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Writing Life moves on

Well I haven’t been attacking the blog due to my previous successes.After completing the Kickstarter, I have been engaged in looking at proofs, setting up publishing accounts, checking t-shirts, pondering over prints and most recently sending out the eBooks to my backers. Next on the agenda is to get the book up and live in its various formats on the myriad of sales sites available.

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One lesson I have learned over the past week is that this is an important perod to just take a breath and when proofs arrive, sit back and check. Take a pause. Don’t ram-stam at them. Instead try and allow yourself some time to consider what’s in front of you. Even when working with the best artists, formatters and editors, errors occur and this is a chance to nail them before you commit to any significant amount of stock.

I’m also learning, slowly albeit, that the real effort and drive to get a book out there comes after the writing. As much as the editor will work you hard, it is nothing to managing everything and pulling all the pieces together to produce a book in the right format at the right time.

But the journey has been a fruitful one. I have a book winging its way through the UK postal system which I will be handing out to my Kickstarter backers. Hopefully it will also be on local bookshops shelves. I still have many things to complete from my Kickstarter with regards to marketing and these will occupy my Christmas run in. But already I’m having to think about the next one. Actually next three in fact – two more in this series and another in a lighter fantasy style about mermaids arriving at a Scottish Island. I actually have two books beyond second draft, one at first draft and a short story in the writing as well as another novel. The plates are a-spinning but it’s a lot of fun!

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G R Jordan author, poet, and top Dad apparently!

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Selling a Kickstarter – So Out of My Comfort Zone!

The editing is underway and going well. The cover is nearly all set. Reviewer research is done and ready to be engaged. And then it comes at mphotoe. My Kickstarter – it’s time to tell people why they want to support me in producing this book.

One of the downsides of being a creative is the requirement for money to put your masterpiece into the public domain. If only the Star Trek dream of money being obsolete was true, endeavours could just happen. But back to the real world.

It took me a while to realize this but a Kickstarter is aimage fantastic opportunity to engage people in my dream. It is scary to lay your soul on the line and try not to sound like a complete fool or a dribbling clown but if we don’t share our art what is its worth. It may be therapeutic but why keep that balm to ourselves. And so, for me, a Kickstarter seemed essential.

But then they mentioned the video. A good Kickstarter promotional video can encourage people because it shows the artist in the raw – not nude obviously, I want them to fund this, not run a mile. The real kicker came to me after I started thinking about how to make a video. The people in the know say that it isn’t about how professional your video is (although it is good to be as professional as you can). It is about your audience seeing you, connecting with you, understanding and wanting you to fulfill this dream, this idea.

And it came to me. What do I tell those around me about my books? How enthusiastic do I get? What about those times when I can’t be shut up for rabbiting on about my latest project? How wonderful do I think my characters, Austerley and Kirkgordon, are? What do I tell people the purpose of my book is, what strangeness in life am I exposing?

The trick now is to take that honest, down to earth passion I have for the book and put it on a screen and then dress it up with some technical know how. But at least I have the essence of my task already within me. Time to take on Hollywood? Well, YouTube at least.

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