Tuesday, January 22, 2013

[Victim Zero]

[This is an out of character post. You really should read all the way to the end.]

I'd like to announce that I am in the early stages of writing a novel set in the Living With the Dead universe. This is something that many of you have asked for over the years, and I'm happy to say that Victim Zero is now an actual thing. I'm working on it in bits and pieces as I write Next, the current novel I'm focusing on.

I'm running an IndieGoGo campaign for Victim Zero as well, and this one is less ambitious than my previous campaign. This one is shooting for a total of $5,000. Some of that money will go to creating a print version of this book, a first for me, and the rewards for backing the project vary with price from my thanks and a digital copy of the book to signed print copies and much more.

You can check out the campaign right here. Pledges start at five bucks.

This is a flexible funding campaign. That means I get the money whether we meet the goal or not. While some of the money will go to paying editors, cover designers, a person for layouts for the print edition, and other costs, some will be set aside for fulfilling the perks that backers for the campaign get.

If we somehow hit the 5k goal, some of that money will go to me, and I'll bank it toward going full-time as a writer. However, if we get over the 5k goal I will add stretch goals for every single person backing the project no matter the size of their contribution.

There are 88 days left on the campaign, so please check it out at http://www.indiegogo.com/victimzero

Now, a little about the book itself:

Victim Zero is the story of how The Fall began. Before I ever wrote the first word of LWtD I knew how this book would go. This novel is truly the first novel in the series since the events take place well before and leading up to The Fall. It's also the first true novel because, of course, the books are collections of the blog.

I'm putting a lot of thought into Victim Zero and how I want to portray the world. It's a closer look at the science (well, sort of science anyway, this is science fiction after all) behind the undead and some of the brutalities left unnoticed at the very beginning of the end.

I would love to give you character bios and all sorts of tidbits, but I can't. The reason is simple; this book will actually tie into LWtD. Like, now. Stuff you've read recently and will read in the coming months will definitely weave together with some stuff in Victim Zero. It would ruin the surprise to tell you how, so read it when it comes out and see for yourself.

This is the first of a planned series. The idea is to treat each novel in this separate series as its own contained story that somehow ties in with the main LWtD blog. You won't have to read either to know what's going on, but I think both will be more satisfying if you do.

So please, check out the campaign and back it if you're a fan of this blog and able to afford five bucks at least. You'll be helping put me in print and you'll get cool rewards for helping an indie author out.

And if you don't have five bucks, share the campaign link, or this blog post, or both. Word of mouth is the only way we can get this done.

Thanks,
Josh

3 comments:

  1. Don't bother with a print version. I know it's kind of a "thing" that to be a "real" author you need ink and paper, but I think that's increasingly untrue. Don't waste the money on getting a physical artifact made just to make some sort of point.

    I buy almost everything I read as an ebook and read it on my nook. I'm betting that the vast majority of your audience is in the same position. You're an online/indie writer. That's OK.

    I just dropped $10 in, so yay. I continue to enjoy LWtD and read it daily.

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  2. I am one person, but I prefer real books to digital still. I have the Kindle app on my phone, and that is kinda how I found you, Josh. A Fb/dA friend in New Zealand posted a link to you stuff when it was all free back in spring, so i got it all, read it, then read up-to date on the blog, and now check the blog every couple days for new posts to read. But at the end of the day, I would pick a real book over digital...books just smell to divine to give up... THE WITHDRAWALS! LOL So when I can afford it this next payday or the one after, I will be donating toward a real book....maybe two! And if this blog were ever printed, I would definitely want to buy said hard copies. So despite what Peter says, plenty of people still love real books over digital, even if they own a few digital books. I mostly get free stuff that I already have/like: Sherlock Holmes, mythological stuff, kids classics to read to my kids....etc.

    Real book for me please! And I will either be donating $25 or $50 as soon as the bills and rent ate taken care of payday.

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  3. I'm not doing a print copy to 'feel like a "real" author' at all. I get where that assumption comes from, I really do. No, I'm doing a print version because A) people have asked for it over and over again, B) because while there will be upfront costs as far as making the print version a reality, afterward I will be able to order them for cost and distribute them myself for a healthy profit--and signed, too! And C) Because doing a print edition will garner some attention on Amazon, which can only help my digital sales.

    I began to feel like a real author when I got paid for the first time. I love what I do but I don't romanticize it at all. This is strictly a customer service thing, and about expanding what I offer because I want to, not because I feel I have to.

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