Let me paint you all a very pretty picture:
That’s right, Proteus is still sitting firmly in the top three, and only climbing higher. There’s plenty cause for celebration for coming as far as we have, and I owe everyone who’s supported it so far a huge debt of gratitude. But there are some significant impending challenges ahead as we gear up to enter the final two weeks of the contest. What obstacles are those, you ask? One word: syndicates.
Syndicates are groups on inkshares that collect contributions from their members and pour all of them into one book every month. You may remember that Tantalus Depths received support from many syndicates during the last campaign; in fact I’d venture to say the campaign could not have succeeded without support from the syndicates.
So why are syndicates a problem for Proteus? Well, most of them more or less make their decisions about which book they plan to back at the beginning of the month, or even earlier. Some of the bigger ones are already narrowing down their choices to one or two options, and they’ll make their final choice within the next week or so. Because I launched my campaign for Proteus as late as I did, most of the syndicates who might have considered supporting it had already turned their attention to other books in the contest. Some of these syndicates are large, and if they pick a book I’m competing against, that book will instantly jump ahead by twenty or thirty orders all at once.
Long story short, it’s unlikely any syndicate will pick Proteus, and it’s highly likely some will pick competing books. One already has, in fact. This means we can expect some of the books we’ve already passed in the leaderboard to instantly leapfrog over us if we can’t get some more traction and build up a buffer between Proteus and the rest of the leaderboard. Since we can’t count on syndicates, we have to push forward the old fashioned way: one order at a time. So even though we’re doing really well right now by making it to the top three and holding our position, it’s crucial that we keep pushing as hard as we can to increase our numbers.
Remember, please tell all your friends and family to pre-order, and keep sharing our posts to boost our visibility. Victory is in sight, but it’s not within reach yet, and it’s going to take all of us to get there!
