Funding a new book is always tricky for the self-publisher. One needs to spend enough money to reduce the per-piece cost (in hopes of making a profit on sales) while understanding that, as the per-piece cost is reduced, the volume of books, and thus the grand total, goes up. This creates quite a dilemma of economics, as the bank continues to insist I make a mortgage payment each month as well.

Kickstarter is a crowd funding site that has helped many independent authors publish their books by essentially offering books and other rewards in return for financial support toward a set dollar goal. It can also be viewed as pre-sales with bonuses.

We have initiated a project for The Whisper Stone on Kickstarter at: http://kck.st/16uZQ5l

Click the link to view the book tr

I've neglected this site for too long, so I thought I'd give a little bonus. I just finished a new manuscript called Night at the County Fair. I thought I'd share it with you.

When night has arrived at the big county fair,
and all of the people who spent the day there
have headed back home in their trucks and their cars,
with headlights and taillights that twinkle like stars;
the only one staying is Mr. McCade,
who cleans up the messes the others have made.

He wipes off the counters, the tables and chairs,
and throws away half eaten apples and pears.
He sweeps up the wrappers, the cups and the spoons,
the napkins and cans and the broken balloons.
He takes all the trash and he throws it away,
then turns out the lights and he calls it a day.

But look in the shadows, who’s creeping about?
It looks like the pigs and the chickens got out.
And wait, there’s a goat and a cow and some sheep.
They’re sneaking around when they should be asleep.
And now there’s a horse, and a goose, and a duck.
They’ve turned on the lights and they’re running amuck!
 
They woke up the rooster, who crowed with a shout,
“You’re all in big trouble if someone finds out.
You shouldn’t be out here; the fairs not for us.
You know they won’t like it; they’ll raise quite a fuss.
If people should see us who knows what they’ll do?
With our luck they’ll ship us all off to the zoo!
 
We’ll end up in cages with lions and bears;
they’ll catch us and eat us, but nobody cares!
Well I’m not about to be some lion’s lunch;
I won’t get in trouble because of this bunch.
I’m riding the Ferris wheel right to the top
so they can all hear when I tell them to stop.
 
The Fun House won’t seem near as fun as you thought
when shrieking and shouting gets everyone caught.
Stop smudging those mirrors and making that face;
you’re leaving your hoof prints all over the place.
You take off that mask and stop chasing the duck;
I’m telling you now that you’re pressing your luck.
 
 You pigs in the taffy, I see what you’ve done;
you take all that goop off that hamburger bun.
Get out of the ice cream and elephant ears,
stop eating the peanuts and licorice spears.
You’re spilling your pop and your chips and your fries,
and don’t even think about cutting those pies.
 
The Octopus spinner, the Space Graviton;
those rides are off limits, don’t even get on.
And so are the Zipper and bumper cars too,
the Rocket Ship Launcher, and Swing Spinneroo.
You all have to stop and get off of your ride,
the lights and the music are too much to hide.
 
Stop playing those games and get back to your pens,
stop throwing those rings ‘round the necks of my hens.
No popping balloons, don’t you dare throw that ball,
the shooting range shouldn’t be open at all.
Stop plucking those ducks and stop ringing that bell;
I’m taking down names and I’m going to tell.
 
“Hey Rooster,” said Goat, “you should leave us alone,
or come down and play for a prize of your own.
There’re whistles and rings and a motorized shark,
the swords and the necklaces glow in the dark.
They played and won plushies, a ball, and a flag,
and some of them even won fish in a bag!”
 
“I see a truck coming; it’s headed this way,
you’re in for it now is all I’ve got too say.
You’re all in big trouble, I’m glad I’m not you,
he’ll drive through the gate in a minute or two.
He’s going to catch you, and then you will see,
it would have been better to listen to me.
 
I’d like to get back to my nest on the ground,
So somebody please make this wheel go around.
You’ll all have to stay here to clean up your mess;
he’ll keep you up working all night I would guess,
then lock you in cages and throw out the key,
I’m glad I won’t be here, I’m glad it’s not me.
 
 Hey, where are you going? You can’t run and hide!
He’ll think that I did this!” that old rooster cried.
“Get back here and help me, you can’t disappear.
He’ll come through the gate and he’ll see me up here!
I’ll get all the blame for what YOU did tonight;
that wouldn’t be fair, and it wouldn’t be right!”
 
But that’s just what happened that night at the fair,
when Rooster got caught on the Ferris wheel chair.

One illustrator came in on time, and Chasing Watermelons is currently being produced for release October 20, 2012.  Thanks Rex.  I am as excited this time as I was for the first book.
The second illustrator doesn't seem to have the same passion for  the projects that I have.  He wasn't close to meeting the deadline, and I'm not sure he will be reliable in the future when it comes to meeting deadlines.  He is an extremely gifted artist, but not focused in a professional, business-like manner.
Things I have recently learned:
A. It is difficult to get people invested in your dreams. They will ooh and aah over it, they will congratulate you, they will even tell you how amazing you and your project are, but very few will choose to invest in it in any way. If the dream is not a part of them, they hesitate to join the chase.
B. Inviting others to participate in the dream is not enough to create action, even if they agree to it.  There must be a way for our excitement to be so contagious that they can't help be be involved to a "want it now" degree. How do we create some passion for the dream?
C. That I don't know what to do about A and B...I'm open to suggestions.

On the plus side, one book will be easier to finance than two, and it will be done in time for the PA Reading Convention in October.
Sometimes the best you can do is simply keep faith in the dream yourself.

Onward!

I have two great stories almost ready for print. Both illustrators will be done within two weeks, then the files will be sent to the printer. The printer, however, would like to get paid for his work when he delivers the product, not when I sell it. Even small runs of 1000 are going to require some creative accounting, and a small amount of flat out begging to come up with the capital necessary.
Large publishers have quite an advantage: brand recognition, distribution, and money.
I've run into a classic situation where it takes money to make money. I have to sell books to make money, but I have to have money to print the books, in order to sell the books, in order to have money... Argh!
However, I'm a writer, and that means I'm creative and tend to revise things until they turn out the way I want them too. So success is right around the corner... though I don't know quite when we'll get there, or what it will look like, or how may hoops I'll have to jump through... but I can smell it.
Onward!

It seems that funding a good picture book on Kickstarter is more difficult than I thought. It appears that we will fall far short of our goal, and thus get none of the money pledged. I have been studying elements of successful projects though, and will launch another attempt a week or two after this one ends.
Note to emerging authors: The writing is the easy part. Gaining personal and brand recognition is hard! Not impossible, just hard. The market is flooded with material, and gaining a following takes creative thinking and perseverance.
One thing is for certain, self-publishing is not for the faint of heart or those afraid to learn. It's like getting another Masters degree without the credits... and no one tells you what you courses to take; you have to discover them.
So here's to perseverance and discovery!

Anyone can write a story. Anyone can draw pictures. Everyone who does so, loves the stories and pictures they've created, and they should. I want to point out though, that even if they are very good, they are not necessarily professional, and ready for publication.This is the great evil of "self" publishing: Anyone with a story can have a book printed if they are capable of paying the "self-publishing" companies for their services.

Unfortunately, the true and stringent editing services that should be provided by these companies (resulting in multiple improved revisions of text) is counterproductive to their main goal: getting people's books into print quickly. All "self-publishing" companies who do not require you to improve your "good" story into a "professional" story, is merely a vanity press in disguise. Their greatest fear is that if they require too much of you, you will simply do business with a different company. So, they make it easy to produce a mediocre book, rather than difficult to produce a great one. The price is the same for them.

When you self publish, you have removed the natural quality filters that competition with other authors provides. Too often this results in lower quality books. Face it, big publishers aren't the only ones producing crappy books; very few self-published books reach the level of "professional". You can, however, overcome this problem. Probably the easiest thing to do is join a writers group where you can exchange manuscripts for revision suggestions. SCBWI has manuscript sharing, and a few of the comment contributors are very good.

If self publishers want to be taken seriously by other authors, publishers, and the consumer, it is vital that we be diligent and ever-mindful in our attempt to produce truly professional level material. Always expect the very best from yourself, then verify that it is as good as you think. Revise, revise, revise!