Dates & Numbers

This post was originally meant to go up on Monday. But I'd spent the weekend (and the days since) recuperating from post-campaign burnout (amongst other things). It was a much needed break, and I indeed feel better for it.

Now. If you'd visited this blog anytime within the last month or so, then you must have surely heard about my crowdfunding campaign for my 6-part epic fantasy series, Guardians & The Lost Paradise. The goal was to raise $3,000 in 30 days. The money was to be used to pay for the services of a professional artist and editor. The plan was to self-publish all 6 books in 6 months.

Well. After 30 days of non-stop telling, asking and the occasional begging, the campaign received 142 visitors, 200 views and 234 referrals. And in the end, we managed to raise $400, spread out between 8 contributors.

What does it all mean? Well, for starters, that I'm very much grateful for those that did contribute, and all those that helped spread the word. I know I must have said this about a half dozen times by now, but it bears repeating. Thanks guys, for believing in my project enough to show some support.

That said, I believe I did everything that was within my means to give my project a fighting chance. I took the time to craft my pitch and really worked on the presentation of the campaign. Then I told my friends, family (big waste of time) and basically everyone I know. I even wrote a press release, even though this was done a mere two weeks before the deadline.

In retrospect, the press release should've gone out at least two weeks before the start of the campaign. Also, I should've ensured I had built a mailing list of people more inclined to be interested in my project, rather than relying on fairly random people I'd had prior email conversations with.

Finally, I shouldn't have spent as much time and effort on Twitter. The fact that I had a big name author (with 10,000+ followers) tweet a link to my campaign with zero results more than proves why. I did get to meet a lot of cool new people though, including the big name author in question, which I guess made it worthwhile.

All in all, I consider the campaign a success. $400 is a far better amount to work with than $0. What this simply means is that I'd have to find other ways to get to where I am going. I've since adapted my original plan to make room for a Plan B and C. Plan B involves using a second artist. Plan C involves using stock photographs and photo manipulation software. Any recommendations?.

I find that I work best under pressure. This is why I have drawn out the following schedule for the release of each book in the series:

Book I – The Journey – July 31st
Book II – The Fall – August 28th
Book III – The Gathering – September 25th
Book IV – The Shadow – October 30th
Book V – The Passage – November 27th
Book VI – The Other Side – December 18th

And if my calculations are correct, then it means the first book is due out next Tuesday. That's less than 6 days from now. Yikes. I'd better get back to work.