The Inkshares Blog

Dear Novelists,

Welcome to the 2018 Inkshares Mystery & Thriller Contest. We’re prefacing it with “2018,” but it is also the inaugural Inkshares Mystery & Thriller Contest.

In our first three years, we’ve focused predominantly in speculative fiction, chiefly science-fiction, fantasy, and horror. Books published in those genres have gone on to garner starred reviews in many publishing magazines, features in major book reviews including USA Today, and awards from organizations including the American Library Association. Those books have been licensed in foreign territories alongside top-of-market advances and are in development for television and film at top networks and studios.

And while this is our first mystery-and-thriller contest, it is not our first mystery or thriller release. This summer, we released Christopher Huang’s A Gentleman’s Murder, which earned a starred review from Publishers Weekly, was featured in The Washington Post, and is in development for television.

In creating this contest we initially debated what we were seeking: detective stories in the lineage of Christie or Sayers? Spy fiction in the legacy of Robert Ludlum or John le Carré? Indeed, debate ensued about the taxonomy and genealogy of this diverse area of commercial fiction. Is the detective story a subset of the mystery genre or of crime fiction? Is a courtroom drama a subset of crime fiction or of thrillers? Egads.

We settled on the nomenclature of “mystery and thriller” because we thought these two words—independently and collectively—encapsulate what we are looking for. The mystery, in all its forms, concerns itself with the resolution of crime or other disruption (such as a disappearance). The arresting setting, the empathizable or memorable victim, the indelible crime, the tantalizing array of suspects—they all service a need for catharsis. Finding the facts—the truth—allows us to see justice done, to restore the status quo, or at least to realize some form of closure.

The thriller is broader, because it is defined less by the inherent nature of its subject matter and more by the feelings it is calculated to elicit: suspense, excitement, anxiety, surprise, anticipation. It thus extends from espionage and military settings that could otherwise be called “action or adventure” to psychological or legal thrillers that might simultaneously exist under the banner “mystery.”

This is a circuitous way of saying that we’re looking to select novels that satisfy one or both of these categories. The mystery may take place in 1920s London, modern-day Missouri, or on a future Martian colony. What matters is that we need—desperately—to know what happened. The thriller could follow attorneys, spies, physicians, politicians, or absolute nobodies. It could take place entirely in a small town, or across metropolises on five continents and reaching the highest corridors of power.  

As genres, mysteries and thrillers command some of the largest names in fiction. But none of them—not James Patterson, nor Gillian Flynn—were anyone until they saw their first novel published. So, prospective mystery author, prospective thriller author—or both—, we’re thrilled to have you participate and can’t wait to find out who we will be publishing and representing.

Cheers,

The Inkshares Team

"A gorgeously messy and misguided heroine. I love this story." —Laura Dern (who’s developing the novel for television with Platform One)

Pictured here: A very happy published author.

"No house is born bad. Most are thought of fondly, even lovingly. In the beginning, the house on Kill Creek was no exception."

Coffee ✔️ Horror book about a small town serial killer ✔️

📸: http://bit.ly/2IJSWDj

Dear Inkshares Community,

In November of 2015, we launched the Inkshares imprint called Quill, which provided an intermediary level of editorial services, printing, and distribution to backers for books that sold 250 pre-orders. Quill’s services include line editing, proofreading, and interior design, but not developmental editorial or full cover design. We started Quill because we saw promising titles raising significant funding on the platform and an opportunity to provide services and distribution into brick-and-mortar stores not available in self-publishing. The hope was that Quill would graduate stories and authors into Inkshares.  

In many ways, Quill has been a success. Excellent titles have been published and sold into stores. There are authors on the Inkshares platform with sophomore works made stronger by virtue of their Quill experience. And many books have been pulled up from Quill to our comprehensive Inkshares platform and published to both popular and critical praise.

However, after two years, we are winding down Quill as we continue to evolve Inkshares. One of the strongest assets of Inkshares is its community of authors and readers—many of whom provided us with valuable feedback on the strengths and limitations of Quill throughout these two years. This feedback, along with our own insights gleaned from the process, helped inform our decision to wind down Quill.

The main function intended by Quill is now more effectively being performed by Story Machine. We created Quill because we saw meritorious books not reaching the 750 pre-order goal, whether because the author had little social following or because the author was less inclined to vigorously campaign. Quill attempted to solve this by providing fewer resources at a lower pre-order goal. By contrast, Story Machine selects books on a broader array of reader-interest indicators beyond just pre-orders, with those books receiving full editorial and development. Books that don’t reach the threshold of 750 pre-orders, but garner significant interest on the platform, have the opportunity to be granted a full Inkshares publishing deal through Story Machine.     

To be clear, all books which have funded under Quill to date will be published. Authors currently selling pre-orders to reach Quill will have until midnight (PT), February 28th, to reach their goal for publication through Quill.

We founded Inkshares with the aim of developing the most important literary voices of tomorrow.  Quill served this purpose by providing authors with significantly more resources and distribution than self-publishing. It has given talented writers a chance, both to see their story succeed, and to graduate into full Inkshares. And with many books still to be published under Quill, it will continue to achieve these goals.  

We would be remiss if we did not note that we, as a company, have learned a tremendous amount from operating Quill and working with Quill authors. We will bring this experience and wisdom into 2018 as we continue to bring existing Quill authors to market and work on the next iteration of Inkshares.  

Skavenger’s Hunt by Mike Rich, a perfect gift for the adventure-seeking middle schooler in your life 📚 🎁