With only 3 days to go in the funding campaign for Mission 51, it seems clear we will not reach the required 250 pre-orders for publication through Inkshares, at least not at this time.

BUT, this is just a bump in the road to publication. It is a one door closes, one door opens kind of thing. Let me fill you in on the plans.

In 3 days, the funding campaign ends, and shy of a miracle where we do reach 250 pre-orders, Mission 51 will automatically go into “draft” mode on Inkshares. All of the readers, who have my everlasting gratitude for your interest and generous support, will get their money back. The project will remain listed on Inkshares, and I will be able to communicate with followers through this forum, to keep you updated on the continuing progress of Mission 51.

I will continue to revise, enhance and beautify the book, including the art. I am convinced that this fun story has merit. I have been encouraged by the support from personal friends and family, by 188 followers of the project on Inkshares, by achieving 168 pre-orders, by 14 high-quality recommendations, by being chosen as a “Staff Pick,” and by the support of the GREAT SCI-FI for the 21st CENTURY and BEYOND SYNDICATE.

With that in mind, I have decided to enter Mission 51 in the 2016 Launch Pad Manuscript Competition. This opens several opportunities for publication. Please check out the link. I am very excited about it!

In any event, I can assure you that this book will be published sooner or later, hopefully sooner. I would love to have the backing and services of a formal publishing house like Inkshares, but I have self-published several books before, and I will self-publish Mission 51 if the need be.

So stay tuned for future developments in the Mission 51 saga! I will keep you informed.

Thank you all so very much for your words of encouragement and your generosity. I have truly felt the love here on Inkshares. It is a great platform, a wonderfully supportive community of readers and authors. I have enjoyed every minute and I am not going away!

Peace and love always!

Ferd   :-)

HARK! There is news!

Children of the Teller has received some positive feedback early on in the Inkshares/Geek & Sundry Fantasy contest. Despite this, our sales are off to a slow start. I have devised a brilliant plan to help ramp up this effort and get it off to a better start - RAFFLES! Everyone loves a good raffle, right?

Allow me to elaborate - Children of the Teller is still in production, meaning that I have a lot of creative freedom with names going forward. So here’s what we’ll do - as sales reach each goal, I will (randomly) choose one person to name A Thing within the story.

• At 20 orders, a fortunate soul gets to name a town to be featured in the story.
• At 50 orders, another fortunate soul gets to name a horse (it’s a fantasy story after all - the horses are always named).
• At 100 orders, a winning name will get to name a sword.
• At 150 orders, a lucky personage of high standing shall bestow a moniker upon a character.
• AND AT 250 ORDERS, a person of incredibly blessed stars will be asked to create a minor character to boost the plot at the opportune moment.
• At 500 orders...ooh, you’d love to know that, wouldn’t you? You’ll just have to stay tuned for that momentous announcement.

Of course I reserve the right to tell you your name is a dumb one and if you name anything in the spirit of "Boaty McBoatface" I’ll simply ignore it and move on to the next person in line. Don’t make me do that, please?

So if you want the opportunity to name things, you should definitely share this information with all of your family and friends and random strangers that fix your coffee at Starbucks this afternoon. 

Happy reading!

- Webster

Greetings Jackolytes,

The copy edited version of Sync City has spent a couple of weeks back at the mothership getting its penultimate mission directives before heading back off to Girl Friday Productions to get fully beaten into shape! And this is good. This means we are making distinct progress toward bringing Jack and his ride into your hands.

There are still a number of technical areas to deal with – the cover for example – before its ultimate completion. But for now, it’s onto the marketing stage. The goal here is to get Jack and Sync City into as many hands as possible on launch day. And why do you want this? Easy. So you can look cool at parties. When some drops the fact that they have just purchased the outstanding Sync City, you can casually say “Sure, I know it. I went to school/uni/ pubs/worked/ played sport/chatted/emailed/Facebooked/Tweeted (delete as applicable) with the author. I was there from the beginning.” Automatic kudos!

With this in mind, I’d love it if you can spread the word to friends and family and have them jump on board – and who doesn’t like having cool friends and family. To do this, you need to send them to this link and have them hit pre-order (some supervision may be required). If you yourself haven’t pre-ordered, then now is the time! Sync City and a lifetime of awesomeness awaits!

Cheers,

Peter