Selkies' Skins Kickstarter Pre-launch Announcement

I'm always looking for ways to fund our projects that do not involve funding from my own pocket (I need to eat).  All the products published to date under the aegis of THG StarDragon Publishing and been from my own funds, from the original block of ISBN's, through to getting the proofs copied and sent to me for review and approval or redoing.  My editor has always cut me some slack in the financial department, as she is in a similar position.  So my payments to her have not always been monetary, though she certainly deserves a lot more and I work toward making the exchange more equal.

Hence why most of the time when editing services are required, I ask for compensation, and am always willing to negotiate a rate that is fair to both editor and author.

As more people work with us, I hope to make things easier and more lucrative for everyone.  That's always been one of my goal.  So I am excited to have the opportunity to try out a funding option that allows more involvement.  I will be running the first Kickstarter soon for one of my projects, Selkies' Skins.  Starting November 1st, there will be the option available to make pledges in return for rewards that range from artwork connected to the story, mention in the print and ebook versions as well as the story's site, a copy of the finished story as print or ebook, all the way through to a complete set of my works.  At one level, there is even the option available to have your collection updated free for the length of my writing life.  There is still time to give me feedback if you've got an idea for a reward, but don't see it listed.  Take a look at what's there.

Selkies' Skins Kickstarter

The event is going to run for a month, and I will be doing regular updates via the update feature, answering any questions that are asked, talking a bit about my writing process, posting snippets from what is not available for reading yet, and possibly even reading parts of the story live via livestream.

I need your help to reach the minimum funding goal to cover the project's most basic needs.  I do have other goals for if there is enough participation.  Share the link with your friends if you can't afford to chip in even with just a dollar, and ask them to share it as well.  In this case, the more the merrier.

Much thanks to Oscelot Haalan of Second Life, for introducing me to M.C.A. Hogarth and her live journal, which led to my finding out about Kickstarter and being able to explore it as an option to help with not only my own creative projects, but possibly being able to help others use it as well in the future when working on their projects.

Remember, we go live November 1st.  November 1st is also the last day that Call of the Kami will be free at Smashwords, and it will return to a normal price.

Guest Blog: Grease's adventures in publishing "Ginny Griffin's First Day of School"

Our first guest blogger is Grease Coakes, an author that I met in Second Life. At the time I first met him, he was working toward getting his first children's book published, but did not know where to turn.  I've enjoyed helping him and cheering him on in his quest to find the right fit for him.  What follows has gone through some minor editing in the punctuation department, as I always want to preserve the voice as much as possible.

Let's hear from Grease:

Getting everything together to publish my children’s story has truly been an immense challenge for me. Luckily I found a positive writing group that helped me create a much better Children’s story and gave me feedback. Not only that, an online friend of mine suggested a new ending for my story “Ginny Griffin’s first day of school.” The story - as the title suggests - is about a girl griffin and her first day of school at a new school. She meets new friends and is bullied by the school bully. It’s certainly a challenge for her and her new friends to overcome as they are halted at every turn. It’s filled with a couple laughs and it teaches the reader to be brave in times of adversity.

Next step when I got the story and characters and dialogue together was to find an editor. I did find someone to help edit as I progressed in editing and creating the story. When I finalized it again another friend was nice enough to edit it again. Lots of errors were in the grammar and punctuation, but the story itself was very well done. It took me a good hour or more to fix everything in yellow. The good news was now the written part of my story was complete!
The same friend suggested I go to a publishing website called lulu.com to publish my story. I paid the fee and went ahead and placed my story on the website. Except there was one last thing. I need a cover picture; sadly I can only draw stick figures.

I asked someone who drew a picture for me, in trade for a story, to draw for some compensation. She agreed. When I checked on her recently she gave me a rude response. So all I need now is an artist to draw a professional and child friendly picture for my story, and it’s ready for publishing! Now if only I can find someone who can stick to it!

Grease Coakes from Second Life author of Ginny Griffin’s first day of school.

So here is at least the first part of Grease's adventures in publishing.  Many thanks to him for speaking up about his work, and much luck to him in getting it finalized.  I can't wait to see his project completed and be able to announce his success.  Let's all give him a cheer!

Soon illegal to sell what you own?

Yes, this is deplorable. For centuries, the market has existed as people buying and then owning items, and then being able to resell them once they are done. Now, on October 29th, it will be going before the courts to decide whether or not to take away the right to resell that laptop that you're done with, but still works fine. Technically, you would have to ask the copyright owners for permission to resell your used Dell. Sounds rather unfair, doesn't it? Heads up on this important issue!

For more info, or to be part of the protest, click the banner on the corner of the blog.

America's Next Author Competition

Have you heard of the exciting social writer's contest "America's Next Author" yet?  If not, or if you haven't checked out the competing stories and authors, you might want to check it out.  There are seven rounds left, and submissions for the later rounds are still ongoing.

Congratulations to author Elizabeth Reeves for securing the first nomination and the #1 slot for the first week.    Elizabeth has written some wonderful horse novels for young readers, and in the author of The Last Selkie series.  I highly recommend checking into her work.  Congratulations again Elizabeth!

Besides her excellent steampunk meets fey short that was submitted, there are 244 total stories currently in the running for the other seven slots.  You can help decide who gets nominated for finals every week.  Four wildcard authors will also be chosen, and these all go into judging, until they decide who wins that Big Prize.

Check it out!
All stories are available for free download.

While there, look for my story "Kiss Cursed Princess" and please feel free to leave a review, a vote if you like it, and don't forget to tell your friends where they can go participate in this novel event.

See you at the story stack!

Guest blogs

I have been thinking about allowing guest bloggers for quite some time.  If you have a book that you have written, or are in the process of writing, and would like to talk about it then this could be an opportunity for you to get the word out about your endeavor.

If you are interested, send me an email, and a synopsis of what you would like to write about.  We can discuss whether it would be better for you to be able to guest blog from your own account, or if it would be better for you to send me your blog post, pic, and name you want attributed to post on your behalf.

If you know someone that has a story or book that would be interested, certainly feel free to send them this direction.

~Teresa Garcia
ladyrainstardragon@hotmail.com
subject line: guest blogging inquiry