Nerves Aplenty – Step One The Pitch

I have stepped off the cliff, so to speak, and sent my dream out into the real world.  Today I began my Kickstarter Campaign for Shadow on the Wall.  This will be the first time that most of the people who know the “real” me will be hearing about Pavarti Devi or the fact that I’ve written a book.  The fact of it is: I’m terrified.

Now The Sand Storm Chronicles has it’s own facebook fan page and even my Great-Aunt Geri has links to my alter-ego.  There’s no where left for me to hide.  Perhaps I’ll need to invent a whole new persona so I have somewhere to escape.  How about Babette Boom?  Seems apropos considering I’m married to Buck Boom…  But no, this is the price of success right?  If I believe in what I’m doing enough to put it out there to sell I should believe in it enough to have the entire world know about it.

In addition to the nerves that go along with “coming out” there’s also the fact that Kickstarter is essentially a way to raise money.  The cool thing about it is that people who want to support the arts contribute.  People I don’t know and may never know.  But still, having a fundraiser for my own project seems strange.  I feel odd asking people to contribute and like I’m somehow abusing friendships and relationships.  The things that made me feel like it was the right thing to do are:

1. If I don’t raise money for this I’m never going to be able to do it well, I need a line editor and other professional services to make this great and with putting kidlet #2 in private school next year we just don’t have the money (We are pro-public schools but it’s just not an option, there has been major issues at her public school that we can’t look the other way on)
2. I’m offer “rewards” for people who pledge to the project, essentially making this a way for folks to pre-order their books.  Cause, hey, you’d buy it anyway!

Kickstarter also made me submit a movie.  I hate being the one on camera, and you all may laugh but I get really shy and self-conscious about being the center of attention.  It was really hard but I got to talk about my book, Batman and my husband on the toilet so hopefully it will at least be entertaining

So it’s out there now.  I’ll be posting teasers and other fun things between now and November when the book is scheduled to be released.  Check out the Kickstarter Page to learn more about the book, me and why I’m doing this crazy self-publishing thing.