Writer / Website Developer / Jack of Many Trades!

Hi Everyone at AW,

Hey all! My name is Steve Goerger, aka Storycrowd here. I'm glad to be on these forums...probably should have been long ago.

Let's see, maybe I'll go chronologically backwards in "my story", to let you all know what is going on with me.

First, I'm working to develop a new crowdfunding platform for writers. We're working on this at http://storycrowd.org. Right now you won't see much there, but the development is going on behind the scenes. I really think that writing + crowdfunding is a natural match, taking us back to the very old days of patronage, and the more recent days of "author advances" (remember those?). I know there are already 2-3 businesses in this space, but I want to differentiate by not working as a publisher, only as a platform for authors to get the money they need to keep writing. Publishing can / should come after, I think. I welcome any feedback anyone has on these ideas.

Okay, then back a bit... I've been working as a professional, full-time web developer for about 4 years now. I mostly develop sites on the Wordpress platform, which is powerful, flexible, and the most popular CMS platform around! I have really enjoyed working with small business owners around the world to get their businesses up and running. This career has also been great for myself and my family, so I feel very lucky to do this work nowadays. I'm a self-taught coder but a quick study and am very proficient in HTML, CSS, PHP, and Javascript here in 2013.

Okay, and before that...yes, a writer! I got my MFA in Fiction from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2006. I've published a few short stories here and there, in places like The Portland Review, The South Dakota Review, Ampersand, and Etchings. I have quite a few stories that still need homes, though, if anyone is interested, haha! If interested you can get at one of my stories, "Mule Factory", via this link (though I'll admit to you I'm not too crazy about the editing done on this piece; the original, uncompromised version is better haha. Writing fiction is definitely my passion, though the last few years I have changed gears with my web development passions. I am the kind of writer that needs a LOT of time to think and develop my stories, so it is hard to do a full-time job and write, too. Obviously grad school was great for that. Now, with a family and all, I am trying to earn, earn, earn. BUT, my biggest dream is still to save up enough where I can take a year off, write a novel, and get back to fiction full-time.

So, that's me. I live in Oregon and have a lovely wife named Amy, and a new 8-month-old baby girl named Anna Love. Life is great and these days what I'm really interested in is bringing all of my passions together. In the past I have developed sites for small biz owners, mostly, but I really want to move into developing websites for writers, and (as with Storycrowd) developing other tools that can help the entire community. So, if you want to talk fiction or websites or crowdfunding or really anything about the writing life, I'm game! Drop me a line and let's chat over the cooler.

Cheers all!

-Steve Goerger

robjvargas said:

I wish you luck, Steve. There are several such sites like this out there already. You'll be playing catch-up.

Indiegogo
Pubslush

Those are just two that come to mind. And I know authors have used Kickstarter also.

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Thanks Rob! No doubt about it, there is some competition out there in this space. I do think a writers-only site is a good idea - of course, there are some others there already, like Pubslush, as you mention. However, I think I can see some ways to differentiate and do things better. I won't reveal all my secrets here...and yeah it's definitely NOT a "can't miss" idea. Still, I think there is space here from innovation, differentiation, and a clear focus on story and writers - and that's what I aim to do.

Cheers!

rwm4768 said:

Welcome. How do you like doing coding work? I'm thinking of going back to school for computer science, so I'm curious.

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I do like doing coding. I think it depends on the particular job or gigs you end up with. I really like using Wordpress, and creating websites, as it is indeed pretty creative work. I've never been much of a visual artist at all, so when I first started doing CSS work and learning Photoshop, I really enjoyed the fact that I was creating something visual - my drawings were horrid in school!

However, I also have a more regular "day job" of coding, which gets a little tedious from time to time...it's a big company and I end up "tracking bugs" and writing them all down in little spreadsheets and just boring boring boring. So overall, yeah I think it is a lot of fun actually - and suits the stereotypical writer "sit at the desk, get the work done" writer mentality that I already had. But like all things, you want to find the right context to do it, to make it as fun as possible!

Cheers rwm4768!

Thanks to everybody for the welcomes! I really appreciate it.

F.L.N said:

Steve,

Welcome to AW! Or is it Storycrowd or Jack? I used to do web design for small businesses but I'm retired now. I was tired yesterday and I'm retired today.

Good luck with all of your ventures.

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Haha, thanks F.L.N. You can call me anything you like...as long as you call me!!! Since you're retired, we can go fishin'.

Diana Green said:

Welcome. It sounds like you a have a lot going on...especially with a new baby. Congratulations.

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That's definitely true! Our baby is 8.5 months now...and just this week I've finally moved back into an office, after working from home for about a year. So there is a lot going on, yes...but my focus this week is AWESOME!

Thanks for the welcome Diana!