How I'm Using Crowdfunding to Attend a Writing Conference

Crowdfunding. Maybe you love it. Maybe you hate it. Maybe you don't know all that much about it. If you don't, it's pretty much exactly what it sounds like: people asking other people to help fund their project or cause. Some of the most popular sites for this are Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and GoFundMe. People ask for funds to help them create something tangible like a comic book or movie, or for help paying for things like large medical bills, or to help with living expenses after personal tragedies for family or friends. There are endless possibilities of what people will try to fund this way. Authors will often use crowdfunding to raise money to publish books, or for the smaller parts of production along the way, like cover art or editing. For me, I'm trying to fund my way to the Romance Writers of America annual conference this summer, which is being held in New York City. So let's talk about the logistics.

Know Your Platform

And no, I don't mean your author platform. I mean the site you plan to use for your crowdfunding campaign. Look at their terms and conditions, FAQs, and pricing. Browse other campaigns that might be similar to yours and see what the successful ones look like. Make sure the thing you want to fund is a good fit for the platform you choose. For example, Kickstarter only allows for campaigns that will produce a tangible product. A book, a film, a CD, etc. While I am working on another book to release this year, that's not what I want to fund (because I'm not sure on the timeline that I'll be able to get it done). So Kickstarter wasn't the place for me.

Credit

I knew of GoFundMe and Indiegogo, and when I asked the Twittersphere about platforms, a friend pointed me toward a new branch of Indiegogo called Indiegogo Life. So I started looking into those. I was somewhat familiar with the main Indiegogo platform already after helping promote and offering a perk for a friend's campaign a while ago. I have very little experience with GoFundMe other than always seemingly having trouble with text readability on my phone whenever I checked out someone else's campaign. (Random, I know, but sometimes those are the things that will tip you one way or another.)

There are a few different funding and campaign models you can use with these platforms. Indiegogo has both flexible (you keep whatever money you make) and fixed (you have to meet your goal to get the money) funding. You offer perks to people donating at certain levels. If you're funding a book, for example, an obvious perk would be to offer a copy of the book to people who donate. You could offer a digital copy at a lower donation threshold and a paperback copy at a higher donation level. But again, I'm not funding a physical product. GoFundMe and Indiegogo Life don't use the perk system for donations, and GoFundMe doesn't have deadlines.

Know Your Project

When you go to set up your campaign, make sure you've done your research about what things will cost and how much you will need. I researched registration and hotel rates on the RWA website, then found a friend who is planning on going to share a room with. That cuts my room expense in half. I researched different travel arrangements to get a range of prices. Make sure you don't just automatically go with the rock bottom option when it comes to pricing your project. My two options for transportation are coach bus or airplane. Could I potentially go even cheaper with a complicated network of passenger buses and trains? Maybe. But I would be miserable, it would take me twice as long, and it would mean additional time away from paying work outside of just the conference, and that's no good.

Conference registration opens on February 3rd, and I know from checking on past conferences that rooms and registration fill up quickly. Ideally I want to know whether I'll be able to financially make conference attendance a reality by mid-February to make sure that I can secure a room and that I don't leave my roommate hanging until the last minute. Know what your own timeline looks like for your campaign--when you need funds and/or when you need to deliver a finished product if that's what you're funding--and set a deadline for your campaign accordingly.

Know Your Platform (Again)

This time I do mean your author platform in addition to the crowdfunding platform. Take an honest look at your social networks, your friends and family, and any resources you'll have at your disposal to secure funding and to spread awareness for your campaign. How many of those people do you think will actually contribute to your campaign, and how much do you realistically expect you can count on? Are you setting your hopes on a big surge of public support from people you've never been in contact with but who heard of your campaign through some great word of mouth? Know yourself, too.

I'm a shy introvert who hates asking for help and feels super awkward about putting myself out there for something like this. So realistically, I'm not planning on slamming my social networks with this all day every day, asking people to share and spread the word. I can feel my blood pressure rising with anxiety just thinking about doing that. Besides, I don't have a huge platform. I don't have thousands of followers on social media, and I'm not a big-name author (yet). I feel confident that the majority of my benefactors will be friends and family who love me and want me to succeed. Perhaps there will be some friends-of-friends who donate, or random internet strangers, or even a kind reader who finds their way to my campaign through my links on Facebook or Twitter. But all of this factors into which platform I chose for my campaign.

I decided to go with Indiegogo Life for my crowdfunding campaign for a few different reasons. As I mentioned, Kickstarter was out from the beginning because I'm not asking for funds to produce a tangible product. Because I don't need a large amount of money in the many thousands of dollars range, and because I'm unsure of my ability to reach large numbers of people willing to donate aside from my closest friends and family, fees suddenly became the number one deciding factor in choosing a crowdfunding platform.

Both Indiegogo (the main site) and GoFundMe have platform fees on top of transaction fees. That means either increasing the amount of money I ask for or sucking it up and dealing with that 8 or 9% loss of funds once everything is said and done. With Indiegogo Life, there are no platform fees, only the 3% transaction fee to process payments. I set up a 60-day campaign where I will receive all funds donated (minus the 3%) and I don't have to worry about different fees based on whether I make my goal or not, or the dreaded possibility of coming within mere dollars of my goal, not making it by the deadline, and then not getting any of the money at all. That's what made the most sense for me, for this project. It may not make the most sense for you and your project, so always do your homework.

Why Crowdfunding?

I do mention this briefly in my campaign description, but I'm sure some of you may be wondering why I turned to crowdfunding to help me attending this conference. First of all, the RWA conference is something I think will be very beneficial to me on the business side of writing. That's why I want to go. Unfortunately, it's an expensive conference, and certain circumstances make it financially difficult for me to even think about attending without any assistance. That's why I'm crowdfunding.

My husband has a great job that has transferred us a few times over the past few years after he was promoted. The adventure of moving and experiencing new cities is really fantastic. Unfortunately, we have been unable to sell the condo that we moved out of the first time we moved... almost four years ago now. And because of complicated rules and regulations, we also could not rent the house to at least break even on what we were paying. So for nearly four years we've been paying the mortgage for a house we don't live in, as well as rent in our new locations. We accumulated a lot of credit card debt trying to make ends meet during this time and recently took out a loan to consolidate all of that into something more manageable. There isn't any room in the budget currently for the hefty price tag of the RWA conference. And even though my husband is asleep in the next room as I write this, I can pretty much feel his death glare at the thought of financing this business expense with our newly-cleared credit cards.

This conference is a business expense that I can write off on next year's taxes. But I still need to pay for it up front. It's a very first world problem to have, I know, which makes it even more difficult for me to ask for financial assistance to fund this experience in the first place. But I've already seen that several kindhearted friends are willing to give me a little boost, and as the saying goes, you never know if you don't try.

I have several friends who will be attending the conference this year who are everywhere on the spectrum from traditionally published to hybrid to 100% self-published. They will be coming from various places in the U.S., Canada, and even England. As the shy introvert I mentioned I am, having a handful of familiar faces in the midst of the huge conference will be a welcome lifeline, which is part of why I decided I wanted to go to RWA this year especially.

Make it Your Own

If you're an author looking to crowdfund a product or experience, do whatever you can to make your campaign your own. Personalize it. Post video updates of you dancing, if that's your thing. Offer unique perks if you're able to do so on the platform you choose. Have fun with it and see where it takes you.

And now here's the inevitable part where I ask you to look at my campaign page and see if you are able to donate to my fundraiser. I know not everyone can. If we were all in a place to donate money to causes we wanted to support... well, then none of us would really need to be supported by anyone else, I suppose, right? But if you can share the fundraiser on Facebook or Twitter or anywhere else you think it will reach people, that signal boost can be just as beneficial and every bit as appreciated.

Even though Indiegogo Life doesn't use the perks method, I would still like to offer my backers a hand-written thank you, at the very least. I can also offer a digital copy of one of my books if you don't already have one. If you donate (or have already donated) to my fundraiser, please use the Contact button on the fundraiser page to drop me a line and give me a name and address for your thank you note.

Happy crowdfunding!

Have you run a successful crowdfunding campaign? What was your experience like?

#2012BBF: An Orgasmic--Er, Enlightening Experience

Join me over at From The Write Angle for some additional thoughts on the Baltimore Book Festival!

This past weekend I attended the Baltimore Book Festival. (It was three days, but I was only able to make it for all of Saturday and one panel on Sunday.) I even twisted the arm of convinced my friend and fellow writer Ty Unglebower to come with me. I'm glad he did, because I'm not sure it would've been quite as fun without someone to talk to in between and after the events. You can read Ty's thoughts on his experience over at his blog. You can go on and read, I'll wait. :-) Tell him I sent you.

Now, back to business. Yes, I had a great time in Baltimore. As I said on FTWA, it was part street fair, part book conference. It was casual, but there was definitely plenty to be learned at the industry panels and events. But really.... orgasmic?

Okay, maybe not orgasmic. But I had this tingly, feel-good moment that was a little bit of epiphany, a little bit of excitement, and just a twinge of longing. So yeah. Almost orgasmic.

The last event of Saturday night for me was a panel of erotica writers talking about... sex, obviously. The subject of the panel was taboos in erotica, but they ended up talking about all sorts of things regarding erotica, thanks to some great audience questions and equally great answers from the panelists. I recently got a bit geeky in an interview where I talked about why I write erotica. (Read it here if you haven't already!) Hearing similar things from each of the panelists was amazing. I was among my people! I loved hearing the authors talk about why they write what they do, the boundaries they push (and the ones they don't), and what makes them tick as writers.

L to R: Megan Hart, Molly Weatherfield, Caridad Pineiro, Eliza Knight, Stephanie Draven

They interspersed readings with the discussion, which gave the audience a taste of their styles. But you know what was kinda cool? Hearing and seeing successful erotica/erotic romance authors, grown women, laughing at themselves and giggling with nervousness about reading the "really dirty" bits. I think it was author Stephanie Draven who said that it was one thing to write the scenes, but another thing completely to read them out loud in public. I didn't know of any of the authors previously, so I wasn't exactly starstruck or have this idea of them as larger-than-life kinds of people. But the laughing and nervousness was a very humanizing aspect. I felt like I was sitting around with friends, reading and having a good time. And I liked what I heard so much, I bought one of Megan Hart's books the next day, and I have a feeling I'll also be checking out Stephanie Draven's in the future.

Megan Hart, reading from her book The Space Between Us

As an introvert, I'm not always the most talkative person. Until you start asking the right questions. Want to talk about sex in writing? Hope you've got all day. Getting paid to write books about topics I love, and having an opportunity to present on a panel like the one I attended sounds like a dream job to me. I felt like I could personally have talked all night about relationships and sex and writing and characterization and all of the rich depth to be found there... and that's when it struck me.

This is what I want to do. That is where I want to be.

Maybe one day I'll make it there.

#GUTGAA Meet and Greet!

If you've found me through GUTGAA, welcome!

If you think I've contracted some sort of terrible intestinal ailment, let me explain. GUTGAA stands for Gearing Up to Get an Agent. It's a bloghop/pitchfest/contest/fun time happening during the month of September. For the main sign up page, click HERE. For a schedule of events, see HERE.

Now, on to the meet and greet questions!


To learn a bit more about me: the person, as opposed to me: the writer, check out this fun little list I did for Scintilla in March.

Several of the meet and greet questions had to do with the when/where/how of your writing space and time. There aren't any clear cut answers there, for me, because of one factor: I still do all of my writing longhand. That's right. Pen and paper, baby. Editing and stuff I do on screen, but first drafts are always (with the occasional exception - usually short fiction) on paper.

So I write whenever my notebook is nearby and an idea strikes. Quite often it's sitting on the couch, but it has been in parks, on airplanes, in the car (not while driving, I assure you :-P) and in other people's houses. There isn't any particular time or place when I always write, or a usual process I have to go through. I just need paper and a pen. THAT is something that I am particular about. It has to be a pen, preferably black ink, very preferably NOT blue ink, but any other color is good.

-When writing , do you listen to music or do you need complete silence?

I usually do like some background noise while I write, whether it's the TV, music, or outdoor noises. I don't like it to be too quiet.

 

-What was your inspiration for your latest manuscript and where did you find it?

I can't remember where the inspiration for my current WIP came from because it's been incubating in my brain for a few years ago. I'm not a plotter, so I don't do outlines. I wrote down very little as far as ideas, but I kept all the good little nuggets in my head as I thought of them over the years, until I got to a point where I felt I was ready to write.


I knew I wanted to write an erotic novel. (All of my erotica so far has been short stories.) And I had some character traits and plot aspects that I knew I wanted. Bi-racial, young, fashionista; elements of non-monogamy; safer sex and sex positive ideas; emotional depth, but a still a lot of FUN. And from there, my WIP was born.

-What's your most valuable writing tip?

Don't take writing tips to serious extremes.

So that's me, in a nutshell. Looking forward to meeting other GUTGAA participants and reading blogs!

On Lynch Mobs, Social Media, and LendInk

Social media is a funny thing. Nothing moves more quickly than an angry internet lynch mob.

Authors today are understandably worried about piracy and copyright infringement. Especially the ones going it alone, who don't have a big publishing house at their backs.

What do these things have to do with each other? I've seen them work together, for good and bad, the past several weeks. I first became aware of a site claiming to be an ebook library, which was really just a place for people to upload and download (in other words, illegally share) books. The cry of piracy went up. I heard about it on AQC, then Twitter and Facebook. Authors sent takedown notices. Their FB page blew up. PayPal yanked their donate button. Within a very short  amount of time, the site had to deal with a lot of trouble brought by irate authors. And rightfully so. Though hiding behind semantics and nasty online personas, the site owner and main defender know exactly what they're doing.

Fast forward a couple weeks. I was about to get on a plane to visit my #goatposse writing friends in Las Vegas and was checking Twitter on my phone. I came across a conversation where someone I didn't know was accusing a writing friend of violating copyright and owning/operating a pirating site. I clicked through the conversation and links to see what was going on, and that's how I first heard of LendInk.com. My Twitter interactions at the time were assuring the rabid tweeter that no, this other person was not affiliated in any way with LendInk. (Turns out the confusion came up because of a Hootsuite toolbar that popped up on the window with my friend's Twitter profile pic. Which is not an excuse for this other person to get all crazy over it. If you don't know how social media apps like that work, you shouldn't be on social media. Or at the very least, you need to refrain from making accusations like that.)

After seeing what happened with the site-that-shall-not-be-named mentioned before this, I wanted to warn other authors about another possible piracy site.

Guess what I DIDN'T do? I didn't immediately start tweeting and posting and re-tweeting and shouting PIRATES! PIRATES! What I did do was look at the LendInk website. I was a little confused about what the site was, at first, and I didn't have much time to look before boarding my plane that day. What I gathered was that LendInk facilitates lending of ebooks (that are already lendable) and that said lending was handled by the appropriate sites (like Amazon or B&N).

There was still some confusion because I was seeing people tweet stuff about not authorizing LendInk to lend their books and people still shouting about piracy. I also noticed a few murmurings about it on Facebook. I didn't think it looked like a pirating site, and I had a plane to catch, so I forgot about it for a few days.

Imagine my shock and surprise when I returned a few days later to find that LendInk had been taken down as a result of this internet lynch mob mentality. My first thought was Oh, maybe I was wrong and they were pirating books. But I really wanted some more info. I didn't have to talk to anyone personally involved, as others had already done that for me. The first thing I read was April L. Hamilton's post on the topic, and then this one on The Digital Reader. They basically confirmed what I thought LendInk was about, plus clarifying a little farther how their process works.

Still, I was skeptical. Because how could SO MANY people fly off the handle like they did and be SO WRONG? Since the site had already been shut down (a result of their hosting company being bombarded with angry, misinformed emails threatening lawsuits, and NOT as proof of guilt) it was difficult to dig for more info. All I had to go on was what I remembered reading four days before.There were also people touting an emailed response received by a friend (or by themselves) from Amazon as proof that LendInk was in the wrong. The letter states Amazon did not authorize LendInk.com or any other website to lend their book, and then suggested "contacting that website to confirm your rights and request removal of your work." When I read that, the only thing I could think was that A) this sounded like a form reply, based on the misleading question about whether the site could legally lend boks, and B) LendInk was never lending books to begin with. No files were ever uploaded to, downloaded from, or stored on the site or its servers.

The owner/operator of LendInk has since replied directly to the article on The Digital Reader, and today a friend (the same one who had been accused of being the owner of LendInk by an overzealous author last week) directed me to another article, this time on techdirt, saying exactly the same thing: LendInk was completely legal and legitimate, and it was brought down by a lynch mob of authors who didn't do their due diligence in fact-checking.

So, to recap:

• LendInk was not doing anything illegal
• LendInk was not offering pirated books for free
• Users could go to LendInk and state they had whatever title available for lending
• LendInk hooked up users who were looking to borrow with users who had books to lend, then referred them back to either B&N or Amazon to do the lending
• Lending ebooks is legitimate and legal
• This fiasco is an example of social media gone wrong

It is truly sad that this scenario played out the way it did. I don't know what will happen to LendInk or if the owner will be able to get it up and running again. I hope so. But at the very least, I hope this is a warning to writers everywhere.

You are responsible for your own actions. You owe it to yourself and to those who could be negatively impacted by your premature mouthing off to do your homework. Read FAQs, take to google, email the appropriate parties (and for goodness' sake, give it TIME! Not everyone is glued to their inbox every second of every day the way we are, waiting for query rejections or news from an agent), talk to each other in a civil manner, and remember that everything you do in a case like this will be subject to public scrutiny.

Think. Then act.

For the Love of...

There's been a lot going on lately. Between Mother's Day, this guest blog post, the death of my husband's grandmother, and a friend's beautiful beach wedding all within four or five weeks, love has been on my mind. I've also been playing this song over and over again:

There's too many things I haven't done yet

There's too many sunsets I haven't seen.

You can't waste the day wishing it'd slow down

You would've thought by now

I'd have learned something.

I made up my mind when I was a young girl

I've been given this one world,

I won't worry it away.

Now and again I lose sight of the good life

I get stuck in a low light

Then love comes in

How far do I have to go to get to you?

Many the miles, many the miles.

How far do I have to go to get to you?

Many the miles

Send me the miles

I'll be happy to

follow you.

That's just the first part of the lyrics, but it fits me so well it's scary. Although I have those dark moments, I tend to worry very little. Sometimes the only thing I worry about is whether I should be worrying more. Then love comes in. I think my lack of worry comes from an abundance of love. I see it everywhere. I feel it everywhere.

Love is one of those tricky things. I had an email conversation with a friend about this recently. We try to quantify and qualify our love. We label it and separate it, careful not to mix the different types because... what? We're afraid of the implications of love, I think. We're afraid of what it means to admit--to ourselves or anyone else--that we love someone. If you're married or seeing someone, what does it mean to love someone else? I love him like a brother. I love her like I love all of my closest friends. Labeling it a different type of love feels safer. Loving someone doesn't mean you want to jump in bed with them, or marry them. It can mean those things, of course, but not always. We create this division of love in an attempt to define relationships and stake claims on each other's hearts.

We separate love into compartments and say It's okay to give X amount of this type of love, but only to one person. Or We can give a lot of this other type of love to all kinds of people because it's different, and it's not love love. And also, I will feel threatened by this type of love from this person, but not that type of love from that person.

But you know what? It's ALL love.

I'm not saying there aren't different types of love. The way I love my husband feels a little different than the way I love my kid brother. Or the way I love some of my friends. And yet there's something the same about it, too. A sweetness. A blissful feeling. An indescribable something that makes me happy whenever I think of a loved one.

I love a lot of people. I've always loved easily. I've debated whether it's a selfless tendency or a selfish one, because I can't deny that it feels good to open my heart. That doesn't really matter for today's post, though, because the point is still the same. 

Love begets love.

Our capacity for love is bigger than we give ourselves credit for. Once you've given it, you can choose not to give any more, but you can never take back what you've already released into the world. Acknowledging, accepting, expressing love doesn't take away. Not from you, not from anyone else you love. It just makes room for more love to grow, which you then can give again.

There is another point to this, besides me just waxing poetic about love. I've been involved with a project the past couple months, and I know some people may not understand why it's so important to me. But the answer is love.

Indies Unite For Joshua is a worldwide group of independent authors, publishers, filmmakers, and artists rallying to support a fellow writer.

Joshua is the 21-year old son of author, Maxwell Cynn. Max writes speculative fiction, science fiction, and romance. His son has been diagnosed with Acute T-cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia. The cancer has invaded every part of his body: brain; spleen; liver; lymph nodes; and he has a mass in his chest. Joshua has had to suspend his studies while undergoing aggressive chemotherapy and will not be able to graduate this semester. With three-and-a-half years of a 4.0 GPA toward a degree in philosophy, his peers and professors consider him brilliant, as of course, does his father. Joshua would have been the first person in Max's family to graduate college. 

To learn more about this amazing young man, read Max's incredible post.

I donated a guest blog spot to the campaign perks, and I recorded a short video to encourage support for the cause. Not to mention the tweeting and posting on Facebook that you may have noticed. Here's the thing, though.

Like most people involved in Indies Unite for Joshua, I've never actually met Joshua, or his dad. I know his dad from online communities like Twitter, and I think he's a great writer. I consider him a friend. As I say in my video, I care what happens to him and his family. How can I feel so strongly for someone I don't "know"?

Love.

I'm not a religious person. I don't pray. That has always been a foreign concept to me. What I do is love. I let it fill me up, I seek it out, I give it away.

To Joshua, and to David (Max) and Tricia: I love you guys! You are in my thoughts, and I'm sending your family all the loving vibes I can muster.

Now how about you? Are you ready to open yourself up to a bit of love? All it takes is a share. A tweet. A post on Facebook. If you're able, a couple dollars. One supporter has been giving two bucks a day. Could you do the same? We have 10 days and $1,100 dollars to go to meet our goal of $10,000. Click the Metallica baby picture above, or the widget in the top right sidebar to go to the Indiegogo site to donate.

For the love of Joshua, what can you do?

Back to the Sara Bareilles song from the start of this post: How far do I have to go to get to you? Many the miles. Send me the miles, and I'll be happy to.

Joshua, when you're better, send me the miles. I'll come down and buy you and your parents a round of drinks. Or two. :-)

A Birthday Wish

The day is barely half over and I've been happily surprised at the number of people taking a moment to wish me happy birthday on Facebook and elsewhere. It has been very sweet, especially since a number of these people are folks I know only through social media and networking as a writer. I've spoken often about my love of the writing community, sites like Agent Query Connect, and all the fun and support I get on Twitter. It amazes me every day how well I can get to know and care for people whose faces I only know from their online avatars. And I'm touched by your birthday wishes for me today.

I have just one birthday wish, and that's for everyone in my extended "family" - my network of writers, readers, and friends - to support a young man in the fight of his life. Let me tell you Joshua's story.

Just one month ago, Maxwell Cynn shared a very personal revelation on his blog: His 21-year-old son, Joshua, was diagnosed with acute T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia. Two days later, his heart stopped. Thankfully, the ICU doctors and nurses were able to bring Joshua back and he is currently undergoing chemo and treatment for his cancer. Read Max's heart wrenching post here.

Many of Max's friends were touched by the news and one in particular, Eden Baylee, sprang into action to help. She set up an IndieGoGo campaign, Indies Unite for Joshua, to help raise money for Joshua's treatment and other expenses. At the time of his diagnosis, Joshua was half a semester away from graduating with a degree in philosophy, with a 4.0 GPA. He had to leave school to enter treatment. The Indies Unite for Joshua campaign is seeking to raise $10,000 by the end of May to help Max and his wife offset the cost of Joshua's treatment and school loans.

Now back to my birthday wish, and all of you. Max is one of those online-only friends of mine that I mentioned above. He's always been exceptionally sweet and kind, and he's a long-time supporter of my writing endeavors. He's a writer as well, and his books are a great read (thought-provoking, smart, and sexy on top of all that!) My wish is for all of you do one small thing to help Max's son Joshua.

How can you help? The obvious answer is donate. You can claim lots of great perks for different donation levels (starting at just $10), ranging from ebooks to guest blog spots to professional manuscript editing. Eden also recently secured the support of Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Janis Ian, and you'll be able to see those contributions on the campaign page starting Monday, February 27th.

If you are unable to contribute financially, or would like to do more, there are plenty of options. Emotional and moral support is just as important. Here is what you can do:

•  Purchase one of Max's books.
• Snag the widget from the Indies Unite for Joshua page and display it on your blog or website (like I have in my sidebar here). Click "embed" on the campaign home page for the code for the widget.
• Share the campaign on Google+, Facebook, Twitter, and any other social network you belong to. Please use the hashtag #IndiesUnite4Joshua when tweeting. It'll help IndieGoGo see who's sharing the campaign and hopefully get more exposure that way.
• Re-tweet, re-share, re-post as often as you feel comfortable! If you see me (or someone else you follow) tweeting about it, re-tweet it for us!
• Visit Max's blog to read more about his brave son Joshua and leave a comment of support and encouragement.
•  Tweet Joshua and let him know you're pulling for him!
• If you would like to help in some other way that I haven't mentioned, contact me and I can put you in touch with the appropriate people.

If every one of my blog followers, Twitter followers, and Facebook friends shared this story, and even just two or three of their friends/followers/readers did the same, that would be a few thousand new people who would hear Joshua's story. Somewhere in that few thousand, I know there are plenty of people who would like to help, and with that help, I know we can reach our goal.

Keep fighting, Joshua!

Boundaries of the Writing Community

Recently I followed a discussion on AQC, about whether some critical comments were or were not appropriate in regards to a fellow member's writing. I saw no harm in the criticism - we're writers, and not everything we write will be received well by everyone else. That's okay. But the conversation - along with the recent publicity about paying for fake reviews - got me thinking about the obligations, expectations, and boundaries of the writing community. (On a brief side note, you can read my honest review pledge by clicking on the tab at the top of the page.)

There's a sense - I believe now, more than ever - that we're all in this together. We're all navigating the same murky waters, trying to break into an industry that's changing every day. And we do support each other. I love supporting those writers whose work I believe in.

However, I've come across the sentiment in some indie- and self-pub circles that all criticism should essentially be squashed. We need to support each other! If one wins, we all win! If one loses, we all lose! Rah-rah-sis-boom-bah! All that sort of mindless cheerleading.

Should you post a less-than-glowing review on Amazon, where it could potentially affect sales? Some would say no. But I say why not? If it's your honest opinion, not motivated by spite or anything like that, why not? If you bought the latest book by a NYT bestseller and didn't like it, would you refrain from reviewing it on Amazon because it was critical in nature? Just look at how many people bash Twilight, or The DaVinci Code, etc. But take an indie- or self-published author, and suddenly it seems like a different beast altogether. That's when all the cheering and jeering starts again.

We're all in this together! A negative review could hurt their sales. We're a community!

It doesn't sit quite right with me, though. Yes, I am a writer in a community of writers, many of whom I like a lot. I want to see those writers whose writing I adore shoot to the top and have great success. But if someone who frequents the same message boards and forums that I do publishes a book, that doesn't automatically make it off-limits for my criticism, does it? Why should it?

The purpose of a review is to share your opinion of a story and the writing with other people who have read, or may be considering reading, that book. It's true, a particularly good or bad review may sway some customers' decisions on whether or not to buy the book. Should we let that stop us from posting a review that isn't all puppy dogs and rainbows? If it's the latest Dean Koontz, I bet most of you would say no, it shouldn't matter, we're all entitled to our opinions. If it's a self-published author, though, trying to eke out a living...? Tell me what you think. Here's what I think (apologies in advance if it's a bit blunt).

Once you publish a book - I don't care how you do it - reviews are fair game. I'm talking genuine, honest reviews, based on the content of the book and the quality of the writing, and nothing else. I don't care if you publish with a major house, an independent press, or if you self-publish. You're in the business now, and people will have opinions. I don't care if we belong to the same online communities, if we chat on Twitter, whatever. If I think you've delivered a sub-par product, I should feel free to say so in my review, just the same as I would if I were talking about Nicholas Sparks. As callous as it sounds, I'm not terribly concerned with your sales (or Nicholas Sparks' sales, or any author's sales).

There's a real danger in the false back-patting that I've seen in indie- and self-pub circles. I'm not here to blow smoke up anyone's ass about their talent. If I don't mean it, I won't say it. I won't be pressured into giving something a better review than I think it deserves simply because the author and I are both signed-in-blood-card-carrying members of the writing community. Likewise, I can't be pressured into withholding a review that may carry some pointed criticism, despite the very real fact that reviews can affect sales.

As aspiring writers, how often do we complain about what we see as mediocre quality novels being published while our own superior (in our eyes) stories go unnoticed and as-yet-unpublished? As readers, how often have we picked up a much-hyped book, only to be disappointed? And that's with the stuff that's already made it through the so-called gatekeepers of traditional publishing. With the digital publishing push, there are oceans of new books to wade through every day. If we keep our criticisms to ourselves - or worse, if we let the idea of "community" guilt us into giving sugar-coated reviews - how will we then, as readers, be able to spot the proverbial diamond in the rough? And how will we, as writers, expect our own stories to stand out in the crowd if everyone has the same rose-colored reviews?

If and when my novels are published, I'll expect both good and bad reviews. Not everyone will like what and how I write. If a customer reads a negative review that resonates with them, so be it. Other customers will be swayed by the positive reviews. If the negatives outweigh the positives, and my sales aren't good, then I need to put out a better product, simple as that.

Would you post a critical review of an author you're familiar with through social networking or writing websites? Have you ever felt pressure to post a positive review no matter what you actually thought? I'd like to hear your take on things.