End of The Indiegogo Pre-Order Campaign and Big Bang book signing

Jake dh in New York City, right before The Pitch Slam

So, if you came to Big Bang, Comics and Toys on Saturday, thank you.  I knew a couple of people who showed up, so that was nice.  Secondly, I apologize that I was not able to take credit/debit cards due to my Square not working due to registration issues.   I didn't try to set up the account until that morning, so yeah, my bad.  I sold a button pin and a couple of books.  I would have sold more, but... yeah the card thing.

I'm not sure when my next signing event will be, but I'll post here on the blog and various other social media accounts when I know.  I hope to visit some indie bookstores in the coming months.

The next big thing: if you didn't preorder The BulletProof Ghost: In Spades before now, then you can't before its release.  I thought that I could continue to take preorders on Indiegogo after the campaign was over, but I didn't hit my goal, so they shut that shit down.  At least I know now.  

The last couple of months have been hard, but that is because I'm actually trying.  I had put my writing on the back shelf last year due to the YouTube channel I was trying to get off of the ground.  I'm putting myself out there now as a writer.  It isn't easy.  I don't get a lot of criticism.  Instead, it's just apathy; a lack of giving a shit.  I try not to be arrogant, which I think makes me a less effective salesman.  I didn't intend to be a salesman when I started writing again.

Here's an example:  I have a person at my job-job who will remain unnamed.  He's on his second reading of the book.  He loves BPG: Prototypes and says he can't wait to read In Spades.  He didn't preorder a copy on the Indiegogo.  He also said on several occasions that he'd put up a review on Amazon.  He hasn't.  I only had one relative give to the campaign.  That is heart breaking.  This is by far the worst crowdfunding campaign I've ever done and the last one was bad.

The only reason I did that campaign was because I had seven people personally tell me at work that they were interested in pledging.  I was ecstatic.  All of those pledges right out of the gate would have given me a solid base to build off of.  It would have given me an aura of legitimacy.  Only one person at work pledged to the campaign.  I suspect that was only because we worked next to each other one day and he could tell the whole situation had me upset.

I'm not upset now.  I'm pushing forward full speed ahead.  I'm not slowing down.  At some point, I will find my audience or I will have a big breakthrough.

Thanks for the support so far.  I'll see you later.

-Jake dh

www.bulletproofghost.com

Also, I met a nice couple next to me at Big Bang.  They had an interesting comic book concept if you wanted to check that out.

New York Trip, Owensboro Signing, Appearance on Evansville Podcast, New Stories and more!

Wow, there are a lot of updates to get to.  I would have updated the blog last week, but after the New York City trip, I was exhausted.  Honestly, I just needed a day to chill out.  I'm rested (for the most part) and ready to get everyone up to speed.

First and foremost, I was on Evansville Podcast talking about BulletProof Ghost, among other things, but mostly BPG.  You can check out the episode here.  For my first interview, I think it went pretty well, especially considering how little sleep I got.  I also talk about some of the origins of BPG that I may not have touched on in this blog.  I was supposed to be on Owensboro's Own, but scheduling/job-job overtime/lack of sleep prevented me from being on that show.  I'm not sure when/if I will be on now, but I'll post it up on Twitter ( @thebroofghost ) as soon as possible.  You can check out the podcast series here.

Next on the list of updates: I will be at Big Bang Comics and Toys in Owensboro, KY on Saturday, August 27 from 10am until 4pm signing copies of The BulletProof Ghost Prototypes or anything else you want me to sign.  I will have other items like button pins and a limited supply of shirts.  The books will be $9.  Generally, I've learned that events like this don't sell a lot of books, but maybe this will break the mold.  

In case you didn't know, I went to New York City to take part in the Writers Digest Conference 2016 (WDC16).  I was specifically there to take place in what is called a Pitch Slam.  I know this sounds like a sex position, but stick with me.  I pitched BPG to 5 literary agents in the span of an hour.  I was flatly rejected by three of them due to the fact the book had already been self published.

An agent said she liked the pitch, but because of the self published status and less than stellar sales, she couldn't give BPG to her publisher, but... and this is a big but, she gave me her card.  She liked the pitch enough that she offered to check out the next book I wrote that was not BPG related.  Okay, I'll take that.

The first agent I talked to wanted to see the book regardless.  I may have failed/forgot to mention that this specific book was self-published.  I made sure to let her know in the email I literally just sent her.  I think that she'll turn it down due to that technicality.  That doesn't make me sad or anything, it just means that BPG is going to be self-published and possibly indie-published for a while if not exclusively.

One of the things I learned at the conference is that I have to market myself as an author more and not just concentrate of The BulletProof Ghost.  This is my baby, but I have to branch out and create new stories if I ever want to do this for a living, which I do.  I will be altering the blog and website a little bit to reflect me as a writer, instead of focusing solely on BPG.  The urls will stay the same, but I'll be altering the graphics and images a bit.

I'm also outlining a new book specifically to send to agents within the year.  I'm going to try my hand at fantasy (or so it will seem).  I'm also writing a few horror short stories that I'll be posting on here for free.  The first story may be up as early as next week, because I've already started writing it.  The short stories will be pretty raw and unedited, but this is a blog, not a published piece.  

That's about it.  You'll be getting new short stories for free.  The next BPG novel is more or less finished and in the process of being edited.  And if that wasn't enough, I'll be starting an entirely new novel/series... well next weekend if all goes well.

Thanks for the support and I'll see you later.

-Jake dh

www.bulletproofghost.com