Kickstarter Goals: Figuring out the Overhead

I'm still studying Loren L. Coleman's book about crowd funding. I've been supporting various Kickstarters for ten years, but this is the first time I've considered doing one.

The hardest part is estimating the overhead. The Kickstarter fee is easy enough. But it's the physical rewards that are a mess.

Loren recommends keeping it simple for your first Kickstarter and only use digital rewards. The problem is I know several of my readers prefer paper. I'm not even trying to do something new like hardcovers yet. That will come next year.

I'm looking at my basic trade paperbacks. The shipping in the U.S. is bad enough right now. But there's also my overseas readers who want paperbacks.

I've already ordered magnets and stickers as promo for my new series in preparation of the Local Author Fair in November. And a part of me wants t-shirts to wear at the fair, so if I'm going to order them, why not offer them as a reward on the Kickstarter.

It's all something to consider and calculate and make sure shipping is covered.

Budgeting and accounting makes my head ache.

Studying Kickstarters

After years of funding other people's projects, I've been studying fiction Kickstarters for a while now as a new way to introduce my books into the world. Here's a couple I'm studying:

A friend of mine Matt Herron, aka MG Herron, has taken the plunge before me. His Kickstarter for his space opera trilogy, Relics of the Ancients has been been going like gangbusters. He's got some awesome things as rewards. Things I've considered like stickers, bookmarks, and t-shirts. And some things I haven't like little models of his series' starfighters. It's a super-awesome campaign, and you should check it out!

And once again, WMG Publishing is running a Kickstarter for a new Kris Rusch book. It's the first novel involving her Spade and Paladin characters. *SQUEE*

However, the better part are the classes WMG offers for writers as part of their rewards. The awesome part is a lot of these classes are aimed at mid-level writers, i.e. those of who have a novel or 60 out in the world and are trying to fine-tune their work. It doesn't mean newbies won't get anything out of these classes.

Anyway, both of them give me ideas on how to handle my own Kickstarter when I'm ready to dive in.

Half-Price Classes

If you're a writer and want to expand a particular skill set, now's the time to take an online class. WMG Publishing is once again offering 1/2 price classes, online workshops, and challenges on Teachable.

WMG Publishing is owned by Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Between the two of them, they've amassed nearly 100 years of experience in the publishing industry as writers, editors, and publishers.

You can take more than one offering at half-off, but you need to buy each one separately because Teachable doesn't have a shopping cart. The coupon code for this deal is

RESOLUTION

The sale ends in approximately 48-hours. For more info, or if you have any questions, go to Dean Wesley Smith's post.

I've taken both online and in-person classes, and I'm currently doing the Publishing Challenge. I've always learned something from these classes.

And with COVD-19 still raging across the country, this is a safe way to improve your skills as a writer or a publisher.

Just remember the deal ends on Friday!

More Learning Opportunities During the COVID-19 Pandemic

MasterClass is having a BOGO annual membership drive right now. The membership gives you access to ALL the classes they have available, not just the writing classes, but cooking, painting, music, etc.

Personally, I'd pay that for the Neil Gaiman class alone.

You could split the cost with a friend. The deal ends Sunday, May 10th.

Consequences

This picture in the form of a magnet rests on my refrigerator door. There's two reasons for it.

Reason #1: In any career, a person must continue to learn new things. Sometimes though, the lessons become so embedded in the subconscious that you don't realize you've learned it until you use it.

Reason #2: I love the TV show Supernatural. I didn't watch it for the first four seasons because I was afraid I'd jinx it.

On a side note: Every frickin' time I fall in love with a show in it's first season, it gets canceled. Misfits of Science. Cancelled. Quark. Cancelled. Almost Human. Cancelled. Hell, I didn't watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer until the John Ritter episode late in the second season because I didn't want it to get cancelled.

Anyway, back to Supernatural. Once the producers and writers got past creator Eric Kripke's original five-season story arc of stopping the Christian apocalypse, the following season dealt with the ramifications of Sam's last episode of Season 5 decision.  Subsequent seasons create a gigantic pile of decision/consequence until the stack tumbles with the twelfth (current) season back to the variation of the original problem, stopping Lucifer.

Consequences of past decisions has been an occurring theme over the last two seasons of The Walking Dead and in the last several books of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series as well.

As I'm working on the last three books of the Bloodlines series, I already knew they dealt with the consequences of Sam's creation. But I started wondering how to work in the consequences of the other characters' decisions into the last volumes.

And when I was re-reading a section of Ravaged the other night, I realized I had already done so. Specifically, the consequences of Bebe's decision in Blood Magick and Alex's in Blood Sacrifice. I knew these two characters need to be in Ravaged, but I didn't know why until I watched the mid-season finales of both The Walking Dead and Supernatural. And in separate conversations, Logan (who made a very brief appearance in Zombie Love) and Alyson (a new to readers character) come right out and say, "Yeah, it's your fault because of what you did/failed to do, but now, we need to figure out how to clean up the mess."

Wow! Talk about an epiphany.

So, keep studying the things you like, understand why you like them, and it'll improve your writing.

Why I Continue Learning as I Write

Despite the coughing and fatigue still plaguing me, I managed to finish the second round of edits on A Question of Balance yesterday morning. For new readers' sakes, here's the steps I use for editing any story:

1) Read the story. Take notes on a legal pad. Look for plot holes, timeline problems. etc. Review notes and fix problems. Once satisfied, pass the story to a beta reader.

2) Fix problems the beta reader caught. Read through for typos.

3) Upload story file to tablet. Use text-to-speech to read back story for rhythm and finding additional typos. (I used to use MSReader on my old laptop until Microsoft discontinued it and Isabella crashed. I downloaded a text-to-speech program to my Samsung tablet. I could choose language and accent, so I have a British female reading my stories to me. It's pretty cool!)

Since I generally take a mental break between each round, yesterday afternoon, I picked up Dean Wesley Smith's How to Write Fiction Sales Copy that he wrote last year. As I've said before, the last book I published was Blood Sacrifice in 2013. I definitely need a refresher before I start on the blurb for A Question of Balance.

And I think that's where many writers make a major mistake. Once they've learned one aspect of the craft or the business, they stop and rely on that form for the rest of their career.

The problem is that tastes and processes change over time. Is a style of blurb I used three years ago going to work this year? I don't know, which is why I studying the subject again.

In March, I had to relearn how format files for uploading to the various retailers because requirements changed at every retailer I used. Criteria had changed due to reader requests and distributors needs and upgrades. I could not longer rely on my skills from 2011.

And with each story, I work on some aspect of craft. With A Question of Balance, I worked on historical research and male characterization. In Zombie Goddess, I'm practicing interweaving three separate storylines.

Decades ago, my great-grandfather said the only constant in the universe is change. His words definitely apply to writing and publishing.

So what new thing have you learned lately?

P.S. If you want to read Dean's book online, it starts on his blog. Or you can buy it. (I suggest the paperback so you can scribble notes in the margins, but it is definitely available by e-book, too.)

Business Plan Part 3 - Time Commitment

Currently reading - My Zombie Valentine by MacAllister, Fox, Mancusi, Cash

Make no mistake--writing a novel takes a lot of time. Sure, Nora can whip out a first draft in thirty days. But she's got decades of experience under her garters, not to mention she can write full-time. Most of us just starting out don't have that luxury. Day Jobs are necessary to keep that roof over your head.

Sit down and put together a schedule of your commitments for the week. Now look where you can shave extra time for writing. Be realistic! Your Day Job co-workers would like you to take the occasional shower. The dogs want to be fed because, let's face it, while the couch provides plenty of fiber, it lacks in protein.

For most folks, it means giving up a few hours of TV or social networking in the evening. Originally, I carved out time by writing during my lunch hour and taking a couple of hours on the weekend. I was lucky to get 1,000 words written per week. So I was looking at taking two years just to write a first draft. Not good if I want to be writing full time and making a certain amount of money. I learned through the education process that most writers making a living at commericial fiction (my ultimate goal, remember?) are putting out two or more books per year.

I ramped up the education factor by taking a hard look at how the professionals do it. Stephanie Bond eliminated most social obligations until her first book sold. Then she negotiated with her employer to work part-time until more books sold. Christie Craig worked as a freelance photojournalist to have the flexibility to work on her fiction. Stephen King taught school during the day, then spent his evenings typing furiously to produce Carrie.

I plotted more extensively, typed faster and coerced my family into leaving me alone for certain portions of the evening and weekend. And this is where most writers (especially the female writers) hit the guilt wall.

I can't tell you how to let the guilt go, but you've got to find a way. Trust me, no kid (to my knowledge) has died of a Pop-Tart overdose yet. And research shows we humans eat about two pounds of dirt per year anyway.

Now we've educated ourselves and made the time commitment, tomorrow we need to take a look at our support system.

Business Plan Part 2 - Craft Education

Currently reading - My Zombie Valentine by MacAllister, Fox, Mancusi, Cash

Okay, I've made the decision to write novel-length fiction. But what do I know about it? Well, other than putting a bunch words on a few sheets of paper.

In order to have a plan, I need to be knowledgeable enough to make the plan. That means education. C'mon, would you really trust a guy who didn't have the slight clue about human anatomy to operate on you?

Again, be brutally honest with yourself. How much do you know about point-of-view, scene hooks, chapter hook, dialogue, or plotting? And are you willing to put in the time and effort to learn these things?

Very few of us start out knowing anything, much less everything we need to write a book. Take writing courses, either in person or online. Pick up a how-to book. Join a local writer's group. If there's not a group nearby, then join one online. There's tons of resources out there. Here's a few of my favorites:

Writing the Break-Out Novel by Donald Maass (Terrific book!)
Romance Writers of America (Great educational programs)
Backspace: The Writer's Place (Wonderful online community)
How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card (The man's personal issues aside, good reference on world building)
The Everything Guide to Writing a Romace by Christie Craig and Faye Hughes (Okay this is a little ego trip since I'm mentioned in the acknowledgements.)

As always, many of the blogs listed on your right offer great advice as well.

Tomorrow, we'll talk about the time commitment.

Outdated Skills

Currently reading - Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand by Carrie Vaughn

Oops! Sorry about the screwy type on yesterday's blog post. It goes to show they can't make HTML idiot-proof. In the old days when I was a computer jockey, monitor screens only had one color of background (black) and one color of print (green). Even with all the shortcuts today, I still need help. LOL

Which comes to today's theme. You got to constantly improve your skills to make yourself relevant in today's market. And it doesn't matter what freakin' career you have or industry you're involved in.

If you don't have a writer's group near you or the money to take a class at the local college, there's lots and lots of online resources.

Check out any of the blogs I've listed to the right. There's also:

Backspace - http://www.bksp.org/
Write Attitude - http://www.writeattitude.net/
Lisa Gardner's Website - http://www.writeattitude.net/
Stephanie Bond's Website - http://www.stephaniebond.com/writers.html

You have no excuse to not be increasing your writing muscles.