Dear Machiners! 

A good Monday evening to you! We have a number of important items to address, so I will get right to it. 

First, I have been blown away by the continued response for The Last Machine in the Solar System following the Sword & Laser contest. Just this week we blew past 400 pre-orders for the novella. And there are now over 500 people following the book’s progress. So thank you all so much! With the support of the teams at Inkshares and Girl Friday Productions, I am 100% confident that we are going to produce a stellar book, with a great story and beautiful illustrations that you’re going to love. 

Toward that end, we have received a preliminary publication date from Inkshares of February 7, 2017. This is huge! I know it seems far away. But I remind myself that quality takes time and we want this to be just right. Nine months is going to fly, and that time will be well used as we ensure the story and interior design is perfect, the back and front covers shine, and we prepare and execute a promotional marketing campaign that sets us up to reach as wide an audience as possible come February. 

A couple of excited upcoming dates: I expect to receive feedback from the developmental editor on May 17th. Then on 5/26, I’ll receive the initial cover designs. 

I’m incredibly excited to see the three possible cover designs and share them with you. Our cover designer is Dan Stiles. His work is fantastic. You may have seen his handiwork before on book covers or band posters. He is also the artist for Dracula v. Hitler on Inkshares. You can check out his art here. 

FREE INKSHARES MONEY 

If you supported me during the contest, Inksharems sent you $10 in free credits last week on May the Fourth (insert Star Wars joke here, yada yoda yoda...). So, check your email! Claim your credits and get something fun to read from Inkshares. 

There are tons of great books to support - some of which have been published, while others are still in need of support to make the threshold for publication. Simply claiming your free credits and spending them can help make an author’s dreams come true, just as you did for me. 

To claim your credits: Click on the green CLAIM button in the e-mail Inkshares sent on May 4. If you deleted the email, never fear! Just log into your Inkshares account, then click on "credits" in the top right corner; click the button to get the e-mail re-sent. 

On Inkshares $10 can go a long way. For books still funding, that can be 1 ebook or 1/2 a paperback - regardless, it is one vote toward publication. For books that are already or will be published, prices start as low as $3.99 for an ebook and $11.99 for paperbacks. 

Here are couple of suggestions on what to support: 

This is the last week of the Hard Science themed contest on Inkshares sponsored by Geek & Sundry. There are many awesome projects and as we well know, the last week is when things really start heating up. So you’re support for any of these books can help shoot them up the standings toward publication. 

Last week my new SciFi syndicate supported The Amaranth Chronicles: Deviant Rising by Alexander Barnes and Christopher Preiman. The book is sitting 30 pre-orders shy of qualifying for Quill publication. Your support could make a big difference!

That’s all for now, but there’s much more excitement to come - and soon! 

Until next time, 

 -Matt

Hey, Inksharesians. I’m down to the last 12 days of my campaign. I’ve got 404 copies sold of the target 750.

Hello everyone!

I apologize for the extended silence, but things have been busy lately. To update you on the progress of SoF, I am getting ready to receive the last feedback from my beta readers. My editor, Inkshares’ very own John Robin, is expected to finish mid-May.

After that I will do my final round of rewrites before submitting the manuscript to Inkshares for publication. Even after the manuscript is finished, it will still take several months for the book to be published. We’re still looking at late Fall for a publication date.

Thanks to everyone who had ordered thus far, and thank you for your continued patience.

Before I go, I’d like to give a shout out to Tabi Card and her book Scribbles. Check out what she has to offer below;

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You have 5 DAYS LEFT to get a free book! How is this so, you ask? Simple. If you order Tabi Card’s book Scribbles within a week, you will get: A FREE signed copy of Five Minutes (one of the Scribbles’ stories) The chance to win 1 of 4 art prints (those who order 3 or more copies of Scribbles will get automatically receive ALL 4 art prints) The chance to win the 2nd of 3 GRAND RAFFLES like the one below She can write and dream and work, but it is people like YOU, the readers, who make her writing and dreams and work worthwhile. Only YOU can make sure you will get a copy of her work in your hands (or on your e-reader/Kindle) and make her dreams of publication a reality. Watch this video for a look at what Scribbles is all about OR visit its project page. (Which also has sneak peeks at some of the stories . . .) & Order Scribbles here: https://www.inkshares.com/books/scribbles-a-collection-of-words

As always, thanks for your support!

-Andrew

More Giveaways!!

Hello! 

As some of you may know, I paint.

I’ll resist the urge to qualify my ability on a scale of good to bad. I like what I paint. Others have said nice things about my paintings and I’ll leave it at that.

Lately I’ve been working with greyscale silhouettes in acrylic with one other colour to focus the piece. This is the first piece I did in this style...

My plan is to give some paintings away based on the theme of Noir. 

I started one. I am very pleased with it so far. Here’s the progress.

It’s based on this rather iconic Noir image...

The plan is to paint his hat a different colour. I’m leaning towards a shade of blue. 

When Transilience hits 20% Funding, I will raffle this off. Everyone who has pledged will be eligible. 

Want a chance at a unique piece of artwork? 

Order a copy of Transilience today at: https://unbound.co.uk/books/transilience

I will only ever paint this once and it could be yours. 

You, dear reader, have an opportunity to do an incredibly noble thing: Support my novel. 

In return, you get a book with your name forever engraved into its pages and a chance at something cool to hang on your wall. 

Cheers! 

Kev

Again the URL: https://unbound.co.uk/books/transilience