Elena Stofle followed The Slave Prince
The Slave Prince
Born a slave, bred a prince. The Slave Prince follows the tale of Thom, a mischievous teenage prince who discovers his lineage in the slave race. When the calling to be the chosen one arises, he relies on the power of a magical stone to save his people.
Elena Stofle followed Reader Writer
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Inkshares’ Customer Service Extraordinaire, if I do say so myself. ...
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Elena Stofle liked the forum thread, Geek N Sundry Contest Entrants: Crowd Funding Guide!
@Joseph Asphahani Thank you, I can’t believe it didn’t occur to me to use the fact that mine’s not a fantasy story to push for it. I still do think it’ll be an obstacle that the genre doesn’t even show up when searched. Last time I checked my book didn’t even show up when I looked it up word for word, the only place I could find it on was Google. I’m sure it’ll still be a stretch for this book but I’m not giving up. If you can I’d also like so feedback, if you don’t want to I won’t hold anything against you, just trying to get more input.
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    Elena Stofle liked the forum thread, Geek N Sundry Contest Entrants: Crowd Funding Guide!
    Greetings everyone! 

    I’m Rick, and I love crowd funding and contests. Since all of you are entering this Fantasy contest (my genre of choice) and I’m going to end up bankrupt in the near future. I figured I’d give you some quick pointers on how to get started on the prospect of crowd funding. Because for many, you’ll quickly find it’s more daunting than you realize. 

    1. Contests are the best way to drive orders to your book because they provide a sense of urgency. ~Make sure you tell people you are in a contest, it’s a big deal, the top 3 get published and be excited. 

    2. In order to crowd fund, you need a crowd. This one is one I often see overlooked. Even if your crowd is 10 people, that’s fine, get those 10 people before you pitch strangers. There is this farmers market theory of kale thing that John Olivir did and it’s totally true. Nobody will buy the one, sad, lonely piece of kale. But that same kale with 10 more people behind it giving it a thumbs up! Perfect.  Basically, before you go mass pitching to anyone who will listen: Get your immediate 100% surefires to order. Spend that time polishing your campaign page. 

    3. Use Video. @Joseph Asphahani ran a fantastic campaign using video updates. Short, simple, and sweet. @Tal M. Klein went and had some amazing muppet ad’s and he was the prior Geek N Sundry contest winner. 

    4. Don’t be afraid to ask people to support yourself, not your book. It’s a small division, but it makes a big deal. Ask people to help support you get published and back that dream. It will take 2 years before they have a book and there is a lot of editing that goes into it. Your story may look completely different, so focus instead on your idea, and who you are and why it’s important to you. 

    5. Focus on your own extended networks, family, and friends first, then turn your attention to crowds and other Inkshare authors. Yes, there is a community here, and everyone is trying to get their books funded. At some point, it’s about playing match maker and cross pollination of reader bases. That is a good and healthy thing. It’s okay to market each others books to your crowd. That’s why you knock your people out of the way first. Then you can help others and others can help you. 

    6. Passive media: Ads, cards, fliers, these things help you build your author brand and focus your vision, but they don’t help with crowd funding in a contest. They won’t net you any sales. What they will do: Is polish your writer brain into a fine-tuned 15 second selling machine. 


    So, those are some of my quick tips. Inkshares had blogged about it before: and Tal Klein wrote his tips. I’m willing to help and offer advice to anyone, just send me a PM. 

    ~Rick Heinz
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      Elena Stofle followed Maggie Hoyt
      Maggie Hoyt
      I love comedy and I love fantasy, and I love them together. Some say I have a masters in useless pur...
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      Elena Stofle liked the forum thread, Feedback + Update Question
      Hi, everyone!

      So I’m new here, and I just put up my book for the Geek and Sundry Contest. I love the idea of this site, and I’m looking forward to meeting and talking to people.

      First, if you want to take a look at me, I won’t complain.

      Second, I have a question for you all about balancing how you release new excerpts. How often? How much? I mean, a) you want feedback, and b) you want people to stay interested and excited, but c) you’ve got to leave some surprises, right?

      I have quite a bit written, and much of it is even okay to be seen, but as the days go by, I’d like to strike the right balance.

      Any advice would be greatly appreciated! And let’s be honest, advice for a new community member in general would be appreciated.

      -Maggie
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        Elena Stofle liked the forum thread, So I Need A Villan
        I pretty much entirely agree with @Joseph Asphahani Other than having a pretty awesome name(AmIright?), but he pretty much hit the nail on the head. The perfect villain is just as likeable/relate-able as your main characters. The best villains ever are the ones you "Love to Hate."

        I won’t elaborate, since Joseph pretty much said everything I would say on the matter, but I’ll provide some examples. 

        If you ever watched the Starz series of Spartacus(it’s my favorite show ever), the blood, sex and violence is a bit over the top but if you dig deeper it has one of the greatest written scripts of all time. The dialogue used on the show is in a Shakespearean style which helps but what makes it so good is the villains are just as likeable as the heroes. You can see where Spartacus, Crixus and Gannicus are coming from but you can also see where Batiatus, Marcus Crassus and Caesar are coming from too.

        ^That’s a pretty obscure example, I know. But let’s do a more known one.

        Batman vs. The Joker. I know, I know... There’s so many stories about the two but the best ones happen to be the ones where The Joker points out the fact that Batman is literally one bad day away(Sorry, just watched "The Killing Joke.") from becoming The Joker. Batman is the hero, but The Joker exists SOLELY to mess with Batman to the point that Batman becomes just as messed up and deranged as him. In most stories it doesn’t work, but they exist to move each other in their "destined"/written path.  Batman needs The Joker and The Joker needs Batman. The plot needs both. The writer needs both. Ultimately, the reader needs both.

        The best Hero/Villain relationships involve them driving each other in the direction they need to take.
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          Elena Stofle followed The Slave Prince
          The Slave Prince
          Born a slave, bred a prince. The Slave Prince follows the tale of Thom, a mischievous teenage prince who discovers his lineage in the slave race. When the calling to be the chosen one arises, he relies on the power of a magical stone to save his people.
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