OK folks, I may have appeared dormant for a long while, however, I have actually been really busy. 
As you may or may not recall, Children missed its funding goal by a considerable margin. As a result, I decided to have a crack at Kickstarter. (ha ha, I just typed Kinkstarter; I expect that’s a whole different website!) 
Well I did hit the KS goal and self published this summer. Sales are steady if not exhilarating but that’s not what this is about. 

I still think Inkshares is a superb business model with some valuable features which are lacking in self publishing. Therefore I want to give it another go with the sequel. I plan a number of books in the series, and obviously I want consistency across the whole thing but it’s not too late at book 2 to switch horses. If I make funding then it must be possible to go back and redo book 1 as part of the series. 

So, please could you all start by following Women Of The Wise Oak here on Inkshares, and we’ll take it from there. 

I’m not sure when I will feel ready to launch. Maybe when I am halfway through writing it? Or perhaps when there seems to be some support coming in? We’ll see. 

Some good news for me, and a big up for Inkshares. 

Here’s the thing; I missed my funding goal, didn’t even make Quill. Because I am impatient, and because the book itself was already finished, I just couldn’t wait to try another route to crowdfund my novel. 

So, I went to Kickstarter, and I did reach my funding goal. The book itself is being printed now and backers will be getting their copies before the end of June. Digital launch is set for 1st July on all platforms, advance orders available now. Paperbacks should be on Amazon around the same date. 

So does that mean I turn my back on Inkshares? Well no. 
Obviously I haven’t been as active on here as when I was funding, but part of the reason for that is the massive amount of work involved in self publishing. 

While I was funding, I read some comments on a Kindle forum criticising the Inkshares model, saying it wasn’t good value. An INkshares spokesperson pointed out that self publishers spend on average $2,000 (or thereabouts) getting their book to market. 
Another person said it was nothing like that. 

Well I raised £1,666 (£1,800 before deductions) on Kickstarter, and I have spent it all and then some.

I set up a publishing imprint "Blue Poppy Publishing", I had an artist paint a picture for the cover £450, I spent £350 on ISBNs, £360 on editing (it only had one editor), £300 on cover and other design work, £900 on printing, and a bunch of other sundry stuff.

I have had to format the interior file and convert it to PDF, which included learning more about Word sections, embedding fonts, and all sorts of painful stuff like that than I ever expected to do. I had to liaise between the printer and the designer over the exact specs for the two different cover templates, and check silly details like which way round the title goes on the spine. 

I also had to find out how to convert the file into a digital type layout with internal links and approved fonts, then get it converted into .mobi .pdf .txt .rtf .epub dot dot dot you get the idea? 
Also had to upload a special version to Createspace because otherwise I will have to jump through hoops and pay through the nose to get the paperback available on Amazon. 

So while I may be a lot more experienced at producing a book now than I was six months ago, I would still drop it all and leave the hard work to experts if I could. The difficulty for me, living in the UK is the cost of postage for physical books to the vast majority of my friends. Other than that, I think Inkshares is a brilliant idea, and I hope it goes from strength to strength. Well done for making so many authors dreams come true. 

So since Inkshares said that it was OK to promote my book via a different medium, I just want to share my Kickstarter project with you all.
Even if this project is successful, I still hope to get the gold standard with Inkshares in the future, to take advantage of the huge potential of the US market, but for now, this is my focus.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/988709253/children-of-the-wise-oak

30 days left and 62 pre-orders. Am I downhearted? Nope. 
188 to reach Quill, but with the possibility of an extension, this is do-able.
My thanks in particular to Thomas J. Arnold for the review and recommendation. Wow. That bolstered my ego no end. Thanks also to everyone who has pre-ordered, and especially those who have shared on social media.

Yesterday I co-presented a book themed radio show on my local station. I was joined by published author Simon Dawson and we had a blast. 
I read the weather in a variety of literary styles as suggested by Simon and we interviewed each other about our books. Not that anyone ordered the book as a result, but it was fun. I promoted Inkshares as well.

I have paid Facebook to put my posts in front of avid readers and lovers of historical fantasy although $15 later I have had three click-throughs and two followers. I’ll have another crack at that though as it may yet bear fruit. My Facebook author page is https://www.facebook.com/ollitooley/

I am also giving £1 (that’s $1.45) to Cancer Research for every pre-order between 02/08 and 02/29 £12 ($8) so far, but I hope to be paying out three figures on March 1st. This is regardless of whether I hit my funding goal or not, so don’t be afraid to order now. 

My Twitter account just for me as an author was set up in January, and now has over a thousand followers. I didn’t pay for any of them. Tweet me @OTooleyAuthor 

There are a few lovely but technologically inept friends who want a paperback copy but don’t want to pay $15 for postage. Some have no online presence (my mum) or are having technophobe issues. For those people I will be using a friend’s account to buy up to 10 copies. This will be genuine demand, so I am not "gaming the system" hope that’s ok.

On the subject of pre-order exchanges.  There are numerous books that I have a sincere interest in reading but were I to buy all of them with my credit card, I would very rapidly go bankrupt. I’m sure many other authors feel the same way so if you are not pre-ordering my book for a genuine lack of funds you can always ask me if I am having the same problem with your book.  

I’ve attained the dizzy heights of 40 pre-orders. Yay. Go me. 
Quill is still in reach, but will be hard work.

Meanwhile I have been editing. I’ve been told there is a bit too much description, and I appreciate the criticism.
I originally intended the book to be educational as well as interesting. I have since decided to abandon all attempts at education in favour of keeping the pace up. 

To that end, I have been fairly ruthless. A great deal of description, especially background explanations as been expunged.
Some descriptions remain, but they are tighter now and more built into the action. This came from a writing tip I saw on Twitter. 
"Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." Chekhov 

The process is still ongoing but has resulted in the loss of about 300 words so far. 
Getting it below 55,000 words seems like a sensible goal. So 231 to go. 

Meanwhile, could I ask anyone who hasn’t pre-ordered to dig deep, and anyone who has, please recommend me on Twitter/Facebook/carrier pigeon/smoke signals etc. 

Not sure things have been progressing well to be honest. 
People who I thought, for sure, would back my project, at least with the e-book, have blanked me. While others, who I hardly know, have backed me to the hilt. 

No matter. Keep striving. I have edited ruthlessly and cut over 500 words, mostly description, from the text. My only critic (so far) said there was too much description so I took her advice. I hope, as well, I have eradicated most basic errors and made the proof reading/editing job easier. 

Oh, there was one other criticism, it needs a map (or maps). I agree, I’m struggling with it though.

I have also, rather arrogantly (considering the lack of pre-orders for this one) begun on the sequel. I recently found out what the "Bechdel Test" is, thanks to Janna Grace’s "Break the Bechdel with Strong Female Characters Syndicate", and since the sequel already featured one strong female character, I decided that she would call upon the other strong female for help when things got tough.
"Women of the Wise Oak" will see Gwenn and Epona smash the Bechdel test out of the park. 

Meanwhile, I have boldly re-uploaded the entire text of "Children of the Wise Oak" for all to see. Remember, if you support this book and it gets published, then the girls get to have a field day in the sequel.