Super Seminars for Those Who Write

Lauren Carr Internationally Best-Selling Author and Publisher  OPERATION: Promote Your Book & More Internet Marketing That Works! Saturday, 3/21 Author and Publisher Lauren Carr and critically-acclaimed author Cindy McDonald have worked with many authors who have become paralyzed with uncertainty when it comes to marketing their books. For this reason, they have gotten together to offer an all day workshop designed to break everything down for authors. Time will be spent teaching writers how to build and project the right image for their website, as well as learning how to use Twitter and Facebook effectively. Visit Acorn Book Services for more information about OPERATION: Promote Your Book & More workshop.Online registration and payment is available . Advanced Registration is highly recommended. (Workshop will be cancelled and refunds issued if a minimum registration is not reached by March 10). Dates: Saturday, 3/21/2015            9:00 am-4:00 pm (lunch included) Place:   Oakland Church              70 Oakland Terrace              Charles Town, WV 25414 Cost: $65 before March 10   $75 After March 10 Click the PayPal Button to Sign Up Now for OPERATION: Promote Your Book & More   Writing That Bucket List Novel Sat. 3/14/2015: 9:00 am-12:00 pm Second Session: 1:00 pm-4:00 pm Is “Write a Book” one of the things on your bucket-that list of things you want to do before you kick the bucket? Got a story in your head that you’ve always wanted to write?  Thought about writing the great American novel?  Or just a memoir to pass to your grandchildren? If you’ve got “write a book” on your bucket list, this is the class to get you started.  Best-selling author Lauren Carr will share her experience in writing and publishing to get you started on your story. In this three-hour workshop, Lauren will pass on the secrets that most professional authors had to learn the hard way about how to check “Write a Book” off that list. Among the secrets she will divulge: Where and How to Get Started on Your Book Making Time for Writing Identifying Time-Thieves Getting Past the 40-Page Block The Secret Behind Getting Over Writer’s Block Date: Saturday, March 14, 2015 Time: 9:00 am-Noon (First Session)           1:00 pm-4:00 pm (Repeat Session) Place: Clarke County Parks & Recreation     225 Al Smith Circle     Berryville, Virginia 22611 Cost: $45  To register or for more information: Visit Clarke County Parks and Recreation website or call   540-955-5140. 10+ Most Common Mistakes Made By New Writers Sat. 4/11: 9:00 am-12:00 pm 9:00 am-12:00 pm: Book Writing: 10+ Most Common Mistakes Made By New Writers Does your book suffer from Good-Parent Syndrome? Do you know what your crutch word is?  Lauren will discuss all of these topics, and other writing errors that can negatively impact your book’s success, during her four-hour presentation entitled: 10+ Most Common Mistakes Made By New Writers (Grammar and Punctuation Are Not On the List). Date: Saturday, April 11, 2015   Time: 9:00 am-Noon  Place: Clarke County Parks & Recreation            225 Al Smith Circle            Berryville, Virginia 22611   Cost: $45  The above date for this workshop is currently tentative. Contact Clarke County Parks and Recreation for the final date. To register or for more information: Visit Clarke County Parks and Recreation website or call 540-955-5140. How To Be A Successful Author Without Getting Dressed  Sat. 4/11: 1:00 pm-4:00 pm 1:00 pm-4:00 pm: Book Publishing: Authors in Bathrobes: How To Be A Successful Author Without Getting Dressed   Every writer dreams of big book events in book stores with lines going out the door. Unfortunately, for 95% percent of published authors, this is not a reality. It is not uncommon to have a book event and have no one show up. Today’s technology has made it possible for authors to gain a following, and make money with very little overhead and without getting dressed. In this presentation, author and publisher Lauren Carr will discuss how writers can now walk through the doors that have opened to not only write and publish their own books, but how to do it successfully-without getting dressed! Date: Saturday, April 11, 2015   Time: 1:00 pm-4:00 pm  Place: Clarke County Parks & Recreation    225 Al Smith Circle    Berryville, Virginia 22611 Cost: $45  The above date for this workshop is currently tentative. Contact Clarke County Parks and Recreation for the final date. To register or for more information: Visit Clarke County Parks and Recreation website or call 540-955-5140.

Join Our Mailing List! Acorn Book Services 415 Moonridge Lane Harpers Ferry, West Virginia 25425

If you’re a budding writer, or even published author who wants to learn more about being successful in today’s publishing arena, then come out out. Take note of the deadlines and which courses you need to register for. I look forward to seeing your there!

Lauren Carr Seminar: Writers in Bathrobes

Want to learn the ropes of the writing/ publishing business? Want to work from home? Then you need this! Top Selling Mystery author Lauren Carr is going to be teaching all this and more in historic Harpers Ferry, outside Washington, D. C., in March 2015.

Here’s an excerpt from her e-mail!

BIG NEWS: I have just scheduled to conduct a SIX HOUR workshop in
March at the church called: AUTHORS IN BATHROBE. I am still working out  the details, but this workshop will break book promotion down into an understandable format for writers. Even if your book is not out yet,
then this will include things that you can do now to get the ball
rolling for sales when you book is released.

Focused completely on using the internet to promote your book and your
writing career, the workshop will include no less than an hour on
Twitter and an hour Facebook. (My own sales drop 10-20 percent on days I don’t tweet!) It will discuss the importance of a website and how to set
one up without breaking your budget. What is a blog? What goes into a
blog post. Virtual book tours. It will even cover the basics of an
author bio and what makes a good profile pic.

It will be 9 to 4 on Saturday, March 21. Lunch will be included. Price
is still being determined.

You are the first to hear this, so spread the word.

A Discussion of the 99 Cents Price Point for e-Books

Newly published e-book authors as a general rule price their first books on Amazon.com or other booksellers at $.99. Why?

Melissa Foster shares her thoughts in a recently published Huffington Post article. I have excerpted parts here. To read the whole article, go to http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/20/ebooks-cheap-price_n_1160383.html?ref=books#comments

Independent authors are rallying around the controversial 99-cent price point. Some authors feel the 99-cent price point devalues their hard work, while others feel that readers will not take a chance on new authors at a higher price point.

Readers are scooping up ebooks for 99 cents, that alone speaks of a demand for material at that price point.

Let’s look at the dollars and cents of the 99-cent price point for independent authors. If an author is self-published through Amazon KDP, he or she earns 34 cents per 99-cent book sold. Not only do authors put time and energy into their writing, there are other associated costs to publishing a quality book, including cover artists ($125-3000), editors ($800-5000), marketing, etc. If you add up the average cover cost of $350, average editing job of $1400, then divide by 34 cents, the author would have to sell 5,134 books just to break even.

A self-published author that sells 100,000 ebooks at 99 cents, earns an annual salary of $34,000.  However, the average new author, after spending a year writing the book, will sell less than 100 copies. That’s $34, tops, in exchange for a year of the writer’s life.

If that same author is published through a small press and sells 100,000 copies, that author earns $12,000. To earn $40,000 per year, that author would have to sell 333,333 books per year. According to the Wall Street Journal, there are only 30 authors who have sold over 100,000 copies of their books, and only a dozen who have sold over 200,000.

Why, then, do authors post their books at such a low price?

Darcie Chan, bestselling author of The Mill River Recluse, states, “Since I had never published anything before and was completely unknown as a writer, I thought the 99-cent price point would be best to encourage readers to give my novel a chance. It’s true that the royalty rate at that price point is much lower, but I saw foregoing some royalty income as a tradeoff. I decided that the 99-cent price would be an investment in my future writing endeavors and would give me the best chance at meeting my goals of gradually building a readership and getting some feedback on my work.”

Melissa Foster is the award-winning author of three International bestselling novels, Megan’s Way, Chasing Amanda, and Come Back to Me.

Using Twitter to Find New Readers for Your Book

Best selling author Jonathan Gunson offers the best advice I found today on using Twitter to find readers. As Gunson says, the technique is “smack your forehead” simple.

After you have read an excerpt of Gunson’s advice below, you will want to see what else he has to offer, so go here:

http://bestsellerlabs.com/how-to-find-readers-on-twitter/

 re-blogged from Jonathan Gunson (with permission)

Readers Can Be Found By Using Twitter Search

The method is to type into Twitter’s search panel certain words and phrases that readers of your fiction genre might be using in their Tweets.  Doing a few of these searches will start to reveal readers of that fiction genre in significant numbers.

Then just go through the search results and follow those readers that you feel belong to your book genre, based on what they say in their Tweets.  Many of them will follow you back.

Here are three suggested search methods: 1:  Search using the names of successful authors in your fiction genre.

This approach finds the readers of successful authors in the same genre as you.

For example, if you’re a YA author, you might search for author “Lemony Snicket”, who writes the hugely popular YA series ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’.

This search will reveal readers in the YA fiction genre, because many of the Tweets will clearly be from people Tweeting about their “Lemony Snicket” reading experience.

Simply go through the search results and pick out the users who are obviously YA readers in your genre.   Click on the names you like, and their profile will pop up – then click each one to follow them.  (The idea being that many of them will follow you back.)

Note:  When searching, remember to click the “All” link at the top so you can see all the Tweets that include a particular phrase, not just the most popular.

For more on this subject, visit Jonathan Gunson’s website.

Mystery Writer Lauren Carr Book Tour and Guest Post

Blast from the Past Book Tour

Guest Blog by Lauren Carr

Ten Advantages to Having a Mystery Author for a Friend (in person or on Facebook).

1. If you’re ever locked out of your home, your mystery author friend will know best how to break in.
2. Who better to show you where best to conceal a weapon?
3. At Pampered Chef’s parties, they are very handy in detailing what kitchen utensils make the best weapons for use in self-defense … just in case your family launches a coup after serving them your world infamous tuna casserole once too often.
4. Mystery authors are less sappy at conferences than Romance authors. We don’t hug as much. That isn’t because we’re standoffish. It’s because we don’t want you to detect our concealed weapons. Since we don’t hug as much, this means we don’t spread as many germs and you’re less likely to catch a cold when you get home.
5. Mystery authors are more exciting. They are the only friends able to plot out your murder and list your friends and family as suspects in order of interest when you’re fifteen minutes late for lunch. (If your friend reveals that the babysitter did it, you may want to take a closer look at the sitter’s text messages.)
6. During those paranoid moments when you think your next door neighbor is a mob assassin because he has been acting suspicious, your mystery writing buddy is the one friend you can count on to not only support your belief, but break into his house to illegally search it for proof. Of course, you can depend on your friend to bring the lock pick kit and know how to use it. (Don’t ask her how she knows how to use it.)
7. If your spouse leaves you for another woman, your mystery author friend can advise you on how to fake your death and make it look like he killed you so that he will spend the rest of his life in jail for what he did.
8. Your mystery author friend is more than happy to run a background check on that new mate you met online.
9. On that first date, you can count on your mystery writing friend to tail you and your date all evening to make sure you don’t end up in a plot for their latest book … whether you want her to or not.
10. We know what countries don’t have extradition.

So make a Mystery Writing friend today! I’d love to make your acquaintances at any of my sites:

Websites: 

http://mysterylady.net/                    

http://acornbookservices.com/

Blog: Literary Wealth:

http://literarywealth.wordpress.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lauren.carr.984991

Gnarly’s Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/GnarlyofMacFaradayMysteries

Twitter: @TheMysteryLadie

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT LAUREN CARR’S NEW BOOK BLAST FROM THE PAST: Blast from the Past Press Release

a little about

Lauren Carr

Author/Publishing Management

Lauren Carr fell in love with mysteries when her mother read Perry Mason to her at bedtime. The first installment in the Joshua Thornton mysteries, A Small Case of Murder was a finalist for the Independent Publisher Book Award.

Lauren is also the author of the Mac Faraday Mysteries, which takes place in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. It’s Murder, My Son, Old Loves Die Hard, and Shades of Murder, have all been getting rave reviews from readers and reviewers. Blast from the Past is the fourth installment in the Mac Faraday Mystery series.

Released September 2012, Dead on Ice introduces a new series entitled Lovers in Crime, which features prosecutor Joshua Thornton with homicide detective Cameron Gates. The second book in this series, Real Murder will be released Spring 2013.

The owner of Acorn Book Services, Lauren is also a publishing manager, consultant, editor, cover and layout designer, and marketing agent for independent authors. This spring, two books written by independent authors will be released through the management of Acorn Book Services.

Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She also passes on what she has learned in her years of writing and publishing by conducting workshops and teaching in community education classes.

She lives with her husband, son, and two dogs on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.

 

 

For Immediate Release

Contact: Lauren Carr

(304)285-8205

E-mail: acorn.book.services@comcast.net

Website: http://mysterylady.net

The Past Comes Back with a Blast

In Blast from the Past, Mac Faraday finds himself up to his eyeballs in mobsters and federal agents.

After an attempted hit ends badly with two of his men dead, mobster Tommy Cruze arrives in Spencer, Maryland, to personally supervise the execution of the witness responsible for putting him behind bars—Archie Monday!

Mac Faraday believes he has his work cut out for him in protecting his lady love from one of the most dangerous leaders in organized crime; but when bodies start dropping in his lakeshore resort town of Spencer, Maryland, things may be hotter than even he can handle.

In this fourth installment in the Mac Faraday Mysteries, readers learn more about Archie Monday’s past in a flash—as in a gun fight when the syndicate comes to town. “Readers love to be surprised,” mystery author Lauren Carr says. “In Blast from the Past, they are going to be surprised to discover the secret of Archie Monday’s past, which threatens her and Mac’s future.”

Blast from the Past also takes the Mac Faraday Mysteries to a new level as his relationship with Archie Monday moves onto a whole new level. “I do listen to readers,” Carr explains. “They have been clamoring for Mac and Archie to get together for three books.”

What about Gnarly, Mac Faraday’s canine inheritance—the only German shepherd to be dishonorably discharged from the United States Army? “It’s not a Mac Faraday Mystery without Gnarly,” Carr promises. “Let’s just say Gnarly kicks things up a notch in his own way.”

Available through: CreateSpace, Ingram, Baker & Taylor,

Barnesandnoble.com, Amazon.com, and Everywhere Fine Books are Sold

About the Author

Lauren Carr is the author of the Mac Faraday Mysteries, which takes place in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. It’s Murder, My Son, Old Loves Die Hard, and Shades of Murder, have all been getting rave reviews from readers and reviewers. Blast from the Past is the fourth installment in the Mac Faraday Mystery series.

Also receiving rave reviews, Dead on Ice, released September 1012, introduced a new series entitled Lovers in Crime, which features prosecutor Joshua Thornton with homicide detective Cameron Gates. The second book in this series, Real Murder will be released Spring 2013.

ISBN: 0985726776 • ISBN-13: 9780985726775 Pub. Date: January 11, 2013 • Trade Paperback/Kindle • $13.99 (Print)/$0.99 (EBook)

Anthology Sales Update

Without any serious marketing as such,  Writers of the Desert Rose Cafe (Hmmmm. Is that singular or plural?) has sold 35 copies of the anthology to date.

And there are two reviews written and posted on Amazon.com. Reading the reviews was exciting. It gave insight and feedback to us on our work.

The sales break down like this:

Amazon.com 34 copies sold

Barnes & Noble 1 copy sold

Several copies have been purchased by the dining patrons of the Desert Rose Cafe. Owner Rose Harris reported there is a lively interest in the book and how the group came to publish it.

Perhaps, in the near future, there will be a “Meet the Writers” event, which may garner a bit of newspaper coverage. That event, or a complimentary newspaper article, may yield a couple of more sales.

What can be done now to sell books?

I have to buckle down and prepare press releases. All of the writers group members need to promote the book on their own social media, blog or web site. This year, I postponed sending out my Christmas letter. I want to write a New Year’s letter and include a promotional blurb in it about the book. Next, I need to put on my thinking cap to figure out other ways to exploit the “local writer” designation.

In sales, they teach you to sell first to family, then to friends or acquaintances, then to neighbors or the local market, then beyond. Until a writer has established himself, the likeliest buyer is someone who knows him or knows of him.

Finally, I need to utilize the “store” component here on WordPress. Obviously, visitors to this site should be able to buy the book.

The lesson in all of this?

Sales don’t magically happen for an author. To sell books, an author has to promote his or her books. That means getting creative so that whatever selling the writer does is effective and affordable.

Writers hate marketing. However, it is a necessary evil, especially for the new author.

Don’t overlook the sales that can be generated by friends or family. Word of mouth is always the best sales tool. A person who reads and likes your book is the most credible advertiser. Ask for help to promote your book.

I would love to hear from other independent authors about the success you’ve had selling your books. Please share the lessons you’ve learned, the mistakes you’ve made or the tactics that have succeeded. In what venue did you sell the majority of your books? Where did things fizzle? What was hard? What worked well?

Talk to me.  I am all ears.

Uploading the Book to Amazon.com

I got a phone call today from Acorn Book Service that the Anthology has been uploaded to Amazon.com. I don’t think the book is immediately available for sale. Rather, the internal processes inside Amazon.com get set into motion by uploading the manuscript.

Similarly, the book will be uploaded to Barnes & Noble by next week.

Smashwords, I’m told, is much more user friendly, so I will work with one of the other members to upload the manuscript to Smashwords ourselves. That will be a learning experience. Smashwords is a distributor to other e-book retail outlets.

Amazon.com uses a .mobi file format. Barnes & Noble and Smashwords use .epub files. That is one of the services Acorn Book Services provides to the Writers of the Desert Rose Cafe, taking our .doc file and converting it to e-publishing-ready formats.

Next comes the marketing learning curve.

I will share with you how things progress. I’ll share what I learn and the mistakes I make.  We’ll learn together about this thing called self-publishing via the e-book.

Throw Enough at the Wall. . .

. . . and something will stick.

I used that quotation in yesterday’s response to Rarasaur. Immediately, I knew I had to share a motivational thought with you.

Having several irons in the fire can be a good thing, providing you are continually working to complete the projects. Eventually, you will finish a project, then another, then another. As a writer, this means that you will end up with several salable items.

This tactic only works for folks like me whose brains like to jump from one thing to another to avoid boredom. It won’t work for those who start things, but never finish them. You have to finish the projects. It’s finishing them that brings a pay day.

Rarasaur has a good method. She has a list and a concrete goal for each item listed; for example, creating one idea a day for thirty days for a book project. At the end of a month, she will have thirty possibilities to consider for her next writing project. Of the thirty on her list, one is bound to seize her imagination.

You may want to try the “many irons” approach to see if it works for you. The key to success is devising your own method to complete the projects on your list.

WHAT A PRESS RELEASE LOOKS LIKE

Lauren Carr Tour Schedule Press Release

JUST A QUICK LOOK AT WHAT A PRESS RELEASE LOOKS LIKE. THIS IS FROM ACORN BOOK SERVICES FOR ONE OF ITS INDIE AUTHORS LAUREN CARR. I AM NON-TECHNICAL, SO I HAVE SCREWED IT UP TRYING TO PASTE IT HERE. ANYWAY, YOU GET THE IDEA. HOPE THIS IS HELPFUL Visit Lauren Carr’s website for tour schedule Dead on Ice Virtual Book Tour Launches Monday, November 19! November 19-December 14 You can’t be a true author without going on tour. So, once again, with a new book, Dead on Ice, released September 1, Lauren is striking out across cyberspace. This is your invitation to join her on tour, coordinated by Pump Up Your Book Tours. Click on the banner to visit her website for the schedule and check in each day from November 19-December 14 for interviews, giveaways, and insight into the mind of this middle-aged wife, mother, chauffeur, and mystery writer. You’ll have fun! That’s a guarantee.Dead on Ice is the first installment of Lauren Carr’s new series (Lovers in Crime). It features Hancock County Prosecuting Attorney Joshua Thornton and his new love, Pennsylvania State Police homicide detective Cameron Gates. Dead on Ice (A Lovers in Crime Mystery) by Lauren Carr by Acorn Book Services Kindle Edition ~ Release Date: 2012-08-22 Buy Now In this Lovers in Crime Mystery, spunky Pennsylvania State Homicide Detective Cameron Gates is tasked with solving the murder of Cherry Pickens, a legendary star of pornographic films, when her body turns up in an abandoned freezer. The case has a personal connection to Cameron’s lover, Joshua Thornton, because the freezer was found in his cousin’s basement. It doesn’t take long for their investigation to reveal that the risqué star’s roots were buried in their rural Ohio Valley community, something that Cherry had kept off her show business bio. She should have kept her hometown off her road map, too-because when this starlet came running home from the mob, it proved to be a fatal homecoming. In her new series, Lauren Car teams up her first literary detective with a new and exciting partner. Homicide Detective Cameron Gates has a spunky personality that’s a perfect complement to Joshua Thornton’s logical and responsible nature. “Readers of my first series kept asking when I would bring back Joshua Thornton,” Carr explained. “However, they are going to find that single father Joshua Thornton is not in the same place since we left him in A Reunion to Die For. His children are grown. He’s more independent, and he’s ready for some romance and adventure. That’s where Cameron Gates comes in.” With that, Joshua Thornton and Cameron Gates strike out to explore the mysteries of both murder and love!   Dead on Ice Book Trailer Here’s what Reviewers are saying about Dead on Ice Mystery and Suspense Galore I love reading mystery, suspenseful books! When I read the synopsis for Dead on Ice, I knew immediately that I wanted to read this book! Dead on Ice includes romance, mystery, suspense, and murder! When your past catches up to you, you have no choice to but to face it. We first meet Joshua Thornton in court, who is up against his own cousin Albert. Even after the case is heard, they are still friendly with each other. Later, Albert is found dead. We soon meet Cameron Gates, the homicide detective, who is dating Joshua. Cameron and Joshua work together to solve his death. As they both dig deeper, they discover more dead bodies, secrets and lies that come to light in their investigation. The whole town’s history comes back to the present and everyone is forced to face how they behaved. Some characters have not changed, while others have moved on and grew up. Dead on Ice kept me guessing until the very end. Dead on Ice is certainly a page turner. I read this book in less than two days! Reviewer: Stephanie Fratta, Beauty Brite Exciting New Series for Lovers of Crime I’ve had the pleasure of reading the Mac Faraday series and also the Joshua Thornton mysteries, so I was excited hear the author decided to create a new series just for Joshua, Hancock County’s Prosecuting Attorney and Cameron Gates, a homicide detective for the Pennsylvania State Police. The two met on a previous case, and it’s good to see that they are now going to be working together in the Lover’s in Crime mystery series. The story actually begins many years ago when eighteen-year-old Angie disappears following an evening at the local roller skating rink. The year? 1978. Years later, Cheryl Smith, the prime suspect in Angie’s disappearance, is found in an abandoned freezer at the home of Joshua’s recently deceased cousin. Cheryl, now known as Cherry Pickens, spent many years in the pornographic industry. How her body ended up in this location prompts another look into the original unsolved case so many years ago. What Cameron and Joshua find are a trail of lies, deceit, murder and cover-up, as they search for the truth. This novel has more twists and turns than I’ve seen in a while, but it all adds up to an interesting and unexpected reveal. Many more people are involved in the original disappearance than first expected, and it seems everyone has their own secrets. Trying to unravel the truth from the twisted lies that have remained hidden for so long leads the investigators on quite an interesting chase. Family and friends of the couple help lighten the mood and provide a homey feel to the story. It will be interesting to see where Carr takes the two next. Although the Mac Faraday series is still my favorite by this author, this new duo has the possibility of ranking a close second. Review: Edie Dykeman, Mystery Editor, Belleonline Reviews

About Lauren Carr Lauren Carr is also the author of the Mac Faraday Mysteries, which takes place in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. It’s Murder, My Son, Old Loves Die Hard, and Shades of Murder, have all been getting rave reviews from readers and reviewers. The owner of Acorn Book Services, Lauren is also a publishing manager, consultant, editor, cover and layout designer, and marketing agent for independent authors. This spring, two books written by independent authors will be released through the management of Acorn Book Services. Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She also passes on what she has learned in her years of writing and publishing by conducting workshops and teaching in community education classes. She lives with her husband, son, and two dogs on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV. Visit Lauren’s websites and blog at: E-Mail: writerlaurencarr@comcast.net Website: http://acornbookservices.com/ http://mysterylady.net/ Blog: Literary Wealth: http://literarywealth.wordpress.com/ Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lauren.carr.984991 Gnarly’s Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/GnarlyofMacFaradayMysteries Lovers in Crime Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/LoversInCrimeMysteries?ref=ts&fref=ts Twitter: @TheMysteryLadie

Get Money for Your Creative Project

Let me introduce you to Kickstarter, the venture capital site for creative projects. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.  www.kickstarter.com

Kickstarter says it is “a funding platform for creative projects. Everything from films, games, and music to art, design, and technology. Kickstarter is full of ambitious, innovative, and imaginative projects that are brought to life through the direct support of others.

Since our launch on April 28, 2009, over $350 million has been pledged by more than 2.5 million people, funding more than 30,000 creative projects.”

How does Kickstarter work?

Thousands of creative projects are funding on Kickstarter at any given moment. Each project is independently created and crafted by the person behind it. The filmmakers, musicians, artists, and designers you see on Kickstarter have complete control and responsibility over their projects. They spend weeks building their project pages, shooting their videos, and brainstorming what rewards to offer backers. When they’re ready, creators launch their project and share it with their community.

Every project creator sets their project’s funding goal and deadline. If people like the project, they can pledge money to make it happen. If the project succeeds in reaching its funding goal, all backers’ credit cards are charged when time expires. If the project falls short, no one is charged. Funding on Kickstarter is all-or-nothing.

To date, an incredible 44% of projects have reached their funding goals.

Can Kickstarter be used to fund anything?

We allow creative projects in the worlds of Art, Comics, Dance, Design, Fashion, Film, Food, Games, Music, Photography, Publishing, Technology, and Theater.

Everything on Kickstarter must be a project. A project has a clear goal, like making an album, a book, or a work of art. A project will eventually be completed, and something will be produced by it.

Do backers get ownership or equity in the projects they fund?

No. Project creators keep 100% ownership of their work. Kickstarter cannot be used to offer financial returns or equity, or to solicit loans.

Some projects that are funded on Kickstarter may go on to make money, but backers are supporting projects to help them come to life, not financially profit.

What are the fees?

If a project is successfully funded, Kickstarter applies a 5% fee to the funds collected.

In the US, pledges will be processed by Amazon Payments, while in the UK, pledges will be processed securely through a third-party payments processor. These payment processing fees work out to roughly 3-5%. View the US and UK fee breakdowns.

Who is Kickstarter?

We’re 46 people based in a tenement building in New York City’s Lower East Side. We spend our time making the site better, answering questions from backers and creators, and finding great new projects to share with you. Every day is an adventure — we get to experience projects as they happen! Say hello or come work with us!