Randy Schilling – Author

Hello, everyone!

It has been a busy few weeks, and this newsletter is a little different from my usual book updates.

I’ve been writing, creating, experimenting, and even stepping behind the interviewer’s microphone. So I wanted to share three things I’m especially excited about right now.

## 🔐 INTRODUCING INKTRACE

One of the things authors worry about when sharing an unpublished manuscript is a question nobody really wants to have to ask:

**What happens if the person I trusted shares my book without permission?**

That question led me to create **InkTrace**.

InkTrace is an app designed to help authors protect manuscripts they send to beta readers, ARC readers, editors, reviewers, or anyone else who receives an advance copy.

The idea is simple.

Each copy can contain a customized, invisible identifier connected to the person receiving it. If that copy later turns up somewhere it wasn’t supposed to, the author can upload it back into InkTrace and attempt to identify which distributed copy it came from.

I wanted something that didn’t slap an ugly watermark across an author’s pages or interfere with the reader’s experience.

InkTrace is still in its **first iteration**, so there is plenty more I want to do with it. But seeing the idea actually become a working app has been incredibly exciting.

It started with a problem I understood as an author.

Now I’m interested to see just how far I can take the solution.

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## 🇺🇸 A VERY DIFFERENT KIND OF BOOK

### *HOW TO BE A PRESIDENT*

I also stepped completely outside my normal writing world for this one.

No shifters.

No fated mates.

No paranormal conspiracies.

Instead, I wrote a children’s book about something that sounds complicated but really shouldn’t be:

**How to be a President.**

The book takes some very big ideas about leadership and turns them into lessons simple enough for a child to understand.

Tell the truth.

Listen to other people.

Follow the rules.

Admit when you’re wrong.

Remember that being in charge doesn’t mean everyone belongs to you. It means you have a responsibility to the people you serve.

It’s playful, simple, and definitely has a little bit of attitude.

But underneath the humor is something I genuinely believe: **good leadership really isn’t that difficult to understand.**

Sometimes adults just need a children’s book to remind them.

📚 **Get *How to Be a President* on Amazon:**
https://a.co/d/07BSfo10

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## 🎙️ AUTHOR INTERVIEWS BEGIN THIS SATURDAY!

This is something else I’ve been wanting to do for a while.

I love talking about books, but I don’t want to talk only about **my** books.

There are independent authors out there creating incredible worlds, characters, and stories, and I want to help introduce more readers to them.

So I’m starting my **author interview series**, and my first guest joins me LIVE this Saturday!

### 📅 SATURDAY AT 7:00 PM
### 📱 LIVE ON TIKTOK

### 📖 EZEKIEL EVERSAND
### Author of *KINGFALL*
### Book One of the *Neverborn* Series

I’ll be sitting down with Ezekiel to talk about *Kingfall*, the world of the *Neverborn* series, his characters, his writing process, and what went into creating the first book in this new series.

And yes, I’ve been doing my homework.

I want these interviews to go deeper than:

**“So, where did you get the idea for your book?”**

I want to talk about the choices behind the story, the characters readers meet, the world Ezekiel created, and some of the things you only really notice once you’ve spent time inside *Kingfall*.

Most importantly, I want readers to have a chance to meet the person behind the book.

🔥 **Join me Saturday at 7:00 PM on TikTok LIVE as Ezekiel Eversand and *Kingfall* kick off my author interview series!**

Come hang out with us, learn more about *Kingfall*, and bring your questions!

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## 🐺 AND YES… THERE ARE STILL MORE BOOKS COMING

For everyone following me because of the **Warborn Pack**, don’t worry.

I haven’t abandoned my wolves, panthers, hyenas, soldiers, mates, or the increasingly complicated supernatural mess they keep dragging me into.

There is plenty more coming from that world.

I’ve just discovered that apparently retirement means finding **even more things to do.**

Who knew?

Thank you to everyone who reads my books, shares my posts, follows my projects, leaves reviews, comments on my videos, or simply sticks around to see what strange thing I decide to create next.

Whether it’s a paranormal romance, a children’s book, an author interview, or an app designed to help writers protect their work, I’m having a hell of a lot of fun creating it all.

And I’m glad you’re here for the ride.

**Until next time,**

**Randy M. Schilling**
Author • Creator • Professional Maker of Things That Somehow Become Bigger Projects

**www.randyschillingauthor.com**