My second Project Wonderful ad campaign’s underway — using shiny ad banners and buttons featuring Marcy Wei’s not-so-smiling face. I’ll probably work Vivi and Cass into the next round of ads, for variety.
That means more folks looking at the site, more folks poking the About Us page, and more folks hopefully reading the story. If you’re one of those folks — hi! Welcome. May you find enjoyment within these pages ‘o fiction.
For those of you up to date, 006 is continuing along at a nice pace. The second act begins this Monday, detailing the messy aftermath of what hath transpired and setting the stage for the adventure to come. I’ll likely get it up on Sunday, so keep an eye out.
007 will see a return of everybody’s favorite everyman, Dave Smith. And 008… well, a lot of stuff’s gonna happen then. Lots. And a lot of stuff’s gonna end. And then we’re on to volume two.
That also means within a month or two we’ll be getting the first City of Angles retail book launched. I’m debating whether or not I’ll be doing a Kickstarter for the artwork; there’s not a lot of tangible rewards possible — the cost of shipping an actual copy of book would exceed any reasonable donation amount. I’m not sure I want to devote tons of time to community management. I also have NO idea how to make a promotional video for a book cover when there’s little to display and I’m not keen on getting in front of a camera. But, it also could be good publicity, so… dunno. Ideas? Think it’s worthwhile? How would you want to see it run?
(Before you ask, yes, the anachronauts Stars Fall book will be launched soon too. And if you want a free copy of the bonus story to tide you over meanwhile, I’m still offering it.)
Big things on the horizon. Get ready, yo. And if you’re just getting on board, good timing.
So, as it happens, I was over at the Ukiyo-e Heros site.
http://ukiyoeheroes.com/process-movies
Click on a few of these. (Dave Bull is an old friend of mine, and I am proud to be one of his supporters.) Their Kickstarter goal was 2K, and they raised over 300K. (The first giclee prints and the Rickshaw Cart print are here, and they are AMAZING.)
Not saying you can replicate that, but I think one of the things Dave and Jed’s work points out is that the process is just as interesting to people as the work itself. Not quite sure how you show a work of literature developing, but perhaps the chapter where you “channelled” Ginsberg would make an interesting presentation?
Take a look at Dave’s YouTube channel here; https://www.youtube.com/user/seseragistudio/videos?flow=grid&view=0
That’s actually a bit scary. See, thing is, what do I DO if I overshoot my original goal? Mo money, mo problems. If I somehow got thousands of dollars, do I really have thousands of dollars worth of expenses I could pour it into?
Games can have stretch goals to add new features. I don’t really have much. I figured this out some time ago. If I set my kickstarter to $230, that’d cover $100 book cover, $100 for more character art, $30 for the ISBN.
And… then what? I do have some ideas, like extra artwork, more funds for my PW ad campaigns, an ad campaign for anachronauts, even MORE artwork. Extreme goals beyond that like a run of promotional printed versions of coa//001, maybe. I know people want a UE paperback but that’s not really a money issue. Etc.
And again, I can’t offer much for reward tiers. Kickstater kinds expects you get a copy of whatever it is you’re kicking and I’m not kicking the whole book, just the art. Giving the book itself away as a reward would severely undercut what I was making off the donation in question.
Things to think about.