It’s been an interesting year, and with all the progress that I’ve made, I now find myself back at the beginning. I loved being a part of the Nerdist contest. I was able to connect and ultimately friend some outstanding writers, discover some amazing books, and push myself harder than I ever thought possible. It was a rollercoaster of tears; tears of joy, tears of frustration, and tears of sorrow. And yea, I didn’t make it, but in my mind I didn’t ultimately fail.
I won.
I became a better writer.
A year later and it’s a brand new day. Geek & Sundry are running a contest for fantasy stories, and I just so happen to have one ready. Why this contest? Because Felicia Day is one of my spirit animals, and I won’t let my previous failure define who I am as a writer.
So many of you supported me last time around, and here I am hat in hand, asking if you’d consider supporting me once again. Because even through A Beast Requires didn’t make its goal, your support pushed me to keep on editing and revising. It pushed me to get better, to be better, and I think you’ll all be happy with what I’ve accomplished.
Once again, for just $10 you get the chance to back me, and get a sparkling edition of A Beast Requires as an ebook. There’s also a dead tree edition… I mean paperback, for $20, which will come with that fabulous, one of a kind, new book smell.
It’s going to be a long campaign, and I know I’m going to have to push it if I want to stay in the top ten of Geek and Sundry’s Fantasy Contest. With your help, I can do this. With your help, we can see A Beast Requires in print, and I can so totally shove it in the faces of all the dudes who picked on me in high school.
So once again it’s time to #feedthebeast
Let’s do this.
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