Hello All You Damn Dirty Apes!

Whoa! I know, too aggressive. I’ll try again. Hi Everybody! Hope you’re all doing great. I’m sending out a quick update to just let you know a few good things about this Business of Monkey’s book.

1. I did this:

I turned our bathroom into a recording booth, put a microphone in front of my face and read Monkey Business into it. I am currently editing that recording to turn it into something called an "audiobook." Which will be available to you soon. My plan, my hope, my dream is to give it to you for FREE if you purchased a physical copy of the book (or you’re willing to purchase one) OR... if you preorder my new book Black Cloud when it starts taking preorders.

There are still some technical issues to be worked out with all that but Inkshares is on my team and we’re going to make it happen. I think you guys will enjoy the audiobook. I know I really enjoyed making it.

2. Monkey Business is doing great!

• #1 Community Interest in Fiction on Inkshares, which is awesome!

• We’re up to 70 Reviews on Amazon.com (with a 4.8 out of 5 star rating.) If you would like to contribute your own review please do that right here, right now!

• In the Kindle book store, Action and Adventure category, Monkey Business has climbed as high as #406. Top 2%. Which is pretty awesome considering I have done no marketing whatsoever in the past couple months. Which I know makes me a huge slacker but it does reflect well on the book.

 

All of which is to say, Monkey Business is doing great and that’s thanks to all of you! Thank you for supporting this funny little book. Please stay in touch. Look forward to the audiobook and please go follow my new project Black Cloud which I hope to launch officially soon. In the meantime, read the sample chapters already on Inkshares. I think you will thoroughly enjoy them.

As the monkey always say... hang in there!

- Landon

Editing update!

I was thrilled to begin the editing portion of production, but I had no idea it would be this amazing. (I mean, I guess I did a little, because Inkshares posted their production process here.) I’m in the "story architecture" portion of the developmental edit. What this means is that my editor (the incredible Matt Harry, author of "Sorcery for Beginners," which you can check out here) started challenging me right off the bat. He threw great questions at me regarding what I want to say with my book and how I can make each character more meaningful in the story. 

Long story short, I’m restructuring the story. 

This is a GREAT thing, believe me. It does not offset the current release date aim of February/March of 2018, as long as I put in the work. And so far, I certainly have. In the two weeks since production has started, I redesigned the story into a four-page structure, and my editor, my beta readers, and I all see this becoming a story that is vastly improved and will be a fun read. 

Personally, I’m over the moon. 

At first, I’ll admit, being challenged on my own story and being presented with difficult questions was frustrating. Then I realized that pulling together a new and improved version is better for everything all around. This is a process I would not have gotten at a traditional publisher. Any other publisher would have simply helped me clean up the story I submitted. Working with Matt Harry makes me feel like I’m in a writer’s room and I’m the lead writer. It’s been an amazing couple of weeks working on the new and improved Mr. Butler, and I am sure that you all will enjoy the final product all the more. 

What’s next? I’m expanding my story structure into individual chapters with summaries describing what will occur in each chapter. Then Matt will go over everything with me and help me tighten the story up. 

After that, it’s rewriting time! I am excited to write this story. It’s going to flow quickly. 

With the detailed treatment my little book is getting already, I truly feel like a contest winner. And I won thanks to all of your support. Thank you. 

I will let you know when the chapter summaries are finished and I’m moving on to getting this adventure down onto pages. Until then, just know that I love you all. 

And if you haven’t preordered, you can here. Thank you for your support everyone.

-Michael.

Campers!

 

Dear Readers,

Since my campaign for Fae Child ended, SUCCESSFULLY, I’ve been a little quiet. Part of this is the fact that my family got a cold and then I got it (and still have it) and part has been just hunkering down to type out the last bit of the book. I have it all in my head, I merely need to transcribe it. I have also nailed down the last bits of my character motivations that were bugging me, which has led me to the realization that this could be a trilogy of books. But, of course, first things first.

I have secured an editor to help me polish the manuscript! I am very excited about this, and eager to see how much better the book can become with some professional notes.

Inkshares has also made the decision that they are discontinuing the practice of offering signed books. They fulfilled this in the past by mailing all the books to the author, and then shipping them back to Inkshares HQ for fulfillment. This cost Inkshares a lot of money (not necessarily covered by preorder dollars), and I can understand why they are stopping, but that doesn’t make it any easier for me, or for backers who purchased ’signed paperbacks.’ Unfortunately this means that once Fae Child is in physical form, I will not be sent the books to sign, and when you receive your copies they will not be signed. I am very sorry that this is the case, but there isn’t anything I can do about it.

Of course for backers local to me (Pacific NW) I will certainly sign any book I am within arms length of (even if they’re not mine!), and will probably be having a signing party after the book has been published. I am looking into bookplates, which are stickers with my signature that can be fixed into the book, but of course, first things first.

Thank you all for your continuing support,
Jane-Holly

p.s. You probably have noticed that the Cover has undergone several transformations. It is certainly closer to it’s ’final form’ but it may change again!

Dear Readers,

Machiners,

My most ardent and unabashedly enthusiastic supporters! Good morning!

Uh oh, I hope none of you are malfunctioning today - do not close this email !!

Believe it or not, we are now less than two weeks away from publication of The Last Machine in the Solar System (April 11!!!). There’s been lots of exciting news lately, which I’ll mention in subsequent updates. 

Here I want to hit a few critical points relevant to YOU, benefactors of Jonathan, The Last Machine:

1. If you bought a book during the CONTEST, you should have received it. Whether that is a hard copy paperback or an eBook. Didn’t receive your book? Don’t know what I’m talking about? Email me please and let me know what’s going on: matthew.sobin@gmail.com

Let’s make sure everyone who put up money a year ago when this was just an idea gets the final product! eBooks are available for download by logging into the Inkshares website and going to the webpage for The Last Machine.

2. If you have received your book, please read it! Seems obvious, right? In theory, one of our big advantages is that this is a 60 page illustrated novelette. It can be read in 1-2 hours. And that brings me to...

3. Leave a REVIEW! This is possibly the most critical thing you can do. Read the book? Great! Please go onto the book’s Amazon page and tell others why you LOVED it :-) Authors need 100 reviews before the Amazon algorithm takes them seriously and starts suggesting the book to random Amazon visitors. Here’s our Amazon page: Last Machine on Amazon

Also important: You can copy the same review over to Goodreads. So far we’re doing really well with Goodreads reviews. Check them out here and leave your own: Last Machine on Goodreads

4. eBook holders, grab a paperback! This can make a huge difference as we push The Last Machine to a wider audience. Go to your local independent bookstore and see if they have The Last Machine in the store! They don’t? They’ll order it for you! And this may bring about a larger wholesale order from that store. They’ll say to themselves, "Hey, what’s this cool looking book that brought this person in here with such enthusiasm??" That’s the idea!

Can’t make it to the store but still want a paperback? Purchasing on Amazon helps too. Then when you leave an Amazon review, it will be shown as a "Verified Purchase" review, which further helps the Amazon algorithm. 

5. I’d love to know what you think of The Last Machine in the Solar System. You’ve now read the book, left your reviews, and have strong opinions about the story. Great! Shoot me an email. I’d love to hear your personal reactions to Nikolai and Jonathan’s journey to the ends of the solar system (and back)! 

Email me here: matthew.sobin@gmail.com

Signing your books!

And for those who haven’t seen it yet, the final front and back cover!

Stunning work by artist Dan Stiles and the design team. Also, my sincerest thanks to authors Tal M. Klein (author of The Punch Escrow - check it out on Inkshares!) and Jacques Vallee for their wonderful back cover blurbs.

Expect some more frequent updates as we hit pub day and beyond! More to come!

-Matt

March is winding up and significant work is progressing on Human Resources. During the past month, my developmental editor was assigned and read the manuscript. Since then, we’ve been working furiously on the planned edits to whip the book into shape. Matt, my editor, is brilliant. He’s been deconstructing the manuscript with insightful observations, making great suggestions, and generally keeping me working hard. With his support, a new outline for the novel is emerging, that trims away unnecessary distractions, crystallises the themes, and adds extra punch to the plot. The unfortunate outcome of this effort is more work, but I’m excited by the improvements. Human Resources will be dramatically improved by the time it reaches your hands. On a related note: feel free to send me all your caffeine, I’m going to need it :).

If you haven’t already done so, it would be great for everyone to follow my various online accounts — it feeds my ego, staving off the crushing self-doubt of a writer!

• Follow my Facebook page.
  
• Follow me on Goodreads.
  
• Follow me on Amazon.
  
• Sign up to my newsletter (covers more than these HR updates).
  

Finally, I wanted to point your attention towards two particular projects on Inkshares:

Sorcery for Beginners

A 13-year-old boy finds an easy-to-read, how-to manual for magic. Now he just has to prevent everyone else from stealing it.

Sorcery for Beginners is in production and written by my talented editor. It’s a fun premise and is going to be a great read.

Rule Britannia 

A female airship Captain and her crew work to prevent a despotic Queen Victoria expanding her empire.

This new project is by a fellow Tasmanian and now funding. There isn’t enough steampunk in my life, and Rule Britannia will fill that void in an epic manner. The excerpts have me bouncing up and down for more.