Chris Eboch's Blog, page 41

Go for the Pro: Hiring a Proofreader

Yesterday my guest, professional proofreader Karen Elliott, gave us insight into all the things you need to check when proofreading your manuscript. If you are not confident in your abilities, you may want to hire a professional. If you are planning to self-publish, you definitely want your manuscript to have a professional polish before it goes to print.
Just how much will this cost? Some people offer an hourly rate, often $30-$60 per hour. Others offer a per-word rate, often 1½ cents per word. I like the latter, because you know exactly how much you will be spending. If you go with an hourly rate, make sure they'll give you an estimate after seeing a sample of your work. (For reference, I got an estimate of up to 30 hours for my 85,000-word adult book, Rattled, which didn't have many errors.)
For a full-length adult novel, it may cost $1000 or more for a professional proofreader. Shorter children's novels may come in at half that. That's a big chunk of change, but this isn't the place to skimp. If you are going to hire somebody, make sure they can and will do the job well. Here's Karen to explain how to find someone who will give your manuscript the attention it deserves.
Karen Elliott:
Planning – Start looking for a proofreader the minute you start your book or soon thereafter.  Don't decide you need a proofreader on Monday and hire one on Tuesday. Shop around. Ask other successful writers for recommendations. 
Ask for Specifics – Ask the proofreader to outline exactly what they consider "proofreading" and "copy editing." These differ significantly throughout the industry.
Put away the hatchet, please – When I proofread and edit for a client, I prefer to suggest changes; I do not make edits for the writer. You should direct how the edits come to you.
Research online – Look at the proofreader's website, Linked In, Facebook, Twitter, and blog. Are they positive? Do they share tips and links? Are their online pages clean?
Style book – Ask them what style book(s) and references they use. If they hem and haw or say, "Oh, I don't need those things," run away.
Testimonials – Get testimonials or references and then look at the publications of the testimonials. Contact the people who have provided these testimonials.
Turn-around – Look at their turn-around time – if a proofreader says she'll have your 100,000-word work of art back to you in two days, that's just not gonna happen.
Contract – Sign a contract. I would caution that if the proofreader doesn't use contracts, again, run away. Be sure you can accept the contract payment terms, turn-around time, cancellation terms, additional cost for phone consultations, etc.
NDA – Ask the proofreader to sign an NDA – non-disclosure agreement. You don't want your hard work to end up in someone else's book or in the proofreader's e-book!

About Karen: "I am a voracious, nit-picky proofreading shark! I was raised by two women - a mother who worked for Merriam-Webster as a proofreader and an aunt who could do the New York Times crossword in a day, in pen. Please see testimonials, commitment statement, and other information at my blog."

Amazing Tips for Proofreading and Copy Editing

You know it's important to send in a clean, error-free manuscript if you want to make a good impression on an editor. If you decide to self-publish, perfection becomes even more important – and challenging. Despite the number of traditionally published authors now exploring "indie publishing," self-publishing still has a bad reputation, due to the large number of poor quality books. In some of those, the story is pretty good, but readers get frustrated by typos, grammatical errors, and inconsistencies. Some readers seem to delight in giving books bad reviews on Amazon based on these problems, rather than the quality of the story.
 Even those of us who are "good with English" or easily catch typos may not be qualified as professional proofreaders. Then there's copy editing, which is something different... well, I'll let my guest explain. Here's professional proofreader Karen Elliott to explore the world of proofreading and copy editing. Welcome, Karen!
Karen Elliott:
With self-publishing comes great responsibility. Whether you self-publish or go the way of an agent/publisher, you want to be sure your manuscript makes it to readers as clean as possible and makes sense from Chapter 1 through to The End.  
I cannot define proofreading and copy editing in finite terms – neither, it seems, can anyone else. I'll stick my neck out and say "proofreading" is your garden variety punctuation, typos, and spelling.
"Copy editing" can range from consistency, subject-verb agreement, verb tenses, and word choice or denotation; more in-depth editing might include substantive paragraph and chapter re-writes through developmental rewriting (overhaul).   
Consistency throughout a manuscript is a bit of a problem for some writers. It's not the story's structure – it's keeping it all cohesive with consistent language, proper names, and characters' personalities.
Proofreading and copy editing are a challenge – it's more than just having a dictionary handy. It's more than what you think you know.
Here's a handy DIY for proofreading and copy editing –   
Doing Your Own Proofreading –
Adjust your mind set from "writer" to "proofreader." Forget that you are looking at your baby, your pet, your sweat-stained manuscript. Once you are ready to proofread and copy edit, it's a whole 'nother animal. It's a project. You are looking for things that are wrong.
Spell check – Do not – DO NOT – depend on your computer's spell checker.
Read out loud – Read the piece out loud. This will help you hear where there are stops and starts, what's awkward. Take it a step further – read your MS or short story into a tape recorder, and then listen to it while looking at a printed copy.  
Print it – Sounds silly, but it makes a difference. You've been looking at the project on the screen for a year or two – you need a new perspective – you need to see it on paper. Red pen at the ready!
Dictionary and Style Guides – Use the dictionary and style guides like The Associated Press Stylebook or The Chicago Manual of Style, and desk references for grammar and punctuation – like Diane Hacker's Rules for Writers.  First Reader – Do ask someone to look at your MS with a critical eye. My first reader Joanne Ingram  (a Master's student at ASU School of Journalism) is brutal – she slices and dices like a Samurai.
Mom or BFF – Don't ask mom or the BFF to proofread – unless mom was a H.S. English teacher or a proofreader for Merriam-Webster (my mom was!). Your peeps will probably tell you, "It's wonderful!" or "Fabulous!" Not that you shouldn't trust them, but you shouldn't trust them with proofreading your manuscript.
Sounds like – Look at words like there and their, you're and your, and its and it's. If you know you have trouble with a certain word(s), search for that word throughout your MS. Labor-intensive – yes. But it works.   Take a break – Put the MS aside for a few weeks or a month or two. Then go back to it with fresh eyes.

Copy Editing –
Consistency – Check for inconsistencies in where your characters live, where they work, their likes and dislikes, their phobias (don't say your character is afraid of snakes and then have her holding a python in Chapter 10), favorite foods/allergies (someone is allergic to shellfish and later eats a lobster), and so on.
Names, Proper Nouns – Did you call your main character's boyfriend Allan in the first chapter and Alan in all the other chapters?
Electronic Age – The jury seems to be in a dead-lock over new language and emerging language terms that describe the electronic age and new gadgets. Whether you agree with the AP Stylebook or not, if you are going to use words like e-mail or email, web-site or website, on-line or online – each of these words needs to be consistent throughout your manuscript.
Who's talking? – If your English Teacher character is talking prim and proper English in Chapter 3, make sure she's talking the same way in Chapter 49.
Know your props – If you have your police officer with a Glock in Chapter 4, he should still have a Glock in the final chapter.   
Where are you? – I have often drawn my own maps on a large sheet of paper to maintain perspective. Or use Google maps. If you write Route 83 and Burdick Expressway intersect in Minot, ND, they'd better intersect. If the Sandia Mountains are east of downtown Albuquerque in Chapter 4, don't put them west in Chapter 18.
Excessive or Lack of Punctuation – If a sentence has more than a few commas, it's difficult to read. Same goes for lack of punctuation. Review long sentences or sentences containing commas, colons, semi-colons, or dashes.

CE: Whew, I'm exhausted just reading about all the things you need to do! If it seems like too much, you might consider hiring a professional. Tomorrow Karen will give advice on how to hire a professional proofreader or copy editor, and on Friday she'll offer tips on what to do if you can't afford to hire someone.
About Karen: "I am a voracious, nit-picky proofreading shark! I was raised by two women – a mother who worked for Merriam-Webster as a proofreader and an aunt who could do the New York Times crossword in a day, in pen. Please see testimonials, commitment statement, and other information at my blog."

First Page Critique: YA fantasy

This week's critique is the first page from a novel called Goblin Fruit. The author called it a YA and mentioned 21,500 words. I'm not sure if that's the complete manuscript or what she has written so far, but my first thought is that this is very short for a YA novel. Even middle grade novels tend to be 30,000 to 35,000 words. 40,000 to 60,000 is generally considered normal for young adult novels.
With electronic publishing, there is a greater market for novellas than ever before, but I expect it would be difficult to sell this to a traditional publisher. (Novels in poems or other unusual forms may be an exception. iDracula by Becca Black was probably only a few thousand words, since it was written primarily as text messages.)
Perhaps this is a story that really needs to be told at this length. Or perhaps that number was a typo, or I misunderstood. But to have the best chance to break into traditional publishing with a young adult novel, I would advise the author to expand the story. I did a series of posts in May of last year on how to expand a manuscript that was too short. Click this link, for the following series:  
Friday, May 14, 2010: Pack the plot full Friday, May 21, 2010: Making Muscular Action! Friday, May 28, 2010: Pump up the Drama
You might also want to check out Thursday, April 8, 2010: Developing Your Story: Building theMiddle
Now let's look at the submission:
Frank Harman buttoned a white lab coat over his tie-dyed T-shirt as he hurried toward the nurse's station in the maternity ward.
Anna smiled at him as he came toward her."Thanks for coming, Frank. Sorry to take you away from your data compilation."
He smiled back as he ran his fingers through his tousled brown hair and removed his glasses, wiping them on the lab coat. "That's okay. The study can wait." He rubbed his tired, slightly bloodshot eyes and then put the glasses back on."So what's happening here?"
CE: We meet a couple of characters and get a hint of personality, especially from Frank. I'm assuming both of these people are adults, since there's no evidence to the contrary. I'm not sure which, if either of them is the main character yet. The point of view is fairly distant, not really inside either of them. This also establishes the setting. I'm not fascinated, but I'm not turned off either. I am puzzled about who the main character is, especially if this is supposed to be for teenagers.
Anna frowned. She looked toward an open patient door and then back at Frank. "The patient gave birth to a baby girl this afternoon." Gesturing for him to follow, she walked to the open door, through which a sleeping young woman and a baby in a clear plastic bassinet were visible. The woman's golden brown hair formed a halo around her head and she seemed, at least to Frank, to glow in the lighting.
CE: Another character, and possibly a hint of something mystical in the way she seems to glow. It's subtle though, not necessarily establishing a fantasy element.
Frank gasped. "Sara."
"You know her?"
"A little," he said hoarsely, before clearing his throat. "A long time ago."
CE: So the new mother is apparently also an adult. We get a hint of a past which may be affecting the present.
Anna looked at Frank, as though expecting him to elaborate. When he didn't, she went on. "Actually, I know her too. She's an artist. She used to be at some of the art parties Nick and I attend."
Frank made no response.
Looking back toward Sara, who was sleeping soundly, Anna whispered, "She was a real partier. Always the center of attention. I haven't seen her around lately, though. I didn't know she was pregnant."
Frank nodded absently, like he wasn't really listening.
Anna shook her head. "No complications with the birth. Drug screen came back clean, but I feel like something's off."
CE: Phrases such as "as though expecting" and "like he wasn't really listening" keep the point of view distant. We're not in anyone's head. I'm still not sure who our main character is. This feels like an adult mystery or drama. That's not a bad thing, if that's what it's supposed to be, but young adult? There seems to be a disconnect between the sample and the title/genre, so much so that I wonder if the author pasted in the wrong sample or if I made a mistake somewhere in copying it.
Maybe the baby is the main character later on, and this is a prologue? Then perhaps the story would be better off starting somewhere else.
If I were looking for an adult mystery, I'd probably read a few more pages to see where this is going. I would still want to know who the main character is pretty soon. I also personally like a closer point of view, as it seems more emotional, but that's not suitable for every story. For young adult books, however, first person POV is most common these days, with close third person coming second. The feeling is that teens really want to connect with their hero or heroine.
This sample does a lot of things well—introduces several characters who are presumably important to the story, hints at a problem, put us in a setting, and has a balance between action and dialogue. It feels more distant than I personally like, but the main problem is the confusion over the target readership age and the genre.
Your opening pages make a promise to the reader. They should set up the main character, genre, and style of the story. If this is a young adult novel that has to do with goblins, the opening needs to fit with that. That doesn't mean you need to have goblins in the opening scene, but the opening shouldn't feel like a completely different type of novel.
Check out my posts on First Chapter Challenges and StrongStarts for more help.
Thanks for sharing! Readers, don't forget that you can get a complete manuscript critique for just $1.50 per page. Get details and recommendations on my website. If you have a longer novels or a picture book manuscript, you can get a critique at a discount by pledging through my Kickstarter campaign.

First Page Critique: YA fantasy

Here's our first page critique submission for the week. Goblin Fruit is a YA, 21,500 words. Study it today and check back for my comments tomorrow.
Frank Harman buttoned a white lab coat over his tie-dyed T-shirt as he hurried toward the nurse's station in the maternity ward.
Anna smiled at him as he came toward her."Thanks for coming, Frank. Sorry to take you away from your data compilation."
He smiled back as he ran his fingers through his tousled brown hair and removed his glasses, wiping them on the lab coat. "That's okay. The study can wait." He rubbed his tired, slightly bloodshot eyes and then put the glasses back on."So what's happening here?"
Anna frowned. She looked toward an open patient door and then back at Frank. "The patient gave birth to a baby girl this afternoon." Gesturing for him to follow, she walked to the open door, through which a sleeping young woman and a baby in a clear plastic bassinet were visible. The woman's golden brown hair formed a halo around her head and she seemed, at least to Frank, to glow in the lighting.
Frank gasped. "Sara."
"You know her?"
"A little," he said hoarsely, before clearing his throat. "A long time ago."
Anna looked at Frank, as though expecting him to elaborate. When he didn't, she went on. "Actually, I know her too. She's an artist. She used to be at some of the art parties Nick and I attend."
Frank made no response.
Looking back toward Sara, who was sleeping soundly, Anna whispered, "She was a real partier. Always the center of attention. I haven't seen her around lately, though. I didn't know she was pregnant."
Frank nodded absently, like he wasn't really listening.
Anna shook her head. "No complications with the birth. Drug screen came back clean, but I feel like something's off."

Amazon as Publisher

Amazon seems to be moving further into the business of becoming a publisher, not just a bookseller, as shown in this press release:
SEATTLE, May 04, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) --"Amazon.com today announced the launch of Montlake Romance, the fourth and latest imprint from Amazon Publishing. Connie Brockway, two-time winner of the Romance Writers Association's "RITA Award" for best historical romance, and bestselling author of seventeen novels, including "My Dearest Enemy" and "The Bridal Season," will be the debut author of Montlake Romance. Brockway's new romance, "The Other Guy's Bride," will be published in Fall 2011 and will be available to North American readers in Kindle, print and audio formats at www.amazon.com, as well as at national and independent booksellers."
So far, no submission guidelines have been posted, so it's not clear how they are finding work to publish. The fact that the initial author is apparently well known may suggest that they are focusing on traditionally published authors, at least to start. They are also starting with digital distribution only for the Kindle, but are considering how to get their books to readers who use other electronic devices.
This romance review blog has a few more details from aninterview with Courtney Miller, Senior Acquisitions Editor for Amazon Publishing.
Then Amazon announced their new mystery imprint, Thomas & Mercer Books. They've already signed some authors, including self-publishing evangelist Joe Konrath.
And even more recently, Amazon has started a general trade imprint. Barry Eisler, who made news by turning down a $400,000 traditional deal in favor of self-publishing, has signed on. He explains here. A quote: "The main thing for me is that authors have more options now than we've ever had before.  Self-publishing is one of those options, and it's a great one.  But as new possibilities emerge, I'll consider them, try them, and perhaps integrate them into my overall strategy.  Why would anyone do anything else?"
Amazon has other imprints as well. From the website:
"Amazon Publishing's flagship imprint, AmazonEncore helps unearth exceptional books and emerging authors for more readers to enjoy, using customer feedback and sales information from Amazon's sites."
"AmazonCrossing introduces readers to authors from around the world with translations of foreign language books, making award-winning and bestselling books accessible to many readers for the first time."
"The first imprint from the Powered by Amazon publishing program and the brain child of bestselling author Seth Godin, The Domino Project is a series of short books that will change things for the better, designed for individuals who love new ideas and for organizations of every size."
Learn more about Amazon's Imprints.
Again, it's not clear if/how individual authors can apply to these imprints, or if you simply have to self-publish your Kindle book and hope they find you. That seems to be the case at least for AmazonEncore. From theAmazon web site: "AmazonEncore is a new program whereby Amazon will use information such as customer reviews on Amazon.com to identify exceptional, overlooked books and authors with more potential than their sales may indicate. Amazon will then partner with the authors…."


So Amazon is providing some new opportunities, but so far they seem to favor authors who have already had at least moderate success. It will be interesting to see how traditional publishers adapt to this new challenge to their territory.

Character Building

Today I'm featured on my brother's blog, Let's Schmooze - Doug Eboch on Screenwriting. He's doing a series of interviews asking writers about the techniques they use for character building. See my process on today's post, and check out recent posts for comments from successful scriptwriters.

Books on Writing

Onlinecollegecourses.com offers this list of "50 Books That Will Make You a Better Writer." I can't say that I agree with every one of them -- I can't even say that I've read every one of them -- but they do have my favorite, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King. Categories include Genre, Notable Writers, and Literary Criticism, Reading and Analysis.

Perhaps this is the time to mention that I'm working on a writing book on Advanced Plotting, which I hope to have available as a $.99 e-book by the end of summer.

First Page Critique: A Middle-Grade Novel

This week's first page critique is of "The Automata Maker's Fire-Breathing Housekeeper." The submitter didn't list the age group or genre, but I'm guessing middle grade, and probably fantasy or science fiction based on the title. I think the title is catchy, by the way. A bit of a mouthful which may make it hard to remember, but it is intriguing.
        Miles opened the front door, tripped over the threshold, and staggered into the dark hallway. His backpack, stuffed with schoolbooks and slung haphazardly over one shoulder, threatened to overbalance him and he almost bumped into his brother and sister who were crossing through the hall. They carried a large package wrapped in decorative floral and butterfly paper.
CE: This certainly portrays Miles as clumsy. Of course, it's possible this is not normal behavior, but by starting with this it seems like a character trait. It may be a little too easy, though, a caricature for someone we don't know at all yet. Although his near fall gives a little action to the opening paragraph, I'm more interested in the package and wonder if the opening could be rewritten to focus on that. Maybe something simple like: Miles opened the front door and stared at his brother and sister, who were crossing the hall with a large package wrapped in decorative floral and butterfly paper.
        "What've you got there?" Miles asked as he heaved his gear onto the floor under the hallway table.        "Uncle Dishwasher gave it to me," Theo said frowning.         "Why'd he do that, do you think?" asked Billie. Her eyes were wide as she chewed at her lower lip.
CE: As a general rule, when you have action or gestures with dialogue tags, you don't also need the said or asked part. When removing it, sometimes you may want to reorder the sentences for better flow. And in this case, I might skip the part about Miles heaving his gear onto the floor, if I did decide to change the opening as suggested above. So the rewrite becomes:
      "What've you got there?" Miles asked.      Theo frowned. "Uncle Dishwasher gave it to me."      "Why'd he do that, do you think?" Billie's eyes were wide as she chewed at her lower lip.
        "Maybe he's sorry about how mean he's been to us," Miles said. "Maybe it's a box ofburn ointment to use for all the times he's scorched us. Or maybe it's full of poisoned cookies so he won't be bothered with us anymore."
CE: This certainly sets up their relationship with their uncle and makes the question of the package more intriguing. It also shows that Miles is a quick thinker and has a sense of humor.
        Billie gasped and jerked her hands away from the package. "He has been mean, but maybe he's overworked. You know from all the extra lunches and then two kinds of dinner. And extra laundry, and speaking two languages, and." she trailed off and started nibbling on her thumbnail.
CE: Billy comes across as kind of an idiot. Her excuses may be naïve or kindhearted, but why does she jerk her hands away from the package unless she's really afraid of it? And what does she expect poisoned cookies to do to her if she's just carrying the box? And if it took two of them to carry it, wouldn't Theo drop it now? Besides the bit of illogic, you want to be careful about portraying your only female main character (so far as we know) in a negative light this early in the story, unless you are really just going for boy readers. I'd tone down her reaction.
CE: We do get a few more hints about the family. The uncle now seems not necessarily so bad, but possibly someone hard-working but grumpy. And we see Billie as the sympathetic one.
     Miles snorted and gave her the same disgusted look he always gave when he thought she was excusing the undeserving. Then he glared at Theo. "Why did he give it to you? I'm the oldest."     "I just got home first, I guess."     Miles shrugged. "Let's get a snack before Kazu and Yuji come home. You can unwrap that thing while we eat." Miles dodged past Theo and Billie and headed to the kitchen. He pushed open the swinging door and was about to step into the room when, instead, he hurriedly backed out, stumbling and tripping into Theo and Billie. He put his finger to his lips signaling silence.
CE: Given their curiosity, focusing on the snack first seems odd, unless Miles is trying to play it cool. I might not introduce Kazu and Yuji yet -- we don't learn anything about them and it's getting confusing with so many characters and elements introduced in the first page.
I'm a little concerned about the point of view in this last paragraph. Normally it's best to stick with a cause-effect/action-reaction sequence. In other words, something happens and then someone reacts to it. When you have someone react before showing the cause, that can be jarring, confusing, or even comical. If Theo or Billy were the point of view character, you could have Miles back out and signal for silence before they know his reasons. The point of view is somewhat distant here -- we haven't gotten anyone's thoughts -- but I would have said it was Miles if anyone. In that case, he should see and then react.
I should perhaps mention here that in American middle grade novels, authors generally use a fairly close point of view, usually third person. If they switch point of view, they stick with a character through a scene. British middle grade novels sometimes have a more distant omniscient point of view or a traveling viewpoint that jumps between heads. I don't know why that is.
In any case, I don't see an advantage to hiding what Miles sees. Perhaps it's supposed to increase suspense by making us ask what it is, but that can feel kind of like cheating. If it's something dramatic, showing it will be more dramatic than letting us wonder. If it's not something dramatic, the reality will feel anticlimactic after the tease.
I've been focused mainly on line editing for this sample. Overall, I think there are some interesting elements here and I'm curious about what will happen next. The small question of what's in the package is a nice way to get the reader's attention and introduce the characters, and hopefully lead into a bigger plot question. I'm curious enough to keep reading.
My main concern is that the voice seems a bit weak -- those wordy dialog attributes, for example, and the uncertain viewpoint. So many editors hold voice as all important these days. That's not to say that you have to get fancy or write in a way that seems unnatural, but smoothing out the bumps can make for a better read. Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King has a lot of advice on how to do that. I'm afraid a lot of great ideas don't get published because the writing isn't quite strong enough. I can see things here that would catch an editor's eye, but a little more polishing would really make it work stand out.
Thank you, for sharing, Mollie, and best of luck with the revisions!

First Page Critique: A Middle-Grade Novel

Mollie sent in this first page for critique. I'm guessing this is middle grade.
The Automata Maker's Fire-Breathing Housekeeper          Miles opened the front door, tripped over the threshold, and staggered into the dark hallway. His backpack, stuffed with schoolbooks and slung haphazardly over one shoulder, threatened to overbalance him and he almost bumped into his brother and sister who were crossing through the hall. They carried a large package wrapped in decorative floral and butterfly paper.
        "What've you got there?" Miles asked as he heaved his gear onto the floor under the hallway table.
        "Uncle Dishwasher gave it to me," Theo said frowning.
        "Why'd he do that, do you think?" asked Billie. Her eyes were wide as she chewed at her lower lip.
        "Maybe he's sorry about how mean he's been to us," Miles said. "Maybe it's a box of burn ointment to use for all the times he's scorched us. Or maybe it's full of poisoned cookies so he won't be bothered with us anymore."
        Billie gasped and jerked her hands away from the package. "He has been mean, but maybe he's overworked. You know from all the extra lunches and then two kinds of dinner. And extra laundry, and speaking two languages, and." she trailed off and started nibbling on her thumbnail.
Miles snorted and gave her the same disgusted look he always gave when he thought she was excusing the undeserving. Then he glared at Theo. "Why did he give it to you? I'm the oldest."
 "I just got home first, I guess."
        Miles shrugged. "Let's get a snack before Kazu and Yuji come home. You can unwrap that thing while we eat." Miles dodged past Theo and Billie and headed to the kitchen. He pushed open the swinging door and was about to step into the room when, instead, he hurriedly backed out, stumbling and tripping into Theo and Billie. He put his finger to his lips signaling silence.

Fundraising for Writers

One of the challenges for writers is finding time to write while supporting yourself through other jobs. When it comes to self publishing your work, you need even more time -- plus some money -- to get the project properly edited and formatted with a good cover and then to work on your publicity. Of course, it helps if you have inherited or won loads of money, have a spouse with a well-paying job, or for other reasons don't need to worry about funds. But for the rest of us....

One interesting option that has come to my attention lately is the site Kickstarter. According to the website, "Kickstarter is the largest funding platform for creative projects in the world. Every month, tens of thousands of amazing people pledge millions of dollars to projects from the worlds of music, film, art, technology, design, food, publishing and other creative fields."

These pledges aren't loans and they aren't, strictly speaking, donations. Rather, the project creator offers something in exchange -- signed copies of the book/CD/video, tickets to the event, swag such as T-shirts, or other products or experiences. As the project creator, you decide how much people have to pledge to get each item. For example, in my current project, pledges start at $3 for an e-book version of Rattled, include $15 for a signed print book, $35 for a picture book manuscript critique, $45 for a "Taste of New Mexico" gift pack, $50 for the chance to name a character in my next book, and $80 for a set of my children's books. The options top out at $400 for a novel manuscript critique.

You also set your funding goal. You must reach that goal in order to get any of the money (if you don't reach it, no one pays and you don't provide the gifts). If you go over your goal, you get to keep the extra money. Kickstarter takes a five percent cut. There are some other details, but that's the gist.

How well does it work? I'm not sure yet. I feel awkward asking people to help support me. Some people on the site have funded multiple projects, which suggests they look for appealing ideas even from people they don't know, but realistically, you're more likely to get support from people you know. Plenty of projects seem to get funded, including several where an author was trying to finish or self publish a book. Having realistic expectations probably helps.

You can check out my listing on Kickstarter here. If you've benefited from this blog -- or you just think some of the gift options seem cool -- please consider making a pledge. In a month I'll report back on how well the process worked.