Kickstarter Success!

So as you all can see from the widget over that way ------>

The Soulwoven Kickstarter successfully funded at midnight last night. It's going to take me a few days, I think, to fully process my thoughts on this, because there are a lot of them.

For now, I just want to share a couple of pictures.

This is what Kickstarter success looks like when you're facing a computer screen.

And this is what Kickstarter success looks like if you're a computer screen looking out.

I'll be back soon to tell you what it feels like to be an author who just successfully completed a Kickstarter, but we can start with the following:

It feels great.

-J

A Post About a Kitten

When I started this blog, it was under the assumption that the only people reading it would be probably be a.) people who knew me already, or b.) people who were much more interested in learning things about writing and editing than anything else.

But nowadays there are more people following me. I'm happy just to have them around. Like, really happy just to have them around.

But I know I like learning little things about the authors I follow. So I've been wondering how best to share little bits about myself over the Internet, and the other day I was texting things to my fiancee about our new kitten, and I realized that what I notice and deem worth taking the time to text about says an awful lot about who I am.

So I thought I'd share some of those texts.

Also this kitten has taken over my life, and that seems noteworthy to me.

Enjoy!

-Jeff

For the concerned: She's fine. They gave us medicine, which we gave to her, and now she's running around like a turbofurball causing havoc in the house whenever possible.

And this is what she looks like.

For New Readers

Note: I wrote this post originally to reach out to several thousand new followers of mine on Wattpad. But once it was written, I realized it might be worth sharing with a wider audience as well. So here goes!

TL;DR Thanks for taking a chance on me. I mostly write fantasy for young people. You can find a lot of my work on Wattpad. I appreciate your support and love talking to readers.

Hello friends and readers!

This post is mostly aimed at my new followers. Those of you who’ve been around for a while can feel free to carry on with your Wattpadding uninterrupted. :-)

But to the rest of you: a special hello! Many of you are completely new to Wattpad, and I want to thank you guys for choosing me as one of the first authors you’ve followed. I know a lot of you haven’t had the chance to read any of my work yet. That’s cool with me. I want to earn your support and readership, and I figure I’ll start by extending a welcoming hand and giving you a brief introduction to what I’ve posted here.

NADYA SKYLUNG AND THE CLOUD PIRATES is a fantasy steampunkish adventure written with middle-grade readers (11-14 or so) in mind. Judging by early reactions to it, it is by far the best thing I’ve ever written. There are only three chapters of it up on Wattpad, because I’m waiting to introduce it to the world with a bang, but it’s a good place to start and get an idea of what I write. 

SOULWOVEN is the reason most of you are here. Wattpad spotted it when I started posting it last year and asked to feature it. It’s an epic fantasy about brotherhood, friendship, young love, saving the world, losing your identity, and what we have left when everything is taken from us. It’s ambitious, and it’s a little dense, and it’s aimed at lovers of fantasy and literature ages 15 and up. 

Finally, THREE DANCES is a short story collection I published earlier this year. It’s five literary fiction stories done in a magical realist style that deal with tricks of language and myth, gender and sexuality, and growing up. It’s aimed pretty squarely at adults, but it’s a good read if you like its niche. 

I hope you find a book you love on my list. And if you do, I hope you take the time to let me know by voting and commenting (ed: or by buying Three Dances or backing the Soulwoven Kickstarter!). Those things are what make the world go round for us authors. And if you just want to say hi, drop me a line for that too. I’d love to talk to you. :-) 

Cheers, Jeff

Phone blog with pictures!

The Soulwoven Kickstarter is LIVE!

This will be the first of many Soulwoven Kickstarter posts. Because the Kickstarter is now LIVE! You can go here to donate!

A few protips about Kickstarter for the curious and uninitiated:

- You can pledge any amount you like and choose any reward tier that requires that amount or less. So if you want the Founder's Tier reward but were thinking of pledging more than $25, you can do so.

- You can change or cancel your pledge and reward choice any time up until the end of the project funding period.

- You can pay through an Amazon account.

If you're on the fence about pledging, just go and check out the site. I spent a lot of time (and got great help from my fans---thanks guys!) setting up the Kickstarter, and I'm proud of it. It's worth your time to check out, even if all you do is look. :-)

We've got 30 days to make this book a reality. Let's go do it!

And as always, thank you all for making this possible.
-Jeff

The Soulwoven Kickstarter is GO FOR LAUNCH 12:01 a.m. EST August 1!

Dearest readers, 

This is it! The Soulwoven Kickstarter has been green-lit by Kickstarter HQ, and it's going to go live tonight at midnight EST! Backer rewards to include: 

- DRM-free copies of the e-book 

- Signed copies of the paperback 

- Hand-annotated, one-of-a-kind signed copies of the paperback 

- Skype chats with me 

- Recognition by name (or Internet handle, or whatever) on a special thank-you page in the book 

- Access to early drafts of the later books in the Soulwoven story, while there's still time to plead with me to save and/or end lives, romances, & c. 

- And much, much more! 

The best rewards have limited quantities (I can really only make so many of those hand-annotated paperbacks), so make sure you get in early! Kickstarters have a history of leaving latecomers brokenhearted :-(. 

Check back here at midnight for a link to the Kickstarter page, where you'll be able to pledge. 

Thanks for coming on this ride with me, dear readers. You guys gave me the courage to do this, and that's a gift I'll spend the rest of my life paying you back for in story. 

Cheers, A Very Excited Jeff

Why I'm Doing the Kickstarter

Hello all!

Since I announced the Kickstarter, I've been fielding questions about it from friends, family, fans, and other writers. The biggest (what is it?) I hope I addressed in my last post. But the question I receive next most often is "Why are you doing this?"

So I've been mulling over the best way to communicate that. And then yesterday I got a message on Wattpad from a reader named Sarbjot, in response to a "Hey, thanks for reading!" I'd sent to him months ago. I got his permission to share it with the world, and it reads:

@realjeffseymour I'm not sure if I replied to this yet but I've read it before :), I will go back through and site on all the chapters that I liked I might have missed; and I would fan you as an author anytime, you have amazing writing skills and an very intriguing book to boot; which is why I will donate 30$ for the kickstarter, I don't want anything; honestly, I just want to see this book go public and want to see you make it in the writing industry! Have a good one! See you next book :)

This is what Kickstarter looks like. This is what indie art, these days, looks like. The world is full of people like Sarbjot, who just want to be a part of making a book, a musician, an author, or an artist successful.

Soulwoven is a project for that tribe. If I sent it out to publishers, it would fall into a great sea of fantasy books that are "good but tough to market" and drown there.

But through Kickstarter, I can give all the people who believe in Soulwoven, believe in my writing, and believe in me a chance to stand up and be counted. And when people do that, other people notice, and so on and so on until a book reaches as many people as it can.

I am nervously awaiting the video for my Kickstarter and wondering if I'm going to have to call Kickstarter HQ in a panic to try to get my project's review expedited. In the meantime, I'm making revision notes on the book. The next time you see it, it's going to be tighter, more polished, and ready for widespread consumption, and I think you're really going to love it.

Thanks for believing,
Jeff