IWSG October: Wake Up, September's Over

So another month came and went. As you may have guessed, I DID NOT win the Nerdist Publishing contract. Several cools books did win, however, and you could do worse than to check them out. I ordered all of the top 5 myself, and I'm looking forward to checking them out when they drop in a couple of months.

I started the month hot and heavy, still with a some shreds of hope my book my catch on. I made a "cool" preview trailer:

I also did a fun interview, talking about my book, Inkshares and writing in general:

Sadly, neither of them lit up the Interwebz. Winning a contest like that, or crowdfunding a book (or anything) in general takes a ton of marketing, promotion, networking and selling that I just did not have the time or the energy to do right now. I accepted that weeks ago and moved on.

While the contest is over the crowdfunding campaign is still technically ongoing. The book is still available for pre-order until mid-November. If you sign up you still get a digital copy of my first book, Ten Thousand Days, and you'll get added to a mailing list to to be updated when the new book is officially (self-)published. Since there is probably only a 0.01% chance of the book getting funded at this point, you're basically getting that all completely free.

Outside of my misadventures in crowdfunding, it was actually a pretty cromulent month for writing. I re-wrote the ending for Hell Comes to Hogtown at least four times, but I'm finally feeling pretty good about it. After fixing that I took some time off from Hogtown to write a short story in response to a challenge from the Grim Tidings Podcast guys that I took far too seriously. Ten thousand words is way too long for a joke, by the way. I think the story actually turned out pretty good so you may see it pop up somewhere. With that out of the way, I dove headlong into hardcore editing (with the help of my fabulous, beautiful and talented editor, of course) for Hogtown which is slow but I think will ultimately make the work a lot better.

Slowly going through this baby with a chainsaw.

On top of that I've also made some concrete decisions and started outlining my next two projects, which I'm hyped about, but at the same time I'm trying not to get too far ahead of myself.

I'm excited to finally unleash Hogtown upon the world, but I'm reining in my impatience and holding off on dropping it prematurely like I did with Ten Thousand Days. I really want this to be a better, more polished book than my first one. I'm taking time with the editing and getting more feedback before rushing off to Amazon to hit the "Publish" button. I want to put a bit more thought into marketing and advertising. I want to get some review copies out early to hopefully grab some release-day reviews.

I originally wanted to have it out before Christmas but I've now accepted that it will probably be early next year. I have a date in mind but I'm not revealing it yet, just in case. Who knows what could happen, right? Right now I could almost believe it might be something good.

Like getting one of these awesome suits under the Christmas tree.

TL;DR version: Today, I'm not actually feeling insecure. I'm cautiously optimistic, and feeling productive and excited about my work, at least for the moment. I'm sure that once I'm knee deep in notes from the editor in a couple weeks, or when I'm struggling to convince people to buy and/or review the book in a couple of months, those feelings will be long evaporated. But for now, just for today, let's look on the bright side, m'kay?

The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Writers post their thoughts on their blogs, talking about their doubts and the fears they have conquered. It's a chance for writers to commiserate and offer a word of encouragement to each other. Check out the group here.

The Battle Rages On

Remember that Inkshares contest I'm signed up in, trying to get my book published? I think I've mentioned it a couple of times, right?

Well, there's less than 2 weeks left, and I'm sitting at about 50th place out of 322 entries. So, far from the top 5 you need to be in to score the publishing deal, but still it could obviously be much worse. Of course, even if I don't win I have until mid-November to score 1000 pre-orders, which would also get the book published.  So who knows? Maybe there will be a big rush for horror-comedy books about pro-wrestlers and demons stalking Toronto this Halloween.

Anyway, my book got featured alongside some other great Inkshares works on The Warbler earlier today. Some of those books are in contention to win, others aren't, but they're all placed side-by-side for you the reader to judge for yourself.

And that's ultimately the beauty and goal of Inkshares: To let the readers decide what they want to read and what deserves to be put to print. I would love for you to go and support my book RIGHT NOW, but while you're at Inkshares, look around and see if there are any other books you might find interesting. There are a lot of very talented people trying to catch a break, and you might find just the kind of book you would really love to read. When that author one day becomes a New York Times Best-Seller, you can say that you were there on the ground floor helping to get his or her first book out there.

So yeah, what I'm trying to say is go out there and try something new. You might find something you really like, or the next big thing.

Which is of course going to be Hell Comes to Hogtown, but you've already ordered it and you knew that, right?

Check out the trailer, if you haven't already...

CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDER HELL COMES TO HOGTOWN!

Hell Comes to Hogtown Book Teaser Trailer

Step into my parlour...

I always thought book trailers were kinda cheesy... but like a good horror movie, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Check it out...

I spent the long weekend putting together a little trailer for Hell Comes to Hogtown, which is currently funding on Inkshares. The trailer's kinda fun and goofy while hopefully a little disconcerting, which is exactly what I'm going for with the book. You will also catch glimpses of some fabulous photography by Jason Salvatori, which will be incorporated into the new cover art. Look at me, I'm sneaking teasers into teasers.

Please check out the trailer and let me know what you think. If the book interests you, head over to Inkshares and pre-order a copy. You get a digital copy of Ten Thousand Days for free and if Hogtown doesn't fund you don't get charged a thing.

If you think you know somehow who might like the book (or the trailer), please share it! Every share and order gets me closer to getting Hell Comes to Hogtown on bookstore shelves. If it funds I'll be your friend forever. Pinky swear!

Click here to order Hell Comes to Hogtown or read a sample chapter