If you don't reach your goals on Kickstarter, you don't get any money. On the flip side of that, if the project doesn't reach its goals, donors don't get charged anything, either.
That's actually something I like about Kickstarter. Either you get all the funds to do your project (and deliver the goodies), or you don't get anything. (Can you imagine the mess that might ensue if you got partial funds, but not enough to get the bonuses folks have signed up for? Blergh!)
Any readers who remember my fiasco with a particular publisher (who's mysteriously failed to follow through on their promises, for the record) might remember the short stories involved, or that I went ahead and published them.
I've never really liked the cover. I had to do a different one for the e-book vs. the print book. I preferred the e-book over the print book—which I hated, but I couldn't figure out how to do what I wanted. I was relaxing last night and found a few good photos that, while they don't do exactly what I wanted, they produce a far better cover than what I had. So I fiddled with the source image, modified a few things that I thought had contributed to the suckage of the old cover, and…
(If you want to compare it to the photo I modified, that's here. It's by JD Shippel and released under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic.)
Not great, maybe, but far better than the original two covers. And the best thing about it? I can use it for the print version, too:
I'll be letting the covers sit a few days before I update the stories, to give me time to seek things to tweak.
So the Kickstarter's for the audio version of those stories. (I'll have to figure out covers for the two other stories, then, too! *gulp*) If funds go over, I'll apply them towards either production of the next collection or translation of this one. (Depends on how much funds go over. If they go over. Assuming I even reach payout.) I've been waffling over trying a Kickstarter for this, but what's it hurt? Worst-case scenario, things don't fund, and I'm just out some time.
If you're not interested in these stories, in an ARC of the next collection, or in an audio or Spanish version of this one, but you want to drop a few dollars to support someone, dig around Kickstarter to put your money on something you'll enjoy. Whenever I've wanted to donate to help someone, I've found someone whose project interested me.
Be warned that these stories have more gore and salty language than my Aleyi or Darkworld ones. (…Okay, so maybe not more gore than some of my Darkworld ones, but I think you get my gist.)
Note added 3/14/13:
The Kickstarter failed, but that's okay. It happens.
I used to have an otherwise as-yet unreleased flash fiction piece here, called "Thanks Taking", but I've since pulled it down. (But its former presence here explains some of the rest of the post and the comments.)
Note: Lyn ≠ me. I'm actually against euthanasia, for the record, but that would make me one boring writer if I couldn't convey characters with morals that differ from mine. ^_^
This story doesn't appear in the current collection, but Lyn (the narrator) is the MC of all the stories. If that's piqued your interest, head on over to Kickstarter and check out the project.
I don't expect anybody to donate. If you do, I'm grateful, but if you're uninterested or you can't afford it at the moment, please don't feel bad. I know the feeling. ^_^
Have you ever used Kickstarter, either to donate or to fund a project? Would you ever use it? What do you think of crowdsourcing? What'd you think of "Thanks Taking"? How do you like that new cover for "PRIMpriety"?
—Misti
