Hi everyone, happy new year and I hope 2019 has got off to a decent start for all of you. It's been a while since my last Guerrillas update, so here's what's in the news.
1. Turns out the reward stage isn't over!
A month ago, I erroneously thought that the rewards phase ended 90 days after the project's launch - which would have been December 12th. On further investigation, the 90 day period was simply the deadline for reaching 100%, and the rewards (names in the book, short stories, even expenses-only talks) will remain available until the book is sent to the printers in a few months' time. So if anyone feels like getting another name in the book (or any other reward), there's still plenty of opportunity.
2. Structural edits have finished.
Today I received an email from my structural editor confirming that Guerrillas has been sent to the copy editor. (To clarify, structural editors focus on the whole book- theme, characters, plot structure and so on, whilst copy editors focus on individual sentences, continuity, grammar etc.) Other adventures lie ahead, not least cover art discussions, but right now the estimated May 2019 publication date remains likely. The next four months are sure to be interesting!
3. Did I read that right? 152%?
A quick glance to the right-hand column of my laptop shows that Guerrillas continues to be fantastically well-supported: pre-orders have been made by 432 people, totalling 519 copies to date. Given that the average book reportedly sells 250-300 copies in its first year post-publication, having 519 copies pre-ordered before publication is quite incredible! Massive thanks as always to everyone who has shown how much demand is out there for neurodiverse action novels.
Oh, and PS:
For those who aren't already members, Guerrillas' Facebook page can be found here. It's usually the first place I go to with details about the book's progress, discussions about what the future holds, extra (spoiler-free) information about the novel and its characters, and the occasional (also spoiler-free) quote like this one:
So that's it for now. We still have a few months to go, so please feel free to share the news about Guerrillas with friends, family, schools, book clubs etc while the opportunity is still here. The bigger its readership when launch day comes, the greater the opportunity for people to talk about meaningful representation of neurodiversity, autism, ADHD, dyslexia, anxiety, Down's Syndrome, PDA and other related topics in fiction. Who knows? This could be the novel that changes trends!
Take care, and thanks as always for your support,
Chris Bonnello