The Indie Experiment: Kickstarter, Help Me Raise $600.00 in 30 Days

I'm asking for fan help to buy a Kirkus Indie review for my next novel. More to the point, I'm offering my fans the chance to be involved, to share with me the fun and excitement of indie publishing. I'm asking people to get invested, to own a part of the success I've seen so far and help me step it up a little.

Kirkus are one of the big names in book reviews. If you are traditionally published, your publisher should submit your novels to them and Publisher's Weekly as a matter of course. People in the publishing industry read Kirkus and get their first impression of books that are released soon thereafter. For us indie writers, we can get a Kirkus review if we're willing to pay a hefty price for it. This makes good sense. This is how Kirkus avoids getting inundated with every self published book out there. It's how they screen for writers who are serious about what they are doing.

Fans have made my last book, Someone Else's Fairtyale, a solid success. It continues to sell well through Amazon, making enough for us to pay for groceries and part of utilities every month. For the next step in my career, I'd like to see if I could make some inroads into markets outside of Amazon. I'd like to see if I could move more copies on Barnes and Noble and iBookstore, and I'll put some serious research into print distributors. In order to stand myself in good stead, it would help immensely to have a Kirkus review.

But, you surely ask, what if Kirkus hates the book? The quick answer is to say this is a risk you take with any endeavor. The more considered one is to point out that while Kirkus don't just write sales pitches, they are very even handed with all the different styles and genres of books they receive. I don't assume I'll get a starred review from them (anyone who goes in with that assumption either has a track record of getting them or an ego that is about to get deflated). I do think the book will hold its own in the genre. I've put all my life experience with writing into this one, building on the lessons I've learned from the previous three novels. I didn't try anything too edgy or experimental. I didn't decide to suddenly switch gears and tell a completely different kind of story. I may not be a literary genius, but I think I'm to the point in my career that I'm good enough to advance a couple steps further.

And so I invite my fans to take these steps with me. Pledge as little or as much as you'd like, and while you're at it, you can preorder the book. Backers who choose to preorder will have their books ship at least one week in advance of the release date - at the same time the reviewers receive their copies. Below is a widget with what I've earned so far. Click it to go to Kickstarter where you can contribute as well.