Saturday, April 30, 2011

T-Shirts, Posters, and Other Merch

Well, after my giveaway last night, and the sales bump I've received since lowering the price of The Door to Canellin to 99cents for a promotional sale, I've climbed quite a bit in the Amazon sales rankings. I broke the 10,000 mark! Not that I really understand the math Amazon uses to figure out the sales rankings...

But, that's not what I want to talk about today.

My three sample t-shirts arrived, testing the design for the Kickstarter backer rewards. Man, are they nice! And comfy, too, I love mine. The cover art looks great on the navy blue shirt, and the text on the back came out fine. The sizes are dead-on, unlike some companies where a large is really a medium. So I'll be ordering the t-shirts for my backers, probably tomorrow!

But the question that brings up for me is this. I've put a lot of work into these promotional items, specifically the t-shirts and posters, designing them and finding a reasonably priced way to have them made. And they really have turned out fantastic! the marketing poster is something I wouldn't mind having framed and hanging on my wall, and the t-shirt is one I'd definitely wear in public and not think twice about it. So a thought occurred to me. With a minor modification of the text on the back of the shirt (it currently says "I helped make it happen! www.kickstarter.com"), I could put these shirts up for sale.  In fact, getting rid of the text on the back would make them more affordable. And for the posters, like I said, they turned out beautifully. I think they might actually sell, at least to people who become fans of The Door to Canellin. And both of the places where I had the work done have the option of putting your items up for sale. So, a little re-designing, and that's what I'm going to do!

But what about other merchandise? Coffee cups. Pencils and pens. Hats.  What else?  Umm... tea cozies?  Who knows? But there are ways to get this merchandise up for sale that mean minimal, if any, cost to me, so why not?

Okay, let's be honest here, do I expect to make any money off merchandising? Eh... probably not. You need a much larger fan base than I'm likely to build in my lifetime.  But if nothing else, knick-knacks with the cover art by Barnaby Bagenda will make nice Christmas presents this year!

Friday, April 29, 2011

Paperback Release Celebration and Promotion

It's official!  The Door to Canellin paperback edition has been released! It's not showing up on Amazon yet, but you can find it here: https://www.createspace.com/3598250

In celebration of the release of the paperback, I've decided to have a promotion and giveaway rolled into one!  For the first 20 people to comment on THIS blog post with your e-mail address, I will "gift" you the Kindle edition of The Door to Canellin absolutely free through the Amazon gifting feature.  You don't even need a Kindle to read it! It works great in the Kindle app for PC!

But wait! There's more! One of the 20 recipients will be chosen at random (I'll put your email addresses in a hat) to receive a free paperback copy! The lucky chosen one will receive an e-mail requesting a few details so I can get the book shipped.  That's it!  No strings, no catches!  You don't have to "follow" my blog, or my twitter (that I barely use), or do anything other than leave a comment on this blog post!

But WAIT! There's EVEN MORE! From now through Mother's Day, the Kindle edition of The Door to Canellin has been reduced to $0.99! That's $2.00 off the regular price for the Kindle edition!

20 Kindle editions and a paperback, just champing at the bit to be given away!  Get to commenting, folks!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

My First Book Signing is Scheduled!

It's official! I am now scheduled for a talk on the process I went through on self-publishing and a book signing at the Princeton, Indiana public library on June 6 at 7PM! The event will be part of the kickoff for their adult summer reading program. I will also be donating a paperback to the library, and giving away a limited edition, signed hardcover in a drawing.

In case you couldn't tell, I'm very excited! This will be my first event of this type, and being part of the summer reading program, there should be a pretty good turnout! I don't know that I'll sell all that many copies, but I'll reach a live audience, all of whom are excited about reading for entertainment. I just have to convince them that what I have to say is entertaining!

Regarding the orders for the Kickstarter backers, the hardcover order has been placed. I've ordered a couple of t-shirts to make sure I'm satisfied with the quality of the printer I've chosen, and then I'll be ordering those for my backers as well.  The final paperback proof should be here by Friday or Saturday, and I expect no issues there, so fingers crossed, it should be on sale by Monday and the backer rewards on their way!

Anybody who is in the Princeton, Indiana area on June 6th, be sure to come to the library that evening for the summer reading program! It's sure to be a fun time, and you'll have your chance to win a signed, numbered, limited edition hardcover of The Door to Canellin!

Monday, April 25, 2011

Solid and Insightful Reviews

Well, The Door to Canellin eBook has officially been available for 9 days now, and so far the customer reviews at Amazon are stellar! 3 five star reviews and 1 four star so far. In the interest of full disclosure, I will say that the review from JoEllen Bush comes from one of my sisters, who was also a first reader for this novel. She has an "editor" credit on the acknowledgements page for all the help she gave me spotting typos! I think the most insightful review so far comes from Amber Anderson, who gave the book five stars, but pointed out a couple of things she thought of as minor flaws. An excellent critique, Amber, and I'll certainly take your words to heart while I'm working on the sequel!

I'm almost finished going over the proofs for the hardcover and paperback print versions, and I think I've made a decision on how I plan to handle them.  You see, as a writer, I try to be a perfectionist. I'm not perfect by any means, but every time I read my books I see any number of tiny changes that might make the book better.  A word change here, a phrase slightly altered there. But there comes a point in the life of any creative work where the creator has to say, "Enough! This is the final product!" And that's what I intend to do with The Door to Canellin. That being said, I did discover a couple of typos in the text. For instance, it seems I couldn't decide whether to capitalize "freshman", "sophomore", etc. Sometimes I did, sometimes I didn't. There is also a typo that I caught before and thought I had changed. Not a misspelling, but a place where I had vacillated between two turns of phrase, and somehow mixed the two together. I thought I had fixed that one in particular, but apparently not. So, for the paperback release that will be placed on sale, I intend to fix those typos, resubmit, and get another proof. Once I have confirmed the formatting has turned out correctly and there are no odd issues with text alignment, etc, I will release the paperback with no further changes. I won't even tempt myself by reading it completely. The final check will be for page and text formatting only.

The hardcover, on the other hand, I intend to leave as is. It's a limited edition hardcover, direct from the author, and will never be for sale anywhere as far as I'm concerned. What the recipients of the hardcover will be getting is one of 60 books, crafted with a great deal of care, but with the minor mistakes and occasional poor word choices left intact. These 60 books will be unique in their minor, special little differences from the final paperback release.  This isn't me being cheap or lazy. The interiors of the paperback and hardcover are identical in formatting, so one file can be used for either of them. But the factors that make me want to do it this way are, one, I want to get the hardcovers out to my backers faster (I can order immediately if I make no changes), and two, I honestly believe that these minor differences are part of what the Kickstarter backers should be getting. Not that they shouldn't get my best work, but they should get something special, a unique edition of the book that will never be seen elsewhere. And, everyone who is receiving a hardcover will also be receiving the finished paperback, so they will have both the limited edition AND the final paperback release!

Things are starting to come to a close here, as far as the Kickstarter project. The Kindle and Nook versions have been sent out, the hardcovers should be ordered this week, the posters have arrived and are being prepped to go out, and the paperbacks should be going out next week. The t-shirts for the $100 backers should be going out this week as well, and the manuscripts will be sent in the same package as the hardcovers. Barring complications, I expect to have all Kickstarter rewards on the way within two weeks from today!

It's been a great ride, folks, and I hope you enjoy the result! For me, the ride isn't over, as it is now on to marketing, building a following, getting some name reviews, and very soon, working on revisions to the sequel. Keep checking back here for more status updates!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Hardcover Galley Has Arrived, and Thoughts On Book Pricing

My hardcover galley arrived yesterday, and wow... it's just beautiful! The casewrap is amazing, and Barnaby's cover art really stands out! Raquel's gold embossed title logo looks killer with the glossy cover, too! It's just all around incredible.  If I could get these hardcovers at a reasonable price, this is what I'd like to be selling! Alas, the printing costs alone on the hardcover are half again more than my retail price for the paperback. No one would buy a hardcover if I had to set a minimum price of $40 to make a profit!

So let's talk about book pricing for a moment. I've set my Kindle and Nook price point at 2.99.  I could have gone lower, but that's the minimum for the 70% royalty level from Amazon. And the way I look at it, most (nearly all!) of the Kindle books from major publishers are priced much, much higher. I often hear complaints that books from the big 6 are priced higher on Kindle than their print versions due to the agency model!  An undiscovered author should be worth a 2.99 risk, especially considering you can return a Kindle book no questions asked within the first 7 days.  Here's the thing, though. I've also been told, multiple times, that I should consider lowering my price to 99 cents.

I'm definitely interested in good advice, and there are a lot of good reasons to lower the price to 99 cents.  I even agree with a lot of them.  But one thing that I want to do, here in this first few months of The Door to Canellin's release, is offer the occasional bargain discount for special occasions. Nothing gets the attention more than offering a deep discount! But it's hard to offer a discount when you're already at the lowest reasonable price. I believe that I'll get more buzz and attention in the long run by offering specials of 99 cent sales for a day, two days, a week at a time, than I will if I just set the price at 99 cents and leave it there. Plus, between those times, with the buzz that I hope to have built up, I'll still make sales at the 2.99 price point.  So, there is my reasoning behind, for now, leaving my price at 2.99.  And I do want to thank all the nice and wonderful people on the Kindle boards who gave me various bits of advice, including the 99 cent suggestions!  The book might occasionally be available for 99 cents, as well as occasional 1.99 sales.  But those will, for the moment, be "limited time" promotions.  I don't have any plans right now to permanently lower my price.  Not until I release the sequel, at any rate... ;)

That's also the reason I set my paperback price at $14.99.  I could have gone a little lower and still made a tiny amount per sale, but not much lower. Amazon gave me a "break even" point at which I would make zero dollars on sales made through bookstores and other online outlets, and I can't go below that.  And in the future, I may want to discount the book. But if I set the price at the break even point, or the point at which I make the least profit, where's my wiggle room if I want to have  a sale? $14.99 for a 300-page trade paperback really seems reasonable. To put that in perspective, my book is 110,000 words approximately.  In the most common pocket paperback size that is used in the US, that comes to more than 600 pages.

So for now, I feel that my prices are set right where they need to be.  I'll continue with the occasional giveaway, and possibly with limited time offers, and use those to try to draw attention to my work. I could be totally wrong about all this, though, and if I am, I'll find out soon enough!

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Successful Giveaway

Yesterday's giveaway was what I'd consider a success! Not because I gave away a lot of books (5 isn't a lot). But the giveaway did pretty much everything I wanted it to. I drove more traffic to this blog, which is always good.  I got quite a few people talking about The Door to Canellin (way more than the 5 who got free books!). And, I had a lot of fun with it! So, a success all around!
There will definitely be more giveaways in the future, so check back here regularly! Next weekend, I'll be giving away some ePub versions for all you Nook users out there!

Friday, April 22, 2011

Kindle Freebie Promotion

Well, if you read my previous post, you know that building word of mouth about The Door to Canellin is foremost on my mind! The only way to do that is to get people reading, talking, and maybe even leaving reviews! So here's what I'm going to offer today.
For the first five (Kindle users only) commenters on this blog post to leave me an email address, I will gift a copy of The Door to Canellin directly to their Kindle through Amazon's gifting system! Free, no strings attached! I'm not making a positive review a requirement. All I'm asking for is a blog comment. I've got it set to notify me via email with a time stamp, so I'll be certain I know which are the first five (assuming there are more than five in the first place).
If you like the book, I'd certainly appreciate a review. And choosing to follow my blog would also be appreciated! But neither of those things are required. Simply post a comment saying you'd like a freebie, and leave me your email address so that I can contact you to get the information I need to send you the Kindle gift.
That's it, folks! Like I said, the whole point here is to build word of mouth, and to do that, I have to get the book out there! Depending on how well this goes, I may make the same offer for the Barnes and Noble version at a later date. Assuming I can figure out how to "gift" a book with the Barnes and Noble system!
Get to posting, folks! There are five Kindle copies of The Door to Canellin burning a hole in my pocket, and I can't wait to give them away!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Marketing an eBook

With my first novel released on Kindle and Nook this week, marketing and self-promotion are very much on my mind. And I've been learning a bit about the types of things that have been successful in the past for other indie authors, and the things that haven't been. Aside from the self-promotion, I've also been trying to get to know some of the other authors that hang around the Amazon discussion boards, among others. I've been keeping my blog updated regularly (which honestly is something I'm starting to enjoy quite a bit), and I've been keeping my Kickstarter backers well informed. I'm waiting for reviews to start coming in from some advance copies, and the reviews I've received so far show that the few copies that have been sold have been very well received.

But I keep asking myself, is this enough? I'm not Harper Collins, or Tor, or Scholastic.  I don't have the budget for major marketing campaigns. I have to rely heavily on word of mouth. And building up interest in an unknown author's book looks like a very daunting task from this side of the street!  That's why I've been looking into alternatives.

One alternative that I'm strongly considering (strongly enough that I figured it into my budget) is paying for a review from Clarion. Now, Clarion is a well-respected review publication, and they don't typically look at indie authors. But they've started a service in which an indie author can pay to have a book reviewed. It doesn't guarantee a good review, by any means.  Basically, you're paying for the same level of review that they give to the big boys for free; good, bad, or indifferent. It's not cheap, and it's a risk. And although it would be great to have a positive review from a well-known publication, I'm weighing the advantages vs the cost, and I'm still not certain it's worth it. But at the very least, it seems above board.

Which brings me to the next point of this post.  I've discovered a LOT of not-so-above-board options out there as well. Some of the things people are doing to market their books seem downright unethical to me! Fake video testimonials, fake reviews, fake excitement for your book. Is this what people are really doing to market their work?

Take video testimonials, for example. Amazon allows people to leave a video testimonial about a product, including books. It seems like a great idea, on the surface. A reader gets so excited about a book that they record a video testimonial telling the world how much they loved it, and share it right there on the Amazon sales page. But did you know that there are people out there willing to record a believable, realistic video testimonial for $5? For a book they've never even read!

I've been asking for reviews, and for people to recommend my book to their friends. But I am most certainly not asking for dishonesty. If people decide to review my book, I want to know how they really feel! Yes, it's true, I'll never get anywhere with a bunch of negative reviews... but if the reviews are that overwhelmingly negative, then that probably means I shouldn't be getting anywhere! If I pay for fake testimonials, I'm basically lying to my readers, and in the long run it will only backfire. Not to mention, it's dishonest!

Maybe I'm being naive. Maybe I'm missing something about how the world works. But I really don't think so. And I find myself hoping that the majority of indie authors agree with me.

And that's my rant for today. I don't want to seem negative, though, and really, I'm very upbeat about things! I'm getting to know the Kindle community, and making the occasional sale here and there, and I'm confident that The Door to Canellin is going to be a success!

So I'd like to leave you all with a question. The Clarion review: is it worth the risk to pay several hundred dollars for the service?

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

First Galley Has Arrived, and Thoughts On Printing Services

My first galley proof has arrived, and you can't imagine how excited I am! The Kindle and Nook versions going live was exciting, and I'm still pumped about that, especially the positive responses I've been getting from friends, and occasional strangers. But this is a book, held in my hands, with the cover I designed (implemented by people more talented than me with graphics, of course), the jacket blurb I wrote, and the about the author section that talks about ME! I'm checking over the proof right now, and so far things are looking great. Quality of the manufacture seems as good (or better) than anything you'll find in your local brick and mortar store, which is definitely pleasing. I've run through all the chapter headings to make sure they're on the right pages, drop caps turned out fine, and formatting looks OK at the beginning of each chapter. Next step is to skim through and make sure the formatting in the rest of the book turned out as well. If I'm satisfied at that point, it's almost time to put it up for sale!

I wanted to take this opportunity to talk a little bit about the printing and distribution route I've chosen, and why. I've been moderately tight-lipped about naming the company before seeing the finished product, but since the book is going live soon, I might as well go with it.  I decided to use Createspace and Amazon.

This wasn't an easy decision.  I've been a fan of lulu.com for printing for quite some time, years in fact, and have referred people to them on more than one occasion. When I finished the first draft of The Door to Canellin, my intent was to only share it with family by printing up a few copies clearly labeled as "draft copy" and "not for resale", "unpublished novel", things like that. These were for Christmas presents to my immediate family only. I used Lulu, as they were the only game in town at the time for inexpensive, short run projects like that. And I will tell you, the quality was excellent.  The books feel good in the hand, the cover graphics came out perfectly, and my family was pleased to have a personalized, thoughtful, and creative gift from me.  The following Christmas, they got the rough draft of book 2, The Door to Justice, in the exact same form, and everyone was elated.

Naturally, when I began this publishing process, my first thought was Lulu, and their pricing was what influenced my "projected retail price". But then I did some more research, and I found that Createspace not only had many more options available, and much more market penetration, but with their services, I could set my retail price much lower, approaching the average book cost from the major publishers! I was very thorough, and kept trying to find a reason to keep my loyalty to Lulu, but the more I researched, the more it seemed Createspace would give me more options, more distribution outlets, and more potential sales than I could get from Lulu.

I'm still not 100% convinced, we will have to see how everything goes. And I'm certainly not disparaging Lulu! They offer a great service, and I know from experience a great finished product in the books they print. And I'm using them to print my limited edition hardcovers, as there is no hardcover option at Createspace. But now that I've got my first galley proof in hand, I do feel even more strongly that Createspace will be the best distribution outlet for The Door to Canellin.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Kindle Version Up for Sale!

And we're off!  The Kindle version of The Door to Canellin is now up for sale! And just a couple of hours after going live, there has already been a tiny bit of sales activity!

You can search for "Canellin" at Amazon, or follow this link to see the sales page:
http://www.amazon.com/Door-Canellin-Gatehouse-ebook/dp/B004WXF2C2

Now to get people talking, referring, suggesting, and reviewing! The Kindle community tends to be a tight-knit group, so if enough people like my book and refer their fellow Kindlers, this'll be a great run!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Progress, and thoughts so far

Definite progress has been made in getting The Door to Canellin available for sale! The final files for the paperback interior and cover have been uploaded to the printer, and are under review right now. The Kindle and Nook versions have been uploaded to Amazon and PubIT from B&N, and are also under review. The ebook copies have already been sent out to all the Kickstarter backers who get one!

ISBN for the paperback has been purchased, and copyright has been registered officially. Expanded distribution plan has been paid for, which allows the book to be sold at bookstores, other online retailers such as Barnes and Noble, through my own website, etc.

Hardcover files have been uploaded, and the galley proof has been ordered and is on the way.

Cover art is paid for, and cover layout and design will be paid for as soon as I get the invoice from the designer.

One eBook copy has been sent out for review, and as soon as I'm able to order the galleys for the paperback, I'll be sending one of those out to a reviewer as well. Other review copies will be sent out shortly thereafter, as I get replies from my review requests. I'll definitely be getting reviewed by Clarion, and I'm really hoping to get a review from The Midwest Book Review as well.

Now I just sit back and wait for the galleys, get those approved, and then just wait for the Kickstarter funding to be released so I can get the rewards out to my backers!

What I need to do most at this point is the thing I hate to do most: wait! Wait for galleys, wait for funding to be released, wait for reviews... wait, wait, wait!

So I'll be using that waiting time over the next few days to come up with a few more topics to talk about on publishing, such as the printing company I've chosen and why, and why I've chosen the eBook outlets that I have, and what kind of marketing plans I have going forward.  From this point on, readers of my blog can expect a fairly in-depth view of self-publishing from the author's side of things, so I hope you enjoy!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Going Forward

Things are moving along nicely with the final preparations for publication. The Kickstarter backing pledges have all been collected (thank you to all my backers!), the final proofreading is almost finished, and I've worked out most of the formatting issues for conversion to Kindle, Nook, and both print versions. The cover is complete except for the author photo and "about the author" blurb that I'm putting on the back, and I've gotten some responses on the few requests for review I've sent out. I'm very excited to be at this point! The Kindle and Nook versions for my backers are tentatively scheduled to go out sometime next week, and the official Kindle and Nook versions will go up for sale about 2 days later.

As far as the Kickstarter funding goes, I will be able to access that money in another 9 days, at which point it'll take me a day or two to get everything paid that needs to be, and then my other backer rewards should start going out.  Those who will be receiving the limited edition hardcovers will have to wait the longest, as those will be delivered directly to me before shipping for numbering and signing. The paperbacks will be fairly quick, since as soon as the print-ready files are uploaded and everything is paid for as far as ISBN, copyright, layout and design, etc., those will start being drop-shipped from the printer directly to the backers. Which means that those who are receiving multiple rewards, such as posters, ebooks, hardcovers, and trade paperbacks, will get their rewards in stages as the item becomes available.

So, the excitement builds as official publication approaches! Be ready, all you Kickstarter backers, your rewards should start trickling out to you very, very soon!

Saturday, April 9, 2011

My Favorite Writer

If I had to name one author who has influenced me the most, it would be Piers Anthony. Don’t get me wrong, there have been others that I have loved, whose books have made up the building blocks of how I think and how I write. Jack Chalker, David Eddings, Raymond Feist, Orson Scott Card, Weis and Hickman, Mercedes Lackey, Andre Norton, Anne McCaffrey, and countless others.  I’m not even saying my writing style is similar to Piers Anthony’s. But of all the writers whose books I have loved, there has never been one who has so consistently thrilled me as Piers Anthony.

My first encounter with his writing was A Spell for Chameleon, a Xanth novel. I was amazed that one book could contain not only the magic and adventure that I love, but also a very healthy dose of humor, satire, and fun. I believe I was 9 years old when I read it. The characters, the world and its rules, the setting, the dialog, everything was a revelation to me.  From there, I moved into other books of his, such as the Mode series, the Incarnations of Immortality (my favorite!), and too many more to list.

I continued reading Piers Anthony’s books. I can’t say I’ve read them all, or even that I’ve been a huge fan of all of them, but never once have I read a Piers Anthony book that I didn’t enjoy. And later, when he started including the “Author’s Notes” in the backs of many of his books, I read those eagerly as well. It was like a blog before there were blogs, a way to see into the background and look at the man who was producing these amazing stories.  Peeking into the mind of a writer whose work I enjoyed was always a treat, and I think is one of the big influences that led me to want to write my own books. And I can definitely say that his work ethic and writing method influenced me a great deal.

Nowadays, Piers Anthony has embraced modern technologies like POD, and is moving toward getting more of his books available in electronic format as well.  He operates a website filled with tips, insights, encouragement to independent authors, and his own sometimes meandering but always enjoyable thoughts. I go there sometimes to check up on my favorite writer, who is still out there making it happen nearly 30 years after my first encounter with his work. You can find the website here: http://www.hipiers.com/

As I said, Piers Anthony isn’t the only writer to have influenced me. He’s not the only writer I’d love to meet, and love to share my work with.  But if I had to choose one, and only one, then there is one writer I’d like to sit down and have lunch with, one writer whose approval and encouragement I’d cherish, one writer out of all of those that I love that I would like to hear had not only read my work, but enjoyed it.  Piers Anthony.  So Piers, if you’re ever up for lunch and talking about how great you are, hit me up!

That being said, I hate leaving out any of my favorites, so Raymond Feist, Orson Scott Card, Geoff Johns, Brad Meltzer, Grant Morrison, Mercedes Lackey, Anne McCaffrey, Kevin Smith, Alex Ross… I could go on, but I’d fill up the Internet with names… if you’re ever in the southern Indiana area, hit me up for lunch!  I’m buying!

Kickstarter Funding Complete!

It's all over, folks!  My Kickstarter project deadline passed last night, and after some small rearranging of pledges, the final total came to $1810! It's been a great ride, and it turned out far better than I hoped!

Now the real fun starts.  I'm furiously working on finalizing the editing (no substance changes, just a last go-round looking for typos, with several sets of eyes helping me out), and then I'll be formatting the book for Kindle and Nook and testing on the devices. After that, I'll be sending off review copies in hopes of getting some material to use for jacket blurbs. Then it's off to print! 46 paperbacks and 21 hardcovers will be going out as a result of the Kickstarter project! In addition, I have enough money to do a small print run of my own for book signings, as well as start my marketing push for the release!

Stay tuned, folks.  Now is when things really start moving!

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Wow!

The Door to Canellin Kickstarter project has done better than I could have hoped! With 50 hours left until the deadline (it was extended one day due to outages at the Kickstarter website), the project is funded at $1831, which is more than 150% of my original goal! There's still time left, though, folks, so I'm going to be calling for more backers right up until the very end!

Thank you to all my backers. You've made this project a success in a lot of different ways. Not only is the financial backing important for helping me cover a large portion of the publishing costs, the word of mouth that has been generated by the Kickstarter project is going to help once the book is released. Every person out there who reads The Door to Canellin thanks to the Kickstarter project is a potential fan, and potentially someone to recommend it to their friends. Every reader is a potential review at one of the websites where the book will be available. Every person who talks about the book gets the word out, and the more the word travels, the more readers I'll get.

So thank you, and I hope you all enjoy!