Inkshares Community discussion

Well it seems absolutely bonkers to me that a big engrossing sci-fi epic, with tons of flashy concept art, a fan backing from a previous version of the book, and so on, has yet to cross the Quill finish line! So let's get to fixing that!

154 orders to go in 12 days. I know that's a massively tall order, but I only became aware of the dire situation tonight,

I'm shooting an email to Alexander now with a link to this Johnslist,

Alexander, when you read this, my first suggestion would be posting a nice blurb advertising your book that us fellow authors could send out on our reader updates. (See the Dax Harrison Johnslist or some of the other Johnslist feeds for examples)

Fellow authors, let's talk! :)

CORRECTION: I just noticed I actually didn't include the Dax reader update template here on Johnslist. I just sent it to you directly Alexander.

I also only recently became aware that this one had not hit its mark yet. When I first stumbled on it I saw great writing in the chapters posted, an excellent video, and absolutely beautiful artwork so I just assumed it would easily hit goal. I'm still shocked it hasn't, and I agree that it definitely deserves to at least get into Quill, so I'll help as much as I can.

I can't think of any tips on presentation since the page already looks better than anything I could have done. To Alxander: have you also been doing a good deal of face to face and direct message/email pitching within your own network? I'm assumung yoy have, but if not then you should. I know I hamstrung myself by being unable to get over my own social anxiety enough to make more than a token approach at direct pitching to my own friends, family, and general social network.

Wow. You guys have totally made my day.... I'm touched. I can't describe the feeling of waking up this morning and having seen your guys' support.

Frankly me and my Co-author are very surprised too. Our original release of the book actually did fairly well for self publishing. We've had a Facebook group thats been about 300-400 people strong for about 3 years. We had hoped we would have sold more copies by now and only managed a 9th place spot in the Sword and Laser: The Sequel contest. I've been hitting gaming and tabletop conventions for the last three weekends and have been giving out cards. I've spent close to $500 on Facebook Ads and $300 on google ads. We've done contests to give away some of our 3D printed spaceship models but even with all of our efforts we've remained largely invisible.

http://www.shapeways.com/shops/byteshop


As disheartening as our numbers have been this has cemented one VERY promising thing for us. I've always said that this story was Deus Ex (Video game) meets Firefly (TV show) and I can't imagine two more culty, underground, beloved but hardly known about stories.

This book, this series, and the animated series we're hoping to do one day, has been our life's work for the last 7 years. That being said there is so SO much more material we're holding back hoping just to get this first story out there. We're about 45% finished with our sequel and have very VERY detailed 3D models of all of the vehicles and ships from our story ready to be experiences in Occulus Rift. Our ultimate goal has always been to write a trilogy that would launch our CG series. Late last year, before Chris and I found Inkshares and decided to submit our story to the contest we were even working on a video game:

http://deviantrising.tumblr.com/post/...

Since our campaign has started we've had to put the game on the back burner.

We're very thankful for you guys. Even if we can't hit our Quill mark this has by no means been a bad experience and I am deeply touched and enriched to found a social network with other established and budding authors. I just don't know anyone in real life that's passionate about story telling and i'm thankful I've found all of you guys.

Our hope now is to get a campaign extension, if they even do that.

Thank you all. Honestly, and Alex will never admit this, but we had more or less given up hope for this campaign. We were still working hard, but with no real hope that it would amount to much more than being able to say, we tried. Now that goal that seemed so very unreachable seems just a bit nearer. When we started the campaign, we didn't know what we were doing, and we still don't but thanks in big part to you guys our naivety might not doom our story.
I am grateful in a way I can barely express for that.

I've seen campaigns get extensions. I'm sure a passionate plea to the Inkshares team will not go unnoticed. :)

Yeah they give extensions, and from my experience its not that hard to get one. During my campaign all I had to do was send them an email and within a day or two they agreed and gave the extension.

I'm going to reach out to them momentarily. Turns out Inkshares HQ is literally a black and a half from my office. Would be cool to see if I couldn't get in on a tour.

I'm ready and willing to help, where can I be of the best service and promotional use? =)

Great question. I'm not sure. I'm willing to rrade Pre-Orders and ive got a marketing plan to hit up a couple of the Syndicates this week. How could you help me???

Alexander wrote: "Great question. I'm not sure. I'm willing to rrade Pre-Orders and ive got a marketing plan to hit up a couple of the Syndicates this week. How could you help me???"

I've got several people I think I can get to order, and I'll tweet regularly about this. That's all I can think of off the top of my head...

That sounds great. I just liked your Facebook page. I'll hop on Twitter and add you there in a few minutes. Here's my referral code:

https://www.inkshares.com/books/the-a...

Awesome! I just emailed a couple people, so we'll see what happens. =)

Thanks!

Good to see you guys got an extension. I also just noticed that I hadn't hit the button to recommend through Inkshares. Thought I'd done that when I reviewed a while back, but my memory is as faulty as ever. I'll remedy that when I wake up tomorrow afternoon.

Yay for an extension!

First, this link appears broken: https://www.facebook.com/AmaranthNovel/

You want to make sure all your social media links are up to date and that all your social media (including your email signature) point to your funding page -- extra points for having it link to the referral link.

I don't have any mind blowing suggestions on how to find new audience as I'm still trying to figure that out myself, but I bet all the Quill authors will be able to help with suggestions on how to get that last 100 readers. Once you figure that out be sure to come back and share here!

I also think you need to put that description -- "Deus Ex meets Firefly" right up there at the top of your page. Let visitors know exactly what kind of book they are looking at. Give the elevator pitch in the first couple of sentences on your page and make the visitors drool over your book.

Have you considered a shorter book trailer? I know I myself am daunted by an 8 minute video. Most of the ones I have seen are about a minute in length and dive right into the heart of the book and why it's so awesome. Especially since you have all this new artwork.

Question: Is this a graphic novel? I'm a little confused at all the artwork amazing at is it. With all the models and character concepts and such, this doesn't look like a standard novel. If it isn't, then you have a unique angle you can share with the press etc. If it is a traditional novel, then maybe put more writing up front and the concepts and such as supplemental? I dunno, just a thought.

I'll keep thinking, but I sort of want to see what you would do with an ARG. The one I did for DHM didn't really take off, but it was a ton of fun and does broaden the canon of the world for anyone observant enough to find it.

Amanda thank you so much for spotting the dead facebook link. I changed the URL for the facebook and totally forgot to update the Inkshare's page.

You're right I;ll post the short description.

Believe it or not the video was originally 22 minutes long and that 8 minute version was the chopped down one. I do need a trailer but... Hmm... Let me figure out how to do that.

This will be a graphic novel as well as an animated series. I plan on doing a youtube video explaining that and just how far along we are as soon as I get a moment.

SO far I've released 31 chapters along with the art....

Thank you so much for your feedback and support!

Really glad to see this got an extension! Hoping to get a copy sometime soon! After reading your story on the page about how long and hard you guys have worked on this, I'm really hoping to see it pull through. KEEP AT IT! :D

Our Campaign really started moving forward once we got that extension. I was socked to be getting 12 purchases a day consistently but it seems to have slowly fallen off. Anyone have any ideas of what I could do to get back on the right track?

We're so close!

I started reading your book on Inkshares, and it was really good. I'm trying to earn as many credits as I can, so that I can get a preorder in for you. Good luck! Hope your book gets published!

Thanks so much, E.K. Jacobs. Did you just find us on Inkshares?

Yeah, I just recently saw your book pop up in the recommended bar, and it looked really good.

Thanks! :)

Just checked in with the project page, and I'm glad to see its only 75 preorders away from Quill. With 31 days left that's definitely doable, especially if we all help push it over that line.

How's it going on your end, Alexander?

And does anyone have any ideas on how to push in new ways?

Hey,

Things have been slow on my end. Chris and I just finished our manuscript last week. The CEO had originally reached out to me about a month ago to try and get a copy of our manuscript but he's all but disappeared since then...

Right now Chris and I are working on a book trailer that will tell the main story arch and be filled with some one the art pieces we've been posting.

Other than that I'm kind of out of ideas.

What are you guys thinking?

hmmm well, what about connecting with local comic shops and giving out an excerpt on tabletop day?

We're almost there you guys. I was hoping i'd have the trailer out by now but getting all of my voice actors in one place has proven pretty difficult. The Trailer is still coming but I doubt it will be done in the next 11 days. Thats how long we have to sell 72 copies. I've heard it may be possible to negotiate another extension but I'd have to show some momentum. Any of you who have been waiting to pre-order, or know someone who would like to, its now your time to shine! We're so close!

https://www.inkshares.com/books/the-a...

I'm in - good luck!

I just sent out a fresh tweet, Inkshares recommendation, and shared on the Dax Facebook page. 9 days left and 7 orders a day should do it. Good luck!

So we got there guys! Still quite a bit of time left in oyur extension, but we got there, and I wantted to thank you all for everything you did to help us get there.