Option 3--At Last!

Okay, Folks. Here, at last, is Option 3. It's loaded with merits and possibilities. And there are a number of people who have seen it work. I'll explain what it is first, describe it's strengths next, and pose some of the pitfalls last.

Option 3: Raise Funds In Advance Through Kickstarter.com

Ever heard of kickstarter.com? It's a website designed to help people raise capital to fund projects of almost any kind. Really, the sky is the limit as long as your project is for profit. I suspect there are legal issues over a non-profit venture.

Research the site and look around a bit. You'll see what I mean about the possibilities. I saw a lady raising money to support her while she paints a room. Others raising money to create apps for iPhones. And, of course, to publish books.

The basic idea is that you explain your project in detail, using a video if your are really serious. You set a target goal, say $3,000, that you need to hit to fund your project. Then you provide incentives to people to provide money for your project. For a $5 donation perhaps you email a thank-you. For $50, a signed copy of your book. Then you market the heck out of your project and direct traffic to your listing at kickstarter. The best part is that no one is obligated until you meet your funding target--they don't provide the cash, and you don't have to give them the product until the goal is met.

The donations provide you the funding before you actually spend the money--or spend a lot of it. My feeling is that you want to get moving as quickly as realistically possible, keeping in mind you need to produce high quality writing, professional artwork for your cover, and professional editing, production, and binding, as well as digital formats.

Here's how I'd do it:
1. Research publishing and selling books on kickstarter.com under Writing and Publishing. You can then limit it to subcategories, such as Children's or fiction. Get an idea of what products hit their target and why. What incentives did they use that worked? Is a quirky attitude good? Is real product beneficial? Why will people like your product?
2. Research the following costs so you can build a credible and realistic plan:
a. Cover art (don't skimp here). Lots of resources are out there for this. I'll discuss what I've researched thus far in a later post.
b. Layout and production for both soft and hard copies
c. Editing (don't skimp here, either)
d. Distribution, whether through an online service, such as createspace.com, or a local production company.

2. Come up with a creative pricing structure for what you will give based on various levels of donations.
3. Determine a Funding Goal that will pay for your costs and provide you with the capital you need without setting it so high that you'll never reach your goal, and thus never get any funding.
4. Once you've pre-sold your books and met your funding target, you end up with a number of additional copies you can either sell yourself through your website, amazon.com, or market to a traditional publisher with a proven track record.
5. Write a really, really good book. First. Before you try and pre-sell it. If you already know about kickstarter, then do this first. If not, go check out the site so you have a goal in mind.

Here are the benefits:
1. First and foremost, you pre-sell your books and wind up with a number of additional printed copies--all paid for. No out of pocket expenses.
2. Remember: this is highly dependent on: finding the right funding goal, creative incentives for donations, quality control on writing/editing/production/art, and good marketing. Do that and you've got a chance.
3. If you set your goal properly, as mentioned in 1 above, you should wind up with books completely paid for that you can sell yourself for full gross profit.
4. This model is not vanity press publishing because you are not out any costs--not in the long run--and you still maintain complete editorial and artistic control.

Negatives:
1. Not many, really, unless you haven't developed a decent marketing strategy or creative incentives. The kickstarter.com website doesn't do much in the way of promotion. You have to do that yourself. Remember, the goal is to be read and to sell books, not just to convince your family and friends to buy them. You haven't created a following if you do that, and that means you aren't going to be able to create a real career out of this.
2. You have to create a solid product first. Not many people want to pay you to learn the craft of writing, but they might be interested in funding the production of a decent product that only lacks the means of production and distribution. You still have to master the craft, so don't go out there and make a bad name and reputation for yourself. I've seen even the most successful authors lose credibility and readers this way.
3. Legacy publishers and new indie publishers still have great power and, if they continue to evolve, will have great power to market and promote you. Do a good job and you may be able to sell to them. Do poorly, and you may not. Still, I'm not sure there's harm here.

So, I've necessarily had to slow down my personal efforts in pursuing this route because of time commitments, but I'm interested in your thoughts. What do you think? What should Option 4 be?

Author Interview: Joseph Vasicek

Hi Friends,

I have another author to introduce to you today. His name is Joseph Vasicek, a young writer minted from BYU. The current book he's promoting is called Genesis Earth.

Ok, some of you may not think BYU is a significant credential. But consider the number of amazingly successful authors, some of them New York Times bestsellers, who either studied or taught at BYU. Here's a few you might know:

Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Stephanie Meyer, David Farland aka Wolverton, and the list goes on. And that's just for genre fiction, too.

Of course, a number of you and I are trying to do get on that list ourselves!

But enough about us and BYU. Let's showcase Joe. He's a very bright, creative, and entrepreneurial fellow. In fact, he's launched heavily into the e-publishing world. In a few weeks we'll have Joe back to talk about those endeavors. But today, I'm hosting Joe as a guest blogger to talk about what's important to him. Take it away, Joe.



Why I Love Science Fiction

When I saw Star Wars: Episode IV for the first time, I promptly fell in love with science fiction. What seven year old boy wouldn't? For hours afterward, I ran around my house and backyard making starfighter sounds and pretending like I was flying an x-wing.

When I read A Wrinkle in Time one year later, however, my infatuation with the genre quickly turned into a lifelong love. It may have been the concept of fifth-dimensional travel, or riding on a centaur to an alien planet, or perhaps the idea of fighting against a hive-mind bent on absorbing and crushing all individuality in the universe, but I either way I knew I'd discovered my passion: science fiction.

At the city library, I read every Star Wars book I could get my hand on. Timothy Zahn, Kevin J. Anderson, Dave Wolverton, Roger Allen McBride--I read them all. When Jurassic Park came out, I read the book six times before I started middle school. I spent a summer obsessed with the Tripod series, and when I discovered Ender's Game, I finished it at a breathless sprint at 3:00 am the morning after checking it out from the library.

It wasn't just science fiction that entranced me. After finishing Jurassic Park for the sixth time, I devoured every Michael Crichton thriller I could get my hands on. The Chronicles of Prydain hold a special place in my heart, as do J.R.R. Tolkien and David Gemmell. To this day, The Neverending Story is my favorite work of fiction, and probably will be to the day I die. I even enjoyed Jayne Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma, though I was much older when I discovered them.

But no matter where I wander, I always come back to science fiction. Why?

Part of it probably has to do with the fantastic, otherworldly nature of the genre. C.J. Cherryh makes me wish I had my own spaceship, while Alastair Reynolds freaks me out with alien ruins and cyborg melding plagues. In that sense, escapism has something to do with it, but not entirely. Fantasy takes us away from reality, whereas science fiction presents us a world of possibilities. I loved Xenocide precisely because the philotic web makes so much sense, I still believe that it could be real.

More than anything, though, I keep coming back to science fiction because of its deep capacity for thoughtfulness. I considered myself a free market capitalist, until Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed nearly convinced me to become an anarchist. A Canticle for Leibowitz gave me a deeper respect for Catholicism and a stronger sense of brotherhood with my fellow Christians than any other book I've read. Ender's Shadow taught me what it means to be a leader, while Robert Charles Wilson's Spin and Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey made me spend hours pondering the fate of the universe.

The most thoughtful science fiction always explores what it means to be human. Consequently, the best works focus on character, perhaps more than in any other genre. When the universe itself is so strange as to be unrecognizable, the only things that can keep a reader grounded are fleshed out, believable characters. Whether it's Jane from Speaker for the Dead, Angelo Osic from On My Way to Paradise, Shevek from The Dispossessed, or Tyler Dupree from Spin, I know I've read a good book when I feel like I've come to know someone deeper than I know my own friends.

I love science fiction, not just as a reader, but also as a writer. When I read A Wrinkle in Time all those years ago, I fell in love with the genre because I knew that that was my destiny. I can't explain how or why, but I just knew it, and I've been writing ever since. And if I can write books that inspire my readers just as the best of these books have inspired me, I'd consider myself a success.

Because the best science fiction doesn't just take us somewhere new and alien--it helps us better understand and love the people in the world around us. And as a writer, that is a worthy goal to shoot for.

Josh: Thanks, Joe! Great post, and great to know you a little better. We look forward to your advice on the e-Publishing world. In case you missed it, Joe's website is One Thousand and One Parsecs, and his e-book, Genesis Earth, is available at Amazon.com. Take a peek and let us know what you think.

I Was Interviewed by the Mormon Channel Radio Station

I was interviewed by the folks on the Mormon Channel about writing for the Church magazines. It's an amazing experience interviewing people around the world about their most personal feelings, their trials, challenges, and faith. Hope you enjoy!

Mormon Identities: Writing about Saints around the World

Here's me in the studio.

Here's one of my favorite interviews: A blue-footed booby from the Galapagos Islands.