It’s a question of ’conversions’.

At least that’s what my bare-bones marketing training and experience tells me.

I spend an unusual amount of time thinking about how to get more readers. How do I convince people to take a chance on ‘A God in the Shed’? Should I do character sketches? Another video? A giveaway?

While these are all good methods and have their merits, I think I need to get back to basics and stick to what’s important.

This is going to be a good book. 

‘A God in the Shed’ has gone through a few revisions already and been in the hands of several test readers and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. I’ve been told it doesn’t need it, but the story is going to get another re-write and with the experience I have working with editors and Inkshares I know they won’t let me get away with anything less than an excellent novel.

The characters are compelling.

What I love about ‘A God in the Shed’ is the cast of characters. The core group is a few ordinary kids that deal with the extraordinary events of the book. Venus is a genius level girl who’s spent her whole life as a fish-out-of-water, either because of her intelligence or eccentric parents. Penelope is a fiercely independent and ambitious young woman who has difficulty with her set life plans being interrupted by the supernatural happenings. Donald is the kind of guy who’s always had it easy in life but still managed not to let himself be spoiled by things while Abraham has maintained a facade as the strong-but-dumb kid, caring for his ailing father. 

Surrounding them is a second layer of main characters, mainly the families of the young cast. Venus’ uncle is a bizarre man with strange secrets while the village idiot, Sam Finnegan is quickly revealed to be a layered onion. First affable, then a monster but then a victim again.

The magic is fascinating.

The gods have their magic but so do mortals. Either by using loopholes in the functioning of reality or by creating pieces of Art so convincing as to trick the universe itself, old disciplines have opened up the door to strange magics. Not to mention that objects and people touched by gods are irrevocably changed.

There’s a tight majesty to how magic works in St-Ferdinand and the world of ‘A God in the Shed’.

Mainly, it’s a story about beauty.

I use the expression ‘a story about terrible beauty and beautiful terror’ and I mean it. ‘A God in the Shed’ is about that place in between horror and majesty where you can’t be sure what is light and what is shadow. It’s from that doubt that the ‘horror’ of this fantasy tale comes from.

I’ve added Chapters 7 through 9 to the project page. I’ll try to give out more information about the setting and about the story, without too many spoilers, as we get closer to the end of the Nerdist Collection contest.

Help make this book happen. Talk to your friends and family and get them on Inkshares. They’ll get 5$ credit just for signing up and if they use your reference link, you’ll get 15$ of credits yourself!

Support the arts. Support my dream. Pre-order ‘A God in the Shed’.

And if you’re already a supporter: thank you. You’re the kind of person who makes things happen.

JF