Filed under: Apollo program, Art, Comics | Tags: Apollo, art, comics, jim downey, Randall Munroe, xkcd
If you’d like a zoomable version that’s much easier on the mouse/trackpad, here’s about the best one I’ve seen.
Thanks, Randall.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Connections, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Writing stuff | Tags: Amazon, blogging, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, jim downey, Kickstarter, Kindle, literature, promotion, Science Fiction, St. Cybi's Well, writing
Mostly just an update post this morning, and to share something I found interesting…
As I’ve been doing the necessary promotional stuff, I’ve added a link to the Kickstarter for St. Cybi’s Well to various email and profile .sig files for different accounts. And I’ve found myself using the following configuration upon occasion:
http://www.stcybiswell.com/ – my next novel, now looking for Kickstarter support.
“My NEXT novel.” Kind of a cool mindset to have, and a tangible change to the way I think of myself.
Anyway.
The Kickstarter is doing well, and I do very much appreciate all the help and support people have been giving. In addition to the contributions to the fundraising goal, there has been a marked uptick in sales of Communion of Dreams, as well as a substantial increases in visits to the various websites and whatnot. Thanks everyone — every little bit helps, whether it is an actual $$$ contribution or helping to promote the project to friends and forums.
Onward & upward!
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Book Conservation, Connections, Feedback, Italy, Kindle, Marketing, Music, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Society, YouTube | Tags: Amazon, appreciation, art, blogging, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, free, Grateful Dead, Italy, jim downey, Kickstarter, Kindle, literature, music, promotion, reviews, Science Fiction, St. Cybi's Well, video, www youtube
An interesting launch.
First, we had 2,215 downloads of Communion of Dreams yesterday (and even one from Italy!) Yay!
Thanks to all who helped to spread the word, and to everyone who downloaded a copy of the book. I didn’t stay up until the end of the promotion, but the last time I checked the stats CoD was ranked #6 in the Science Fiction category of the Kindle store, and was #142 overall.
Over on the Kickstarter for St. Cybi’s Well, it was also quite a good day, with a total of $1,260 pledged. And already a couple of people have claimed this reward:
Pledge $500 or more
2 Backers Limited (3 of 5 left)Mmm, Leather! Double Set: Get a personally handbound leather hardcover copy of *BOTH* “St. Cybi’s Well” and “Communion of Dreams”. The books will be numbered, also signed & inscribed to the recipient. Binding will be in full premium calf with a nice embossed label spine. Your choice of leather color and endpapers. Also includes download copy of both books. (For international shipping, please add $20.)
Est. delivery: Dec 2013
Which is very cool, and very much appreciated. I will enjoy doing all the hand-binding work on these and the other premium rewards.
But while it is important for the funding goal to succeed, running a Kickstarter isn’t just about generating money. It’s also about building community and raising awareness of a project. So *all* contributions are important to me, and in some ways a person who just “pre-orders” the novel for $5, or who enjoyed Communion of Dreams and shows their appreciation with a $1 contribution but then goes on to share news of the Kickstarter with others is more important than someone who happens to be in a financial position to invest in a custom binding.
Seriously, think about it — if each and every person who has downloaded Communion of Dreams during a promotion this year kicked in a buck, we’d already be past the first ‘stretch goal’. And each time someone shares the Kickstarter page, or tells people about my writing, or puts up a review, they help to generate more interest and eventually more financial support which allows me to do more writing.
So, thanks to *everyone* who took the time to pass along the news at any stage of this process. Even though I’m more than a bit of a curmudgeon and an introvert, you — everyone in this little community — are extremely important to me.
And if you haven’t yet checked out the Kickstarter, or told others about it, please take a moment and do so. It helps — it *really* helps.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Art, Book Conservation, Brave New World, Connections, Feedback, General Musings, Kindle, Marketing, Predictions, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Writing stuff | Tags: Amazon, art, blogging, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, free, jim downey, Kickstarter, Kindle, Latin, literature, promotion, Science Fiction, St. Cybi's Well, Wikipedia, writing
Well.
The Kickstarter has launched:
St. Cybi’s Well – a prequel to Communion of Dreams by Jim Downey
Prequel to the popular novel Communion of Dreams. Get an early release download or a hand-bound copy in your choice of cover material.
I was surprised a bit yesterday when one of my friends — an artist, even — asked what “Kickstarter” is. I guess I’ve been so wrapped up in paying attention to it for the last year or so that I had just assumed that it was something commonly understood. But if you’re not sure, here’s the basic description from Kickstarter:
What is Kickstarter?
Kickstarter is a new way to fund creative projects.
We believe that:
• A good idea, communicated well, can spread fast and wide.
• A large group of people can be a tremendous source of money and encouragement.
Kickstarter is powered by a unique all-or-nothing funding method where projects must be fully-funded or no money changes hands.
There’s a lot more there on the site. But basically, it is a way to crowd-fund a creative project. In my case, I’m trying to use it as a substitute for a traditional “advance” from a conventional publisher by generating advance sales of my next novel. But since I also have a fairly unusual set of skills as a bookbinder, I’m also able to offer something fairly unique: a limited edition of hand-bound books. This edition will be printed differently, in a manner which will allow for me to fold and then sew actual signatures rather than relying on machine ‘perfect binding’ as you typically find in paperbacks. These book will also be in hardcover, with a variety of different selection of covering material and design. The full information is there on the Kickstarter page.
This is a big deal for me. I’ve been thinking about doing this since early this year, as I watched the response to Communion of Dreams. It was clear that many people enjoyed that book, and one of the most common things which showed up in reviews and discussions was when/whether my next book would be available.
There are many challenges for me here. One is just seeing what the actual level of support for my writing is, which to some extent is expressed by how successful the Kickstarter is. Another is pushing me to actually concentrate on completing St. Cybi’s Well, and proving to myself and the world that Communion of Dreams wasn’t some kind of fluke. Doing the bookbinding won’t be a problem, but it still needs to be attended to. And there are the ongoing promotional matters which require time, energy, and the willingness to engage as something of a public person — no small feat for someone who is as much an introvert as I am.
Yesterday I said thanks for helping me get to this point. And I mean that, most sincerely. Any further help you can give by sharing news of the Kickstarter would be greatly appreciated. And likewise, anyone who wants to kick in some money on the Kickstarter will earn my personal gratitude above and beyond whatever ‘rewards’ they choose.
Now we’ll see how the game plays out.
Jim Downey
*Full explanation here. I choose this version rather than the more common one precisely because in this instance it isn’t a matter of a single roll of the dice being cast, but rather of the game being started.
Filed under: Amazon, Brave New World, Connections, Failure, General Musings, Kindle, Marketing, Preparedness, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Writing stuff | Tags: Amazon, blogging, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, free, Heidegger, jim downey, Kickstarter, Kindle, literature, predictions, promotion, Radiolab, Science Fiction, St. Cybi's Well, volcano, writing
Tomorrow we’ll launch the Kickstarter for St. Cybi’s Well.
* * * * * * *
I listened to the rebroadcast of the Radiolab show “Emergence” this noon hour, as I had a nice salad. From the show description:
What happens when there is no leader? Starlings, bees, and ants manage just fine. In fact, they form staggeringly complicated societies–all without a Toscanini to conduct them into harmony. This hour of Radiolab, we ask how this happens.
What it’s investigating is the phenomenon of emergence; that is, of self-organization or spontaneous order from a chaotic or non-ordered system. A lot of people think that intelligence and consciousness are emergent properties.
* * * * * * *
Since the beginning of this year when I launched Communion of Dreams, almost 20,000 people have gotten a copy of the book. In the years before that, as I was working to try and get the book conventionally published, between 35,000 and 40,000 people downloaded the earlier version of the book.
And all along I’ve benefited from the help of many people in getting out the word about CoD. Thanks. This has quite literally been a case of being outside of my control. The wisdom of crowds, indeed.
* * * * * * *
From Communion of Dreams (first shows up in Chapter 9):
“That which emerges from darkness gives definition to the light.”
* * * * * * *
Tomorrow we’ll launch the Kickstarter for St. Cybi’s Well.
It’s been a very long slog through a range of mountains, with highs and lows. I’ve seen a lot. I’ve learned a lot. Some of it I have shared. Some of it I still need to come to understand.
And this last bit has been like climbing up a volcano, one I’m not sure is actually active, though I have seen signs of life in it. I’m almost afraid to look over the rim and down into the crater. Yet I am drawn to the heat, to the light, to the power of the thing.
Tomorrow we’ll launch the Kickstarter for St. Cybi’s Well. As part of that, Communion of Dreams will be free to download all day long. If you haven’t downloaded it yet, please do. And tell your friends to do so.
Thank you. Thanks to all of you. For helping me make it this far.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Book Conservation, Connections, Feedback, Kindle, Marketing, NASA, Predictions, Preparedness, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Space, Writing stuff | Tags: Amazon, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, jim downey, Kickstarter, Kindle, literature, NASA, predictions, promotion, Science Fiction, space
So, our Kickstarter project for St. Cybi’s Well has been approved by the Powers That Be. Which means that we can launch it whenever we’re ready; think of this as a scheduled break in the count-down and we’ve now been given clearance for starting the final count.
But like the early space launches, *everything* has to be just right before we can actually launch. The Kickstarter itself is about 95% perfect — but I want to squeeze out a couple more % before I am ready to resume the count-down.
I also want to get a couple of other things ready to coincide with the launch. Like scheduling a Kindle promotional day for Communion of Dreams.
I should be able to announce the actual launch start sometime tomorrow. It might be Sunday. It might be a day or two later.
But it’s coming soon. Be ready. I think some folks are going to really love the possible rewards.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Brave New World, Fermi's Paradox, General Musings, Humor, Predictions, Science, Science Fiction, SETI, Society, Space, tech, Writing stuff | Tags: augmented reality, blogging, Communion of Dreams, Fermi's Paradox, humor, jim downey, Kickstarter, predictions, Rich Terrile, science, Science Fiction, simulation, space, technology, writing
Interesting article, all in all. But I particularly had a chuckle over this bit:
Beings with whom you could interact?
Maybe, or maybe I’d just let them go. They’d be living out their lives in an incredibly short amount of time. Maybe I could change the physical laws. I could make them live in places both hospitable and inhospitable. I could make it so that they’re completely alone—perhaps that’s a boundary condition for us, and explains why there are no aliens.
Hehehehehehe. Yeah, maybe it does. Maybe it does.
Kickstarter is almost ready. Watch for an announcement soon.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Artificial Intelligence, Brave New World, DARPA, Predictions, Science Fiction, Society, tech, YouTube | Tags: blogging, Boston Dynamics, DARPA, jim downey, predictions, robotics, Science Fiction, video, www youtube
Step by step, the future gets closer:
That’s a new robot from Boston Dynamics called the LS3 – Legged Squad Support Systems. It’ll carry 400 pounds and run for 20 miles/24 hours before needing to be refueled. You don’t even need a ‘driver’: it’ll follow a designated leader automatically, picking its way over terrain on its own.
I’ll leave it to you to consider the implications of that last point.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Brave New World, Connections, General Musings, Publishing, Science Fiction, Society, Writing stuff | Tags: blogging, direct publishing, golf, jim downey, literature, play, Science Fiction, sex, world-building, writing
I live across the street from a golf course. No, I don’t play golf. And we didn’t move here because of the golf course, or have the house built because of it. Heck, the course didn’t even exist when our house was built — it came along some 40 years later.
Anyway, I live across the street from a golf course. And after years of wrangling, the course is now undergoing some fairly major revisions and redesign. Most of the changes are taking place on the far side of the course from us, but even the area across from our home is seeing a lot of construction. It’s been interesting on our morning walks to see the changes, try and figure out what the guys running the big equipment are doing.
And that’s had me thinking about playgrounds. Because even though I don’t play golf, I can see how changing the course — making it more modern — would be something which would be exciting to those who do play. New challenges in approaching the course, new problems to overcome.
Play is important to us. Particularly, variety in our play is important to us. We like novel things, whether it is in video games, television shows, sex partners, or, well, novels. Each one can be understood as a kind of playground.
This is hardly a new or particularly interesting observation. Except that as I am in the early stages of thinking through St. Cybi’s Well — of creating a new playground — I feel an unexpected kinship with the guys operating the heavy earth-moving equipment across the street.
World-building, indeed.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Failure, Feedback, Kindle, Marketing, Preparedness, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Writing stuff | Tags: Amazon, blogging, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, hutzpah, jim downey, Kickstarter, Kindle, literature, predictions, promotion, Science Fiction, St. Cybi's Well, writing
I was chatting with another friend who is a writer, doing a bit of commiseration about the common panic that hits most writers at some point or another.
Panic?
Yeah, that nothing you say is worth saying. That you’re asking readers to spend a part of their time, perhaps part of their money, reading what you write … and the terror that they will not find the trade worthwhile. Just about every writer I have ever known has gone through some version of this. Because face it, it takes a lot of hutzpah to think that you have something worthwhile to say, in a world where it seems like everything of value has already been said better by someone else.
And as I told my friend, I have discovered a whole new level of terror related to this as I have been working to set up the Kickstarter project for St. Cybi’s Well: asking people to actually hand over money before the book has even been written. That takes nerve. And a facade of self-confidence which far exceeds almost anything I’ve ever accomplished previously.
It’s not that I don’t actually think that I can write this book. I know I can. And I know that I can do it in the time-frame I’ve outlined. Combine the experience of writing and then revising Communion of Dreams and Her Final Year, and I know about the pacing of getting a book ready for publication. I know I can also produce the necessary volume of material by the deadlines I’ve set — I’ve done it in the same time frame previously (and recently) in doing freelance articles. So the actual writing is not the problem, though of course there will be challenges as I go through it.
No, it’s the matter of thinking that the book is worth it. Worth asking people to hand over money for it in advance. Because that’s essentially what this Kickstarter will be: asking for advance sales of a book which doesn’t even entirely exist in my head yet. In this way it’s crowd-funding a traditional writer’s advance from a publisher. Except that taking an advance from a publisher meant only potentially disappointing the publisher (and their Board of Directors and share-holders, I suppose). In this instance it means potentially disappointing friends and fans … a *lot* of them. (Hopefully a lot of them, anyway.)
Yeah, that’s a whole new level of terror. And a whole new level of hutzpah for this kid.
Jim Downey
Communion Of Dreams 