the_emi: (rehearsal)
[personal profile] the_emi
Recent lurker here, and a long-time creative force of nature. I'm an actor and emerging filmmaker out of Toronto, Canada who makes entertaining and forward-thinking women-led films and theatre content.

My previous work has been recognized by Valuecine for blowing gender parity on-screen out of the water (over 90% of screentime and dialogue by women!), and I'm currently in development on my first featrure film, as well as a television series in the one-hour genre space. 

I'm always looking for more creative Cats to come join me on my Patreon. I share behind the scenes updates about what I'm working on and my creative processes, talk a lot about working in the industry, and share how to make money back on your films as an independent artist.

If any or all of those things sound exciting to you, I'd love to have you come join my community!


ysabetwordsmith: (Crowdfunding butterfly ship)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Welcome to the eighty-second Crowdfunding Creative Jam! This session will run Saturday, May 18-Sunday, May 19. The theme is "Knowledge vs. Ignorance."


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.
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Our theme this month was "Alternative Methods of Teaching." I wrote from 12 PM to 6 AM, so about 16 hours allowing for lunch and supper breaks. I wrote 7 poems on Tuesday and another 19 later in the week.

Participation was much higher, with 28 comments on LiveJournal and another 111 on Dreamwidth. There were 2 new prompters, [personal profile] inky_magpie and Anonymous, so I'll need to post another freebie.

Arts and Crafts America is now a series with the addition of two new poems to the first introduced last month.


Read Some Poetry!
The following poems from the April 2, 2019 Poetry Fishbowl have been posted:
"The Apprehension of Math"
"Climbing the Tree of Knowledge" (sponsored, pending)
"Designing an Experience"
"Growing Slowly"
"If Your Actions Inspire Others"
"Learning the Vocation"
"These Three Forces"
"We Have Always Been Here"

"Cafuné" (January 1, 2019 outside prompt calls, LIFC) (linkback perk)
"Bitter Melon" (March 6, 2019 Poetry Fishbowl, Polychrome Heroics: Shiv) 
(free epic)


Buy some poetry!
If you plan to sponsor some poetry but haven't made up your mind yet, see the unsold poetry list from April 2. That includes the title, length, price, and the original thumbnail description for the poems still available.

Most of the sponsored poems have been posted, though I've still got one left. Donors this time include: [personal profile] satsuma[personal profile] fuzzyred, Anthony and Shirley Barrette.
 
[identity profile] ellenmillion.livejournal.com
I've posted a summary of my experience with Kickstarter (plus some tips I learned from observation!):

http://ellenmillion.livejournal.com/1444069.html

I hope that it's useful for you!
[identity profile] mpho begin
Hello,

I just joined this group and I would like to introduce myself and my crowdfunded project.

I am a children's book author and last year I published my first picture book, THE LION'S DECEIT. This year I am embarking on a project to publish kids books that teach about Africa (I am originally from Botswana). I turned to crowdfunding to help me with the costs of printing the books. I am semi-finalist of the Moms in Business Crowdfunding Grant Competition through PeerBackers.

The project is a series of picture books to educate children on the positive aspects of growing up in Africa by depicting children in day-to-day situations. The books are set in Botswana where I grew up. I am reaching out to you to help me make this possible by making a contribution and sharing the project with anyone who might be interested. I am aiming to raise $7500 to complete the illustrations , edit the books, create the ebook app, and print the books.

What is in it for you? I am giving out prizes ranging from signed copies of the books, acknowledgment in the books, author visits to your school/library of choice and many more. For more information on how to contribute to my campaign please visit my project at

http://peerbackers.com/projects/lesedi-books-african-life-picture-books-for-kids-686930381

Looking forward to contributing to this group and sharing my experiences.

Mpho
[identity profile] ellenmillion.livejournal.com
What a year 2011 was!

My full, gritty-details recap of the year is here: http://ellenmillion.livejournal.com/1257408.html

But for you guys, a briefer version, with a closer look at the crowdfunding parts...

Sketch Fest

Sketch Fest grew a LOT during 2011. The most major change is that I wrote the programming to allow artists to sell their own work - originals or prints! - through the site, with a low mandatory donation to fund web improvements and cover the cost of accepting funds. I was really reluctant to do this at first, because I wasn't able to deliver the goods myself - I had to trust my artists to keep their and mail what they promised.

So far, so good! I have received a few queries when things run late, but no complaints, and everyone on both sides of the sales desk has been fabulous to work with.

And it continues to pay for great webpage improvements: http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/sketchfest/sketchfesthistory.php

Join us TODAY for Sketch Fest #22. It's a special 48 hour event. :) http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/sketchfest/


EMG-Zine

EMG-Zine used to be my 'loss-leader' project - a free resource I funded out of my own pockets as a pet project and a companion to the merchandise line I ran. When I shut down the merchandise end of things, several years ago, EMG-Zine continued to be a financial drain, which is, frankly, not a good business plan.

So, I switched things up. Each 6 month period in 2011, I ran a fundraiser to support a 6 month period one year in advance. (I figured I would go ahead and see 2011 out, since I'd committed to themes and such.) If we didn't make the fundraising, the 'zine would shut down. It was a tough ultimatum to put out there, and I genuinely expected to run short.

Towards the goal, I counted any donation, any subscription, and any purchase of our hard copy anthologies. These all have costs associated with them, but I also pay in EMG credits, which can be redeemed for things like subscriptions or coloring books or portrait adoptions that have some minor profit padding in them. I figured it would just about come out in the wash. Any extra that I made over actual 'zine costs goes to programming awesome improvements on the webpage.

Both periods, people stepped up. The first half of the year, we just squeaked through, the second, we actually got enough to fund several hours of programming. (Still forthcoming!)

To celebrate, I have released the first volume of our anthology as a FREE pdf download: http://emg-zine.com/downloads.php Enjoy!!


Torn World

Even when I felt like I wasn't making much progress, or there wasn't a lot to post, the project actually thrived during 2011!

  • Torn World interview: http://sharedstoryworlds.com/2011/04/interview-with-ellen-million-creator-of-torn-world/
  • Torn World anthology: http://www.tornworld.net/familyties.php
  • Torn World coloring book: http://www.tornworld.net/coloringbooks.php
  • Sea Monster month in May was also great fun and a success.
  • Improvements at the webpage were pretty major, including new fiction pages, new article structure, artwork linking various places (articles and artists, primarily), the sidebar on articles and fiction that shows related artwork and articles and browsing tools, the beta of the language database, a better character landing pages...
  • More than 80 new stories were posted, plus artwork, character sheets, articles, poetry and more.

    A number of stories and poems were sponsored, bringing income to several of our authors, and with some prodding, some of our wonderful subscribers remembered to give their credits (redeemable as cash!) to several of our wonderful creators in general appreciation for their work. One of [livejournal.com profile] ysabetwordsmith's Torn World stories was sold for publication and will appear in the January issue of Lorelei Signal! I crowdfunded several pieces of artwork - collecting dollars for progress, with the high sponsor receiving the finished original. In particular, Skykittens earned enough to be painted... you can see the inkwork here: http://hotlink.ellenmilliongraphics.com/ellen/skykittens-ink.jpg

    Check it all out - and consider joining us! - at http://tornworld.net

    There is a contest running to the end of January with the theme of Fashions and Fads. You can read about it in more detail here: http://torn-world.livejournal.com/94622.html



    Personal Projects

    In June, I found out I was pregnant, and my husband and I began a flurry of home improvements. Taking a hint from some of the year's minor crowdfunding successes, I opened up a painting project - I did small abstracts to people's prompts, with incentive perks and the option to buy the originals. My goal was improvements for the new nursery, in particular some good light-blocking curtains. You can see the recap of the project I did for this community here: http://crowdfunding.livejournal.com/326953.html

    Thanks in part to what I earned doing nearly 100 abstract paintings, we went from this: http://hotlink.ellenmilliongraphics.com/ellen/photos/studio1.jpg to this: http://ellenmillion.livejournal.com/1256464.html

    Based on the success of that project, I ran a second one in November, with the goal of finishing the EMG-Zine fundraiser. The results were more modest than the first fundraiser (I suspect that several people were as enthused by the baby news as by the paintings themselves, but don't have solid proof of that): http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/abstracts2.php It did contribute $195 towards our EMG-Zine goal! Without that, we wouldn't quite have made it!



    And there you have a short look at my year in crowdfunding. I hope this has been useful; I have learned a lot through this community and enjoy watching projects unfold here. I hope we see many of you at Sketch Fest today... it starts in 5 minutes!!
  • [identity profile] southabi.livejournal.com
    Hullo everyone! My name is Gail Southworth and I'm an interactive designer and a freelance artist. I usually only do one big project crowdfunded project per year, even though I love working on them. While I don't have a lot of disposable income, I definitely love to donate when I can. I'm particularly interested in projects that work towards a cause, since I'm very into disability advocacy and other social justice issues.

    My current project is called, "Life as a Two-Headed Beast: Bipolar." It's a two-part piece that focuses on raising awareness about bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses through an educational Flash website and a digital illustration. The illustration will be printed on canvas, and make it's premier at the international art competition, ArtPrize.

    I'm hoping to find some sponsors to help me raise money for the website and printing the painting. I have rewards for different levels of donation, including postcard prints, 8x10 illustrations from my art site, and custom vector portraits.

    Please check out my Kickstarter campaign and help out.
    [identity profile] ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com
    "The Thick Dark Fog" is a film about a Lakota student's experiences at a government boarding school.  It takes a look at a very nasty chapter of American history.  It's currently in crowdfunding on Kickstarter to cover post-production and other expenses.
    [identity profile] ellenmillion.livejournal.com
    Crowdfunding isn't only applicable to fiction and artistic pursuits - it can also be used as a funding model for non-fiction!

    I'm here today to kick off fundraising for the July-December 2012 run of EMG-Zine, and talk a little about the project history and future.


    About the Project

    EMG-Zine is a free online e-zine for writers and artists in the genre of science fiction and fantasy. It focuses on non-fiction, with business advice, tutorials, walk-throughs, interviews, information about products and services... a wealth of information for people in the business of art, and an entertaining 'zine for people who appreciate it, too, with a gallery of themed artwork and a selection of fiction and poetry every month.

    It was begun in 2006 and has been running monthly (without fail!) since that time. If you glance at a calculator and do a little math, you will realize that means we've got 67 total issues! Our archives are available for browsing, and we've got a treasure trove of information for anyone looking for licensing and publishing advice, creative tips, healthy suggestions and entertaining discussion about the art of the business.

    More information... )


    Funding July-December 2012

    We're safe through June of next year, but not any longer than that!


    $1515 / $900 total funding needed by December 2011. 17% done! If we haven't made this goal, the June 2012 issue will be our last!

    Any extra earned in that time period goes to site features (I have a laundry list of things I'd like to do to make it easier to use and more rewarding for authors and artists!). If we fall short of our goal, any subscriptions that extend past our end-date will be refunded (pro-rated) and we'll end on a high note, taking our last year to really go out with a bang.

    If you'd like to see this valuable resource continued, please consider supporting us in one of the many ways available! Subscriptions (with a free advertising banner in our rotation!) are available for purchase, there are three print volumes of the best of our first three years available, or you may donate through Paypal. Some pieces available through Sketch Fest go to support (or partially support) EMG-Zine. You can also submit work to the 'zine and donate all or some of your earned credits back to the project - these count towards our goals, too!

    My heartfelt thanks to all of the writers, artists and supporters who have made our first six years possible! I hope we can look forward to many more!
    [identity profile] ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com
    This is a bit tangential to cyberfunded creativity, but it's an example of how far a CFC project can go, so I wanted to share it here. Some time ago, I wrote up three classes for the Grey School of Wizardry, based on [livejournal.com profile] haikujaguar's "The Aphorisms of Kherishdar" series. Recently I drafted outlines of a Major and a Minor program for the Department of Lifeways. The Dean of Lifeways requested that the whole course be required for both programs, so I made that change. It looks like this:

    Cultural Studies (6 credits)
    The Kherishdar Civilization Course uses sociological science fiction to examine human nature and cultures by comparing them to alien examples. These Classes also lead students to examine their own role in society. Because of these important features, the entire Course is required.

    Kherishdar Civilization 101 (L1, 2c)
    Kherishdar Civilization 401 (L4, 2c)
    Kherishdar Civilization 701 (L7, 2c)


    What started as a series of online stories has become a beautiful book, and a series of classes required as part of an online study program. Wow.

    Profile

    crowdfunding: Ship with butterflies for sails, captioned "Crowdfunding" (Default)
    Crowdfunding: Connecting Creators and Patrons

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