Greetings Destiny-followers,

Thanks so much for your excellent support. I awoke this morning (Seoul time) to see a pack of excellent writers nipping at the heels of Destiny Imperfect (third place is only two away). It would be tremendous if we could put some daylight between us and them. If you’re following Destiny Imperfect but have yet to hit the pre-order button, I’d love it if you could check it out again and consider doing so. If you have already pre-ordered Destiny Imperfect, grab your nearest and dearest and explain to them the critical nature of a video game-based book and its significance within the wider framework of reality. And then get them to pre-order! The contest has a long way to go and I could do with your help!

Have a great weekend.

Cheers,

Peter

Here is another fantastic rendering of an iconic image from Mission 51. In this scene, Petrus presents the finished ship, Janusia, to his son Mat. Artist Chris Pyke has captured it beautifully, a touching moment between father and son, the continuation of a painful goodbye. - Chris, all I can say is... Wow!!!

Hi all, some news today! (This is going out to 99 followers! Thank you for following!)

Firstly, I’ve put up a new main video for the page. It incorporates new images, different music, and some book reviews. Check it out.

Secondly, there’s a new web-site for the book. It has some a page with some concept art I’ve been working on. Check it out if you’re interested.

"First on Mars" now has 83 days left, which means we need to average a little more than two orders per day for the rest of the campaign to reach Quill.

I think it is definitely possible and I’ve had some new orders and recommends recently (Thank you!) but I can’t do it without your help!

If you have not yet pre-ordered, please check it out again (I’m frequently improving it). If you have pre-ordered, please tell at least one other person about it and tell them they can help me achieve this dream for the price of a coffee.

In case you haven’t noticed this isn’t just about this one book. "First on Mars" is important to me and it’s a story that needs to be told, but I’ve got a few more ideas in the works:

New Mars 

Sequel to "First on Mars." Follows the expansion of settlements on Mars.

Hiding Among the Stars 

Eya is looking for the hidden worlds of humanity’s offspring. Most have turned their back to the stars, but not all.

CARL 1.0

First person retrospective from the first super AI, CARL. His desire to protect humanity instead puts it in jeopardy. The team that created him needs to stop him, or die trying.

When you support this book, you’re also supporting my writing in general. Every pre-order inspires me and motivates me to keep going, so thank you for your support!

Thanks,

LT

Hey Everyone,

Pixilated Obsidian Roses has been selected for the new Library of Alexandria collection. I’m thankful for the invite. We hope that with our combined efforts we can get the book to at least a Quill status (with all your support, of course). Here a part of what has been said by the collection lead:

"This is one of those rare books that speaks to the reader. The imagery R.F. Martin uses is poignant and provocative. The way he has created this creeping sense of dread throughout the chapters that are up is pervading. He has obviously spent the time to create a detailed and well thought out world for the characters, inventing back stories, interspersing memorabilia from their lives in a way that makes you forget it’s fiction. Chernosoren hovers around the edges of the main characters like those dark shadows that H.P. Lovecraft made famous - the feeling of some unknown sinister motive is present, but not overwhelming, preferring to sneak into you and wait for the moment to reveal itself. If the writing is any indication, the reveal won’t be some explosion of action or flurry of plot points, it will be insidious."

We also put up some new cover art.

Thanks to all of you who have supported the project.

Rob

Some good news for me, and a big up for Inkshares. 

Here’s the thing; I missed my funding goal, didn’t even make Quill. Because I am impatient, and because the book itself was already finished, I just couldn’t wait to try another route to crowdfund my novel. 

So, I went to Kickstarter, and I did reach my funding goal. The book itself is being printed now and backers will be getting their copies before the end of June. Digital launch is set for 1st July on all platforms, advance orders available now. Paperbacks should be on Amazon around the same date. 

So does that mean I turn my back on Inkshares? Well no. 
Obviously I haven’t been as active on here as when I was funding, but part of the reason for that is the massive amount of work involved in self publishing. 

While I was funding, I read some comments on a Kindle forum criticising the Inkshares model, saying it wasn’t good value. An INkshares spokesperson pointed out that self publishers spend on average $2,000 (or thereabouts) getting their book to market. 
Another person said it was nothing like that. 

Well I raised £1,666 (£1,800 before deductions) on Kickstarter, and I have spent it all and then some.

I set up a publishing imprint "Blue Poppy Publishing", I had an artist paint a picture for the cover £450, I spent £350 on ISBNs, £360 on editing (it only had one editor), £300 on cover and other design work, £900 on printing, and a bunch of other sundry stuff.

I have had to format the interior file and convert it to PDF, which included learning more about Word sections, embedding fonts, and all sorts of painful stuff like that than I ever expected to do. I had to liaise between the printer and the designer over the exact specs for the two different cover templates, and check silly details like which way round the title goes on the spine. 

I also had to find out how to convert the file into a digital type layout with internal links and approved fonts, then get it converted into .mobi .pdf .txt .rtf .epub dot dot dot you get the idea? 
Also had to upload a special version to Createspace because otherwise I will have to jump through hoops and pay through the nose to get the paperback available on Amazon. 

So while I may be a lot more experienced at producing a book now than I was six months ago, I would still drop it all and leave the hard work to experts if I could. The difficulty for me, living in the UK is the cost of postage for physical books to the vast majority of my friends. Other than that, I think Inkshares is a brilliant idea, and I hope it goes from strength to strength. Well done for making so many authors dreams come true.