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
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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.
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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: 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: 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
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My wife answered the phone. I could tell just from her facial expression that it was bad news.
“Oh, no!” she said. “What happened?”
* * * * * * * *
As part of putting together the Kickstarter project for St. Cybi’s Well, I need to explain *why* I want people to hand over their hard-earned money. I mean, I don’t need to buy materials or hire someone to do research for me. I don’t need operating capital for renting a studio, there’s no up-front printing costs to speak of. Why not just write St. Cybi’s Well on my own time, at my own pace, the way I wrote Communion of Dreams and co-authored Her Final Year?
Writing such an explanation — writing anything, really — is the perfect way for me to clarify my thoughts, to push past vague thinking and distill my understanding. You’ll see the finished product in a few days, but this passage from a blog post a month ago is a pretty good insight:
I recently turned 54. And I have accomplished a number of things of which I am justly proud. I have friends and family I love. I have a wonderful wife. I have written books and articles which have brought joy, knowledge, and solace to others. I have helped to preserve history in the form of books & documents. I have created art, sold art, made my little corner of the world a slightly better place. I’ve even helped expand the pool of ballistics knowledge a bit. Frankly, I’ve lived longer and accomplished more than I ever really expected to.
But I have more yet to do. Time to get on with it.
* * * * * * *
My wife answered the phone. I could tell just from her facial expression that it was bad news.
“Oh, no!” she said. “What happened?”
She listened for a moment, then got up to go into her office. I heard her talking some more. When she came back I looked at her quizzically.
“Tanna had some kind of accident. John was calling to see if I had any ’emergency contact’ info from the Directory he could pass along to the hospital.”
A couple years ago, my wife and I put together this Directory for our neighborhood association. We’d included this option for people to list if they wanted. Tanna was one of our nearby neighbors, a nice semi-retired woman who we see almost daily on our walks.
I looked at her. “Anything?”
“Yeah, I told him what we had.”
“So, what happened?”
“She evidently had a stroke while out walking her dog. Just collapsed. John and a couple of other neighbors saw her go down, went to check on her, called an ambulance.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah.” My wife looked at me. “She’s only a couple years older than you are.”
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Art, Book Conservation, Connections, Feedback, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, U of Iowa Ctr for the Book, Writing stuff | Tags: Amazon, art, blogging, book art, bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, jim downey, Kickstarter, Kindle, literature, promotion, Science Fiction, St. Cybi's Well, writing
As I’ve been discussing recently, work continues on setting up everything for my upcoming Kickstarter project.
If you’re not familiar with how Kickstarter works, it might be worth checking out sometime. But basically the idea is that it exists to crowd-fund creative projects, allowing for people to gauge support for a project and finance it. A Kickstarter project runs for a specific length of time, working towards a given funding goal. If the goal is achieved, then the financing goes through and everyone is committed to success. If it doesn’t, then no one is left at risk.
Part of this is establishing “rewards” for promised funding from backers. Usually this includes a copy of a book or album or artwork which is the reason for the Kickstarter project, but people also include all manner of other items which are more personal. I mentioned earlier that one of the things I was going to be offering would be hand-bound copies of my books, bringing into the mix my bookbinding skills.
The more I thought about this, the more I’ve decided to have some fun with it. Specifically, by offering some very limited special rewards. Like custom bindings in cloth, calfskin, and goatskin. Here’s one such “reward”:
Wow – Goatskin! 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 goat 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.)
I’ve decided to get copies of the handbound books printed up in a different run than the usual paperbacks being offered through Createspace. These will be done using the exact same printing files, but will be printed on folded sheets so that they can be properly handsewn and then bound. Because if you’re going to do the thing, might as well do it right.
And after all, how many competent authors are also kick-ass book artists? I might as well play to my strengths.
Jim Downey
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As I noted yesterday, as we move through all the different components of getting a Kickstarter launched, one of the steps is setting up a website for St. Cybi’s Well.
Yesterday I posted the brief description of the book. Well, today here’s a mock-up of the website for you to take a look at:
You’ll note that not all the links are active yet, and the text is intended for the time when the Kickstarter is running.
Take a look, please let me know what you think of it in a comment here or a personal email/FB comment/Tweet.
Thanks!
Jim Downey
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The description of Communion of Dreams on both the back of the book and on the website/Amazon is this:
The year is 2052, and the human race is still struggling to recover from a massive pandemic flu some 40 years previously. When an independent prospector on Saturn’s moon Titan discovers an alien artifact, assumptions that we are alone in the universe are called into question. Knowing that news of such a discovery could prompt chaos on Earth, a small team is sent to investigate and hopefully manage the situation. What they find is that there’s more to human history, and human abilities, than any of them ever imagined. And that they will need all those insights, and all those abilities, to face the greatest threat yet to human survival.
It was pretty easy to come up with that. It was written well after the fact, after all. The book had been done for years, worked over and tweaked endlessly.
Well, as I am getting things set to do the Kickstarter project to allow me to concentrate on writing St. Cybi’s Well, one of the components we have to get into place is setting up a website for it. To do that I needed to have the same sort of short description of that book as the one above for Communion of Dreams. But St. Cybi’s Well *isn’t* done yet. Far from it. I have a lot of ideas/thoughts/scenes for it, accumulated over the last nine years. I basically know what the book is going to be, but the story and the characters will evolve as I write. Nonetheless, I had to come up with a description.
This is what I came up with. See what you think:
Darnell Sidwell had a problem. Well, two, actually. One was the onset of an eye disease which threatened to end his career as a shuttle pilot for the Israeli Lunar Transfer, to the so-called New Ma’abarot colonies. That brought him to Wales, where his sister operated a spiritual healing center – a last, absurd hope for a man who didn’t believe in miracles.
The other problem was a small matter of a murder. His. But he didn’t know about that yet. Just as he didn’t know that the whole world was about to be plunged into the fire-flu.
It’s a start.
Jim Downey
Communion Of Dreams 