letter:

 “A question we ask ourselves quite frequently at Inkshares when addressing the quality and marketability of a novel is this: ‘What is it about this novel that necessitates its publication?’ What this really means is that we need to see what it is about a novel that makes it utterly unique. We don’t want to publish works that will fade among the crowd of their genre; we develop stories that offer readers a singular experience … what it is that will make critics and readers alike ravenously devour it?”

For a book, a movie or a TV show, it can be hard to predict or engineer success. All we can do is put out the strongest product we can. What does this mean in BoAT’s case? At this point, it’s about doing further work on the characters to make them more well-rounded and engaging for the reader, raise the stakes by digging deeper into the true nature and motivations of the Big Bad Guy, and offering more sweeping spectacle in terms of the sharing more backstory of this world.

If this sounds like I literally need to sit down for a fresh interview with each of my characters, as if I were producing an episode on each of them for the Biography Channel, you’re right. It is a good time of year, after all, to sit back for some relaxed and honest conversation. 

My intent is to turn this around by end of March.

Thank you again for your faith and support. It typically takes 18-24 months for a book to be released from the day a publisher first agrees to take it on. I am doing my level best to shorten that cycle considerably with BoAT. (FYI, the one-year anniversary of when Inkshares said yes is April 29).

Cheers

Leo

On December 17, 2019, my science thriller, IMMORTAL RED, began its ninety-day funding cycle on Inkshares Publishing. In twenty-nine-days it has become the pick of the month of two Inkshares Syndicates. First, Avalon Melissa Radys, Director of Marketing and Publishing Operations at Inkshares chose IMMORTAL RED an Inkshares Staff Syndicate pick.

On January 16th, Janna Grace, the #5 most influential reader at Inkshares, informed me that IMMORTAL RED was the January 2020 choice of the Bechdel Syndicate.

For a more complete version of this update click on the facebook link below. 

https://www.facebook.com/keithhummel.9655

Hello friends,

WE DID IT! 759 PRE-ORDERS!

It’s truly humbling to know that so many people support my memoir. The success of this campaign means: The book will be published and (for now) you won’t get any more solicitations from me. I will be doing another round of pre-orders once the book is up on Amazon (and other retailers) and it has an official release date.

I am SO excited to publish this book. The next step is for me to send the manuscript to the publisher and hopefully we’ll have a release date for the book soon. 

I want to thank EACH and EVERY person who ordered the book and shared it. I could not have done this without you. Thank you again for your support, and I will keep everyone updated as I have more information.

Jamison 

All, thank you for the support. Funding has passed the 100 pre-order milestone (113) I will be at The University of Chicago Graham School this week. This will be my final class time before finishing my graduate copyediting certificate with a concentration in developmental editing. I highly recommend the program if you have any interest. It is a tough year but worth every second invested. Several publicity and funding events are in the plannibg stages. I will be adding the book’s prologue to the READ section of my Inkshares page the following week.

Hey, everyone—and Happy New Year! I hope everyone’s 2020 is off to a good start.

I’m very excited to say that the first draft of Book #3 is now officially finished. That’s exciting by itself for a number of reasons, one of them being that I can now devote 100% of my writing time to applying Showtime edits. My plan (you know what they say, if you want to make God laugh tell him your plans) is to have them completed and turned in to my editor by the end of February/beginning of March. After that, she’ll let me know whether we’re good to go or need to tweak anything else—or throw the whole thing into the fire to roast marshmallows. If we’re good, then it’s off to the races and things’ll be moving along more speedily—the fun stuff like cover design, marketing, advance reviews, etc.

It is my hope (fingers and toes crossed) that you all will have your copies of Showtime in your hands this year, sometime in 2020. It would be cool if the release date happened to coincide with summer reality TV since Showtime shares such a link with some of the shows that fill our screens in the summer months, but it’s just a thought, not a guarantee.

Just wanted to drop in and let everyone know that things are looking good and will be moving along a bit more speedily now. And, hey! If you made new friends at your holiday parties this year, it’s never too late to persuade them to buy a copy. ;)

Thanks again for your patience and support,

Ricky

Hello Friends,

Thank you all so much for ordering and sharing my memoir, WHEN FORCE MEETS FATE. I am truly honored. Occasionally, I will be updating you on the progress of the book.

Today, I have good news: We’ve nearly reached 400 pre-orders, more than halfway to the goal of 750. Now, to boost orders, I am doing a giveaway. Up for grabs is a $100 Amazon gift card and a sweet pair of noise-canceling headphones. If you have already ordered the book and qualify for a prize, you will be automatically entered into the giveaway (unless you message me and ask to be excluded). The giveaway is open to anyone in any country. So far only a couple people have ordered enough copies to win the Amazon gift card, so the odds of winning are good. For those who want to increase the odds of winning one of the prizes, here are the giveaway guidelines:

$100 Amazon Gift Card 

How to enter:

• ORDER 4 OR MORE copies of the book (previous orders DO count and every order more than 4 = an additional entry). Both print and ebook orders are acceptable. So far only a couple people have bought this many copies, so the odds of winning are pretty good. 

 Cowin E7 Noise-Canceling Headphones 

 How to enter:

• SHARE the link for the book on social media = one entry 
• ORDER ONE OR MORE COPIES of the book (one order = 10 entries). Both print and ebook orders are acceptable. 

 Additional Info:

• If you’ve already ordered the book, your order(s) will automatically be counted for the giveaway (unless you ask to be excluded) 
• Both items in the giveaway are open to anyone in any country. The gift card is for $100 USD and will be delivered via email. 
• I will pick the winners at random on Friday, January 10th.

Here is the link to the book campaign:

https://www.inkshares.com/books/when-force-meets-fate-a-memoir-of-strength

Thank you again for supporting my book and helping me achieve one of my biggest dreams.

- Jamison 

Hi! I’m writing to give you the last update of 2019. What a year! So about two weeks ago, I sent in the newest draft of my book with all the revisions suggested by my editor. It was quite the process. More conceptual than procedural. It’s quite easy to hit the delete key or to locate all the uses of the word "well" and replace them, but it’s a whole other kettle of fish to answer questions of purpose and intent. Nevertheless, I made it to the other end, and once again I have YOU to thank. You believed in me so I’m getting it done. If it were just for me, I’d have probably just printed it out at FedEx and placed it on my shelf. 

Today I  got a reply from my manager and editor who said to expect an update on the draft within the next two weeks. So, what does that mean? Well it means that you should have a copy of the book in your hands within the next couple months barring any unforeseen obstacles. So clear a space in your bookclub queue!

Thank you again for your interest, support and patience! I am ever grateful for your generosity. Happy New Year!