Hey, hey Bloodlings!
I hope you’re happy, healthy, and wealthy. Sorry I’ve waited so long to give you an update. I thought I’d sent an update last month, but only just reali...
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Jaleesa
2 months ago
Happy New Years! I need your help...
Hey, hey Bloodlings and Happy New Years!
I hope everyone is entering 2026 happy, healthy, wealthy, and full of joy. Since it's a holiday, I'll keep this super short: I need ...
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Jaleesa
3 months ago
Thanks and Happy Holidays!
Happy Holidays Bloodlings!
I hope you're happy, healthy, wealthy, and enjoying time with your families!
Today I wanted to take a moment to thank you again for your support ...
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Jaleesa
4 months ago
We Funded: Stretch Goals and Polls
Hey, hey Bloodlings! 🩸🩸🩸💉💉💉
I hope you're happy, healthy, and wealthy! Since today is a celebration for some, I wanted to start the morning with some good news:
It looks l...
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Jaleesa
4 months ago
Did You Know...
Hey, hey Bloodlings! 🩸🩸🩸💉💉💉
TLDR: Thank you for pledging to my campaign. We're almost at the halfway mark, and I'm hoping we can fund when the campaign ends in seven days. I...
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Jaleesa
4 months ago
If you haven't pledged to my campaign yet, what's stopping you?
With the success of my last campaign, I had hoped that this one would also crack its goal plus a bit more. If you haven't pledged to the campaign yet, what's stopping you? Do you need a new incentive? More engagement? Is there something else missing? Please tell me and I'll do...
I hope you’re happy, healthy, and wealthy. Sorry I’ve waited so long to give you an update. I thought I’d sent an update last month, but only just realized that I hadn’t. Apologies for that.
Now that we’re in March, I do have quite a few things to update y’all on.
TLDR: Finding a narrator for Dmitri’s section has been a nightmare, but the third time is the charm. The audiobook is close to completion with just Dmitri’s section and the acknowledgements to be recorded, and a bit of housekeeping left to be done. If you pledged to a tier with Blood Lies, your order will be delayed. I’ll be sending out smoke tests some time this week or next week, and surveys right after the smoke tests are complete and I’ve worked out any glitches. Rewards, with the exception of Blood Lies are on track to be delivered by mid/end of April. However, there is a slight possibility it will be pushed to early May. I’ll keep you updated. Narrator Challenges In my last update, I asked you all to use the poll to choose a narrator, and one or two of you answered the poll. I chose the suggested narrator; however, there was a disconnect with communication and quality of work, so I had to let him go. This left me in a lurch in terms of getting the audiobook produced, so I had to go back to the drawing board.
After a ton of DMs on Instagram, scouring through Fiverr, and sending out cold calls via email to strangers who fit the bill for this job, I finally got a response!
Actual footage of me receiving the news.
I’m personally fond of the new narrators work, and I’m excited to have them on the team! That said, I’m going to hold the excitement in until the audio is complete because I don’t want to jinx this good news. Just know the person I’ve hired has an excellent voice and I believe he’ll do us all proud. I can’t wait to reveal who he is; but, again, I’m going to wait until the audio files are in my proverbial hand.
Edits to the Blood Ties Book I had to make some edits to Blood Ties, so Jynelle and Carlos have to re-record a few of their sentences. Since the changes are minor, most likely, I won’t have to categorize the book as a new edition—meaning I can order new copies with the edits to send to y’all. The edits are only slight deviations from the previous text, mostly eliminating words like “says” or “asks,” and I’ve included a book review page and an updated acknowledgements page. This should not impact production and distribution of rewards.
What’s Left Now that we’ve secured a reliable narrator, I feel comfortable sending out smoke tests and surveys to collect names and order information because the next step is recording the acknowledgements section, which I can’t do until I’ve received everyone’s response on the surveys. Please note: If you do not complete the survey, you will automatically be listed as “Anonymous” in the acknowledgements section. So, please fill out your surveys ASAP. Outside of that, it’s just a matter of ordering the rewards and then distributing them out—with the exception of the book Blood Lies.
Blood Lies Book Blood Lies is still in the editing stages. I hired an amazing editor named Megan to do line and copy edits. As long as we remain on schedule, the line edits should be complete by the end of March, beginning of April. After that is the round of copy editing, which should be complete by the first week of May. Sometime in between that, I have a section that needs to be sent to a sensitivity reader. I’ll be looking into finding someone who can do that job. After the editing and sensitivity reading is complete, I’ll apply for the LCCN. It will take a few weeks for the LCCN to be approved; but once it is, I can send off the copyright application and then officially publish the book!
After that, it’s just a matter of getting a proof copy and checking for any errors before ordering the book en masse. If you pledged to a tier with this book, you will receive all rewards except this one on time. This reward will be delayed. That said, if you’d like me to delay all rewards until Blood Lies is complete, you will have that option in your survey.
I truly apologize for the delay with this book. Between my day job, chronic fatigue, and general life, it’s taken me some time to get the book to where it’s at, and there’s still things to do. Please bare with me as I do them.
Smoke Tests and Surveys Since I need an accurate count of rewards before I add the acknowledgements and order items, I will be sending out smoke tests between this week and next week. But, don’t worry, I’ll send out another update when it’s time to complete them.
Once the Smoke Tests are completed, I’ll send out the surveys. When surveys are sent, you should fill them out immediately! Filling out the surveys immediately allows me to order everything on time and keep production on track.
Overall, I’m so excited that we’re at the stage where the audiobook is almost complete and I’m able to send out surveys. Overall, we’re looking at reward completion by mid/late April. In the worst case scenario, early May, but I don’t think it will come to that. In the next post, I’ll give an update as to where we’re at overall—which will hopefully be complete!
As always, I’ll keep you apprised of what’s going on with the project up to completion. Have a great night!
Listen to their auditions by going to: https://www.voices.com/shared_page/bb3a0e1424c89a5939259e7dca3fc7db
Then, use this poll or the website link to cast your vote!
Note: This is an honor system. Please only vote once. I will tally up the votes between the two sites to make the final decision and send an offer letter. Thanks!
I hope everyone is entering 2026 happy, healthy, wealthy, and full of joy. Since it's a holiday, I'll keep this super short: I need your help to choose a new voice actor for Dmitri!
Long story short, Prince Bolton will no longer be starring as Dmitri due to dereliction of duty. So, I've been holding auditions to recast the role. Now, I won't lie to you, finding a new voice actor on such short notice has been difficult, but I've narrowed it down to two individuals, and I'd love to have your input on who it should go to.
All you have to do is heart your favorite by 12:01 AM Sunday, 4 January and I'll send out the invitation and get the next section of the audiobook completed. Here's the link to vote:
I hope you're happy, healthy, wealthy, and enjoying time with your families!
Today I wanted to take a moment to thank you again for your support of the Blood Ties Audiobook. I'm a bit late on sending this update because during the campaign, I caught the flu, and then it took two weeks after that to completely heal up. Couple that with work, family obligations, and indie author stuff, and you have a recipe for disaster.
All that to say, thanks for your patience!
Going forward, I'll keep you updated at least once a month about what's going on with this campaign. In that regard, here's a quick update of where I'm at on with this project:
One of the narrators has not replied to any of my emails or messages, so I'm on the hunt for a new one. But, that's why the production date was pushed out to April. I wanted to have a buffer in case this happened.
Related to number one, I'm on the hunt for a new narrator that fits the bill. I've put out some feelers, and hopefully someone sticks. I'll keep you updated on how that goes.
The postcards are coming along nicely. I'm excited about them.
I haven't set up the pre-order store for this campaign yet. I've found that my audience doesn't order additional things from it. If you all would like me to set up the pre-order store (also known as late pledges), let me know!
I'm partially through with the full version of the pre-launch reward. I'm really happy about how it's turning out and can't wait to share more about that next month!
Surveys will go out closer to February/March, so don't panic that you haven't seen any. I want to make sure the project is completed before I set up fulfilment and shipping. I'll keep you all aprised of when that's going to happen.
Thanks again for your patience! The next update for this campaign probably won't be until January. Expect them to ramp up closer to completion of the project. In the mean time, happy holidays!
XOXO
J.S. Living
P.S. I'm participating in the 2025 Holiday Mega Salehosted by Space Wizard on r/Fantasy for the benefit of the Mary Cariola Center. Over 300 authors are participating, and over 650 books will be free or $0.99. If you missed out on my books during my last two campaigns and the pre-order store, this is the perfect time to grab a copy! In addition, I'm also offering 15% off all items in my online store! Use code CHEER to take advantage. This offer is only open to those on my email lists and those who followed or backed my campaigns, so you don't want to miss it.
P.S.S. Apologies if you're getting this email again! I know some of you backed both projects.
I hope you're happy, healthy, and wealthy! Since today is a celebration for some, I wanted to start the morning with some good news:
It looks like this project funded! The Blood Ties audiobook is going to happen! I'm so grateful for this turn of events.
So, next up is our stretch goals! Let's see if we can reach one or two before this campaign closes out. First up, is three additional art prints for everyone. If you love character art, this is a perfect way to broaden your choices on which ones you get.
Last, don't forget that new polls posted today! There's two days left for Dmitri's polls, and the rest close out on 3 December!
