3 Books I'm Funding on KICKSTARTER and Why

A while ago I talked about the Morganville Vampires Kickstarter campaign, a project that I helped fund which turned one of my favorite books, "Glass House" into a web series. Since funding this project I've continued to browse through various Kickstarter campaigns and have continued to fund various projects, particularly those involving books.

For those of you unfamiliar with Kickstarter, it is a crowd-funding platform where people can acquire donations from friends, family, and complete strangers to help fund their projects. It's a great place for indie authors to acquire the funds needed to self-publish their books.

Below are three projects that I've pledged money to (if the authors meet their goal amounts Kickstarter will take the money out of my account and I'll get a few prizes from the authors). For each project I mention what the book is about, and why I decided to give the author money to help publish it.

I hope this post introduces more people to Kickstarter, and maybe generates a few more pledges for the following books.

Project #1: Switch: The Witches of Armour Hill

About the Book: Margaret May Reis knows how strange she is; people have been telling her for years. At sixteen years old, though, Maggie begins to realize that strangeness is only half the story. Maggie isn’t just strange – she’s a witch. READ MORE

Why I chose to help fund it: First I love anything paranormal, and this story sounds like a lot of fun. Second, the author has an organized Kickstarter page, and mentions that she's familiar with the self-publishing process. Third, she explains where the money she raises will go and seems to be asking for a fair amount. And, finally, the author talks about www.kickingitforward.org, which is all about helping others do the same thing that she's doing. With all that, I had to pledge a few bucks.


Project #2: Among the Shadows

About the Book: Experience the darker side of YA as 13 authors explore the places others prefer to leave among the shadows. READ MORE

Why I chose to help fund it: First I like that this is YA, and that it's an anthology. With my pledge I'll get a copy of the book and get to read stories from some new authors. Second, I like that this project is nearly completely funded. It's exciting to know that a project you're funding will come to life.


Project #3: The Border

About the Book: Eva Lockhart, vampire of the Kairi tribe, never even dreamed of crossing the border, a river that seperates her tribe from the Theon tribe. READ MORE

Why I chose to help fund it: When I pledged a donation to this book it had zero backers, which would normally make me a little wary about the project, but as I read on the author seemed truly passionate about writing. Her story sounds interesting, I love anything about vampires, and I like that I'll be inspiring another young writer to keep with it.


Books take a lot of time and money to publish. As a self-published author myself, I know how difficult the task can be. For the three books above, my contributions are merely a drop in the bucket. If any of the projects I've mentioned sound interesting, check out their Kickstarter campaigns. I'm always urging people to support indies, and pledging money to a Kickstarter campaign is a great way to do that.

How do you fell about Kickstarter? Have you ever helped fund a project, or ran a campaign of your own?

The 7 Most Influential Books in My Life

This list may surprise you. It's not filled with the most philosophical of reads, or hard to swallow literary-works. It's simply a list of the books that changed my life. It's a personal list. What I find most interesting about it is that (most of) the following books are not actually my favorite books. But they are the books that changed the way I read, that changed what I read, and ultimately what and how I write as well.

Books can immerse us in brand new worlds, they can provide an escape, they can teach us about the world, and they can teach us about ourselves.

The following books helped me discover not only what I truly love to read, but who I am as a writer as well.


Salem's Lot by Stephen King- I owe much of my love of reading to Stephen King. I ate his books up when I was growing up and they both terrified and amazed me. But, it was reading Salem's Lot in particular that made me realize how much scarier the written word can be than any other form of media. It was reading this book that I realized how much power the written word had. It also sparked my interest in the paranormal, the love of which has only grown since.



The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare- This play showed me that the best stories are eternal. Even though The Merchant of Venice was written over 400 years ago, the story was just as relatable as the more modern books I'd been reading. The push and pull of mercy and justice, portrayed through a colorful array of characters showed me that the things that best fuel a novel are the most basic of human emotions - like love and greed, and if you can write a story and keep one of those basic emotions at the core of it, then it will last forever.



The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger- This is one of the few books I read in school that I read for pleasure as much as for the grade. This is the book that made me realize how much I appreciated reading a story through the perspective of a young adult, of someone trying to find their way in the world, someone like me. I was immersed in Holden's journey. After I was done reading this I went back to the horror novels I normally enjoyed in my spare time, but I found myself gravitating to ones with younger protagonists. I think the very next book I read was The Talisman by Stephen King, which managed to combine my love of monsters with this new interest of seeing the world through a young person's eyes.


Twilight by Stephanie Meyer- When Twilight first came out I refused to read it. Sparkling Vampires, I heard people say and I shook my head. Note the first book on this list. I didn't want to read about watered-down vampires. And, having read it, I will admit the writing isn't the greatest. But, this book opened my eyes to a genre I'd previously been ignoring- Romance. For all of Twilight's flaws it is a captivating love story that I hungrily consumed. From the moment I finished this book I craved love stories.



Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte-Yes, I did read this partly because Bella reads it in Twilight, I can admit that, and I'm glad I did because it quickly became one of my favorite books. What I loved about this story was the emotional drama. I'd read books with drama in the past, I'd read books that kept me on the edge of my seat, but Wuthering Height was different. The angst between Cathy and Heathcliff, the tension, the way their unhappiness was caused by their own stubbornness and vengeance. It showed that love can be beautiful and tragic at the same time; and that the most interesting thing about a love story is not the love but the journey it takes the characters to find it.



Smokeless Fire by Samantha Young- This is one of the first self-published novels I ever read, and though it had moments where it felt unpolished, it fascinated me. It was a story I easily fell into and it opened my eyes to a new world. This book taught me two things. First, there is a wealth of fabulous self-published stories out their waiting to be discovered. Second, publishing my stories was something that was entirely possible.



Into the Deep by Lauryn April- Yes, my book, and no this isn't shameless self-promotion. This is truly one of the most influential books in my life. Writing Into the Deep, creating that story and publishing it, changed my life. I love that story and being able to share it with people opened up a whole new world of possibilities. Reading the reviews on it helped me become a better writer, and every experience with it pushed me to do more, to write more, to pursue my passion.


Looking at this list I see books from various genre's, written in different styles, different time periods, and published in different ways. If writing this has taught me anything, it's that there's value in reading a variety of books. So, I urge you. Read something different. Go out of your comfort zone. You just might discover something new about yourself.

What books changed your life?

6 Ways to Follow your Favorite Bloggers

Depending on your source, there are over 152,000,000 blogs in existence (as of 2014), and a new blog is being created every half a second. I currently follow 116 blogs, and I've heard others following anywhere from a few to a few hundred blogs.

With so many fascinating blogs out there, and everyone posting on different schedules, it can be easy to lose track of your favorite blogs.

If you stay connected to your favorite bloggers by just occasionally popping over to their page, you're probably missing a lot.

Whether you only follow one blog or a few hundred the following tips will help you find the best way to stay up to date with their posts and keep them organized.


1. Look for quick follow icons. Most bloggers will include on their main page icons that show you the social networking sites they belong to where you can follow them. At the top of my page, you can find my links where you can follow me on twitter, pinterest, facebook, goodreads, ect...

 

2. Join Bloglovin. Bloglovin is a social networking site dedicated to helping you find new blogs and keeping their posts organized in one place. Follow me on Bloglovin.

 

3. Get your favorite blogs to send their posts directly to your e-mail. Many bloggers will  have a Follow by E-mail submission box, like I do on the right hand side of my page. Enter your e-mail address in it and every time I publish a new post you'll get a notification in your inbox. (Note, you might want to see how often that particular blog posts, or your inbox might be filling up quickly. This option is best for a blog like mine that only posts a day a week.)

 

 

4. Use Google+, Twitter, or Yahoo to join the blog. This is a great option if you are a blogger yourself. When I join a blog via Google+ all the posts for that blog appear on my Reading List on my Blogger Dashboard. So, every time I log on to write a new blog post of my own I can easily scroll through the feed of blogs I follow.

5. Join Networked Blogs. Networked Blogs is similar to Bloglovin, but uses Facebook and Twitter to help you share the posts you're reading.

6. Follow your blogs via a Feed Reader. If you see a blog with a subscribe icon like the one below you can get that blog's RSS feed and follow it on a feed reader like Feedly, Curata, or Digg. If you like to read blog posts on multiple devices, particularly your smartphone, this might be the best option for you.

 

 

I hope these suggestions make it easier for you to stay connected to your favorite blogs, and remember, if you read a post you like, please share it!