Tails of the Apocalypse (40 page)

E.J. Smith, a good friend and advisor for the Military Family Advisory Network (
http://www.militaryfamilyadvisorynetwork.org/
), helped us get the word out nationwide to a number of organizations dedicated to supporting military families. This helped raise Pets for Vets’ profile across that network and helped our authors find readers they might never have otherwise reached.

Contributor Hank Garner opened up his
Author Stories Podcast
—which is carving out an ever-increasing niche for itself as the go-to place for authors to discuss how they do what they do—to help us promote Pets for Vets’ cause and
Tails
. Contributor Jennifer Ellis organized a rockin’ Facebook launch party, which (as usual) was a blast and a great way for readers and authors to come together and talk books, movies, and anything else they could think of. She also championed our cause on Goodreads and helmed the giveaway event we held there.

Adam Hall, our graphic designer, knocked his cover design out of the park with the first try, and all the ads, desktop backgrounds, etc., you might’ve seen in connection with
Tails
are a tribute to his talent. He also didn’t mind my going back to the well time and again with numerous “Can I get one of these now?” requests.

Joanna Hunt and Michelle Benoit, both friends of mine I also happen to work with at the day job, helped with the formatting and final proofreading, respectively. It was a great help to have them covering bases that left me time to focus on other last-minute things. And another friend and colleague, Michelle Hoelscher, lent her social media and media relations expertise to help us promote the collection and our benefiting Pets for Vets to the media and the world at large. Her contribution to our ability to get the word out cannot be overstated.

All of Team Tails would like to acknowledge our spouses, significant others, loved ones, and friends—not only for their support of this anthology, but for their continued support of this compulsion we all suffer from called “the need to create.” Their patience, alpha reading, and honest feedback (when what we write isn’t all we hoped it would be) are just some of the ways we writers experience our own version of unconditional love.

We also appreciate our advanced-review copy readers, who took on the responsibility of reading the anthology (under a tight deadline) in order for us to launch on November 20 with enough reviews to make a splash. Without them, we’d just be one more lonely, self-published Amazon e-book surrounded by the virtual equivalent of crickets in the marketplace.

And last—but certainly not least—thank you, dear reader, for spending your time reading the stories in this collection. Few things are as precious a gift as another person’s time, and we at Team Tails appreciate your sharing yours with us. We hope you enjoyed our stories.

Chris Pourteau, Author/Editor/Producer

Tails of the Apocalypse

November 2015

If you enjoyed
Tails of the Apocalypse
, we’d like to ask you for one small favor before you go. Please take a moment to review this collection at the venue where you purchased it (as well as on Goodreads if you’re a member).

As a reader of independent authors, you’re both our market and our marketing force. Reviews are a key factor in promoting a work’s visibility—to other readers, of course, but also to critics and booksellers, who use reviews to determine, for example, what books to feature in promotions.

But reviews also help other readers just like you decide if they should spend their money—and just as importantly, their
time
—on a published work. Providing a review is like presenting a public service announcement to your fellow readers, something you also benefit from when they do the same for you. Please recognize that by leaving a review, you’re making a real contribution to the world—and the quality—of independent publishing.

Thank you for that.