So something pretty cool happened last night ~ "The Children of the Forest" hit its funding goal to qualify for Inkshare’s Quill! I’ve been completely blown away by the last-minute rally of fans, and I’m floored that in less than 7 days we managed to move over 50 copies of the book! 

Looking ahead, I’m still somewhat processing the fact that the book will be made. It’s been a long road to reach this point and I couldn’t have come this far without everyone in the Inkshares community who put their time, money, and opinions to use in helping me craft what has become "The Children of the Forest." 

I just wanted to offer a quick look at what to expect in the next few weeks, regarding the schedule for the novel.

1. As mentioned in another update, I’ll be releasing a companion booklet (Free) to all backers. Men’kai will only receive this as a digital copy, while Alethian+Wolf-Riders will be given soft-cover books.
2. I’ll be updating the Inkshares page during production on the rest of the novel. I hope to have at least 2-3 more sample chapters made available, along with a refined introduction, video, and more. 
3. I also have a short-story in the works that will be made available to all backers within the next few weeks. 

Most likely there will be more, but those are the major beats for now. Again, a huge thanks to everyone who backed my novel and made it a reality! I can’t wait to have the finished version in your hands  ~

IT’S PUBLICATION DAY!!

After a long and rewarding process, The Future of Men is officially published and available at Amazon, B&N, and local bookstores starting today! Thank you for backing the book and making this all possible.

Early reactions to the book have been fantastic, and I’m excited to announce that I’ll be appearing on CBS This Morning at 8:30AM today! I’ll be sitting down with Charlie Rose and New York Times correspondent Jodi Kantor. Tomorrow, I’ll be on Good Day New York at 9:45AM. Please tune in!

I ask that you PLEASE SUPPORT our marketing efforts on this very important day by sharing the book link on your social networks and leaving a review/rating on Amazon. Ask your friends and colleagues to do the same, and they’ll be entered to win a free hardcover copy when they use #FutureOfMen. Your support is incredibly important and will increase visibility to potential buyers (and help cut through the noise of Super Tuesday!). I’ve included a few sample tweets below.

Feel free to cut and paste any and all of these tweets to your social networks today.

- Masculinity revisited? Jack Myers explores what it means to be a “real man” in today’s world. BUY NOW: http://amzn.to/1QgD9va #FutureOfMen

- Don’t be fooled by the title, The #FutureOfMen is about the future of women too! BUY NOW: http://amzn.to/1QgD9va

- The #FutureOfMen begins today! Buy Jack Myers’ new book: http://amzn.to/1QgD9va

PLEASE SOCIALIZE! AND ONCE AGAIN, THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT!

-Jack

Today is launch day... more importantly; today is Rate & Review day.

So why should you take your precious time and write a review for The Life Engineered on Amazon? Because reviews are incredibly important to the visibility of a book and visibility is what helps a novel get into the hands of readers who will appreciate it and thus increase the chances that it will be a success.

Amazon’s system relies on certain milestones being reached before including certain books onto various levels of their platform. What the numbers are and how they impact visibility is a moving target, but what we’re aiming for is between 50 and 70 reviews. You can read more about why reviews are important in this awesome blog post on the subject, but trust me; reviews are extremely important. YOUR review is extremely important.

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Read the book
2. Go to the Amazon page for The Life Engineered
3. Scroll down to Customer Reviews and click on the ’Write a customer review’ button
4. Pick a rating between 1 and 5 stars (preferably 5, but I’m biased)
5. Write a review. This can be as in depth as you want, but if you don’t have the time or inclination, even just writing "I liked it!" is enough.
6. Submit the review and bask in the satisfaction of a job well done.

That’s it. That’s all you need to do. Congratulations; you’ve changed my life.

Oh! Hey, today’s the day of my Sword & Laser interview. You might want to leave me a question about The Life Engineered on their Goodreads thread for that very purpose!

Thank you.

J-F Dubeau

Hello Friends

As you may know, Inkshares is more than just a platform for authors to raise funds and get published; it is also a community where many aspiring authors share knowledge and support each other through the process of writing and finding a way to publish.

Inkshares launched recently a feature called Syndicates, which are groups of people with similar interests pooling their resources to help the efforts of a different author every month. By supporting an author, you also get a copy of their book!

Here is the description of Syndicates from Inkshares: 

“It is inspired by the syndicate structure on AngelList. Members can come in at the "electron" level for $10 per month, or the "atom" level for $20 per month. The syndicate lead then works with members to choose a book to support on the 15th of each month. Orders are then placed on behalf of each member. Electrons receive an ebook. Atoms receive a print-book.”

You can find full details in the FAQ section of Inkshares.

I think that a syndicate could be a great way to support LGBTQ aspiring authors and allies who feature characters breaking stereotypes. So I will start a syndicate called Write Out Loud.

I will be hosting an online Facebook event this Friday (cause they are the hot thing to do these days) previous to the launch of the syndicate to inspire friends a family to join. 

I want some of the work of other LGBTQ authors and allies currently on Inkshares. So if you think your work would be a good fit for this syndicate, let me know and I will share a link to your book (and maybe an excerpt from your book) during the event.

I kept the even private because I want it to be a safe space for all participants. Send me your e-mail address if you want an invitation ricardophenriquez@yahoo.com.

I will launch the Write Out Loud Syndicate On March 4th, at 6 pm, I invite you to join.

Facebook event here

Top of the Monday, Space Crew!

Today I need to get personal. This campaign has been among the most heartwarming and most stressful experiences of my life. It seems that you all hold the power to make or break my day. 

That’s something I hope to get better at pushing out of my mind as my writing career advances, but this is my first major publishing endeavour, so I’ve got a lot of jitters around the whole thing. 

I was recently asked about why I needed to publish this book in an Inkshares article. You can see my full answer there, but it comes down to this:

Science-fiction used to be a thing that brought people together. I think of Star Trek in the 1960s, and how groundbreakingly diverse it was. That was a time when we didn’t divide people into segmented nerd cultures. It was a time when grandparents and children could share an appreciation for fiction together. 

When I try to put a genre on my stories I get pretty overwhelmed. If I want to appease the "true" sci-fi crowd, then I need to go with hard sci-fi, which means pulling out the old physics textbooks and hitting up r/askscience. If I want to include magic it becomes fantasy, unless it could be explained by science. If I mention anything potentially unscientific while the rest of the story is consistently well-researched, I break suspension of disbelief. 

Now, I love science-fiction. I have a sort of reverent respect for futurologists, and well-studied fiction writers. But I couldn’t take all of these constraints and still make The Traveller’s Cup what it is today. So when I discovered the Nerdist Space Opera contest, and my eye caught the following line, I gaped for a moment: 

"We define (a space opera) as any adventure that takes place in space."

I have never felt so liberated as a storyteller. I began to dig out old notes. I tore a page out of one of my fantasy ideas and shoved it in the middle of a sci-fi project. I let my imagination run wild with all the rules I could now break! I can write fantasy set in space. My heroes can be space pirates who run into space dragons battling space wizards. The Tolkien-esque fundamentals of a classic adventure story can exist in a galaxy far, far away. 

So with reckless abandon I began breaking these rules, and found a story that was always meant to be told. A story that I think can transcend our need for niches and subgenres and just breathe. This is a book for your mom. It’s a book for your geeky brother. It’s a book for teens as much as seniors. At least that’s my hope. I wrote The Traveller’s Cup to be approachable and accessible. 

Because I think it’s time we stopped focusing on our differences and let our minds experience the unknown again. 

Your Exuberant Overlord,
-AC