(Okay, so it’s not a complete week, but I normally update the website on Sundays so I’mma do my wrap-ups then. Cool? Cool. These updates will be crossposted to my blog and to the Kickstarter update system, so you can read them wherever you prefer.)
The Kickstarter’s going great. Better than great. Honestly it blitzed right out of the block and sailed past all my expectations. I know I have a small readership that I can count on four or five hands, but I didn’t realize how jazzed they were about dropping large sums of money in a single burst. We are now nearly out of stretch goals, as a result.
The upside of all this is that the City of Angles Kickstarter is now more of a “Stefan’s Books Kickstarter.” We’ve got the funds to proof, cover, and publish Unreal Estate. We’ve got the funds to proof, cover, and publish Second Age. We’ve got art funding on top of art funding. We’ve got ad campaign funding which is if not Wall Street level, is at least Baltic Avenue level. In short, we win everything, forever.
So, if we’ve conquered the mountain one week in, what’s left?
For starters, publicity. We need a breadth of backers now — new readers who didn’t know about CoA before, but are ready to step up and grab one of the low tier options or even just start reading for free without backing. I’m pushing on all fronts and researching new fronts to push on, but the primary means by which web novels make the magic happen is word-of-mouth. You’ve shown your dedication quite nicely so far. I know I can count on you to carry the flag. I am REALLY piling on the metaphors today. That’s what I do when excited.
For this week’s bonus item (to make up for a lack of new story) I wrote up a Fiasco playset based on City of Angles. Fiasco, which you may have seen on TableTop, is a simple set of rules for a storytelling game where anything that can go wrong will. The CoA playset is less focused on wacky crime and more on tangled psychological issues in the middle of strange places. …so basically, it’s City of Angles. I haven’t playtested this thing so any suggestions are welcome.
Bonus Item: City of Angles Fiasco Playset
I’m pondering bonus items for future week wrap-up updates, and am open to suggestions there. I know next week I’ll likely be providing you with a preview of the author’s annotations that are exclusive to the book.
Other news…
Next week on Wednesday the 13th at 8pm Eastern I’m planning to do a livestream playthrough of The Walking Dead. There may be a CoA-related prize giveaway, and it’s going to be an amusing time regardless, so tune in! I’m hoping to do video game livestreams every Wednesday going into the future.
Lastly, I’m going to be at PAX East this year, so updates may slow around there. Expect me to livetweet the zaniness, mind you. If you’re at the show too and want to flag me down to say hi or sign something, feel free — I will stick out like a sore thumb being the only dwarf on a motorized scooter with a walker bungee corded to the back of it.
See you next week. If you want to contact me for any reason… questions, comments, knock-knock jokes, etc… drop me an email at stefangagne@gmail.com. Always got my ears open. Later!