Sylvia Shults's Blog, page 85

“Help Me, Obi Wan Kenobi … You’re My Only Hope”

Well! We’re halfway through this whole crowdfunding experiment … and yet we’re not halfway.

“Hang on a second,” I hear you cry. “Sylvia, how can that be? How can we be halfway and not halfway at the same time? Is this one of those logic-math questions where you can only go halfway and you never get where you’re going?”

Um, no. I don’t do math, and you can’t make me, because I’m a grownup. What I’m talking about it this crowdfunding gig.

It’s halfway over. We have only two weeks left before it’s done, finito, no more chances to preorder the book. But — and here’s the frustrating part — we are nowhere near the halfway point of funding.

Here’s the thing; I could have gone with a platform like GoFundMe, where there is no time limit. But with GoFundMe, there are also no perks. It’s just someone asking for money, given out of the goodness of people’s hearts.

While that’s all well and good and warm and fuzzy, I wanted to give YOU something in return. I’m asking you to part with some of your hard-earned bucks. It’s only fair that you should get something for that money. That’s why I set up a bunch of really cool perks. And I had fun doing it too — I had a blast deciding what people would enjoy getting in return for their money.

So if you decide to visit https://publishizer.com/44-years-in-darkness/ and drop some moolah there, think of it this way: say you spend $20 on a preorder for October. That’s like getting a pizza for dinner. Or if you spring for $30 to preorder the book, and get it two months early, at the beginning of August; that’s like getting Starbucks coffee for the week. What I’m saying is that it doesn’t take all that much dough to make an author really happy. Plus you get to keep the book on your shelf (and your computer, since you get the ebook automatically too) forever. (Try that with a pizza.)

So please. Visit . Take a look at the perks I’m offering. And as always, thank you so much for your support.

Halfway there! Well, sort of…

This coming Monday will mark the halfway point of my crowdfunding campaign for the upcoming book, 44 Years in Darkness. (The link to which can be found here: https://publishizer.com/44-years-in-darkness/ )

Halfway usually means 50% or, say, 125 out of 250. I really, REALLY wish I could tell you all that that’s where we are with this campaign.

Unfortunately, I can’t, as my mom raised me to be honest and not tell lies.

We are nowhere near 50%. We’re nowhere near 25%. We’re not even within spitting distance of 10%.

I’ve talked before about why I’m doing this. I want to get the message out about Rhoda Derry’s amazing story. And to do that, I really honestly do need your help. And your preorder does a lot more than you might think. It’s not money in my pocket (well, it is, but only on paper, and only for a little while, until I order a bunch of books using that money, and send them out to radio shows and magazines.)

Preordering books helps an author, obviously, but it also affects the publishing ecosystem in a number of ways. It proves to the publisher that the author is in demand. It also helps the author feel good about herself and not sit around in the mornings, weeping quietly but openly into her Frosted Flakes. So, you know, there’s that. (Thanks to Chuck Wendig for the visual.) And thanks to you — because only you can prevent soggy, salty Frosted Flakes. (Because, ew.)

Tomorrow is Sunday. Tomorrow, I am planning on hitting 70,000 words, and also, finishing the first draft of the book. After that, it goes to the editors. When I get it back, I’ll be fixing all the little fiddly bits and polishing it up to make it the best story I can tell you.

Please visit https://publishizer.com/44-years-in-d... and preorder a copy of the book. It’s going to be great. It may even change your life, or someone else’s life. You never know. Thank you so much for your support — it means a lot to me, and it’s not something I take lightly. Thank you.

Demons and Fireworks, Oh My!

We’re in the middle of the Fourth of July Kindle promotion! Visit https://www.thekindlebookreview.net/4... for your chance to win a Kindle gift card!

Reason I mention it is that one of my books, Hunting Demons: A True Story of the Dark Side of the Supernatural, is one of the books you’ll see when you follow that link. I had loads of fun writing that book, and learning about the differences between demons in Western and Eastern culture. In Eastern culture, demons are more of a part of daily life than they are over here.

And demons are closely connected with fireworks, which makes this Kindle promotion just perfect. This picture is one of the Yukijin, the demon guardians of the hot springs in Japan. They carry a sword to protect people from evil spirits, and shake a stick of bells as they walk, to drive away bad luck.

And I did promise you guys another Lights Out episode, and here it is. In this episode, I chat with a fellow investigator about an experience he had as a young boy. Lights Out #23: Demons (1). Think demons don’t exist? Think again! A ghost hunter tells of his encounter with a dark entity — at the age of seven. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpCCdO_VmLE

Enjoy your weekend!

Photo credit: Dai-chi Takimotokan website

A Little Light Housekeeping

Hi everyone!

Okay, so folks unfamiliar with the fact that I now have this website up and running might be a trifle confused about all the stuff that’s been showing up in my Facebook feed over the past week. Here’s the explanation: my friend Bryan Wolford (hi Bryan!) is the guy who set Lights Out up on iTunes for me, through his Drunken Zombie website. Well, now that DZ is no more (sniffle), Bryan most graciously took on the task of setting up THIS HERE WEBSITE on iTunes for me, so I didn’t have to lose handfuls of hair and give up halfway through. If you see Bryan around, please, please buy the guy a beer — he is made of awesome.

So the upshot of all this is that in the process of setting things up on iTunes, so that stuff I post here shows UP on iTunes, Bryan posted all of the Lights Out shows SO FAR, here on the site. Which is cool, because hopefully it reminds folks that the show is out there. I have one more show to post that some of you may have already heard … I’m going to post it again here, so that it shows up on iTunes.

And then … (and then? And then?) … any show I post here will be brand-new stuff. And one is coming up later on today! So stick around — I have got loads of great stuff coming up for you in the next couple of weeks. As ever, thank you for your patronage.

Lights Out #22: Monmouth College. Come along on a haunted campus tour of Monmouth College.https://youtu.be/k_byy7NVlA8

So What Makes You Think You Need $5000, Anyway?

Wow, we’re up to 60,ooo words on the book! (Which, BTW, can be preordered at https://publishizer.com/44-years-in-darkness/ , in case anyone would like to follow the link.)

So why am I doing this? Why am I asking friends, family, even complete strangers for money? If I get 250 preorders, like the crowdfunding site says I must in order to get paid anything at all, I will have $5000 sitting in the bank (assuming only 250 preorders at $20 each. Advance preorders are going for $30, which means if I get 250 of THOSE moved, I’ll have $7500 to play with.)

Why do I need $5000? Well, here’s why (since you asked). I feel that Rhoda’s story is very important — her experience, as horrifying as it was, being locked in a crib for 44 years, actually led to changes in the way the mentally ill were treated. Rhoda Derry became a living object lesson in the humane treatment of the severely mentally ill. She didn’t HAVE to spend decades locked away from the world. But she did. And Dr. Zeller made darned sure that everyone knew about it, and that it never had to happen again.

I would like to promote this book when it comes out. (I work with a small indie publisher, who has no marketing budget. Any marketing I do, is on me.) I plan to order at least forty ARCs (advance review copies) at the beginning of August, along with the advance copies I need to fill the orders I’ve already received (thanks bunches to you three, I appreciate it!)

Those ARCs will be sent off around the country, to newspapers and magazines for review, and for people in the public eye who are concerned with mental health, people like Glenn Close, Patrick Kennedy, Maria Shriver, Kitty Dukakis, and Carrie Fisher. I hope to get these folks interested in the book, so that they will spread the word. I’m hoping a few of them will even be willing to write blurbs for the back cover of the book, to encourage people to buy.

So! Providing I get 250 preorders, that’s 290 books I need to print up through Createspace. At, oh, say $10 a book, that’s $2900. Then I’ll be spending an average of, let’s say $5 apiece on postage. That’s another $1450. So we’re up to $4350 so far. If I have money sitting in the bank to cover this, that’s wonderful. I can do all the promotion I want, and not worry about where the money will come from.

I’d also like to run a giveaway through Goodreads. I ran a giveaway in April for my book The Taming of the Werewolf, for Shakespeare’s birthday. I offered three copies — and 547 people entered the giveaway. There’s interest out there, I promise. So if I order twenty copies of 44 Years in Darkness, I know people will enter the giveaway. There’s another twenty ARCs, and another round of postage, which brings our total to $4650.

I could go on — I’m planning to enter the book in the USA Best Book Awards, which has an entry fee of $69 — but you get the idea.

This money that you’re giving me WILL be put to good use. Crowdfunding is a wonderful way to accomplish this. If everyone gives a little, we can do great things with the total.

I invite you to visit https://publishizer.com/44-years-in-darkness/  . Thank you so much for following the link, and for exploring the many perks I have put together in exchange for your contributions. I look forward to seeing those numbers go up. (Just like the word count numbers on my computer screen — hey!)

Get ‘Em While They’re Hot!

Hey, everybody! Here’s a chance for you to win one of four $50 Amazon gift cards on July 4th. I’ve joined a group of authors and The Kindle Book Review in the 4th of July Giveaway June 20 – July 4. Winners will be announced on Independence Day, so that’s pretty cool. It’s easy & fun. I’ll be featuring the eBook for Hunting Demons: A True Story of the Dark Side of the Supernatural. If you love reading, click the link to enter. ~> https://wp.me/P2H01p-8Ds

It’s the Berries!

Every so often, you just have to take a bit of time for yourself and chill out in the garden. (Well, I do, anyway.)

I headed out to the red raspberry patch next to the house with a cereal bowl. I had gotten about halfway through my picking when I realized that the bowl was full — so I went back into the house for another one. And I filled that one too!

Now, what to do with all those lovely berries … put them over ice cream? Save them until I have enough for a batch of jam? (At this rate, I’ll be making jam next Tuesday!) It seems a shame to just toss them in the blender with my morning smoothie. They deserve a better, loftier fate than that!

A Bit More

Hello again! Well, this crowdfunding thing is in full swing now, and I’ve gotten a couple more shares — thank you for sharing! Some of you on Facebook know me, but a lot of you seeing this post — especially if you’re seeing a share — might not know me. And yeah, having a total stranger ask you for money is kind of weird. So for those of you who don’t know me, or haven’t met me in person, let’s sit down and chat.

I’ve loved ghost stories ever since I was a kid, especially true ghost stories. As I got older, I tried to feed that curiosity by getting a Master’s degree in History. (And boy, has that come in handy when doing research for 44 Years in Darkness.) That was such a great experience, because it taught me that the people behind these stories were real, not just sepia-toned photographs or dry ink on a page.

But my brain kept saying, “Show me the spooky!” So what did I do with my history degree? I started writing books of true ghost stories. I’m lucky enough to live just a short ten-minute motorcycle ride away from one of the most haunted places in Illinois, the Peoria State Hospital in Bartonville. And that place has certainly cast its spell over me. It made an appearance in my first nonfiction book, Ghosts of the Illinois River. Soon I discovered that the asylum had many more stories hidden on its grounds. Those stories became my second ghost story book, Fractured Spirits: Hauntings at the Peoria State Hospital.

That book, Fractured Spirits, has been my best seller so far. So many people are interested in the real history of the Peoria State Hospital. When you say “haunted mental asylum”, your mind goes all American Horror Story on you, and you automatically assume there was pain and fear and abuse. It is my deep privilege to tell people that this was NOT the case at Bartonville. This was a place of compassion. And people are interested in the folks who lived there, too, the patients that Dr. Zeller and his staff cared for with such devotion. Rhoda Derry was one of those cherished patients. She suffered so much … but at the Peoria State Hospital, she finally found peace.

If you are interested in learning more about Rhoda’s story, I encourage you to follow this link: https://publishizer.com/44-years-in-d... . It will take you to the crowdfunding campaign I’ve set up for my upcoming book. While you’re there, take a look at the many perks I’ve put together for you — perks like getting to read the book a full two months before the rest of the world does.

Thank you for your kind support. We’ll chat again soon.

Quick Update

Well, my crowdfunding campaign for 44 Years in Darkness has successfully launched, and we’re a couple of days into it. I’ve had a couple of nibbles, which is great, and the campaign link has been shared seven times on Facebook, which is even better!

The campaign is through Publishizer, which is like Kickstarter, with a focus on authors and their work. Here’s the link: https://publishizer.com/44-years-in-darkness .  There are fun perks to explore, and I’ll be checking in with you several more times over the next month. Thanks for your support!

Lights Out Episode 20: Luke Naliborski

A conversation with the funny and talented Luke Naliborski, author, ghost hunter, and haunted Alton tour guide.

Listen to the episode HERE.

(Right Click and choose SAVE AS to Download)