Dear Reader,
Let me
give you my elevator pitch for one of my books. “A boy finds out the apartment complex called Valhalla is the true and
real Heaven of Warriors and he befriends one of the Valkyries guarding the
souls inside of the complex from a blood thrust monster in the woods.”
Good?
Maybe?
I guess
it could use a little bit of work, but the pitch is not bad, huh? I guess, the
better question is would you read the book about that pitch? I hope so.
The name of the novel is ‘The
Coin of Valhalla’ the first story I finish where I believe I had something good
in the pages. I was proud of the story, but I set it aside for a long time. I
stuck under the pile of other finished – but not so good – manuscripts with no
real plans to do anything with it.
And
like a song stuck in your head, the characters of the story started to hum
their way back into my life. I would be on a walk thinking about some of the
warriors who called Valhalla home. You see – and as you may know – Valhalla is
the heaven where Vikings warriors would go when they died in combat. A Valkyrie
– a warrior lady with wings – would come down from the skies and take the soul
back to the hall to spend with their ancestors.
But
what if –
And
this is how the story got started –
Valhalla
had warriors from all the ages, not just Vikings? There would be medieval knights,
soldiers from WWII, along with any other place where there had been fighting,
and if they died honorably, then a Valkyrie would come to gather their soul.
Of
course, we have to something in the way of a villain, and the idea came to me –
Why not have a demon who feeds off the
warrior’s blood lust? And thus, I wrote the story about all these ideas and
many more. They keep coming back to me no matter how far I moved away from the
novel.
I went
back to it, had a few friends read it, and now, I’m here starting a Kickstarter
soon to get the book published. The easy part is over – writing the bloody
thing – now the real work starts. I spend the last few weeks digging into how
to get a Kickstarter up and running. I’ve watched, listen, and read everything
I can get my hands on to make a Kickstarter successful. I got some of the
easier parts of the project out of the way:
Project
Description: Done.
Artists
for the covers: Talked with and prices worked out.
Editor:
Ready and waiting.
Speaking
of the editor and the artists, they are the main point behind the Kickstarter.
Sure, I can upload my novel straight to Kindle as it is, but I want to give you
a professional book with art better than the story itself. The artists I will
be working with are beyond great, and I can’t wait for everyone to see the work
they will do. (But that is a little down the road.)
It is
going to be unreal to see my characters, my book to have a cover made by talent
people, and edited by a true professional.
These
people are going to do a great job when the Kickstarter is successful. I guess
I should talk about the project instead of talking up my friends.
I
wasn’t sure I ever wanted to self-published. In fact, I’m still a little on
edge about it, but I can’t come up with a good reason not to try it. The worst
case is it all fails, and I have to go back to the drawing board for my next
move with my writing. I made still have to move into finding a publishing house
the traditional way. The project might show me I have to go down the
traditional route which means I will lose a bit of power over my work. Right
now, I don’t have to lose any power over my work, and I can choose how I want
things to move forward with my writing. Self-publishing gives me a lot of
control over my work, something I like a lot.
The
stressful side of this whole endeavor – outside
of the crippling self-doubt – is seeing my weak points on the business side
of things. I have no idea how much money to ask for as a goal. I have jumped
around a few large numbers, but still, haven’t truly landed on the right one. I
have worked on several detail budgets and rewards for people who pledge their
money. Still, not sure what will work because I have no idea what I’m doing.
I want
to make that clear – I have no idea what I am doing with this project.
All I
know is I want to get my book to you … that is it. It is the sole goal of the
Kickstarter. Sure, I want to give you some great art along the way. Yes, I want
you to be with me on this journey.
Side
note here for a moment; I’m going to try very hard to be open about this
journey with the Kickstarter. I want you to see the ups and downs along the
way. Not so I don’t feel alone in doing this, but so we can grow together. I
think the best part of any art is when the artist and the viewer have a
relationship with one another. I hope we can have a deep relationship as I try
to bring you a story I love and think it’s worth sharing with the world. I will
try to be open with all of you about everything going on with this adventure.
Yes, I
want you to read my story, fall in love with the characters, and much more. But
I have no idea if any of this is going to work. I do know one thing those, I’m
planning on failure. I have back plans if it does fail, but I have plan for
failures so much in my life, I forget to plan for success as well. I am at this
moment focusing on the success of the project.
I did
have a date for you as to when the project will be launch, but I have to push
it back a week or two due to some plans being changed. I didn’t want to, but I
think it is needed to get everything perfect. I still need time to work on the budget
for the project. I have all the rewards mapped out, but the amount I need for
them seems very high to me.
Then again, tow hundreds seem like an insane
amount of money to me right now.
I hope
you are as excited about this project as I am and stay tuned in for more news
about it.
Godspeed,
Chase
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