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$4250 has been raised for this already?What Are the Funds Going Towards?
The funds raised through Kickstarter will be broken down accordingly:
• $3,370 will go towards printing the books (500+), shipping and handling, and setting up expanded distribution on Amazon.
• $750 will go toward promotional items (bookmarks, t-shirts and posters).
• $130 will go toward setting up Hance LLC as a legal entity.
If I’m able to raise money beyond $4,250, it will go towards more books! If I raise a ton, I’m hoping to invest in future installments of The Memory Eater.
Why should someone fundraise in order to pay for their LLC? Shouldn't that be made beforehand?
BTW his wife is an editor, therefore Lulu or some other venue would be a great place for this as his editing will be done by his wife for free.
I thought the LLC might be to cover any money the contributing authors ask for later on if the book sells. If he's buying five hundred copies of the book to begin with, what percentage would the authors receive of that, nothing?
• $3,370 will go towards printing the books (500+), shipping and handling, and setting up expanded distribution on Amazon.
So in essence, if he self pubbed and they ask for profits, they would have to buy the book on the sites and he would get that money, then they would have to resell what they paid full price for.
I think the authors should pull out, if it is legally possible and not allow this man to change the premise of the anthology after the book is complete.
That's interesting to know. If you get writers to submit stories to an anthology you want to do, you can't self-publish it? I suppose this is off-topic, sorry.He's not going to self publish this book because it's not his work. Self-publishing can only be done by the author of the work.
Then who publishes it, if not self-published? In this case of Hance LLC, how was it going to be published if not by him/herself? When the call for submissions went out, who was going to publish it?A lot of the anthology calls AW gets are hobby anthologies. Someone thought it'd be neat to edit an anthology, so they do.
That is a lie and since you deleted it there is only he said/she said. I did not say anything about pocketing money on your blog. I would not want to damage my own or someone else's reputation to that extent. You just did not want to answer the question posed.
I said "$4000 why not go with a Lulu.com it's free, why pay so much more?"
It doesn't matter, the authors are signed, it's voluntary if people give you money, I just wish not to fund a project like this with so many flaws and that is my right. You don't have to answer anything I ask, it's pretty clear you didn't want to anyway.
I have been involved in anthologies and I was paid upfront for the story. I was given free copies of the book along with discounts on orders to resell or give away at my discretion.
As I said before, doesn't matter now and I only made the thread because someone else mentioned it before on the other topic. They can keep it going, delete it, lock it up and throw away the key, doesn't matter to me.
That is a far cry from pocketing the money quote you said I made, I simply asked what the money was for. There are a lot of overhead costs, you didn't wish to address anything and assumed I meant it as a hurtful comment. Had you read the other posts I made above, I simply asked why you were doing this after signing authors and putting them into contract. It doesn't matter however, it's over with now and the authors are already in contract. I just don't see the point in someone asking for money from people he should be paying, isn't that what the big idea is...Yog's law and all...Money flows to the author. BTW, I see you made it a point to address me, however a moderator above asked you a question and you ignored it. May I presume you saw his post? or the others above.
The Kickstarter campaign clearly states that most of the funds are going to the writers,
Where does it say there that any of the money raised is going to the writers?What Are the Funds Going Towards? The funds raised through Kickstarter will be broken down accordingly:
• $3,370 will go towards printing the books (500+), shipping and handling, and setting up expanded distribution on Amazon.
• $750 will go toward promotional items (bookmarks, t-shirts and posters).
• $130 will go toward setting up Hance LLC as a legal entity.
If I’m able to raise money beyond $4,250, it will go towards more books! If I raise a ton, I’m hoping to invest in future installments of The Memory Eater.
There's no need for anyone to take part in the Kickstarter campaign if all they want is a copy of the book prior to publication: they should be able to do that via your website, or via Amazon if it's listed there. You're asking for money for other stuff, and it's disingenuous of you to pretend otherwise.and Kickstarter itself is meant for the public to fund the project by basically preordering the book/other rewards.
I'm a mod, and I asked these questions:The only mod questions I saw were the ones questioning your hatred towards this project. Most of the other questions have been answered by other posters.
For the person behind the anthology to only now be seeking funding for its publication seems rather cart-before-the-horse to me. I'd be interested to find out more about his publishing experience ... Just because his wife is an editor (and is she? where has she worked? or is she just editing this anthology, with no prior experience?) doesn't mean she'll be working for free, nor does it mean that POD is therefore the best option for this anthology.
So ... this is essentially a one-shot fanzine with extraordinary attention to detail?
... you do seem determined to paint this publisher in the worst possible light. Despite my reservations about the professionalism of this particular publishing endeavour I see no evil intentions here ... You seem very irked by this project, and you're making a lot of incorrect assumptions which don't actually follow from the information available. I do wonder why you're so keen to see it in a bad light.
You can easily subscribe to this thread by clicking on the "Thread Tools" button at the top of the thread. That way you'll get an email alert whenever anyone comments in this thread, so you can be sure not to miss anyone's questions. And if you answer questions here, then you're less likely to have to repeat yourself if several people want to find out more about your anthology.Like I said in my original reply, if people have serious inquires, they can email me directly at [email protected], because I may not check these boards often. I'm very busy trying to meet the project goal and don't have time to waste on people who clearly have no interest in the book.
My plan when I put out the call for submissions was to create an entertaining book—something to stimulate conversations. So I went for it.
When the book was complete, we decided to take a shot at the bigger publishers out there.
"[FONT="]The anthology was pitched to select publishers with positive feedback, but ultimately, I decided to take advantage of the evolving book publishing landscape and retain control over the book publication and distribution by raising the funds to self-publish." [/FONT]
A prominent member of the sci-fi writing community and fellow contributor suggested turning to Kickstarter to fund the project, so I decided to give it a try.
The authors will split a majority of the profits (specified in their contracts), whereas the leftover profit will be funneled into inventory, advertising and future works.
http://jdsawyer.net/2010/07/28/principles-of-contracts-nothing-but-net/
I found this very informative on profit sharing, has anyone else read it?
No it doesn't. Your Kickstarter campaign page says this:
Where does it say there that any of the money raised is going to the writers?
There's no need for anyone to take part in the Kickstarter campaign if all they want is a copy of the book prior to publication: they should be able to do that via your website, or via Amazon if it's listed there. You're asking for money for other stuff, and it's disingenuous of you to pretend otherwise.
I'm a mod, and I asked these questions:
James is also a mod here, and he asked this:
As for your comment about "hatred", here's exactly what I wrote:
You'll note that I didn't use the word "hatred", nor any words which implied that. Let's not exaggerate, ok? It doesn't help anything.
You can easily subscribe to this thread by clicking on the "Thread Tools" button at the top of the thread. That way you'll get an email alert whenever anyone comments in this thread, so you can be sure not to miss anyone's questions. And if you answer questions here, then you're less likely to have to repeat yourself if several people want to find out more about your anthology.
It's clear that you're happy to use AW to get free publicity for your anthology, and to try to raise money for its publication. If you intended to participate in the AW community then it's only fair for you to be just as happy to try to help us by answering our questions here; if you didn't have any such intention then you're a spammer, and might well be treated as such. It's your choice.
Right under the part where I outline the costs on Kickstarter is this, "The authors in The Memory Eater will split a majority of the total profits."
I'm selling the book on Kickstarter for the same amount that I would sell it on Amazon and Lulu. The only difference is, shipping and handling is included, and by using Kickstarter, I'll have enough inventory to move books into store fronts.
I'm offering other Memory Eater products that are not only cool rewards for fans of the book, but they double as advertisements. Where does the money come from to pay for those?
Right under the part where I outline the costs on Kickstarter is this, "The authors in The Memory Eater will split a majority of the total profits."
Also, when I mentioned hatred, I was responding to Twentyfour, not you.
The only mod questions I saw were the ones questioning your hatred towards this project.
You seem very irked by this project, and you're making a lot of incorrect assumptions which don't actually follow from the information available. I do wonder why you're so keen to see it in a bad light.
Yes, you can easily pump out a book and start selling it on Amazon and Lulu through POD within seconds, but I don't think people realize how doing this limits them.
Where will your advertising come from? I'm going to put physical books in stores.
The backers are getting the book minus shipping and handling, the authors are making more because Amazon and Lulu aren't taking a large cut, and the physical book will be available for purchase in dozens of stores giving it a better chance at success.
If you make and sell a book on Amazon/Lulu, don't you ask your friends and family and everyone you know to buy it?
I'd seen your original posting for kickstarted and it came off as odd to me... I have some questions, if you don't mind answering them:
[/FONT][/COLOR]
So when do these 'profits' happen? The kickstart funds are to print 500+ books (right?), then you intend to sell them (at wholesale prices?) to bookstores? Will the authors be paid out according to wholesale or retail prices? Is there a set percentage that goes to paying out artists vs "not majority"?
How many total "author slots" do you have in this project. I know some authors have multiple stories (so one person may have two author slots) and the editor (your wife?) is getting one as well. Are there others?
Do you have a different kickstarter page? I see a donation level of $100 and $200 dollars, certainly you would not be selling these books at those rates.
Do the authors also split the profits on these add-on products?
Then on your fundraising page, you have several pieces of art for sale at the $150 donation level, but say that half of that money will go to the artist (so, $75 to the artist and $75 to the project). Did you take these losses in account when you set this up? The numbers for how the money will be used total up to the $4250 amount requested, but clearly even if you raise the $4250, some of that money may be due to the artists for their original works.
Your original idea seemed pretty simple and straight forward. But the kickstarter page makes it seem less clear. I think that is why there are so many questions.
It does seem as though you're planning on using some of the money from your books sales twice: you've said that Kickstarter is going to fund the printing of the books by advance-selling of them; and you've said that sales of the books are going to provide your contributing authors with their share of the profits. Do you see why this is confusing?
You're missing my point.
You wrote to TwentyFour,
Here's the comment in which I apparently "[questioned TwentyFour's] hatred towards this project":
I didn't suggest that anyone felt any hatred towards your anthology, and it's disingenuous of you to imply that I did. If you read back you'll notice that I was relatively protective towards you at the beginning of this conversation: I'm becoming less so now, in big part because of your misrepresentation of me. Please stop it now. Thank you.
I do. I definitely do.
Have you found a distributor willing to take on your anthology? If so, which is it? Or are you planning on doing all the sales and distribution yourself? If so, this is a huge undertaking and one which most publishers (whether self-publishers or micropresses) struggle with. I hope you're assuming very low sales in your business plan: anthologies are notoriously poor sellers, even when they contain stories written by big names; and even when you do persuade book shops to carry your anthology they'll expect to take it on full SOR, which means that not only will you not get paid for the books up-front, you're likely to get a proportion of all of those books back in three months' time.
The bookshops will expect a large cut, though, so do please be prepared. And dozens of bookshops? Really? Have you ever sold books into bookshops before? I hope you manage this, but I've seen so many people try this before and fail that I am feeing genuinely concerned.
No, I don't. I find it embarrassing and unethical. Let them buy the books if they want, but not because I've put them under pressure to do so.
I wish you well, I really do. But I see several holes in your plan and that concerns me.