Now Accepting Contributions Via FundRazr

As I continue to work and promote this project, it seems reasonable to make the allowance that some people might actually want to contribute to the success of the books. I’d love nothing more than to produce the highest-quality materials for my readers, so if I can get my manuscripts professionally edited and properly critiqued, all the better. Moreover, I’d love to have the resources to help promote this series as broadly as possible, which again requires money.

Professional editing of a manuscript doesn’t come cheap: Createspace’s Comprehensive Copyediting Plus service runs at $.022 per word, meaning that a 100,000-word book would cost $2200 to be edited for spelling, grammar, sentence structure, continuity, and consistency. To give a better understanding, Stephanie Meyer’s original “Twilight” had 118,501 words. Her word count increased with each succeeding book until she peaked at 192,196 for “Breaking Dawn.” By those numbers, “Twilight” would cost $2607.02 to edit while “Breaking Dawn” would come at a hefty $4228.31. If you want to really cringe at potential expenses, J.K. Rowlings’ “Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix” was over 250,000 words in length.

Marketing campaigns and ala carte promotional services aren’t exactly inexpensive either. As with most things in life, you basically get what you pay for, so the more money that you can throw into advertising your book, the more people will actually see what it is you have to sell. Some companies offer “Press Release” services along with email campaigns while others specialize in targeted advertising that helps to get your book in front of the best possible audience. Createspace offers Press Release with Distribution as a service for a meager $598, and that’s just to have them write the press release for you and email it to whomever they think might be interested in your type of work. Actual advertising, such as newspaper and magazine advertisements, can easily cost you thousands of dollars depending on the size and circulation of the particular media. Radio and television advertising? You’d better have a rather sizeable checkbook for those things.

Though it all sounds very daunting and intimidating, it goes without saying that “every little bit helps.” Even a Basic Copyediting Service at $.012 per word is better than no editing whatsoever, and while Press Release campaigns aren’t the ideal for promoting a new book, they sometimes yield an interest from people that get other people talking. Naturally a winning Powerball or Mega-Millions ticket remedies all of these concerns, they seem to be few-and-far-between and I’ve not yet developed the knack for selecting winning numbers.

Considering the very limited resources that I have to work with, I’ve elected to keep the doors of charitable kindness open by selecting an alternate method of seeking backers for my writing project. Following the suggestion of the fine (and trusted) folks at PayPal, I’ve opened a FundRazr campaign in hopes of gaining some support for the first book, “I Am Skorpió.” I’ve kept the campaign goal to what I thought would be the minimal amount necessary to do something halfway-decent with the book, but if I should somehow manage to acquire more funding, I’d certainly pursue the best possible services that the money would provide.

If you want to contribute – or know of anyone else that might be interested – the link is provided here and also on the ‘Contribute’ page.

Thanks again for your support.

Kickstarter Project Dropped

The Kickstarter (funding) aspect of this writing project has been cancelled and the project page has been removed.

I’d like to first take a moment to thank everyone for their faith, support, and efforts to help see this project reach the modest goal that I had set for it. Your time, efforts, and beliefs that this could be successful are invaluable to me and you have my heartfelt gratitude.

I’ll admit that I’m a bit disappointed that the project itself didn’t even reach 2% of the funding goal after three weeks, but that’s just the way it goes sometimes. I did my part of the deal to the best of my ability and others contributed as best they could also, but the necessary interest could not be matched with the required resources. This economy has many people clinging very tightly to whatever money they have and presenting this project was a gamble at best. As almost any gambler will tell you, most people lose more than they ever win.

It will probably take a few days or so for the frustration and dejection to wane away enough for me to get my focus back, but this story will be written and the books will happen. I don’t have or make enough money to pursue this as I’d hoped (with professional editing and marketing), so the books themselves will likely take a little longer to release while I attempt to handle those aspects myself. It’s a great story – I promise – and hopefully I’ll be able to deliver it properly and make it worth the money that people spend just to read it.

Thanks again to all of you that have shown your support and offered your encouragement. Rest assured that those things were not in vain.

Music for the Series

I know that many writers have a playlist or rotation of songs that they listen to when they write and I am certainly no different. The music I listen to helps me feel the “mood” of  whatever passage I’m working on at the time. Basically it is the “soundtrack” of my books.

Here is a link to my Amazon store if you’re interested in what pulses through my ears when I’m typing. If you find something you like, go right ahead and buy it and support the artists.

As time progresses, I may write about the songs themselves and how they fit into the story. Enjoy.

http://astore.amazon.com/bookhelpcomso-20

And We’re Live!

The Kickstarter funding page for “SKORPIÓ: A Vampire Trilogy” has gone live and is now capable of receiving pledges for backing the project! That means we have thirty days – just thirty days – to bring this project to life and get as much funding for the project as possible. The more we can build this, the bigger it will be!

Scripting for a Youtube video commercial is already under way, but if we can build enough of backing, we can also see a commercial for the series make it to cable television! That would be HUGE for this project.

Now’s the time to get on-board and help! Even if you don’t have the resources to contribute, your help is still needed and appreciated. Just pointing others to the project and spreading the word is of great help!

Just click the image above or the link below to visit the page!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/388133292/skorpio-a-vampire-trilogy

FIRST LOOK: The first promotional poster for the new series

Here is my first attempt at a promotional poster for the new SKORPIÓ series.

Why I Chose Kickstarter and Self-Publishing

Every major writer that anyone has ever heard of usually has a large publishing house selling their books for them, so why would an aspiring novelist choose to self-publish instead? The traditional path to making a living as an author is to write a manuscript, polish it until it shines, and then submit it to any number of literary agents appropriate to the genre in hopes that one of them will find your book idea worthy of representing. Once you signed an agreement with the agent, he or she will hand your manuscript to a professional editor who will make any number of suggestions about revisions and changes. The manuscript will be returned to the agent who, after reviewing the recommended changes, will hand the manuscript back to you for modification. You’ll make whatever alterations are necessary and send the manuscript back to the agent. This back-and-forth process between you, the agent, and the editor can happen any number of times until the editor and agent are happy with the finished product, which may take months or even more than a year.

Once the agent has a manuscript he or she thinks is marketable, your book will be shopped to a few publishers that handle your type of writing. Most of the major publishing houses won’t even look at a new writer’s work unless it has a reputable literary agent representing it, so bypassing the process with the representative isn’t really an option if you’re craving a royalty advance and a contract. Once a publisher has been found and a deal is signed, another cycle of editing, amending, and review will ensue until the publisher is satisfied that they have the most-marketable product ready for print. From the day you sign a contract with a publisher, your book might see release anywhere between one and two years later. They’ll usually try to move as fast as possible, but they’re not likely to cut corners or take shortcuts. They’ll have money invested in you and your book, so they’ll do everything reasonable to get the maximum return on their investment.

I’m not trying to bash the long-established method of getting a book onto bookshelves, as it is a time-tested and proven method of making household names of many great authors. However, it is no longer the only way to get your work in front of readers and money in your pocket – as it once was – due to the dramatic increase in unconventional publishing methods. While self-publishing has been saddled with a frequently well-deserved reputation for being the arena of hack writers that couldn’t otherwise find success in seeing their manuscripts find print, it has since grown into a legitimate alternative for aspiring novelists looking to find an audience. What was once the last bastion for untalented authors, self-publishing has grown into a valid and increasingly successful option for turning prospective authors into known and read novelists. More than one self-published work has found its way onto the New York Times Bestsellers List, giving evidence to the reality that attaining success as an author is no longer limited to conventional means.

It is undeniable that the best chance for seeing a literary work acquire a greater audience is proper marketing, and promoting a new book adequately requires money. Customarily a publisher would throw tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars at an advertising agency to sell a book for them, but times and technology have changed dramatically. What once took exorbitant amounts of money to accomplish in spreading the word of a new book can now be accomplished at a mere fraction of the cost and, thanks to the ‘Electronic Age,’ carried out in a matter of days as opposed to the weeks or months previously needed.

Self-publishing books allows writers to retain the rights and integrity of their respective works, to see their manuscripts become sales-worthy books in a reasonable amount of time, and permits some types of literature to become marketable while the subject matter is still relevant. Some books have only a limited window of saleable opportunity while addressing a trend of public interest, a situation sometimes complicated or challenged by customary publishing practices that require lengthy periods of exchange between agents, editors, and publishers.

Kickstarter.com is a blessing to those with good ideas and dreams of finding success outside of the usual avenues of publication. The site – which collects funds through Amazon Payments – allows for people to gain backing for projects from virtually anyone that has the resources and believes in the proposed project. Where an individual may lack the necessary means to fund a project on his or her own, Kickstarter.com provides a venue wherein a hopeful writer may find others to help in achieving success and realizing a dream.

The Start of Something Big…

After a rather lengthy hiatus from writing, I’ve found my literary muse again and decided to take my efforts to the next level.

Therefore I have started a new project called “SKORPIÓ,” a planned trilogy of books for a mainstream audience. Continuing with the breed of vampires I created with the “Jacyn’s Journey” series, I’m diving headlong into a new series. It’s a different approach for me as a writer, but I’m already enjoying every minute of it.

I’ve listed this new project on Kickstarter.com with the hopes of finding some backers and acquiring enough funding to develop, produce, and promote this project the right way. If you’re interested in supporting the project, just follow the link on the Kickstarter page and have a look!

Thanks!