And that’s exactly why I agreed to step aside @Alisa King . I understand the full point needing to get others in the contest. I’m just waiting for them to shift my page out of the contest at the moment. I’m not planning on ending my campaign, I’ve still got a sequel I would like to fund! :)

@Joey Angotti Don’t worry man, I had just taken off like a bat out of hell before I talked to Inkshares. Just, having my contest page shifted to outside the contest takes a little bit on their end from Thad the developer since I don’t want to undo my work so far.  

If you want my advice, start now, just... start running right now. The contest is going to cause a ton of stress and it’s super fun, I love them, so I jumped in, but it’s a race and it requires a lot of work. 

Here’s the thing: No author has a shot more or less than the others. You see, I took off out of the gates because my friends and family are already registered for the website and I didn’t have to explain it to them. Eventually, I’ll hit the same wall as everyone else.  Because you can only hit your local strangers up for crowd funding: once. (ask anyone whose tried two campaigns)

I gladly willing to coach and help any new author trying to hit the ground game on the best way to get crowd funding going. This contest is 90 days long sure, but don’t way so long. 

As for Seventh Age: Dystopia, I hope you enjoy the concept and I’ll pick up campaign mode on that later on outside of the contest. :)

That’s very respectable @Rick Heinz ! I pre-ordered a copy of Seventh Age: Dystopia and am looking forward to your campaign :D 

Another point to note is that the Inkvengers project was a collaboration of authors who had already experienced success via Inkshares on an individual basis first. That was why each participant was invited to be a part of it, since they had each already shown their ability to muster up pre-orders.

People with established support bases are always going to have an easier time of it than people who are just getting started. That’s kind of inevitable for a contest like this. But don’t let yourself believe it’s a forgone conclusion that someone will win a competition just because they have a large readerbase, or because they’ve won them in the past. When I entered the hard sci-fi competition with Tantalus Depths, I had no existing support base whatsoever and hadn’t been on this site before, AND I entered almost a month into the contest. Sure I didn’t win, but I worked my way up to within a dozen pre-orders of taking fourth place, and now I’m only 90 pre-orders from hitting full publishing. In the end, it all comes down to how much work you put into your campaign. You can be a complete beginner and still run laps around veterans if you’re willing to work harder than they are.

I understand that this should have been noted before the contest began. But by giving those authors that contributed to the Nerdist contest with Too Many Controllers and won a contest already a free pass this go around to enter this one - it kinda feels like this contest is already over and somewhat pointless to enter lol.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still going to enter, but Rick Heinz(First place) already has almost 40 preorders and people are already declaring him the hands-down favorite.

Andre Bun(2nd place) already has 24 preorders - also part of the Inkvengers squad and going strong.

The same can be said about Thomas J. Arnold in third place with Exile, Magus - also was a part of that collaboration.

That means the only qualifying spots are already being dominated to the point of practically being run-aways and the contest is only a day old. It’s a bit daunting for new writers trying to get their fantasy book published to already be that far behind on day 2 due to their(obviously potent) following from the last contest.

I wish nothing but the best and a lot of success for all of the Inkvengers - but with the following they seem to have on this site alone, I’m not sure these contests are something these writers really need. They’re already getting published in Too Many Controllers and have already built quite the following.

This post doesn’t necessarily apply to me as I’ve already self-published a book myself(though a win in this contest would be a huge turning point for me), I’m more concerned about the newer writers wanting to contribute to these contests and the overall future of the Inkshares site in general.

Just my 2 cents, not trying to step on any toes, just trying to add to the ideas/conversation and look out for the little people.

I think this is very wise @Angela Melamud .... when is there a THRILLER/MYSTERY/CRIME contest ?? I promise not to compete ;-)

Dear All,

I know that many previous authors are considering entering the new Geek & Sundry Contest.  

First, I’m very excited that G&S is meaningful to you as a Collection—and don’t worry, this won’t be their last contest on the platform.

But second, I want to make clear that we view contests at Inkshares as a broad opportunity for current and new authors alike. The trick is balancing out "fresh blood" with established members of the community. It would be unfortunate if an "established few" dominated contests over and over. This also carries the problem of people continually running campaigns rather than focusing on their in-progress funded books.

Accordingly, we’re implementing the following rule:

If you’ve been published via a contest (either selected or finished in the qualifying top spots) then you cannot enter another contest until your book is published.

Best,
Angela Melamud
Community/Marketing Manager