You and I have a lot in common: we are both queer, our first language is not English, and we both struggle with anxiety.

I read your excerpt and I reached out to you because I thought it was good. You have talent and you have a good story to tell. I believe in it and I’m sure many others will.

Crowdfunding is not for everybody. For people like us, it requires getting over many fears and it triggers anxiety in its worse way. But this is my conclusion after getting my book funded: the struggle is worth it.

I’m half way through the production process of my book and I cannot tell you how many times I have cried just moved by small things that I never thought would happen to me. When I received the first round of covers with my name in it; when I read my own bio in the back of my book’s jacket and realized what a long way I have come since I came to this country 15 years ago. I say do it. Go for it. Face your anxiety and keep pushing because the price is worth it.

Now, to how you are funding your book. My position on this is not the most popular in the site but I stick by it. You are not only selling your book you are selling yourself, your story. This campaign is not about reaching to people who will read your book, it is about reaching to people who care enough about you to help you make your dream come true. When your book is out on bookstores you will get readers and fans of your work, now you are looking for supporters. The ladies of my town’s senior center where I volunteer giving rides on election day bought my book. They will never read it and that is ok. They bought it because I’m nice and they think my accent is hysterical. I’m thankful to them.

This means that it doesn’t matter if your circle doesn’t  speak english. 1/3 of my books were sold to friends and family in Chile, of them 2 speak English. That means that about 300 people who can’t read my book paid for it anyways. 

Sit in front of you computer, open an excel sheet and make a list of every single person you know (everybody) every friend you have on facebook, every relative, every acquaintance. Then go through the list and think how much can each person afford to support you (not if they will or not, but how many books you think they can afford to buy) then either go and talk to them or send a personal message to every single one of them asking them to get your book. Follow up, over and over. People will forget, not because they don’t want to support you, but because you are not a priority and that is ok. follow up until they pre-order.

But for this to work you have to be brave, that is all I ask you. Be brave because people like me have your back. I cannot get you 750 orders, but I can get you 10 and the support of my Syndicate. Just know you are not alone.

Tal - it’s true that I have to get out there and I know it. The anxiety is a problem but it’s not going to stop me. I’ve been through quite a lot in my life so far, not all of it is something I’d want to talk about in public. But I’ve learned that I can survive just about anything and writing a few emails or tweets, no matter how scary, is not going to bring me down. I hope :D

A.C. - I’ve actually started to look into pre-paid credit cards, which is an option. The bigger problem is that people around here just don’t generally have them. Debit cards are the way to go in Germany and very few people who don’t order a lot of stuff online or travel abroad ever need them. I honestly don’t know how that might affect orders, like, if one friend orders for five, does that still count as five orders?

Ricardo - I already told you how much it means to me that you would choose my book for the syndicate and I want to say thank you again. Our community here is small, but online I’ve truly found the place and the people I belong with. And writing this book is about half for myself, the girl who needed to read this book when she was growing up, because let’s be real - you can never go wrong with queer people in space - and half for the community, because I know how thirsty we all are for books about people like us doing stuff and being heroes and flying bad-ass space ships.

I’ve already learned so much in the last few days and I can say with some certainty that I want my books to be published here. It’s the compromise between true self-pub and traditional that I was always looking for. I’m not goint to pretend it will be easy, but I’m looking forward to it.