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- Ramy made me do this...
OK, I’m doing something I really never thought I’d do… a Kickstarter.
It all started like this. I get a message from Ramy (Vance), he wants to know if I was around for a call.
I hesitate. I mean, I’m technically free. I’m doing nothing, my wife is out, we don’t own a dog… or a cat... not even a gerbil. However, I should have bought a gerbil.
If it was anyone else, I would have responded right away. But it’s Ramy. He ONLY contacts me when he has some completely batshit-insane plan he wants to explore.
But he’s amusing. And after 5 series, I think I know how to tell this guy no. It is my company, after all.
Ramy could sell ice to the scientists in Antarctica during winter... Yeah, I'm feeling the noose start to settle around on shoulders.
So we jump on a call and does this guy say to me, “Hi, how’s it going? How’s your dog?”
Not a thing. His first words are ‘Kickstarter’ and short stories on coffee mugs.
“Like a Haiku?” I ask - Don’t knock me, I’m trying here.
“Like an anything,” he responds with a grin on his face.
Shit, I know that grin. He’s going to wear me down.
He reminds me of some conversation or other we had weeks ago (it’s in his author notes for the book series we are offering on Kickstarter and eventually the series).
I have a vague memory of it… it was something to do with offering readers extras and me unsure how we could distribute those cool extra ... things.
“Kickstarter,” he damn near shouts. “We can share the extras with our readers on that… through Tiers!”
“Tears?” I repeat. “As in what have you gotten me into that I will be crying about now?”
“No, TIERS!” he's practically shouting. ( I have to admit, I'm kinda pulling his leg as this point. I know what he's talking about.)
Then he shares his screen and walks me through it, very interesting.
As authors, we can do a lot with Kickstarter that we can’t do with Amazon. Everything from extra artwork, to never seen content and even really short stories on coffee mugs (God help me, Ramy will be the death of me.)
So, the new book project goes live today, Tuesday, April 25th sometime around 8:00 AM PST... Which is now (or very soon) if I do the whole "what time do you want this email to go out?" correctly.
But, I'm in London Heathrow Airport in transit to Texas after helping at a few events in Europe as I set up this email and my ability to be assured I do the email 'thing' correctly is a little concerning to me. I hope I don't screw this up.I would appreciate it if you get a chance to check it out and see what you think. Here is the link and a pretty picture:
The more Ramy and I can get this to work, the more we can offer our fans down the line.
I’m not really sure whether more of you joining will cause Ramy to bug me more, or less. Let’s try, ‘Please sign up so Ramy will leave me alone!’
Or hell, with my luck your joining will cause Ramy to bug me more.
Talk to you soon! ;-)Michael