Category Archives: calling on the legions

Published: April 4, 2013

Final Call for Torment….

As I write this, there are less than two days remaining to the Torment Kickstarter I mentioned a couple weeks back on the blog…

I hope you’ll forgive me for bringing it up again, but I’m a little excited about the project. Plus the clock is ticking, and a few things have happened since my original post.

Actually, a LOT of things have happened, but I’ll just hit the high points here…

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1. Support

First I want to thank everyone that stormed over to the Torment Kickstarter and signed up. The folks running the show tell me that the day I announced my involvement and posted up my blog was the second biggest day of the kickstarter so far.

I can’t thank you enough for that. It’s not often I get to look cool, but you guys made me look cool.

Also, your comments in that blog were delightfully supportive and encouraging. A few were kind enough to make me weepy.

So… yeah. Thanks for being lovely humans. And double thanks for proving that the internet is peopled with something *other* than wankers, whiners, and people that type “first.”

2. The Stretch Goal

The kickstarter has flown past 3.25 million, which means I’m officially going to be helping write a piece of the game.

Woo!

3. Character

After I was officially part of the team, I started to think about what I was going to write. And my thoughts kept coming back to what I really liked about some of those older games. Specifically, the companions your character travels with as you move through the story.

How cool would it be, I thought, to write the dialogue and story arc for one of these secondary characters?

So I called Colin and asked him how he’d feel about me writing a companion.

He asked me if I had any ideas for a character.

I told him I did. I explained the character.

He said it was weird. Not the sort of character that normally gets written into games.

But he also said I could do it.

So now I’m excited. I get to write a companion for the game.

I can’t tell you anything about her except that it will almost certainly be a she.

And she’s not going to be the usual sort of thing, because this isn’t going to be your usual sort of game.

4. Extras

They’ve added some new stuff to the Kickstarter since my last post. You can be a Beta or an Alpha tester now. (So if you’ve ever wanted to be a beta reader of mine, now’s your chance.)

I’ll also be doing a comic for the game, because comics are another form I’m looking to experiment with a little more, and it gives me a chance to work with Nate Taylor again. I’ll be using that story to introduce my character, and flesh out my little corner of the world. Plus writing comics is easier for me, as the artist has to do most of the heavy lifting.

If you’re interesting in adding stuff like being an alpha tester and/or getting some of the comics being written for the game by me and other folks, you can increase your bid over on Kickstarter.

5. The Final Days

As I mentioned before, the kickstarter is about a day and a half from being over. Right now we stand at about 3.6 million, making us the second-highest game ever funded on Kickstarter.

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If we can hit 3.99 before it ends, we’ll be *the* highest funded game ever. I’m thinking we can do it if we can just get the word out to enough people…

So if you’re interested in getting in early, now would be a great time to jump on board. Supporting the game now is much better than doing it later, because if you buy in now, that money goes toward making a better game. Plus it’s cheaper to buy now. Plus you get the chance of cool extras and add-ons that won’t be available after the kickstarter closes.

Yeah. There you go. That’s my final pimping of the Kickstarter.

Here’s the link,

And I’m done.

pat

Also posted in cool things, Nathan Taylor, video games | By Pat67 Responses
Published: January 17, 2013

Worldbuilders – A Pitch of Three Parts

Since our last blog Worldbuilders has raised another $20,000 dollars for Heifer International. That puts us at $328,000, soundly trouncing last year’s donation total of $311,000.

Not bad for a bunch of book-lovers and sci-fi geeks.

Speaking of, here’s a snippet of an e-mail I just got today:

Pat,

My boyfriend and I decided that instead of Valentine’s gifts, we’re donating to Worldbuilders. We’re both such adoring fans of yours and Kvothe’s, but you’ve also made us adoring fans of the children and families that benefit from a goat or chickens and the excrements that come from both. :)

Worldbuilders is our favorite time of year thanks to you, and we just wanted to really let you know. We love you Pat! Even if it’s not here yet, I think this Valentine’s Day is going to be the best one yet.

Warmly,

Sara 

I love you too, Sara. It’s because of people like you that Worldbuilders is a success.

Oh sure, we’re lucky enough to have some people stomp in with thousand-dollar donations. But the truth is, most of our money comes from regular folks chipping in what they can. More than 25% of the money we raise comes from people donating between 10 and 50 bucks.

I mention this because I’ve had people e-mail me saying they’re sorry they can only kick in ten or twenty bucks because they’re in college. Or because they have a new baby in the house. Or because they just lost their job.

What’s my point?

Well, my first point is to say that I know what it’s like to be strapped for cash. I was a college student for more than a decade and paid my own tuition through most of it working several jobs. After I finished grad school and got a job as a teacher, I was still poor enough to qualify for low-income housing.

Even now that I’m all internationally published and and whatnot, you know how I *really* measure my financial success?

It’s not that I can now afford burritos that cost more than 33 cents. It’s not that I can order Chinese food anytime I want. It’s not even the fact that recently, for the first time in my life, I bought a car for more than 500 dollars.

It’s this:

That’s my change jar. This is how I know I’m rich.

There are quarters in there.

There’s been a lot of no-quarters in the jar times in my life. I’ve had a fair amount of no-dimes times too. And there have been a few times when I’ve bought groceries with nickles and pennies. This is my metric for success.

My point is that I know how big a deal ten dollars can be.

My point is that when I get an e-mail that says, “I can only kick in twenty dollars because our car broke down right after Christmas.” I don’t think, “Twenty bucks? Is that it?”

No. I think: You. Are. Awesome.

What’s my point? My point is that every year y’all impress me. Every year you make me proud to be a geek.

So, because we’ve beaten last year’s total with time to spare, I’m officially declaring this year’s fundraiser a success.

(Go Team!)

That said, we are not yet an amazing success. And personally, I like to shoot for amazing whenever I can.

The fundraiser is still going until January 21st at midnight. So today, I’m making my final pitch for Worldbuilders. And it will be in, *ahem* three parts.

  • Part One: What Heifer International Does.

I could go on again about how Heifer gives people a leg up rather than a handout. I could talk about how they’re education-based. How they promote long-term sustainable growth in communities.

But honestly, I’ve said it all before. So this time, how about I post up a video instead?

Four Families: India from Heifer International on Vimeo.

We good? Yeah. I thought so.

  • Part Two: Bigger Bang For Your Buck.

This year we’re trying out the stretch goal thing, and one of our big ones happens when we hit $400,000.

Specifically, if we hit 400,000 dollars before January 21st at midnight, I’ll donate $100,000 to Heifer, bringing our yearly total to over half a million.

If not, I will keep that money and do something stupid with it. I swear I will blow it on catgirls, methadone, and multiple pairs of the same kind of shoes.

That’s probably the best way to think about it. If we make it to $400,000, not only will Heifer get a boost, but you’ll be saving me from myself. Seriously. I can’t be trusted with this amount of money. I’m already about one haircut a year away from being Howard Hughes.

  • Part Three: The Odds are in Your Favor.

As many of you know, one of the cool things about Worldbuilders is that if you donate to Heifer International on our Team Page, you have the chance to win stuff.

(We have so many books we can’t even fit them all into one picture.)

Note that I say “stuff” because while most of our donation incentives are books, we also have comics, music, and DVD’s. There’s also other miscellany in the mix, like my offer to read-and-critique your unpublished manuscript, or chances to visit the Heifer Ranch with the Worldbuilders team.

You could even win a favor from me. Something which, in the auction we’re currently running, is going for a truly baffling amount of money.

So. How likely are you to win something? Very.

Right now, if you donated $10 to the fundraiser, you’d have about a 3% chance of winning something. About a 1 in 35 chance.

In mathematical terms, that means you’re approximately ten hajillion times more likely to win something from Worldbuilders than from any official lottery.

Let’s say you donate $60, enough for Heifer’s team to go in and provide education, support, and seedlings so folks can plant some trees.

Donating $60, you have a 15% chance of winning at least one prize. That’s about a 1 in 7 chance.

Plus farmers get to prevent soil erosion on their land. Plus that cute little girl gets to eat fresh fruit. Plus you get to have a huge warm fuzzy knowing you made the world a better place.

Or, let’s say you kick in 120 bucks. Enough to buy a goat.

With that donation, your odds of winning a prize are about 30% overall.  You have about a 1 in 3 chance of winning something.

Goats provide milk, rich in calcium and protein, wonderful for growing children. Plus the extra milk can be sold, which gives the family an extra source of income. Plus, goats have babies, which Heifer families pass on to their neighbors, improving their lives too….

Or you could go all the way up to $500 dollars, enough to buy a Heifer.

(This is Heifer International, after all.)

Donating enough to buy a heifer will get you a 76% chance to win something. And really good odds of winning more than one prize. (Every 10 dollars gives you an extra chance to win, remember.)

Cows produce nearly four gallons of milk a day, which means just one cow can act as the equivalent of a small business for the family selling the milk. This money gives people the chance to educate their children, buy medicine, and generally take control of their lives.

So there you go folks. My final pitch for the year. We’ll be posting more donations in the next couple days, but this is my last hard sell.

Here’s the link to the Worldbuilders donation page.

Lastly, I’d like to add that one of the best things you can do to help Worldbuilders is to spread the word. Any boost to our signal I would take as a great kindness. So feel free to share this post around, twitter it, or use excerpts of it in your own blog.

Though preferably not the part where I joked about methadone. That would be kinda odd taken out of context.

Later space cowboys,

pat

*     *     *

If you have any questions about worldbuilders, feel free to contact us at questions@worldbuilders.org.

We have some cool auctions ending soon. You can see all our current auctions here.

If you’d like to see all the items that have been donated to Worldbuilders, or learn more about the fundraiser itself, you can find all the details either on my blog, or by checking out our website.

Also posted in Worldbuilders 2012 | By Pat30 Responses
Published: December 31, 2012

Storyboard: A Call for Questions

For those of you who haven’t seen it yet. Here’s last month’s episode of Storyboard:

Not that I haven’t been proud of the other episodes, but I think we finally hit our stride with this one. It’s my favorite so far…

For episode #6, we’re doing something a little different. Since it’s happening on Jan 2nd, I know putting together a full panel of four writers will be tricky, as everyone is going to be either traveling because of the holidays or hung over from New Year’s. (Or still drunk from New Year’s).

Pat’s Edit: Sorry. I meant to say we’re doing this tonight, on January 1st. (At 8:00 PST)

So I’m going to team up with Mary Robinette Kowal this month. Together, we’ll be answering any questions people care to throw at us.

So if you happen to have any questions about the craft of writing, or the business of writing, or pretty much anything, post them in the comments below, and I’ll use them for Tuesday’s show.

Fire away….

pat

Also posted in concerning storytelling, Geek and Sundry, Machine Gun Q&A, The Story Board | By Pat75 Responses
Published: December 14, 2012

A Game of Books

Hey there everyone. I’d like to take a brief break from our Worldbuilders fundraiser to talk about… a fundraiser.

No! Wait! Don’t run off!

I’m well aware that this is insane behavior. But hear me out. You guys know how much I love Heifer International. I wouldn’t take time away from my own fundraiser to encourage you to put money somewhere else unless it was a good cause.

Here’s the thing. A couple months ago, I got an e-mail about something called The Game Of Books. It seemed like someone was putting together some sort of grand project, and he was a fan of my books and was wondering if I’d like to be involved. It was something about libraries… and reading… and games….

All things I like. But honestly? It was a long e-mail, and I didn’t have time to give it any serious attention, so I forwarded it to my lovely assistant Amanda with the instructions, “Figure out if this is bullshit or not.”

A couple weeks later, she comes back to me and says, “I’ve e-mailed with the guy in charge, and that Game of Books thing looks like it might be pretty cool.”

This really isn’t what I was expecting. And it’s not what I wanted to hear, either. Because I need another project like I need to be punched in the neck.

Still, Amanda is smart. I wouldn’t have hired her if she wasn’t smart. What’s more, she was a teacher. So she knows about education. And she likes my books, so she obviously has good taste as well.

“Fine,” I say, sitting down by the computer. “Show me.”

So she pulls up a website and starts to explain about the Book Genome Project. About how they’re going to take all this information and turn it into a card game that will help  people find books they like, and get kids reading, and….

“Wait.” I said. “I’ve seen this before. It’s bullshit. It said my book was about firefighting.” I’m irritated. I’ve got so many things to do, I can’t waste time with this…

(Click to Embiggen.)

But Amanda is enthusiastic. She points out that this guy has some heavy hitters on his side, like the American Library Association.

“Do we have a number for him?” I ask.

We do. So I dial him up. (His name’s Aaron Stanton, by the way.)

I plan on spending no more than ten minutes on the phone with this guy. I’m going to be polite, thank him for wanting to involve me with the project, and ask a few questions that will confirm my suspicions that this whole project is well-intentioned but ill-conceived bullshit.

Some of you may not know this, but in addition to being a writer, I was an English teacher for a goodly while. I’ve taken entire graduate classes that centered around the critical assessment of writing. I was a writing tutor for fifteen years. I used to *train* writing tutors.

What I’m saying is that I know how complicated interpreting a piece of text can be. It is something that computers suck at, because while computers are meticulous, they are in no way intelligent. I don’t care how good your algorithm is. A computer cannot grade a paper. It cannot give substantive editorial advice. It cannot understand a text.

So I call up Aaron, and I’m very up-front with him. I tell him my doubts in no uncertain terms. I call bullshit on seven distinct levels. I point out that a computer cannot tell the difference between the sentence “The tiger is ready to eat” and “The roast is ready to eat.”

We talked for two hours. And he sold me on the project.

Please believe me when I say, I am *not* an easy person to sell to….

What was the deal about my book being about fires and firefighting? Well, the truth is, my book is kinda about fires and firefighting. Fire is really a big deal in the first book, and it’s central to a lot of the key chapters and scenes. The scene where the Chandrian first show up. The demonstration that he gives in Hemme’s class. His sympathy duel. (Almost all of his sympathy, actually.) The fire in the Fishery. The blue fire at the wedding. The Draccus. All of Trebon….

There’s a lot of fire. Now that I think about it, one of the titles I had for the first book LONG ago was “Kindlings and Beginnings.”

And if you look past the fire and firefighting part, there’s actually some pretty impressive things there. Any algorithm that can correctly identify that my book is about “Secrets and Truthseeking” has something going for it.

Now don’t get me wrong, Aaron didn’t convince me that the whole thing was perfect and beautiful. As with most cutting edge stuff, it has the *potential* to be brilliant.

The big thing he’s interested in is helping people find books that *don’t* have hundreds of reviews on Amazon or Goodreads. He wants to level the playing field. He’s trying to create tools that will help people find books they’ll like even if they don’t have a ton of marketing money behind them, or even if the author is new. He wants to give libraries tools to keep people reading, and to encourage people to broaden their reading habits….

So… Yeah. This thing has my seal of approval. And I say that as someone that hated the idea at first.

So if you’re interested. If you like games, and books, and libraries. Why don’t you wander over to their kickstarter and watch the video they’ve put together.

There’s only 3 days left in the kickstarter, but since I posted about this on facebook two days ago, they’ve raised more than 40,000 dollars. I honestly think we have a chance to close the gap these last couple days if everyone helps spread the word….

And, as an added bonus, Aaron has agreed to answer any questions you might have.

So if there’s anything you’re curious about after watching the video and reading the description, feel free to post your questions down in the comments. He’ll swing by and give us a clue-in when he gets a chance…

pat

Also posted in cool things | By Pat56 Responses
Published: November 15, 2012

Worldbuilders 2012

What’s that you say? You want to make the world a better place while winning fabulous prizes?

Well today is your lucky day.

Heifer International is my favorite charity. It helps people raise themselves up out of poverty and starvation. Heifer promotes education, sustainable agriculture, and local industry all over the world.

They don’t just keep kids from starving, they make it so families can take care of themselves. They give goats, sheep, and chickens to families so their children have milk to drink, warm clothes to wear, and eggs to eat.

(Are you ready? I’m so ready. Let’s do it.)

Pay attention now, you’ve got a couple different options for donating.

Option 1: The Lottery.

This is the option most people will want. It’s simple. You hop directly over to the page I’ve set up on Team Heifer, and donate.

When you donate on that page, two things happen.

1. You’ll move us closer to our stretch goals (shown below).

2. You’ll be entered in the lottery.

After the fundraiser is over, we’ll have a random drawing for all the swag that’s been donated. Thousands of books, comics, DVD’s and other cool miscellany.

For every 10 bucks you donate, your name will get entered into the drawing once. If you donate thirty bucks, your name goes in three times. Think of it as buying tickets, if you like.

We’ve had *way* too many books donated to post them all up at once. So I’ll be putting up a blog full of donated books every day or so, just to keep y’all from being overwhelmed.

Make sure to check back often to see the new coolness.

Last year, book-lovers and geeks from all over the world helped us raise more than $310,000 for Heifer International. It was a stunning display of generosity and goodwill.

Still, I think we can do even better.

In order to encourage people to donate, we have some stretch goals this year. Every time we raise another 50K, something new and cool will be added to the fundraiser.

I’ll go into more detail about some of these stretch goals as they get closer. But the first of these is a request that’s come from the regular readers of my blog. Over the years, I’ve had countless requests that I explain the details about the calendar and the currency system of the Four Corners.

We’re currently on the road to our 350K stretch goal. If we hit it, the people at Geek Chic will design and produce a functional Lockless Box.

You can donate over here on our Team Heifer Donation Page.

Note: Worldbuilders ends January 21st, 2013 at 11:59 pm CST.  All donations must be in before then to qualify for the lottery.

Option 2: The Sure Thing.

Or, as I like to think of it, the Christmas Present Option.

For those of you who aren’t interested in the lottery, we have some stuff you can just buy.

Our store, lovingly named The Tinker’s Packs, has t-shirts, posters, and other coolness available for purchase. We also have a slew of foreign editions donated and signed by the authors. Portuguese, German, Spanish, Japanese…. These editions are really hard to find if you live here in the US, and we have a *lot* of them.

All proceeds from the store go to Worldbuilders, of course.

Additionally, this year we’ve produced a Fantasy Themed Pin-Up Calendar. Every month showcases a different fantasy author, either featuring a character from a book (Like Cersei Lannister from Martin’s Game of Thrones) or an homage to the author’s work (Like the Fahrenheit 451 inspired pin-up of Bradbury’s.)

You can click on the image below to see the author’s names, and get glimpses of the illustrations.

If you’re interested in seeing some full images and the classic pinups that inspired them, I highly recommend checking out the blog Lee Moyer wrote on the subject.

N.K. Jemisin posted up her page along with a fascinating blog talking about how she worked together with Lee on the painting of Oree. You can also see Neil Gaiman’s page over on his blog. It’s one of my favorites. His wife, Amanda Palmer, posed as the model for Media from American Gods.

And, of course, there’s more images on the order page in The Tinker’s Packs.

We posted a lot of new stuff in the store this year.  There were Jayne Hats, Cthulu cards, Pottery Steins, and so much more.

Option 3: Auctions.

Last year we did a few auctions and they seemed to work out pretty well. So this year we’re continuing in that fine tradition, auctioning off some of the rarer and more specialized services people have donated.

This year we have professionals who are willing to read and critique your manuscripts. We have signed art and rare books. We have the chance to win guest appearances in comics and get your name into upcoming books.

Stay tuned, as we’ll be adding new auctions all the time.

For a full listing of all current Worldbuilders auctions, CLICK HERE.

A Plea For Sanity

Lastly, I’d like to ask everyone to please read the instructions/directions carefully before they donate.

I know you’re excited. I’m excited too. We’re all going to raise some money, make the world a better place, and end up with big warm fuzzy feelings.

But the more emails my assistants get about missing addresses, wrong sizes, or forgotten personalization requests, the more likely they are to cry. You don’t want that, do you?

I’m sure you don’t. And I’m sure that you’ll read the instructions carefully.

FAQ.

Have questions? Most of them are probably answered over in the FAQ. (Even if your question isn’t answered, I talk about Batman a bit, so it won’t be a complete waste of your time.)

Lastly, just in case you missed it, here’s one more link to our Team Heifer donation page.

Let’s do this thing.

pat

P.S. Below are this year’s lovely sponsors. They have donated, books, services, and cold hard cash to make Worldbuilders what it is today.

You should show them some love. They deserve it.

Also posted in baby ducks, Worldbuilders 2012 | By Pat33 Responses
Published: September 24, 2012

An Open Invitation

First of all, let me clarify something. The Worldbuilders fundraiser will be starting in a month or so.

It hasn’t started yet. We’re just gearing up for it.

(I Love our Logo.)

Now I know some of you are excited. I get that. I really do. But let’s not get crazy here. Let’s not go running around all higgledy-piggeldy.

I mention this because after I posted the last blog, some people got riled up and donated on last year’s Worldbuilders page, the one labeled Worldbuilders 2011.

In some ways, that makes me happy, because the money does go to Heifer International. But in other ways it makes me sad, because those folks are missing out on this year’s festivities. Including the matching donations Worldbuilders offers….

So listen when I say unto you: Be patient. We’re still warming up for the main event.

For example, today’s the day we’re officially making our open call for anyone who would like to help with the fundraiser.

What sort of folks can help? Well….

  • Are you an author who would like to donate some signed books to Worldbuilders?

Author-donated books have always been the backbone of Worldbuilders. We’d love to put them to use.

What’s more, if you have extra foreign editions taking up shelf space, we’d love to make them available for non-English readers in The Tinker’s Packs.

Drop us a line at donations (squiggly-at-thinger) worldbuilders.org.

  • Are you a crafty geek-type person who would like to donate something cool?

Last year we experimented with Jane hats, hand-crafted bear steins, and hand-bound books. To our delight, they sold really well.

So if you’d like to donate your geeky crafts to the cause, drop us a line at donations (squiggly-at-thinger) worldbuilders.org.

  • Are you a vast corporate entity looking for a tax write-off?

Did you know that Worldbuilders is a federally recognized 501(c)3 charity? Well we are. We’re bona fide.

What’s more, this year Worldbuilders is offering official corporate sponsorships, allowing you to exchange your dirty, dirty money for good publicity and positive karma.

Want more details? Contact us at donations (squiggly-at-thinger) worldbuilders.org.

  • Are you a publisher who would like to promote your titles right before the holidays?

It seems to me that sending books to worldbuilders would be a great way to do that. We’re great at showing off books….

What’s more, if you’re willing to kick in enough books, Worldbuilders will hold you up as a glorious specimen of generosity by making you an official sponsor of the fundraiser.

We can make it happen, just drop us a line at donations (squiggly-at-thinger) worldbuilders.org.

With authors like Neil Gaiman, George RR Martin, and Charlaine Harris involved, you know they’ll sell….

Drop us a line at questions (squiggly-at-thinger) worldbuilders.org and we’ll discuss details.

  • Are you a blogger, journalist, or member of the geek glitterati willing to spread the word about Worldbuilders?

We would love to make that happen.

Contact us at questions (squiggly-at-thinger) worldbuilders.org

  • Are you Batman?

Seriously. The suit looks cool and all, but it’s time someone told you. Everybody knows you’re Bruce Wayne.

We know your parents got killed, and we’re sorry as hell about that. We also know it must be pretty fun running around on rooftops, beating the hell out of the lower class, and boning Catwoman.

And we’re not implying you should stop that. Everyone needs a hobby.

But if you *really* wanted to help people, you’d take just a fraction of the money you were going to spend on Batarangs and give it to us instead. $120 bucks is all it takes to change someone’s life forever. Do you have any idea what we could do with some of that Bat-Mobile money???

We’ll make you an official sponsor of the fundraiser too. You don’t have to be a corporation or a publisher for that. We respect regular old-fashioned personal philanthropy too.

You can donate on behalf of your parents if you like. You can be anonymous if you want.

Seriously. We’re okay with that.

Just drop us a line and we’ll work out the details.

We’re at: donations (squiggly-at-thinger) worldbuilders.org

Later,

pat

Also posted in a few words you're probably going to have to look up, Worldbuilders 2012 | By Pat35 Responses
Published: September 21, 2012

Worldbuilders: Sounding the Advance

We’re about a month and a half away from the start of this year’s Worldbuilders, and I have to say, things are going pretty well so far.

Actually, we’re doing way better than that. Things are going amazingly well.

I wish I could take credit for it. But the truth is, it’s the newly assembled Worldbuilders team who deserves the praise.

You see, last year’s fundraiser was our biggest yet. We raised over 450,000 dollars for Heifer International.

The downside was that it swallowed three months of my life.

And I’m not saying it wasn’t worth it. Because it was. $450,000 is a lot of goats. It’s a lot of well-fed kids and a lot of families that are happier and healthier than they were before.

But it made me realize that I needed *way* more help to run things effectively. We’ve come a long way since 2008 when Sarah and I ran this whole thing out of our living room.

As a result, this year I’ve got a bunch of lovely, capable, and above all *organized* people helping out. They say things to me like, “You know, maybe you should start asking authors for donations before the fundraiser actually starts…”

Its because of them that things are moving along smoothly and according to schedule. Hell, they’re the only reason there is a schedule.

So, with no further ado, a few updates:

  • Alchemystic Pre-Order

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog explaining my mortal enemy Anton Strout’s generous offer to donate $1 to worldbuilders for every copy of his upcoming book that people pre-order. I also mentioned that his publisher, Penguin, generously offered to match that donation up to the first 1500 books.

However, after I posted the blog, I realized that while I had gone into some detail about how much I wished to destroy Anton, I hadn’t done a good job of explaining how generous he was actually being with his offer.

(I will admit, this was not my best threat ever.)

You see, authors make their money by earning a royalty off each book they sell. For paperback books, that royalty tends to be between 6% and 8% of the cover price.

Alchemystic has a cover price of 7.99. Let’s call it eight bucks even just to keep the math easy.

This means every copy of Anton’s book that’s pre-ordered, will earn him between 48 and 64 cents.

That means for every copy of his book that’s pre-ordered, Anton is potentially giving away twice as much money as he’s making on the sale.

Now I’m not asking that you rush out and pre-order his book in an attempt to bankrupt this man. My nemesis. My sworn enemy.

No. That would be petty.

What I’m asking you to do is this:

1. Realize that if you order Alchemystic before Sunday the 23rd, it will count as a pre-order.

2. Consider that if you pre-order the book, two dollars will be donated to Worldbuilders, and, by extension, Heifer International.

3. Look at this adorable picture of a little girl hugging a goat.

4. Do whatever comes naturally.

  • The 2013 Literary Pin-Up Calendar.

So far the calendar pre-order has been going very well.

For example, these are the pre-orders we received just on the first day.

As we promised, calendars will go out in the same order that they came in. So these will be the very first calendars we ship out when they come back from the printer.

If you’re interested in seeing one of the recently revealed pin-ups, you can head over to the pre-order page on the Tinker’s Packs and check it out there. (Hint: It’s Peter S. Beagle’s.)

You can read the blog Lee Moyer wrote about it over here.

Rest assured that we’ll be posting more images as they become available.

  • New Facebook Pages. 

We have recently created a Facebook page for our online store, The Tinker’s Packs.

And another page for Worldbuilders itself.

If you want to keep a close eye on the fundraiser and the store, following those pages might be a good idea. You’re less likely to miss updates that way. And some of the items we’ll be offering on the store, or putting up for auction in the fundraiser are going to be limited in number.

For example, last year someone donated 30 Jayne hats to the fundraiser and they sold out in less than a day. The same thing happened with the ceramic steins someone made for us.

If you tune in to the Facebook pages, odds are you’ll have a better chance of catching these sorts of things before they sell out.

That’s all for now, folks. More soon….

pat

[Edit: Added 1:00 PM]

  • Contact E-mails for Worldbuilders.

If you’d like to make a donation, you can drop us a line at donations (squiggly-at-thinger) worldbuilders.org

If you have a general question about the fundraiser, you can contact us at: Questions (squiggly-at-thinger) worldbuilders.org.

 

 

Also posted in cool things, the business of writing, Things I didn't know about publishing, Worldbuilders 2012 | By Pat29 Responses

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