The horror of publishing

I am way behind this blog due to a lot of work being done out of my reach.  It's making me crazy.

First of all, I got $2000 for publishing. I wanted $2500 but I can do that much. That part is good.

But then the woman who did the illustrations got upset because I changed my mind from putting that bully on the front cover, (a few blogs back) because I wanted a different cover that, excuse me, related to me.

But I'm doing what I want. 

But then there were some problems regarding photographs (not illustrations), a matter of pixels, as they say.

Then I had to go through my 177 pages to make sure they're clean.  As in typos, etc. Ever read a book 5 times to catch the errors?

So I finally got that done.

And now I have to ship photos and illustrations to some of the donors. So I have to go to the post office and finish that.

And I want a few more changes on the cover, but mostly simple.

So I hope you guys don't leave too fast. It'll all be good by the end of the week. And the book should be out in a couple of weeks.

Maybe...

Almost done...

 Well, almost done. The "campaign" as indiegogo calls it will end Tuesday. I was hoping for $2,500 but it's not getting there. 

We should end at $1,680 which will cover the costs of the illustrator, the formatting expert and the front/back cover by another friend. This will cost $1,300 so you can see I'm not getting big money.

In fact, most of the balance is for perks of which I have to pay out as well as 3% for indieagogo, charge cards at a similar percentage and a few other things that I have to pay for. 

I should come out with a double-double at In 'n Out burger -- with fries.

But I am surprised that I got that much from mostly friends and a few others. Gotta give them a lot of credit. 

Now here's what happens:

On Tuesday, the campaign ends. Sort of.

This is the difference between kickstarter and indiegogo. If you don't raise your total on kickstarter you lose.

But indiegogo gives you more time, even if you didn't make your total.

This is important for any of you who are planning crowdfunding, of which kickstarter and indiegogo are the biggest, and of which you plan to make a movie or a short or anything.

But again, indiegogo, as mentioned lets you keep going. All you have to do is to tell them you wish to continue.

In all, it's a good deal, if you win you win and if you lose you still win.

The funding won't come pouring in however as it seems that the biggest amounts start and end pretty early. Of the $1,680, $1,000 happened in the first 3 days!

 I've learned that donors seem to slide backwards.

So once my campaign "ends", I have to wait for an audit which could take up to 15 days. And in that time I will contact the "perk" people, the ones who got a photograph or a book and prepare it for them.

When  I tried to fund Ghostkeeper 2 a few years ago, I was asking for $1.6 Million. In the first week of three, I got $500. I closed it as fast as I can. I learned my lesson. So now and then a few donors will show up now and then. 

But for now, when the audit is finished and the money is there, I pay it out.

I can't really be unhappy, I wish I could have cracked that $1,700 but -- C'est la vie. Or as Chuck Berry adds, "You never can tell."

Bad week

Sorry, I've been off the blog for this whole week. 

Mostly the indiegogo campaign also known as smalltownbars.com which, while doing okay at $1660, which isn't all that bad but it would be nice to get to $2500, which is the total I'd like.

But there is enough to pay for the illustrator and the inside book formatting and finally the front and back covers. Which are the problem for now.

Oh yeah, and a bad stomach ache.

The problem with the covers is that it seems some of my photo files are too small in size ( as in jpegs). And the only way to get them good is to find the negatives of which there are several. 

Ever try to find a photo looking through the window to see reverse colors.

I hate it.

I'll be back in tune next week as my indiegogo ends March 23.

Still have room for a few more donations?

Hang on.

 

Still alive

Sorry I've been so damn busy with the book smalltownbars.com. It's been a little busy and then slows down to a crawl but I'm hoping to finish it up good. I got 700 looks but only about 25 donors.

It's interesting what I've learned from indiegogo.com. You really need someone who knows how to get 10,000 people rather than 25.  So if you haven't checked it out, have a look.

And on the other side I'm starting a little project I figured I could get the money for. Yes, a screenplay that I can shoot for at least $80- 120 thousand bucks. It's been laying around for a few years.

More about that next Monday, or maybe Friday.

btw I have three times the readers this last week-end. Not sure what that's about but I LIKE IT!!! 

So, hang on and I'll be back by Friday.

Thanks for hanging...