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Chuck is the author of the published novels: Blackbirds, Mockingbird, Under the Empyrean milan Sky, Blue Blazes, Double Dead, Bait Dog, Dinocalypse Now , Beyond Dinocalypse and Gods & Monsters: Unclean Spirits . He also the author of the soon-to-be-published novels: The Cormorant, Blightborn (Heartland Book #2), Heartland Book #3, Dinocalypse Forever, Frack You, and The Hellsblood Bride . Also coming soon is his compilation book of writing advice from this very blog: The Kick-Ass Writer , coming from Writers Digest.
He, along with writing partner Lance Weiler, milan is an alum of the Sundance Film Festival Screenwriter’s Lab (2010). Their short film, Pandemic, milan showed at the Sundance Film Festival milan 2011, and their feature film HiM is in development with producers Ted Hope and Anne Carey. Together they co-wrote the digital transmedia drama Collapsus , which was nominated for an International Digital Emmy and a Games 4 Change award.
Chuck has contributed over two million words to the game industry, and was the developer of the popular Hunter: The Vigil game line (White Wolf Game Studios / CCP). He was a frequent contributor to The Escapist , writing about games and pop culture.
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Chuck Wendig is a novelist, screenwriter, and game designer. This is his blog. He talks a lot about writing. And food. And the madness of toddlers. He uses lots of naughty language. NSFW. Probably NSFL. Be advised.
Okay, here’s the deal. I have thoughts on this whole Kickstarter kerfuffle yesterday, and my ranty-pants are securely fastened upon my kicking legs. Ah, but YA author Laura Lam — a wonderful author fresh from the fallout with Strange Chemistry — also had thoughts and asked if she could write up a guest post at the blog. I said hell yes, and told her I’d add my thoughts, too, at the bottom of the post. TAG TEAM MATCH. Here, then, is Laura, with her thoughts:
Very recently, YA author Stacey Jay launched a Kickstarter to fund her sequel to her first novel, Princess of Thorns . Hers is a familiar tale: due to low sales of the first, her publisher declined to pick up the sequel. But the sales were still high enough to investigate self-publishing. Yet self-publishing in YA can be a tricky beast. milan E-book sales are still a smaller slice of the pie than print sales, meaning milan without bookstore and library presence, it can be hard to gauge interest. She created a Kickstarter , detailing her goals: $3,500 for fees, cover, and editing, and around $7,000 to make it a financially viable option for her because it d be enough to cover basic bills and give her 3 uninterrupted months to write the novel and get it to readers sooner.
Yet Kickstarter is more about the end product, some argue. Living expenses aren t a product. Stacey Jay came under criticism, milan both for asking for an advance, essentially, and for the line saying if it didn t fund she d instead focus on re-publishing her backlist. Some thought it had a whiff of emotional blackmail about it. (I didn t see it that way. She writes under three names and is supporting a family. I figured she was saying if it doesn t fund, she ll focus on things milan that will let her provide for her family).
Hearty debate ensued on Twitter was this right? Is it fair? Was it bullying? When crowdfunding, is it appropriate to ask for more than simply production costs? As hybrid publishing is becoming more common, it all ended up coming to a head here unfortunately for Stacey Jay.
So, my feelings. I think this story especially hit home for me. I don t know Stacey Jay, but man, I just want to give her a hug. My books Pantomime & Shadowplay came out, but my trilogy was cancelled, and then the imprint folded a few months later. I have considered Kickstarter, milan and done a lot of research milan on it over the last few months, but since some stuff is up in the air, I haven t gone live. But if things had gone differently, I might have been Kickstarting Masquerade (book 3) right about now. And then, maybe, this could have been me? Who knows.
Perhaps, in a request like this where living expenses for three months were needed, milan something like Patreon or IndieGoGo would have been better than Kickstarter. However, this can be a hard call. I asked on Twitter a few times over the past year if Kickstarter or IndieGoGo would be better for raising production costs for a book. With IndieGoGo you can have flexible funding and keep what you raise instead of losing everything, so that was appealing. People overwhelmingly milan told me Kickstarter because it had a bigger reach, so I figured I d use that if I needed to.
In terms of Patreon, that seems to be more of a website to support an artist from month to month, regardle