Doing something more.

I’ve been reading some books by Derek Murphy of Creativeindie.com, and a lot of what he says makes a lot more sense than the regular advice I’ve seen around the internet. One of the main takeaways I’ve gotten is to do something more for people than asking them to help you out in some way; provide value to other peoples lives. The hard part is figuring out what I can do to help people out—I don’t have much of a platform, I don’t have much spare time, and I’m certainly not a rich philanthropist—but there is something I’m passionate about, which is writing, so I decided to start a Facebook page for South Puget Sound Writers.

Although at this point anyone can join, from anywhere, it does target writers in the SPS area, from Olympia to Seattle. Hopefully the SPSW Facebook page will be a place for people in this area to connect, chat, share ideas, find people to provide feedback on their work, and simply have a friendly place to chat about what they are passionate about: the written word. If you’re looking for a Facebook page geared towards authors in our area, please feel free to check it out: South Puget Sound Writers. Even if you’re not from the area, anyone looking for the same things as we are are more than welcome!

Also, if you’re looking for writing advice that’s outside the norm (at least in so far as I’m used to reading about), you should check out Creativeindie.com with Derek Murphy. There is also Urbanepics.com, which has a ton of fiction available.

 

 

The “Scout’s Honor” press release has been… well, released!

The PR campaign has begun! The press release for “Scout’s Honor” has been sent to news media outlets and over 13,000 followers on Twitter. Please check it out @ZackeryCope and re-tweet, and check out the press release sent to the media at: Take the Pledge!

Today was also the interview with Jud Wellington; it went well and as soon as it is available I will provide the link for people to check it out.

I am completely stoked with everything going on right now; working to overcome the “Kickstarter Slump”, where the campaign tends to slow down a bit and needs just a bit more love and care to see it over that plateau. Meeting and talking to new people like Sal Briggman from CrowdfundingPR.org, Jud Wellington, and everybody on Facebook and Twitter has been amazingly fun!

Press Release

I found an outfit, CrowdfundingPR.org, which helps promote Kickstarter campaigns by distributing a press release to 500 media organizations and tweeting the PR to its followers, some 13,000 plus people on Twitter. Hopefully this will help overcome the “Kickstarter Slump”, as it is called, when a campaign sees some initial promising results but then slows down. I should have this wrapped up and out the door early this week.

Speaking of Twitter, I decided to dive in and start a profile. You can find me @ZackeryCope on Twitter now; I don’t know how effective I’ll be, given that I’m used to writing novels and short stories, but I’ll do my best!

4 Days in, 26 to go…

We’re four days into the Kickstarter campaign for “Scout’s Honor”, and we’ve reached $527.00 in funding. While this is a good start, if we’re going to make the goal and get funded, I’ve got more work to do, so I’ve contacted a company about helping me submit a press release to promote the campaign. Nothing has been officially agreed to yet, so I’m holding off giving the name of the company, but when everything is finalized the release should tweet out to over ten thousand followers and several hundred media outlets. I’m also looking into local newspapers and TV news stations to help spread the word. You can help by reading the first chapter of “Scout’s Honor” under the Light Reading tab, and then searching for “Scout’s Honor” on Kickstarter.com and writing a review to let people know what you think of my work.

As always, my thanks to those who are supporting me with your pledges and encouragement; you are the best!

 

It’s gone live!

I launched the Kickstarter campaign for Scout’s Honor at about 1pm today, and it’s already got over $500 in support so far! If you liked the sample chapter and short story in the Light Reading tab, please check out the campaign and share it around!

It’s my bday and I’ll Kick if I want to!

I turn 37 tomorrow, 9/12, and I’m launching my Kickstarter campaign to drum up the full funding for “Scout’s Honor”. If you’re interested, please take a look at the page by following the link below:

 

I am completely confident in this story; reviews from (mostly) impartial readers have been good, and I have invested more hours than I can recall to making this novel the best it can be. You can find the first chapter to read under the Light Reading tab, where there is also a short story available and I will be putting more material up for free soon.

Please feel free to check the Kickstarter link and the reading materials out, and let me know what you think. Feedback is much appreciated!

 

Submitting for review

Now that everything is pretty much in place, it’s time to pull the trigger: I am submitting my Kickstarter campaign for review tonight. It can take up to three days to get approval, so I think the campaign should be live by September 12th – which is, coincidentally, my birthday! Hopefully this will be the best birthday present I’ve ever given myself!

Light Reading and Kickstarter

The first chapter of “Scout’s Honor” is now available for free under Light Reading. As this is all just getting started there isn’t much available yet, but soon there will be the short story “Talent” as well, with more to follow. Feel free to read and share your comments, likes, and criticisms; feedback is always welcome.

I am also (hopefully) only days away from launching the Kickstarter campaign to get “Scout’s Honor” into print. I will post the link for people to visit as soon as the project goes live; hopefully people will be receptive to it all and we can get this mad undertaking underway!