Eight: On Failure

As of ten minutes ago, my Inkshares campaign has expired, lunging and flailing to the finish line well short of their required number of pledges/pre-orders. I started off with a bang -- a bang, I tell ya! -- getting six or seven new backers a day, and finishing strong in the Inkshares contest that motivated me to set up the page in the first place.

Then it just kind of...stopped.

90 days is a long time to try and keep that kind of energy going, to keep on and on and on spamming and spamming and spamming about it, to keep on expecting people to like and share and spread the word for you.

$15 for an ebook ($10 as the preorder/pledge special discounted price) is also kind of a lot of money.

And 750 preorders feels like kind of a lot of preorders to set as a threshold, to hit the full tier of Inkshares support and production.

So it was lots of things needing lots of success. And -- to make it clear I'm not entirely blaming the Inkshares model -- it was my own fault, too (including picking Inkshares, if things are wrong with their crowdfunding model, and I chose to use their crowdfunding model, that's on me, not them).

I hadn't planned on Inkshares. I saw they had a sci-fi contest, I got excited, and I jumped in, head first. I heard about the contest late Saturday night, finished gaming with some buddies, got home about four am, and then got up around six, after tossing and turning, and my wife found me sitting in the living room, typing away, getting ready to share some preview fiction.

I jumped the gun. I got psyched because they were hosting a contest while I was working on a story, it felt like good timing, and winning that Inkshares/Nerdist sponsorship would'a been great. I jumped into their contest when it was half over (still finished in the top 20%!), and just didn't take the time to crowdfund right. I didn't spread the word ahead of time, I didn't leak a few previews before the campaign kicked off, I didn't advertise anywhere professionally; I got excited, and I jumped the gun, that's it.

So, with the failure of my Inkshares campaign for Over The Stars, I'm now officially 50/50 for personal crowdfunding projects (though much better than that if I get to count projects I've been a part of). Sometimes you get the project, sometimes the project gets you.

The answer, now, is focusing back on the initial plan. Keep freelancing (check), keep a steady in-flow and out-flow of contract projects to stay busy, stay creative, and stay profitable (check), get a Patreon up and running for additional creative outlet, fan interaction, and income (checkity check check check)...and move Over The Stars to the back burner, on a slow cook, to likely be a Kindle Direct publication when the time comes (check).

Failure sucks. Trying something and failing? Yeah. It's just about the worst. But I think what's worse is not trying something. As it is, I know folks were about $1,000 interested -- ahead of time, sight unseen! -- in buying copies of Over The Stars, and in doing so at Inkshares' prices. If I can get things finished, edited, and ready to be read, on my own schedule, at my own price scale, and with a little word-of-mouth on my side, a little banner advertisement, a little hype ahead of time? This time, the failure really does just feel like the prelude to success.

Wish me luck. I'll see you there.