It has already proven a
challenge, which I already knew it would, but still.
By John Irvin
Yes, it has been a challenge, but my team and I
are still confident we will be able to convince people to donate to our
fundraiser. The Book Tour isn’t set until August so dear, sweet, and thoughtful
Corona should be gone by then.
She and I in
the meantime seem to be in some kind of competition for people’s attention.
What about
you, any projects that are struggling thanks to COVID-19?
Hang on, we
will get through this.
No vlog for
today. But quite a bit going on in the life of John Irvin.
If you are
able to spare $5 or more, we would be much appreciated, and I can promise you,
there are rewards involved once the campaign is finished. GoFundMe, for some
unexplained reason, simply won’t allow me to share that on the page.
Here’s the
link to go support an aspiring Authorpreneur!
While I’m
slowly finishing up the Ikkilion Chronicles for my Gryphon supporters on
Patreon, I’m also working on the final edits and revisions for Book 5, Beasts
Will Change, in the Magic’s Time Split series.
On top of
that, I’ll be working on the first draft for Book 6, Mountains Are Living!
Our friends
are discovering the Magic-ruled timeline they’ve been living in is flourishing
more and more with monsters and creatures and wonders galore.
With the
former United States succumbing to the Vampire pandemic, the war raging, new
creatures are shifting onto the stage—shapeshifters. And I’m not talking about
just werewolves. There are weretigers, werebears, and more! Oh my!
Checking out worlds beyond this one…
Hey, I also
do propose something here. Many states and countries are now under forced
quarantine. You’re stuck in your homes, bored out of your minds. Why not read a
book? I’ve got quite a few books up on my menu, click on the “Books” tab.
I have read
and heard from my fellow authorpreneurs that in-print distributors are behind
schedule thanks to the corona issue, so e-books are more mainstream right now.
Good news for you, most of my e-books are under $2.99!
Well, I hope
you try them out and enjoy and if you are able to donate to the fundraiser,
thank you from the bottom of my heart!
Until next week, have a great life.
If you enjoyed this post, you should sign up for my
newsletter! I don’t spam and you can unsuscribe at any time. I only send out
emails on Fridays. Sign up here: SIGN UP!
I’m
also a Patreon artist–the cool thing about Patreon is it allows people to
support artists by monthly pledges which allow the artists to have more time to
work on their own passions. Here is my account: PATREON.COM. If you’d like to support me, I would
be eternally grateful!
I’ve
now been hosting a YouTube channel called John Irvin, Author Journey Series.
Check it out at YOUTUBE.COM/AUTHORJOURNEY
Today’s Vlog, Today’s
Publication, and Tomorrow’s Launch.
By John Irvin
I can’t believe it is here! Well, almost. One
more day—almost puts a song in my head…one day more, another day another
destiny…okay, I’ll stop.
But, yes,
Launch Day is tomorrow. I’m already adding the GoFundMe team page link to my
website now.
Here’s
today’s vlog episode talking about it all. It’s a shorty, kinda making up for
the super long one a couple weeks ago that gave all the info about the
fundraiser, the rewards, the hopeful Book tour in August.
Watch the video here:
Publications galore.
And not only are we ready to launch this
campaign, my team and I would like to introduce my newest publication in the
Magic’s Time Split series.
Book 4: When
Nights Bleed is now available on Amazon Kindle and Barnes&Noble’s Nook!
Check out the links here or in the description on my YouTube’s episode.
ALSO ON NOOK!
Writing, writing, and more writing.
I’ve been
writing more and more these past few days, closing in on finishing the episodic
serial exclusive for my Patreon Gryphons. The Ikkilion Chronicles have been a
fun story to explore. My friends, Pwyll and Fea, have discovered things about
themselves that no one normal would ever find out.
The plot
twists have surprised me at times. Overall, the adventure has been fun and
hilarious and scary at times. It’s a little bittersweet finishing this series
up.
If you’d like
the full backlog, please, make the $5 pledge per month and you’ll get it weekly
along with two ebook novellas.
Tomorrow, I
hope you check in to my website and click on the GoFundMe link, make a
donation, and help my team and me get that much closer to having this dream
made into a reality.
Thank you
again for stopping by!
Until next week, have a great life.
If you enjoyed this post, you should sign up for my
newsletter! I don’t spam and you can unsuscribe at any time. I only send out emails
on Fridays. Sign up here: SIGN UP!
I’m
also a Patreon artist–the cool thing about Patreon is it allows people to
support artists by monthly pledges which allow the artists to have more time to
work on their own passions. Here is my account: PATREON.COM. If you’d like to support me, I would
be eternally grateful!
I’ve
now been hosting a YouTube channel called John Irvin, Author Journey Series.
Check it out at YOUTUBE.COM/AUTHORJOURNEY
Since losing my main
income source, I’ve had so much time to work on my Authorpreneur Business.
By John Irvin
Yes, the pizza delivery job ran my truck—the only means of
transport for me—into the ground. I’m not looking for pity, there are lots of
people going through worse hardships.
Y’all, just one word: love. Make sure you show love and
compassion to your fellow human beings. I’m seeing so much hatred and
back-biting on the news, I can’t get on social media or Google without seeing
some headline. I’ve come to the conclusion, if this were the zombie apocalypse,
we wouldn’t survive it—we’re too divided!
I don’t want to be a downer, but that’s the truth of it.
Off my soapbox, on to personal updates.
With all the free time, I’ve been applying to proofreading
jobs through my secondary persona: IrvinProofreading.com. I’ve also been
writing more and preparing several more ebooks for publication.
Speaking of which, Magic’s Time Split, Book 4: When Nights
Bleed will be due for publication on the 22nd of this month!
I’m scheduling the next three Ikkilion Chronicles episodes
over on Patreon for my Gryphon patrons and will be continuing the writing in
that serial until the end of this month.
How’s the Campaign going?
The GoFundMe team and I are gearing up. Launch Day is eight
days away! I’m finishing up the final additions to our group page this weekend
then I’ll be passing the share link out to every one in the team.
We are pumped and excited to share this with you soon!
Speaking of books, how about that Quarantine?
With everyone turning into an introvert these days, people
are wondering what to pass the time with. Yeah, you do have TV and social media
scrolling, but how about doing something life-altering, maybe even
world-changing? How about read a book?
And who better to follow than an author? I’ve got a slew of
books for you! Check them out: amazon.com/author/irvinnovelist76
Until next week, have a great life.
If you enjoyed this post, you should sign up for my
newsletter! I don’t spam and you can unsuscribe at any time. I only send out
emails on Fridays. Sign up here: SIGN UP!
I’m
also a Patreon artist–the cool thing about Patreon is it allows people to
support artists by monthly pledges which allow the artists to have more time to
work on their own passions. Here is my account: PATREON.COM. If you’d like to support me, I would
be eternally grateful!
I’ve
now been hosting a YouTube channel called John Irvin, Author Journey Series.
Check it out at YOUTUBE.COM/AUTHORJOURNEY
Sometimes, the best way
to cure writer’s block is to switch books around.
By John Irvin
Another YouTube vlog is up and running. Check out the link right here, it’s short and sweet.
So, after I published Book 3: As Flesh Rots in my Magic’s Time Split series, I was going to write the first draft of Book 6: Mountains Are Living. Well, I got about four pages into that thing and my fingers kept freezing up.
Finally, I figured, I’m wasting days I could be writing. So
I switched series. Moved back to the Ikkilion Chronicles—the exclusive serial
for my $5 backers on Patreon—and guess what, I’m moving right along with it.
Already finished one episode and working into the next.
I’m going to be ahead of schedule posting these, so
eventually, I’ll be able to take like two months off from worrying about that
end and refocus on Magic’s Time Split and Longevity.
Today’s blog will be short and sweet.
My Author Updates, I discovered, upon receiving my copy of
Book 2: Independence in the Longevity series, the cover was way too dark.
Apparently, we forgot to lighten it up. So my cover artist and I are scurrying
around trying to fix the issue.
Struggles are what life is about. Without adversity there
can be no growth.
I’m a full-fledged writer/proofreader now
And more updates, I’ve been designing the bookmarks and my
new author business cards for the GoFundMe campaign and Book Tour coming up.
They look pretty sweet to me. Check out my YouTube vlog above to go see them.
I’m also finished with the pizza delivery job, by the way.
I forgot to announce that two weeks ago!
Finally finished, working on bigger better things now.
Waiting to hear from a couple clients on a proofreading job and a ghostwriting
gig—I’m on the edge of my seat. They’re both sounding exciting so I really hope
I score on both.
That’s all for today.
Until next week, have a great life.
If you enjoyed this post, you should sign up for my
newsletter! I don’t spam and you can unsuscribe at any time. I only send out
emails on Fridays. Sign up here: SIGN UP!
I’m
also a Patreon artist–the cool thing about Patreon is it allows people to
support artists by monthly pledges which allow the artists to have more time to
work on their own passions. Here is my account: PATREON.COM. If you’d like to support me, I would
be eternally grateful!
I’ve
now been hosting a YouTube channel called John Irvin, Author Journey Series.
Check it out at YOUTUBE.COM/AUTHORJOURNEY
Time is already ticking
away, I’ve got 24 more days till Launch Day, still got a few things to take
care of before then…Can I make it?
By John Irvin
This week, I don’t have a vlog to post over on YouTube. I
decided last week to drop down to a bi-weekly posting over there. It will open
up my busy schedule a little more.
Since I’m still preparing for the GoFundMe Launch, I need
more time to work with my team and get these plans—and hopefully,
pre-pledges—set and ready for the day.
This past Tuesday, I gathered and organised a whole list of
phone numbers for so many libraries and bookstores in Pensacola, Nashville,
Denver, Los Angeles,
and Dallas.
Yesterday, I started contacting them. I’ve mostly been
focusing on actually figuring out how to get my books into their stock so I can
actually have a reason to have an Author Book Event at their sites.
Already my team member in Dallas,
Texas has been working on his side making requests for me
at his local libraries for my books. I want to send out a thank you to Calvin!
Thank you for your enthusiastic willingness to get this ball rolling.
Books on my To-Do List:
I’m also beginning the first draft of Book 6 in my Magic’s Time Split series. The title is Mountains Are Living,
The time travelling Immortals are back in this epic volume
to the alternate magic-ruled time reality. They’re about to discover the
meaning of life springing from the Swiss Alps and find connections to ancient
myths and even the very first city ever built on Earth.
Who were the ancient Immortals? Who were the gods of
primitive man? Do they truly exist or did they ever?
After finishing this first draft, I’ll be working on the final draft of Book 4, When Nights Bleed, readying it for publication this month! If you sign up to my newsletter, I’ll share its due date with you soon.
Today’s going to be a short blog, because of the many
articles on my list.
Thank you for stopping by and I look forward to talking
with you next week when I will be posting my updates over on YouTube. By the
way, find the link below and you can go ahead and subscribe to it now, that
way, you won’t miss out on any news happening along my Author Journey!
Until next week, have a great life.
If you enjoyed this post, you should sign up for my
newsletter! I don’t spam and you can unsuscribe at any time. I only send out
emails on Fridays. Sign up here: SIGN UP!
I’m
also a Patreon artist–the cool thing about Patreon is it allows people to
support artists by monthly pledges which allow the artists to have more time to
work on their own passions. Here is my account: PATREON.COM. If you’d like to support me, I would
be eternally grateful!
I’ve now been hosting a YouTube channel called John Irvin, Author Journey Series. Check it out at YOUTUBE.COM/AUTHORJOURNEY
I’m going to explain just
how I’m going to afford my first book tour, there’s quite a few details in this
post and it’s probably going to be my longest YouTube vlog, so hang tight!
By John Irvin
Today’s
blog and vlog—that’s kinda funny putting it that way—is a big one. It’s all
about the GoFundMe campaign my team and I will be launching 29 days from now!
In the video on YouTube and this blog, I’m explaining pretty much everything
about it.
I’m
excited to see how this turns out and am looking forward to your help making it
become a reality.
Without
further adieu, here is the video and the video’s script—a tad edited to fit the
blog’s parameters.
A
few weeks back, I spoke briefly on launching a GoFundMe campaign next month for
my first Author Book Tour in August of this year. Today, I’m officially
announcing it to the world AND will be explaining it in more detail.
I’ll try not to be too detailed, so I’m not keeping you from
other things. But I will ask whoever sees it, please like it and share it on
your social network accounts so we can reach as many people as possible.
I may be moving to a biweekly episode on YouTube, but I’ll
keep you updated the closer we get to Launch Day and beyond. Also, if you sign
up for my newsletter, you’ll definitely be kept up to date every Friday. Again,
you should know, you also get that free copy of Book 2: When Kingdoms Arise in
my Magic’s Time Split. So a win-win if you ask me.
My GoFundMe Campaign—why am I starting one?
One: If you know me, you know I’m actually an
introvert. It’s always hard for me to get out of my comfort zone. But success
doesn’t come to you in that zone; it comes when you step outside. So this is my
stepping outside my comfort zone. It’s time I bring my books to you, my
readers.
Two: We live in a scary age—with everything going on
in the world today, it’s hard not getting depressed—but we also live in an
amazing age of technology. Maybe 20 years ago, to start this business, I’d have
to go down to the bank and pull out a loan. Then I’d be paying out the nose for
the rest of my life, if things didn’t pan out.
Today, we have something called crowdfunding. It’s sorta like
my Patreon profile that I plug in almost every one of these videos. Only it’s
just a one time pledge for GoFundMe. I set it up and get one person to donate
$25, then the two of us reach out to two more and they donate $25 each,
eventually, we can reach the goal and everyone has only given so much.
Cool thing about GoFundMe, I can actually start with a team.
I’ve read that starting a business with a team actually grants more validation
to the business which in turn garners more success.
I have my team. I’m hoping to share pictures and even a team
video soon, so stay tuned.
So I mentioned having a goal for GoFundMe. Our goal is set at
$10,000. Yes, that seems like much, but, honestly, with enough people, we can
do that. I’ll explain the reason we’ve set the total goal at $10,000 in a
minute.
Launch Day is set for 27th of March, 2020. So we
have exactly one month to go until then. Hopefully, by the time this video is
out, I’ll have the time clock over on my website counting down. Check it out
via the link below at johnirvinauthor.com.
You may ask, if your Book Tour isn’t until August, why are
you having the campaign in March and April? Good question. The reason is to
give us enough leeway between the closing of the fundraiser and the trip so we
can ship out all the tier rewards.
Tier rewards? You’re probably wondering what that is. I’ll
explain in a minute.
Now the campaign fundraiser will last an exact 40 days—unless
we can extend it nearer to the end, if need be. So closing date is 6th
of May, 2020. That will be when we gather up our entire collection and switch
to the rewarding phase.
Now, the first question: Why are we setting our goal at
$10,000?
I actually went through and calculated out estimates for each
aspect of a Book Tour.
If you’ve been following me or checked out my books, you know
I have now published 26 books. By the time August arrives, I plan to have, at
least, 6 more books published. Now, most of my books are only in E-book format,
so they don’t cost as much. But, my main series, the Longevity series, is in
three different formats right now: Hardcover, Paperback, and E-Book. Those
covers cost, not to mention the editing.
I’m in a transition period in my business life, one in which,
I don’t have enough income to keep taking from my personal bank. Eventually the
cost minus the bills will be too much. I’m not saying this to get pity. Just
being frank.
So I’ve added in the average cost for each of the Longevity
publications, I can take care of the rest of the Magic’s Time Split series on
my own since they’re only in E-book format.
I have six more books to publish in the Longevity series. The
average cost per book publication is $200. So that equals out to $1,200.
Next on the list is my Security Guard’s Paycheck. You may
think that’s funny, but with shooting going up all over the place—I hate to put
a damper on this, folks, but it’s real life.
I’m hiring a good friend of mine, who I trust, and in order
to give him the freedom to leave his present regular job for the two week’s
this is going to take, I’m wanting to pay him $500 per week. So that’s $1,000.
I think that’s a good set price for security.
Next on the list is GAS. I’ve set that estimate at $1,000. You’re
probably screaming, What?! Why SO HIGH? I’ll show you why so high.
In each of these pinpointed cities, I will be calling a list of local bookstores to set up Author Events. This is why it’ll take two weeks to finish the Tour, if not a little longer.
A deeper explanation for the Gas bill, we’ll be taking a car
that makes 25 miles to the gallon and with prices ranging between 2.50 to 4.00,
I’m averaging that to be about 240 gallons. With the variations, I want to have
a little breathing room. Even $1,000 may not cut it. Hopefully, it will. Who
knows what gas will cost come August this year.
And, we will need a place to stay each night, right? Hotels
can range from $40 to $400 per night. So I’ve set the average hotel price at
$110 per night. Two weeks, comes out to $1,540.
Now, reality check, you can’t leave on an Author Book Tour
and not bring any books or sales stock for each event. Can you? I wouldn’t
think so. I mean, you could, but those potential readers who want to buy a
signed copy won’t be too happy. I’m going to be stocking my Author displays
with copies of all my in-print books, I have a tablet to display my E-books,
and I’d like to have catalogues and business cards and brochures, etc.
So
I’ve set that total of Stock Cost at $2,000. You never know how much all that
will come out to be.
So, on that note, and based on the ten to fifteen books I’ve
read on how to run a successful crowdfunding campaign, you always want a good
size portion of the total to be set for “Unexpected Expenses.” What if, one of
our donors pledges $200 and we have to deliver the full set of my Longevity
series and Magic’s Time Split series to him, that could get pricey, right?
Well, with that extra bit of cash at the end, we can rest assured we’ll be able
to deliver them all.
More on the donation rewards—or tier rewards—in a second.
Last pieces of the $10,000 pie will be paychecks for a
photographer and two artists. I have three friends who are members of my Launch
Team who have been amazing and awesome to volunteer their time and work to take
photos and design the t-shirts and such. I want to thank them with nice checks.
So I’ve set each of those at $250 which comes out to a total
of $750.
And ALL of that wrapped up together and tied with a ribbon
and bow adds up to $10,000!
So I’ve been talking about having a Launch Team. I just
wanted to thank each one of you for your encouragement and your willingness to
help in this endeavour. I love you, I truly do. To everyone else, there are
eight of us members in this Launch Team. Our goal is to promote, promote,
promote, and gather as many pre-pledges as possible. Over the next few weeks,
I’m going to be working with these friends in communicating and answering as
well as designing some neat ideas for the fundraiser.
I’ve got this cool idea for a teaser trailer to announce the
Launch Day when it comes out. We’ll see if we can throw it together. It’ll be
awesome if we can.
Now, for the tier reward explanation finally!
You can’t just ask people for free money, right? When it
comes to crowdfunding, that rule still applies. You should be able to honour
your donaters by giving them rewards. Most GoFundMen or any other crowdfunding
site tells their campaigners to set tiers.
A tier is basically a level. When it comes to donations,
it’s a level of amount. Say one person donates $20 and another person donates
$200 dollars, they’re both in two different levels. So each level gets a
reward, adding more rewards the higher the amount.
I’ve actually drawn out pictures for my tier rewards.
Here they are below. I’ve considered giving each tier level a title—like I do
with my two tiers over in Patreon—but I don’t think that’s necessary here.
The dollar numbers are the amount donated and the answer
after the equal signs are the rewards followed by pictoral examples.
First level:
Second Level:
Third Level:
Fourth Level:
Fifth Level:
Sixth Level:
All
right, I hope that gets you pumped and inspired. Hopefully you’ll be able to
see each picture too! As for me that’s going to have to be all the time I have
for today. Please, think about this upcoming fundraiser, think of the impact
and support you could give.
So,
please subscribe, drop by my website through the link below, subscribe for my
newsletter, shoot me a message—I try to always respond in a timely matter.
Until
next week, have a great life.
If you enjoyed this post, you should sign up for my
newsletter! I don’t spam and you can unsuscribe at any time. I only send out
emails on Fridays. Sign up here: SIGN UP!
I’m
also a Patreon artist–the cool thing about Patreon is it allows people to
support artists by monthly pledges which allow the artists to have more time to
work on their own passions. Here is my account: PATREON.COM. If you’d like to support me, I would
be eternally grateful!
