Even Spinal Tap need some cash.
I've had the Kickstarter discussion with lots of people. It's something I'm torn on. I think it's good for artists to support one another morally and financially, but I also think that it's not exactly the most noble of causes to ask people for $5000 to release your debut LP on 200 gram bleach-splatter vinyl in a double-gatefold foil wrapper. Then you're just being an asshole.
Looking in your direction, Mr. Annihilation and the Doom Troop Boyz.
That said, I think it's possible to do Kickstarter right. I've donated to my friend Tim Connery's sci-fi full length feature film Easton's Article and to Wifebeaters and Cut-Offs: Southern Summer Comfort Book Tour (featuring Chloe Caldwell, Elizabeth Ellen, Mary Miller, Brandi Wells, and Donora Hillard). (Still active! Donate now!). No big amount. A few bucks. Nothing you can buy a decent meal with or anything. Still, I saw merit in these projects and wanted to see them come to fruition.
You're fuckin' high if you don't know where this is heading.
So yeah. Jersey Devil Press, the dudes putting out my book in the fall, have started a Kickstarter for both my as-of-now-untitled short story collection and the other book they plan on releasing this year, Eirik Gumeny's Exponential Apocalypse: Dead Presidents. The best way to utilize Kickstarter is to have it basically be somewhere between a way to organize pre-orders and those candy sales outside of department stores where you buy a $0.75 candybar for $1 because it goes to a good cause. Or at least I like to think so.
Really, though, I think the rewards are pretty rad. Nobody's offering to come over and cook you dinner for a $500 donation. You get actual stuff, and because I'm assuming you're all as shallow as I am, that's a good thing.
I know some of you disagree with Kickstarter still, regardless of how it's done. And that's fine. Don't donate. Feel free to be upset about it if you'd like. (There are more important things out there to be upset about, but the choice is, like, yours or whatever, dude.)
Or you can toss a few bucks our way. If you want to know if I'm worth it, check my (Is Published) page and decide for yourself.
I ain't too proud to beg. Do it.
RW
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