Crowdfunding Creative Jam

[ysabetwordsmith]

Welcome to the twelfth Crowdfunding Creative Jam! This session will run Saturday, October 20-Sunday October 21.  Woohoo!  this is our one-year anniversary.  The theme is "kink." (Visit the Creative Jam over on LiveJournal.)

What is kink?  It's all the stuff people enjoy in bed that doesn't involve simply putting Tab A into Slot B.  Another description: "Erotic is using a feather, kinky is using the whole chicken, perverse is eating the chicken for supper afterwards."  Except all of that counts for our purposes today.  See the Kink Wiki for ideas; it goes all the way from very mild things that many people like to very intense things that a few people like.  What you make doesn't have to be explicit; it can be a mood piece, a musing, a fantasy, or even one character reacting to what another character says.  A character's kinks can reveal a lot about them!  You can also explore kinks from alien or fantasy cultures; maybe they think that watching someone eat is kinky.  Two things to be aware of: 1) Some of the material this weekend is likely to be Not Safe For Work.  2) People like all kinds of different stuff, and that's okay.  Don't like, don't read, and please don't pick on anyone.  So it helps to include something like "SFW: tickling" or "NSFW: orgy" in your thumbnails.

Crowdfunding Creative Jam
Everyone is eligible to post prompts, which may be words or phrases, titles, images, etc. Prompters may request a specific creator, but everyone else may still use that prompt if they wish. Prompts may specify a particular character/world/etc. but creators may use the prompt for something else anyway and post the results. Prompters are still encouraged to post mostly prompts that anyone could use anywhere, as this maximizes the chance of having creators make something based on your prompt. Please title your comment "Prompt" or "Prompts" when providing inspiration so these are easy to find.

Prompt responses may also be treated as prompts and used for further inspiration. For example, a prompt may lead to a sketch which leads to a story, and so on. This kind of cascading inspiration is one of the most fun things about a collective jam session.

Everyone is eligible to use prompts, and everyone who wants to use a given prompt may do so, for maximum flexibility of creator choice in inspiration. You do not have to post a "Claim" reply when you decide to use a prompt, but this does help indicate what is going on so that other prompters can spread out their choice of prompts if they wish.

Creators are encouraged, but not required, to post at least one item free. Likewise, sharing a private copy of material with the prompter is encouraged but not required. Creative material resulting from prompts should be indicated in a reply to the prompt, with a link to the full content elsewhere on the creator's site (if desired); a brief excerpt and/or description of the material may be included in the reply (if desired). It helps to title your comment "Prompt Filled" or something like that so these are easy to identify. There is no time limit on responding to prompts. However, creators are encouraged to post replies sooner rather than later, as the attention of prompters will be highest during and shortly after the session.

Some items created from prompts may become available for sponsorship. Some creators may offer perks for donations, linkbacks, or other activity relating to this project. Check creator comments and links for their respective offerings.

Prompters, creators, and bystanders are expected to behave in a responsible and civil manner. If the moderators have to drag someone out of the sandbox for improper behavior, we will not be amused. Please respect other people's territory and intellectual property rights, and only play with someone else's characters/setting/etc. if you have permission. (Fanfic/fanart freebies are okay.) If you want to invite folks to play with something of yours, title the comment something like "Open Playground" so it's easy to spot. This can be a good way to attract new people to a shared world or open-source project, or just have some good non-canon fun.

Boost the signal! The more people who participate, the more fun this will be. Hopefully we'll see activity from a lot of folks who regularly mention their projects in this community, but new people are always welcome. You can link to this session post or to individual items created from prompts, whatever you think is awesome enough to recommend to your friends.

Crowdfunding Creative Jam

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the twelfth Crowdfunding Creative Jam! This session will run Saturday, October 20-Sunday October 21.  Woohoo!  this is our one-year anniversary.  The theme is "kink." (Visit the Creative Jam over on Dreamwidth.)

What is kink?  It's all the stuff people enjoy in bed that doesn't involve simply putting Tab A into Slot B.  Another description: "Erotic is using a feather, kinky is using the whole chicken, perverse is eating the chicken for supper afterwards."  Except all of that counts for our purposes today.  See the Kink Wiki for ideas; it goes all the way from very mild things that many people like to very intense things that a few people like.  What you make doesn't have to be explicit; it can be a mood piece, a musing, a fantasy, or even one character reacting to what another character says.  A character's kinks can reveal a lot about them!  You can also explore kinks from alien or fantasy cultures; maybe they think that watching someone eat is kinky.  Two things to be aware of: 1) Some of the material this weekend is likely to be Not Safe For Work.  2) People like all kinds of different stuff, and that's okay.  Don't like, don't read, and please don't pick on anyone.  So it helps to include something like "SFW: tickling" or "NSFW: orgy" in your thumbnails.

Crowdfunding Creative Jam
Everyone is eligible to post prompts, which may be words or phrases, titles, images, etc. Prompters may request a specific creator, but everyone else may still use that prompt if they wish. Prompts may specify a particular character/world/etc. but creators may use the prompt for something else anyway and post the results. Prompters are still encouraged to post mostly prompts that anyone could use anywhere, as this maximizes the chance of having creators make something based on your prompt. Please title your comment "Prompt" or "Prompts" when providing inspiration so these are easy to find.

Prompt responses may also be treated as prompts and used for further inspiration. For example, a prompt may lead to a sketch which leads to a story, and so on. This kind of cascading inspiration is one of the most fun things about a collective jam session.

Everyone is eligible to use prompts, and everyone who wants to use a given prompt may do so, for maximum flexibility of creator choice in inspiration. You do not have to post a "Claim" reply when you decide to use a prompt, but this does help indicate what is going on so that other prompters can spread out their choice of prompts if they wish.

Creators are encouraged, but not required, to post at least one item free. Likewise, sharing a private copy of material with the prompter is encouraged but not required. Creative material resulting from prompts should be indicated in a reply to the prompt, with a link to the full content elsewhere on the creator's site (if desired); a brief excerpt and/or description of the material may be included in the reply (if desired). It helps to title your comment "Prompt Filled" or something like that so these are easy to identify. There is no time limit on responding to prompts. However, creators are encouraged to post replies sooner rather than later, as the attention of prompters will be highest during and shortly after the session.

Some items created from prompts may become available for sponsorship. Some creators may offer perks for donations, linkbacks, or other activity relating to this project. Check creator comments and links for their respective offerings.

Prompters, creators, and bystanders are expected to behave in a responsible and civil manner. If the moderators have to drag someone out of the sandbox for improper behavior, we will not be amused. Please respect other people's territory and intellectual property rights, and only play with someone else's characters/setting/etc. if you have permission. (Fanfic/fanart freebies are okay.) If you want to invite folks to play with something of yours, title the comment something like "Open Playground" so it's easy to spot. This can be a good way to attract new people to a shared world or open-source project, or just have some good non-canon fun.

Boost the signal! The more people who participate, the more fun this will be. Hopefully we'll see activity from a lot of folks who regularly mention their projects in this community, but new people are always welcome. You can link to this session post or to individual items created from prompts, whatever you think is awesome enough to recommend to your friends.

Portal Stories and Crowdfunding

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

There's a discussion about editors summarily rejecting portal stories, and so I wrote a critique of why that's a bad thing to do.  My readers have spoken up for diversity and breaking the bottlenecks with quotes like these:

That's why I love crowdfunding, from both sides. As a reader I get beautiful stories I probably never would have seen because some gatekeeper would have stopped it and as a writer I can write stories people want. There's no one to tell me that what I'm doing is too like someone else's, or it won't sell, or I can't have gay characters. -- moonwolf1988

+a-bazillion on that last graf. Gay characters, kinky characters, characters of colour, characters of colour that don't get whitewashed on covers, stories that don't necessarily end tidily but lead you places... this is what small press, self-pub, crowd-funding, and all this new hi-zoot stuff is *all about*. One- and two- and ten-person shops aren't beholden to risk-averse shareholders, they're beholden to the *fans*.... and as long as the stories are good? Portal schmortal! Does the tip jar go cha-ching? then, more, please! -- technoshaman

Crowdfunding means that you, as a creator and/or a consumer, no longer have to put up with someone else deciding what you get to do.  You decide.  Write, draw, read, buy, or otherwise interact with whatever you like.  Is there a gap?  You can fill it, or get someone else to help you fill it.  Is the mainstream being stupid about something?  No problem, you can do something smart instead.  And while the mainstream is busy annoying people and losing money hand over fist, crowdfunding is over here growing like mad.  Wheeeee!

Some thoughts on a new direction in crowdfunding

[shadows-gallery.livejournal.com]

After a hectic summer working in the breathtakingly beautiful California wilderness, living with no reliable internet, and then a lengthy hospital stay and major surgery, I have finally been getting myself back into the game artistically.  I have yet to dip back into the crowdfunding, though, and I'm afraid it has more to do with a lack of confidence than a lack of desire or need.  

I desperately need to raise prices, because I need the money--especially after the insane number of medical bills I have incurred and am still incurring--but I'm afraid I'm going to shoot myself in the foot by doing so.  I have tentative plans.  For one, I'm considering hosting weekly $5 Sketch Days, rather than Free Sketch Days as I've done previously, but taking the first five prompts for free.

 
Detailed black and white drawings will ordinarily go for $50 and up, depending on complexity, and Discounted Character Portrait Days will be re-instated on a periodic basis at $30 per portrait.  I'll also offer story illustration, both black and white and color, for $50 and up.

I have to remind myself that even these prices are very low for a professional, but I still have this nagging voice in the back of my head that tells me my work isn't good enough to charge that much, that no one will want to pay that much.  It's a voice that I'm determined to ignore.  

I hope to be delving back into the crowdfunding sometime this coming week.  I may test the waters with a $5 Sketch Day.



Does anyone have any suggestions on how to ease back into this after being away for so long?  Any suggestions for how to raise prices gracefully to a more financially sustainable amount?