Kickstarters and Unicorns
This morning my first Kickstarter project has closed and it has been an unmitigated success. This is not to say that there weren’t a few road bumps and that I didn’t learn more than a few things on the journey. Here I am presenting an overview of how things started, what happened, how it all ended … and what the next one might be.
I had been holding onto the massive manuscript that is the complied version of the Shores of the Dead Trilogy for almost a year when I got very very tired of trying to work inside the stale world of traditional publishing. As much as a part of me wanted to get a kick-ass agent and be published by a giant book mill there was an even larger part of me that was totally an Indy-Boy at heart. In early 2012 I read “Tough Shit” by Kevin Smith and it changed my life. I decided after finishing reading that book in one day that “Fuck Agents and Publishers, I am doing this shit myself.”
The first thing I did was look into financing.
I knew that I could handle some of the expenses out of pocket but even doing things as on the cheap as possible I was still going to need to hire a professional artist to do the covers and I needed to hire a third party editor. One of my maxims, one of the things I believe above all others when it comes to being a professional writer;
“NO WRITER SHOULD EVER BE HIS OR HER OWN FINAL EDITOR!”
As far as I am concerned there are no exceptions to this rule. I don’t give a shit what one publisher told me as he tore my work to pieces years ago. Even Stephen King agrees with this.
So I decided that the best way to raise capital was crowd sourcing. Asking strangers and social media friends to help fund my work through a third party service bothers me a lot less than begging family and close friends for funds. That half of the project was financed in the end by people I know and love but this way just feels more “Legit” to me.
So I set the parameters of the project (60 days, $1000 goal, and a string of rewards for backers) and after Kickstarter reviewed it I launched it. The process was relatively smooth and the money was pledged steadily allowing us to hit out goal three quarters of the way to the deadline. In the end we even hit the one stretch goal that I set.
It was awesome.
Completion has meant that I can do everything I want to do. I can afford to pay the awesome Mike Mumah (www.artofmikemumah.com) to do the covers for the trilogy. I have admired his work for years and his style fits well with the tone of the books. I will also be able to pay for a professional editor and for a bit of advertising. The experience required me to whore my project online for almost sixty days. At first this was a daunting prospect but as it turned out it does not bother me in the least to ask people to give me money in return for rewards and the knowledge that they are supporting something that I believe in.
But I made some mistakes.
First – I never made a video for the Kickstarter and several people I know told me that next time I just need to get over my reluctance and do it. To be fair I did make a couple but I will never subject any of you to them.
Second – I set the Kickstarter for the maximum length of sixty days. Next time I am going to set it for thirty days, I think more people will be likely to help if they know it’s not going to be around much longer.
Third – I want to have some art to post with Kickstarter when I launch it which means paying for it before the Kickstarter.
But now the fun part begins, the artist is hard at work and the first book is almost edited. When I get the bits and pieces back I will assemble them and the first volume of the Shores of the Dead Trilogy (The Rising) will be ready to roll!
My next project I am currently working on. I expect the first draft of my Young Adult Horror Novel (Camp of the Dead) to be done by December 1. I have an artistic team lined up to do the cover for this book and I will be paying for them and the editor out of my own pocket. The next project that I will be Kickstarting will be my Zombie Roleplaying Game (The Risen Dead). Production of that will begin early next year and I think the budget will be $3500 tentatively.
So that is the update folks. Right now I am feeling awesome, like I had stiff drink and am watching Mystery Science Theater 300!
Chasing the Unicorn Bitches!
I had been holding onto the massive manuscript that is the complied version of the Shores of the Dead Trilogy for almost a year when I got very very tired of trying to work inside the stale world of traditional publishing. As much as a part of me wanted to get a kick-ass agent and be published by a giant book mill there was an even larger part of me that was totally an Indy-Boy at heart. In early 2012 I read “Tough Shit” by Kevin Smith and it changed my life. I decided after finishing reading that book in one day that “Fuck Agents and Publishers, I am doing this shit myself.”
The first thing I did was look into financing.
I knew that I could handle some of the expenses out of pocket but even doing things as on the cheap as possible I was still going to need to hire a professional artist to do the covers and I needed to hire a third party editor. One of my maxims, one of the things I believe above all others when it comes to being a professional writer;
“NO WRITER SHOULD EVER BE HIS OR HER OWN FINAL EDITOR!”
As far as I am concerned there are no exceptions to this rule. I don’t give a shit what one publisher told me as he tore my work to pieces years ago. Even Stephen King agrees with this.
So I decided that the best way to raise capital was crowd sourcing. Asking strangers and social media friends to help fund my work through a third party service bothers me a lot less than begging family and close friends for funds. That half of the project was financed in the end by people I know and love but this way just feels more “Legit” to me.
So I set the parameters of the project (60 days, $1000 goal, and a string of rewards for backers) and after Kickstarter reviewed it I launched it. The process was relatively smooth and the money was pledged steadily allowing us to hit out goal three quarters of the way to the deadline. In the end we even hit the one stretch goal that I set.
It was awesome.
Completion has meant that I can do everything I want to do. I can afford to pay the awesome Mike Mumah (www.artofmikemumah.com) to do the covers for the trilogy. I have admired his work for years and his style fits well with the tone of the books. I will also be able to pay for a professional editor and for a bit of advertising. The experience required me to whore my project online for almost sixty days. At first this was a daunting prospect but as it turned out it does not bother me in the least to ask people to give me money in return for rewards and the knowledge that they are supporting something that I believe in.
But I made some mistakes.
First – I never made a video for the Kickstarter and several people I know told me that next time I just need to get over my reluctance and do it. To be fair I did make a couple but I will never subject any of you to them.
Second – I set the Kickstarter for the maximum length of sixty days. Next time I am going to set it for thirty days, I think more people will be likely to help if they know it’s not going to be around much longer.
Third – I want to have some art to post with Kickstarter when I launch it which means paying for it before the Kickstarter.
But now the fun part begins, the artist is hard at work and the first book is almost edited. When I get the bits and pieces back I will assemble them and the first volume of the Shores of the Dead Trilogy (The Rising) will be ready to roll!
My next project I am currently working on. I expect the first draft of my Young Adult Horror Novel (Camp of the Dead) to be done by December 1. I have an artistic team lined up to do the cover for this book and I will be paying for them and the editor out of my own pocket. The next project that I will be Kickstarting will be my Zombie Roleplaying Game (The Risen Dead). Production of that will begin early next year and I think the budget will be $3500 tentatively.
So that is the update folks. Right now I am feeling awesome, like I had stiff drink and am watching Mystery Science Theater 300!
Chasing the Unicorn Bitches!
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