Hello.

[sageworks.livejournal.com]

Hi guys. I’m new to the crowd funding community, and was referred here by my wife, Kitrona, who does one card tarot readings. I’m not talented in that area; however, what I like to do is write, particularly fantasy style fiction.

I’ve been writing a particular series of stories for friends of mine over the past couple of years, starring a group of magic wielding adventurers named The Psychic Troubleshooters. My friends have told me that the tales were good enough to be published, but I wasn’t sure if my writing skills were good enough for that. However, thanks to their encouragement and advice, I decided to test out my craft this way.

What I’m going to do is post up the latest story that I’ve written for all of you to enjoy. The story will be posted up in parts, and they will be posted up twice a week, Mondays and Fridays. The story will be free to read, but I will accept tips as well. If I get up to $30 worth of tips in a week, I’ll send the donators something extra: a drawing of a character, some background info on characters and the world they live in, or maybe even an extra snippet of story. What the extras will be will change from week to week. I also will be happy for any feedback given, and for people to spread the world if they feel my work is worthy of it.

The main reason why I’m doing this is to see how well the story and these characters are received. By the end of it, I’ll know if this is something I can push forward, or if I still need to keep working on things. Of course, I’m hoping for the former, and I hope it will end up being entertaining for all of you. Also, for anyone who has done anything like this before, I will definitely appreciate any advice or ideas you may have for me, since I’ve never done crowd funding before, and so I’m pretty much going in blind. :P

Thank you, and take care.


 - Swordsage

Comments

Welcome!

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

>>I’m new to the crowd funding community, and was referred here by my wife, Kitrona, who does one card tarot readings. <<

We're happy to have you here!

>>The story will be free to read, but I will accept tips as well. If I get up to $30 worth of tips in a week, I’ll send the donators something extra<<

This sounds like a cool idea. Please let us know when the first installment appears, and you're welcome to post updates periodically.

>>The main reason why I’m doing this is to see how well the story and these characters are received. By the end of it, I’ll know if this is something I can push forward, or if I still need to keep working on things. <<

Bear in mind that most crowdfunding projects take a while to build an audience and attract sponsors. It helps to set some non-monetary goals (and perks) as well as cash ones. For instance, you might reward readers for posting comments or Friending the story journal. That will help gauge the level of interest and audience activity.

>>Also, for anyone who has done anything like this before, I will definitely appreciate any advice or ideas you may have for me, since I’ve never done crowd funding before, and so I’m pretty much going in blind.<<

You may find it useful to read the Memories section of this community. I've also collected a lot of crowdfunding materials on my website:
http://penultimateproductions.weebly.com/crowdfunding.html

Re: Welcome!

[sageworks.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much for your suggestions. Rewarding people for posting comments and friending is a pretty good idea too... I'm going to have to think of what to give out for that.

I know this is going to take a long time to build up, but I figure the length of time it takes will help me to work out any mistakes I might be committing in my writing, how I spread the word about the story, and/or how I'm handling the monetary side of things. I'm pretty nervous about it all anyway, so rushing it is probably not a good idea for me. :P

Again, thank you very much. :)

Re: Welcome!

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

>>Rewarding people for posting comments and friending is a pretty good idea too... I'm going to have to think of what to give out for that.<<

You might browse the Links list of other projects and look at the kinds of perks that people do. But based on your ideas so far, I think you're on the right track.

>>I know this is going to take a long time to build up, but I figure the length of time it takes will help me to work out any mistakes I might be committing in my writing, how I spread the word about the story, and/or how I'm handling the monetary side of things. <<

Yes, that makes sense. It also helps to ask your audience for feedback, with a discussion post or poll, after you've run the project for a while.

>>I'm pretty nervous about it all anyway, so rushing it is probably not a good idea for me. <<

Let your audience know how you feel, and what you want from them. Crowdfunding can be a fairly relaxed atmosphere for sharing your work, if you set it up that way.