Not to let the cat out of the bag early here, but I figured I’d share what we having coming up on July 7th with those of you who make a habit of reading the blog.
Maybe this is a little silly, but I think of y’all… I don’t know really. I don’t want to say something like “core readership” because if you start using phrases like “core readership” then odds are you’re not far from using the word “utilize” instead of “use.” After that you’re only a few steps from enthusiastically using the term ‘synergy’ in regular conversation. And once that happens… well… it’s just a ever-tightening spiral until the end.
So while I don’t know what to call y’all exactly, I do think of the people who read this blog as the readers I know best, as I do make an effort to read the comments you write here. I also think of you guys as the folks that know *me* best, as you take the time to read through my great rambling bloggings.
By the way, have I mentioned that Cutie Snoo has just started to crawl? He’s wobbly as a youtube kitten. But when he sees something he wants to grab and stick in his gob, no amount of tipping over or face-planting will deter him. Seriously, the raw determination he possesses is really astounding.
In other cute-kid news, tonight I was feeling a little down. So I asked Oot if he would like to cuddle. He did, so we curled up on the couch. Then, while telling me a story he thrashed around dramatically and kicked me right in the nuts.
It was one of those good, sharp kicks. Where you’re given a moment of pain-free grace in which to think: I’m pretty sure he got me. But it doesn’t actually *hurt.* Maybe he just grazed them. Maybe….
And then, just when you start to really hope, the pain slowly blossoms. Like a lump of raw nausea forged from dull red iron.
I didn’t freak out on him. He didn’t mean to do it. He was just being a kid, and it was an accident.
Besides, years ago I worked out how to deal with these situations: Every time he kicks me in the nuts, I just make a note of it. Then, when he turns 16, gets his license, and asks to borrow the car, I’m going to say “no.” I’m going to say “no” once for every time he’s kicked me in the nuts.
At this point, he won’t be able to borrow the car until he’s 35.
Sleep tight you innocent little fucker. Someday you’ll have kids, and they’ll kick you square in the junk and I will laugh and laugh and laugh.
Anyway, back to business. The upcoming festivities.
On the 7th we’re doing something new with Worldbuilders. An experiment of sorts.
As most of you know, we tend to run a big fundraiser at the end of the year. We raise money for Heifer International by running a big lottery, some auctions, and occasionally selling things in the Tinker’s Packs.
This year, we’re trying something a little different. Instead of waiting a whole year, we’re going to do another smaller fundraiser here in July. Instead of having it last for a month, it’s only going to be one week long. Instead of having a big lottery and auctions, we’re going to be running it as an IndiGogo Campaign. So if you see something and think it’s awesome, you can just buy it. (As opposed to hoping you win it in the lottery, or bidding on it in an auction.)
The Worldbuilders Team has been putting this together for a couple months now, and we’re going to have some cool stuff in there: Book Bundles, a new T-shirt, a Princess and Mr. Whiffle coloring book. AND we’re launching the 2015 calendar. Probably my favorite calendar we’ve done so far….
We’ve got cool stuff. Scads of it.
But, as always happens when you’re trying something for the first time, I’m getting a little nervous.
For one thing, we don’t really have a good name for it yet. The Worldbuilders Mid-Year Indigogo Geektastic Fundraiser doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.
The other thing I’m a little nervous about is whether or not we’re going to be able to effectively spread the word about the fundraiser in this time frame. The entire thing is only going to be a week long….
Do you guys have any good ideas about what we might be able to call this? (And yes, I’m aware of the irony involved in my asking for help in giving something a name.)
Also, do y’all have any bright ideas about how we might be able to spread the word?
Ideas welcome in the comments below. Or, if you’d like to offer a particular type of help, you can contact us on the Worldbuilders page.
Stay hoopy fellow froods,
pat
170 Comments
Patrick Rothfuss, I love you! That’s it: stomp on that pretention (pretentiousness?) until it is cowed!
How about “Worldbuilders in July”?
Worldbuilders Geek Week a Go-Go?
or Week’sGeek-a-Go-Go..?
Ooh I like this one! It ties in IndieGoGo and geekery!
Putting in a vote for “Worldbuilder’s Geek Week a Go-Go!”
I have no suggestions on how to spread the word other than asking all your fanatical minions to help share on social media. Either way, I shall buy things. xoxo
Yes, I like this one too, and using social media…
“Worldbuilder’s Geek Week” does have a certain something…..
I’m liking this one. I’d suggest doing a retweet and Facebook share contest to get the word out.
I heartily second this idea.
So far Worldbuilders Geek Week is my vote. Plus GeekWeek is a great hashtag and will spread like bone-tar through the fishery. Then just post it from your FB and other social media sites and have everyone repost share it on theirs. Done.
How about “A Summer Geeky Smile for the World”?
Regarding a way of spreading the word, the only thing that comes into my mind is using social media and us readers sharing the news. Going in that line, maybe the same day the fundraiser starts we can create a hashtag on twitter (I’m not sure if this, or something similar, exists in other social media) and try to make it trending topic. It would need to be something catchy (#GeekySmile, maybe?), so people who see it click on it to get more info.
I have another idea that can be cool, but most likely is kinda crazy and cannot be acomplished on time. Anyway, the idea is to make some kind of video of you reading some kind of poem (or any similar coolness) and publish it on youtube to try to make it trendly so more people heard the news. As I said, crazy idea.
I hope some of this can healp. Count me in for trying to spread the word and healp make the world a better place.
Thanks for all your effort and coolness.
Really, Patrick, if you are going to play Catcher in the Why with Oot you need to go down to a sporting goods store and get yourself a Catcher’s Friend.
Frank.
Awesome!
How about the Worldbuilders Solstice Celebration?
I like that personally… since the big one is already running over Winter solstice, it makes sense to run a second one over Summer solstice. It appeals to me, and I’m about as far extremist as you can get with “function over form” mentality.
“Also, do y’all have any bright ideas about how we might be able to spread the word?”
Now that you’re on twitter, I thought the way to go about these things is asking people to RT once the Indiegogo campaign is life (and ask some of your friends with high follower numbers in person to RT as well).
Seriously.
A Gaiman retweet is like airing a Super Bowl commercial.
Worldbuilding Post Solstice Fundraiser
Worldbuilders’ Summer Heat Milk-raiser
Worldbuilders Week long Summer Snap up Sale!
Worldbuilders Week?
Why not hold an auction for an object causing such sublime yearning, that it spreads the word of both the sale and auction. For our Worldbuilders Week Sale we have singing swords, moon bloom flowers and a week long auction of *I just squeed!*
A squee causing viral catalyst would be helpful, (Imagine a mexican wave made of squees) and then it could possibly create a more diverse interest. Anything interesting enough to cause a small wave of retweets and facebook shares, on top of the worldbuilders fundraiser itself?
As for a squee worthy object, I had a sudden flash of a hand drawn poster of many authors, maybe cartoonish but not caricature, with it signed as well. It didn’t make me squee but I thought it was pretty close.
I also take back the auction comment. Somehow, I completely breezed over the auction part of the no competition sentence. Then after coming to the conclusion that competitions help breed publicity I remembered that there will be no competition and decided an auction as a parallel second best to a competition while still technically being a sale. Only There shall be no auctions. Minor whoopsie!
Now I’m going to go sandpaper the few lawyer cells that conjugated that out of my brain.
I’ll leave the ones that came up with the poster though, that’s a pretty rad idea.
Can’t think of a proper name. I’m pretty bad at naming. But i think the sale should last for a week and a day. Feels proper.
Heh. I think it will, actually, be a week and a day.
As someone with an old school 1st and 15th pay schedule, please PLEASE let this happen. I would hate to be dollar short until a day late.
Week and a day is 192 hours. The sale will cross the 192nd day of the year. Fun coincidence.
“Summer-builders” is what I might suggest, but it sounds a little off.
Okay okay this is really hokey, but what if this fundraiser is called Moonbuilders instead of Worldbuilders? Because it’s a satellite! Ooooor it could be called Worldbuilders Summer Satellite and the logo could have a moon in it…
I’m trying to find a way to use the Latin word “hebdomados” because it is probably the must fun word for “week” in any language. (Really, try saying it aloud.)
Worldbuilders Summer Hebdomadary Extravaganza!
Damn. Now I’m going to have that running around in my head until I can find an excuse to use “hebdomadary” in a sentence.
Heifer week sounds cool, too — hebomados bucula
Um… Whifflebuilders?
Why not make it a span instead of a week? That would be most appropiate.
Worldbuilders Span Edition, or “The Helping Span” sounds nice to me :)
Ooh, I really like that idea!
Oh man, I wanted to use span…
(Now that I see it written, however, my brain starts thinking spam, and that may not be the best word to find on the internet. Then again, it may be just me)
Might be a little late with the planning, but I also love the idea of using a span.
Midsummer pageantry? maybe at midsummer, instead of demons spreading mischief, tehlus angels can spread word of charitable geekery.
Worldbuilder’s Heat Week edition.
As for spreading the word, twitter seems like the best option probably with a couple pictures with the name. If you want to spread the word (and kind of be a dick) a picture of a stone door (literally any stone door) and the events name and info (I just realized that’s definition of click bait, I feel dirty).
Child exploitation: a cute story or video from Oot could make it go viral…
When I was recovering from being spayed or neutered just prior to kid #3 being born, kid #2 ran to give me a hug. Unfortunately he was exactly of a height to strike an upward glancing blow on the area in question, like a well delivered glove to a speed bag. I went down. To the floor. In the pantry.
“Mommy! I broke Daddy.”
Good times. He’s not getting the keys either.
Just a tidbit because I recently had to look this up: females get spayed and males get neutered. They’re different terms for the same thing based on gender.
World Builders big summer blow out! We have half off all kingkiller flip flops, new summer t-shirts, and a Princess and Mr. Whiffle coloring book of our own creation! As for spreading the word perhaps reaching out to the geek community through a geek and sundry video…
Worldbuilders Go! Or Worldbuilders Geek Week. I agree that a social media campaign would be the best way to publicize it. Pick a snappy hashtag and get high profile geek celebrities to retweet it. Also, what about starting something like a Pat image macro for people to re-caption and share? Photos grab more attention than text, and if it’s something interactive (“Come up with your own caption for this goofy photo of Pat!”), people will be drawn in to participate.
How about Worldbuilders MidSummer FUNraiser?
Like this one too…
Worldbuilders’ Geeky Week?
I have twin two year old girls, your story brought tears of laughter to my eyes! None of my friends have kids who can give them a solid right in the nuggets so it’s nice to see a story about it here on your blog.
How about: Go “nuts” week?
I know it doesn’t really make sense, but your fans love ya and I’m sure the amount of money raised in a week is going to be a little beyond what most people could hope to accomplish. Keep up the good work!
How about “Worldbuilders Kick-You-in-the-Nuts July Extravaganza”?
Wait, that might detract people…
Yes, Wordbuilder Go Nuts, or Kick-You-in-the-Nuts would definitely grab attention, or Nut-grabbers!
nutbuilders?
No brilliant names. There are a bunch of good ones suggested above this anyway. I just hope you give us a picture or even a video of Cutie Snoo crawling and wobbling sometime. That would be awesome.
Definitely going to pick up a couple Princess and Mr. Whiffle coloring books. Might even give one to my niece….
julio kolektado because Esperanto is geeky enough to make it fun
Mi konsentas! Ni ĉiuj uzas Esperanton por la semajno, tro
Yep, I agree that social media hashtag use and getting high-profile friends to spread the word seems to be a REALLY effective way at getting the word out. That’s how I find out about a lot of things like this.
The Name of the Fundraiser. :|
Well played.
Indeed.
http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130119025631/glee/images/2/28/Funny-gif-baby-I-See-What-You-Did-There.gif
I humbly suggest the name Builderdash. It’s concise, and it ties the event back to Worldbuilders, plus kind of hints at the shortened time frame compared to the annual winter event.
I second this one
I third it :D
Delightful suggestion, I fourth it.
Fifthed! (Also, I love the idea that it might last a span)
Oh, good one too…
6thed.
Builderdash!
Hmmm…. This definitely has something going for it as well….
I like it a lot
Love this one!! Simple, to the point, and has the potential for a very creative logo design.
Heifer Aid II: Give me your money.
Please, please, please make Paypal possible this time. Most of your central and westen european readership probably doesn’t own credit cards, since they are way less common over here, and it frustrated me a little when I couldn’t manage to donate anything this winter.
That’s one of the reasons we’re going with Indigogo for this. They accept paypal.
How about, “WorldBuilders: The Summer Sprint Edition” ?
I like the simple Worldbuilder week. It could use a motto like: God built the world in a week, let’s see what we can build in the same amount of time.
Also seconded on the Paypal option as borrowing another person’s creditcard just becomes awkward after the first few times.
The word you are looking for is “Tribe.” We are your tribe.
(See also: Seth Godin’s TRIBE book)
Like lenamoster said something that could spread fast with hashtaging it.
Worldbuilders Week Extavaganza -> #wwe, which might be confusing
Worldbuilders geek week fundraiser -> #geekweekFUNdraiser
Worldbuilders goat week -> #goatweek
I like the last one because I have heard shark week is quite popular in your neck of woods. Tying it somehow to donating amount of money that gives families goats, possibly cuddling with one.
What got me into it last time was the announcing of what is in the lottery, because you guys have the best stuff. Other authors getting in as well helps, because they can inform their fans and fans will inform their friends.
Good time for me to get rest of the signed books.
Cheers from Finland, great news.
I love the Hashtag idea! #geekweekFUNdraiser
has a certain flair
#goatweek is simply brilliant. We could spam the social media with pictures of goats that link to a Worldbuilders/Heifer donation site
#goatweek
I like the thought of Goat Week, as opposed to shark week.
Thanks, feels like a nice Pat on back.
?
My HTML is rusty… It should have looked like this…
The Builders of Summer?
Pat, I was crying with laughter in my office when I read this post. Your writing is so refreshing. I’ve read your books over and over, and each time I love them more.
I can NOT WAIT for the doors of stone
Worldbuilder’s : Summer Camp
HopeBuilders: A Dream within a Week
I’m new to the blog and realized it’s great to have some sort of contact with you as an author, you were my inspiration to jump into writting, who knows, maybe someday we’ll have the chance to run into each other.
It’s great to be aware that there are persons in the world that can make your back stronger because of a novel, Kvothe and you Pat, have changed my life.
Worldbulider fundraiser week? Fundraiser week for the world builders? Honestly I am very bad with naming( see what I did there).
But maybe your could start tour promotions via the social network first then maybe contact the newspapers to have an interview or maybe just write a coloum on this event
Great blog…but you are not in Texas anymore so come back to the Wisconsites side and say ‘you guys’ then forbid ‘y’all’ from your vocabulary. Lol I joke…sort of. I like the fundraiser name idea someone suggested ‘The Name of the Fundraiser’, but I will contribute my two cent idea of ‘The Week of the Geeks United.’ Or ‘Reach for the Geeks Nation’. Then again you could use a favourite chatacter of many and tag a line in there. Since Auri has the Novella coming out this may attract more attention using her as ‘the bait’. ‘Auri’s Week of Silent Geeks.’
I approve of this plan of saying no in exchange for crotch shots. I’m doing that with my kid. He ruined my teeth…first because of the hyperemesis while I was pregnant and then because he headbutted me in the mouth and cracked a tooth. Twice. He’s almost 5 now and when he asks me for stuff, I’m like, “Nope. I need twenty thousand dollars of dental work thanks to you. Sorry. You’re lucky you’re cute.”
As for names…The Summer of Building….something…Dreams, Hope….Building Up….
As several have said, Twitter is great for getting the word out. Just be sure to have the supporters with huge followings to tweet it.
A week of goats (Among other things): A Worldbuilders project
You are my people.
Now that I think about it, ‘A week of goods: A Worldbuilders project’ might be better…
And I do mean that in all it’s clever implications.
P.S. Is it of bad etiquette to reply to your own comment?
I don’t think it is…bad etiquette to reply to yourself, that is.
It just goes to show that an “edit-my-comment-so-I-don’t-keep-replying-to-myself” button thing would be much appreciated.
Also, your first suggestion. WIN.
http://i.imgur.com/h2Jtf8Z.gif
IndiGoGo-Dancing Patrick Rothfuss Extravaganza
(~only in my dreams~)
You can use
Goblyn r Faire
The r is backwards and crossed out
Get video blogging with
Nannlew,will,Felicia , and others
Also Raydee o
Hmm…. Goblin Market?
Worldbuilders: Summer Fling.
A quick summer romance with all things geek, and saving the world.
I like this one -whimsical and fun.
All of the win is right here.
So many great ideas…
How about “The Week of Beneficial Bounty”? That way, if you decide to do it again on a different week, then you can reuse the same title as it’s not really tied down to a certain time of year, name-wise.
Hi Patrick, we’re Roca de Guía, a spanish website and fan community of The Kingkiller Chronicle. I think we can help, since we can reach the spanish readers, those fans who usually don’t read this blog because they don’t speak english. We just emailed Worldbuilders about this, just let us know if we can help. Good luck with the fundraiser :)
Sounds like your site would be of interest to a few teachers I know here in the southwestern U.S. Baila con Dios….
Great, feel free to send them the link of our site :) Thanks
Eh, uh, I translate the blogs to spanish. Just for the spanish readers to know. In tresdíasdekvothe. And if anyone out there is willing to help me to translate them, I would like to know. I need help T_T, I have too many things to do on the Internet, like seeing kittens. But really, I have to translate like, 15 blogs. because somebody doesn’t stop posting blogs…
+respect. Even though I don’t speak Spanish. Because everybody needs more Rothfuss.
Thanks so much. We’ll be in touch.
I like this challenge. I was originally going to suggest “Geektastica”, and I do like the suggestiveness of “Summer Fling”, but I kind of like the little “Geeks Doing Good” thing they have on the Worldbuilders website (link). They never seem to use it outside their site, which, let’s face it, nobody visits (sorry! just saying!).
I want “Geeks Doing Good” to be free! To leave the nest!
Yeah, sorry. I’m not as funny as I thought I was. Carry on.
I like this one too….
Sounds like the Edema Ruh are coming to town. The ultimate week long pop up extravaganza!
Made me laugh and partially wince in pain. I feel your rage and urge for long term vengeance.
Names:
‘The Charitable Seven’ – week has 7 days, right?
‘Halfway There’ – mid point of year
‘Midsummer DonateAway’
//Matt
I take back my idea. ‘The Charitable Seven’ use that one.
Unlikely Maths?
Not Fundraising Like a Complete Jackass?
Worldbuilders: World Cup edition?
Hmm July 7th is my 2 year anniversary. At the wedding we donated a bunch of money to Worldbuilders as the ‘Wedding Favor’ (I didn’t know this was a thing). So I selfishly want something like:
Clinkenbeard-aversery Worldbuilderama?
or
Share the love-stravaganza
or something not terrible. =-) Seriously I wanted to chime in because I think this is a great idea. I will be buying a calendar and probably a shirt (or 2)
To combine two good ideas: Builderdash: A Worldbuilders Summer Camp.
Also, I second the use of our collective interaction being known as a Tribe.
What Would Elodin Do? (Which, speaking of, you could utilize as a synergistic bumper sticker…)
Tinker’s Damn
Pat, love this idea. Can’t wait to check out the campaign. Name idea: Building Worlds in a Week.
As for how to spread the world. Time for another Reddit AMA! If you have any other author friends who would be willing to do an AMA throughout the week to promote the fundraiser, that would also be effective.
World Builders: Summer Solstice Menagarie
Menagarie as in a varied collection of people. Because what is worldbuilders? A varied collection of people coming together for a single good cause.
How should we get the word out?
Reddit, Facebook, all the other social media possible.
If you do an AMA on reddit, this typically brings a lot of attention and sometimes it will blow up and a lot of people will see it. All you have to do it answer a few questions. I think you’ve done one before?
This blog is a good start. I know during the main fundraiser I constantly share the worldbuilders blogs and badger my friends to donate. Also the twitter thing is probably a good idea.
I think the Summer fling is the best name idea so far
How about Geek Week for Good.
As for being a “core readership” or a “fan” or a “minion”. I just prefer to think that you, I and we are kindred spirits. (not sure of the grammar there)
Maybe just embrace that fact that you can’t come up with a name and call it “Project COPPER” or something like that. And come up with a decent acronym so those who don’t get the joke will still be cool with it.
As for spreading the word, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Asking famous youtubers, telling other charities, and etc. would be fine.
This is pretty funny….
How about “Worldbuilder’s Week”?
As far as advertising, you know TONS of people in the industry who would be more than willing to spread the word as a favor to you for such a worthy cause! :)
It worked for Steam why not worldbuilders?
Worldbuilders Summer Sale
I’ll help you spread the word in any way possible gimme a link i’ll share that thing everywhere!
That certainly gets right to the point….
Geek Week-A-Go-Go
MidYear Manic Saletastic Pat Rothfuss Week (?)
Pat, I (and I think many others) would love for you to do a live write-a-thon as Brandon Sanderson did back in January. If it were offered as a high-level donation incentive, I think people would spread the word to make it happen.
For anyone interested, Brandon’s live-write can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRhup20Ns1c
I might give something like that a try in the future. It’s something I’d need to prepare for though….
Worldbuilders Mid-Year Flashdrive?
I like the Worldbuilders Summer Camp idea – as for publicity Twitter and Facebook both support hashtags and you could even attach a logo or image to be forwarded around. I propose #goatsandgeeks or #geeksgivegoats along with #worldbuilderssummercamp (or, as has been said, sale).
It’s an honor to be a part of your tribe/posse/coalition/what-have-you. And if y’all rankles, there’s always the perfectly adequate ‘ye.’
Name: GeekWeek (Worldbuilder’s GeekWeek)
Just my two cents
Hi Pat,
Awesome to see this is happening! No name suggestions, and I’ve mentioned this to you before on Facebook, and spoke to your team about it a few months ago, but I think accepting Bitcoin, and advertising it to the Bitcoin Reddit Group (which has 120,000 active followers) could really help to market it. One of the main reasons I’m so excited about Bitcoin is because it allows for charities to have global reach, and it doesn’t charge you an arm and a leg to use like Kickstarter and credit card processors because of the peer to peer nature of it, fees are 0 % for charities through reputable companies like Bitpay. Bitpay instantly converts the Bitcoin you receive to dollars if you’d like, and doesn’t charge charities a fee, so you don’t even need to worry about the price volatility of Bitcoin, you can just get dollars, but use Bitcoin as a means of payment.
It is also a great way that many charities have gotten more notice because the Reddit group loves to help out charities, and the community is eager to spend Bitcoin on charitable causes.
I spoke to your team a few months ago and they were very intrigued and said they would think on it for the future, but were ultimately worried about the murkiness surrounding it at the time, but a lot more regulatory clarity and development has occurred since then. Heck, the U.S. government just auctioned off $18 million dollars worth of it. Anyway, if interested, I could post it on Reddit, and there’s a community of Bitcoin geeks who I’m sure would love to donate and get involved. Either way, I’ll be donating in dollars if not, but I thought I’d mention it once more. It’s a great form of publicity in addition to an awesome payment innovation.
This is still interesting to me….
The problem is, the very idea of a mid-year fundraiser for us is an experiment in itself. Using indigogo is an experiment for us too.
Accepting bitcoin on top of it…. well… that’s an awful lot of experimentation going on all at once. I worry it will implode on itself.
I would be interested in trying this out in the future though…
I’ll go check if this hasn’t been posted yet on the Goodreads forum. We try to bring up stuff like this over there.
Other than that, I agree with a lot of others about posting it to Facebook/Twitter.
Anywho, I’m not good at naming things either, so I’ll pass on that, but looking forward to seeing a new t-shirt.
Good to read you’ve been getting in some family time too. I am looking forward to having my little girl in October, so of course I’m pretty giddy about reading about children right now…LOL.
Worldbuilders second story
Names:
If it lasts a week, the word Chan or Chaen should somehow be included.
If it lasts a span, Worldbuilders fun-span or fund-span.
On getting the word out:
Tap on the resoruces of your friends. Get Wil, Felicia, etc. To mention it.
Someone suggested having one crazy offer with potential to go viral. I was thinking, what in the Rothfussverse has the most potential traction? The most gasping power? Obviously Doors of Stone.
Not the book itself. You could make an offer like, if we raise a certain ammount in a span, you disclose the release date of the book.
Or a sample chapter, much like GRRM released a chapter of book 5 as a teaser on later editions of book 4.
Or the cover art, or pre-release signed copies.
Anything DoS related will bring out the multitude of closet fans that read the books but don’t actively participate in your other projects like Worldbuilders.
Names suggestions (wish I had a bit more of Elodin in me #nohomo):
Geek Week
Worldbuilders Geek-Week (I like the sound of this one)
Chandrian Initiative (because it’s 7 days in week, see…though its hardcore)
Now, as for spreading the word…getting in touch with your contacts is a important step, I believe. Such as fellow writters and such. People that organize events too, like those RPG ones for example. All those willing to help spread the word. The most important factor, I believe, is that: people.
Also dedicating some time on your Facebook page, wherein (did I use this word correctly?) legions of your fans follow your words.
A page or post of the event should be created asap, so people can share it. Hope I helped a bit!
From your undefined (referring to your first few words in the post) fan.
BTW I didn’t read all comments so I’m sorry for any repeated suggestion!
Summerbuilders?
As for spreading the word, start early and be repetitive. A post or two each day on each social media you have a presence on. If you had a newsletter you could do that. I don’t know how good of an idea the week’s duration really is – I would’ve done something like 3-4 weeks, especially since it’s crowdfunded. Those things have a weird maturation cycle.
Week of Geek treats!
WorldBuilders Sandcastle Competition – because life is a beach.
Alternate suggestion – Summer Wind. A tip of the hat to the first book of the chronicle, Johnny Mercer and Frank Sinatra.
WE WILL SPAM ALL THE THINGS.
Looking forward to it!
There are so many awesome suggestions already! How about including something about For the Greater Good?
I know I’m joining this late in the game, but to spread the word you could sell a sample chapter of book three. Then, even the non die-hards would flock to this. I’d shell out twenty bucks for a Chapter of Stone
Let’s call it fate. I got called in to work on the one day of the week I have off, which happened to be Canada Day, so I got double pay. Feeling distinctly disgruntled at the prospect of working 13 days in a row, now at least I have a decent idea of what to do with some of that extra day’s pay :)
also, how about the WEEK LONG HIGH OCTANE UNLEADED WORLDBUILD 2K14 SPECTACULAR
I am bad at this. But I will try and get the word out to my friends!
Worldbuilders’ Spectacular Half-Time Go-Go Sale Extravaganza
Do an AMA on reddit and mention the fundraiser in the main post!
I liked the Builderdash suggestion from above best. Also if you tie it in with the #goatweek suggestion it would be sure to catch peoples attention on twitter because, let’s be honest,who in the world wouldn’t be curious about an implied week of goats?
Anything that can be posted to social media will help the cause – I’ve never seen anything for Worldbuilders until I found out you had a blog, which sent me to their site. Most of us would belong to groups which can pass the word around.
Then of course, you could send a message out to all your KS backers for Pairs… make it a half update on progress and a half “Hey! We’re doing this thing! Check it out!”
Just wanted to put in a plug for those of us who often read but rarely comment. I hope we can be thought of by you as well. :-) I am guessing there are many of us you may not even know about.
And, to add to that Jimmy Buffet has his Parrotheads. Benedict has his Cumberbitches. I think Patrick should have his RothFuckers. Okay, maybe not. How about FussRockers? Hmmm…Better ideas???
P.S. “The Fundraiser That Had No Name”?
OMG, Rothfuckers…I seriously just snorted, that’s awesome.
Haha! Rothfuckers, though badass, suggests a rather salacious author/fan relationship…
RothBeards?
OMG! Love this!! Rothfuckers…in many of our dreams. Don’t have a suggestion for a name but you have my money. You remain awesome Mr. Rothfuss
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Just one “no” per kick in the nuts? I think you’re being generous, Pat. How many no’s is he up to so far?
Oh lord Mr. Rothfuss you had me laughing out loud and as usually happens when laughing uncontrollably – crying at my desk at work… As I to have been “dinged” in the nuts many of times by my wonderful “danger zone” height daughter… The way you describe the onset is classic.. Like, hey this might be a non-crippling blow.. Much to your chagrin your brain just isn’t that well linked to the nuts I suppose and onset of the rolling tide of discomfort takes hold, making me (at least) drop my head and grab for the closest sturdy object to writhe against. Thanks for the humor. It was very much appreciated!
How about “Mid Summer Bazaar”, or something more oblique like “Summer Smorgasbord Sale”; or even perhaps ” Tinker in Town Tonight, Gone tomorrow”
Two more to add to the mix: ” Tinker of Tarbean Summer Spectacular”, or something obtuse such as ” Sale!! Sell!! Sail?! “
Discovery channel has “Shark Week” – Worldbuilders can claim “Goat Week.”
Or perhaps “7 Days of Goatness.”
Sweltering Summer Solstice Sale
Well somehow I managed to reply to this on the wrong thread so, a second try:
Mid-Summer’s Bazaar . Geek Week is nice, it was a thought I also had.
I like Bazaar because it’s like bizarre. Mid-Summer’s Bizarre Bazaar.
hehe.
Week of Nerd Weakness
Geek Week: Give a Jot
How about Tinker’s Tide?
From what I’ve seen and read on internet marketing, you need to have new material throughout the process to gain interest and keep it. A new video/personal story/input from other famous folk in the geek community will go a long way. Day 1 – Pat’s ramblings on Worldbuilders. Day 2 – Scalzi puts something up. So on and so forth, through different mediums (blog posts, vlogs, youtube channel stuff, podcasts, etc). This keeps interest for folks.
Running everything through a hashtag is good. Should be something simple — #geekweek seems to be a good one. Or #geeksforgoats.
Finally, just an idea for a tagline: : or what we did on our summer vacation.
Hot Summer Worldbuilders
Only one name is coming to mind, and it has to come out, despite the fact that it’s not the most descriptive thing in the world.
How Now, World Cow?
With optional “a-go-go”.
Patrick Rothfuss, I would gladly read your grocery lists…which is the main reason I’m on here at least twice a week to see if you have posted anything new…my dad thinks I’m Rothcrazy…but its his fault anyway, he got me addicted to your work. Your writing is a drug basically…anyway name ideas? Name ideas? I would suggest Elodin’s help…but seeing as in a sense you are Elodin, I don’t that would help you much. How about Enterprising GoGo Geeks?