catherineldf | Entries tagged with patreon

it got away from me.
What's been going on? Where to begin?
Okay, so my day job lasted a week longer than originally projected, but has now ended. I'm taking a bit of time off before I embark on job hunting to a. rest, b. get caught up and c. give my current contracting company time to find me a new gig if I can. I just wrapped up creating a promo plan for an author who writes for another publisher (paid gig) and am starting work on an article for trade journal (paid - freelance). I've got a couple more pitches to send out and I'm working on a new class on book publishing for Cat Rambo, which will debut next month. I wrote a new short story in a genre new to me and had it rejected within hours, but then sent something else out. I'm working on new Patreon posts and related fun things (novel in progress has cleared 30k words).

Other than that, added a bunch of events, met with Queen of Swords Press's new intern, met with my assistant, worked on planning for the Pride StoryBundle (launching 6/3), recorded my panel and reading for StokerCon (starts tomorrow) and kicked off a discussion about doing an online vendor and artist thing during WisCon weekend. There is no official WisCon and the only things I've seen revolve around online bar con and chats, so do please let me know if there's something I haven't seen yet. Otherwise, losing WisCon income is a big hit to a number of folks so if you want to participate, please let me know. I'm picturing some short profiles on the Queen of Swords Press Discord channel, since it's available, and a lot of mutual plugging with linked hashtags. Please support the artists and vendors if you can.

I also watched somethings, took a weekend off social media, went to Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden, hung out with friends, read a lot, watched things, worked on the yard, began getting rid of usable things we don't want or need and worked on other stuff. And began to deal with news of a family-related health issue that I knew was coming and has almost landed. But not quite. I will try and be better about posting regularly going forward.

The weekend’s coming up so it must time be time for the next event. In this case, that’s the Loft Literary Center’s Wordplay, which will be going on all weekend at the Open Book, the Guthrie Theater and Uptown in Minneapolis. Michael Merriam and I will be reading from Queen of Swords Press’ fantastical pirates anthology, Scourge of the Seas of Time (and Space), at the Target Stage by the Open Book at 2PM on Sunday. Come on down! Bring Mom or Grandmom or equivalent and check it out

In other Queen of Swords Press news, I’m going to be trying out some “minis,” which will be about half the size of our regular trade paperback books. These will be single author collections or single novellas. I’m noticing that people shopping at book events are more inclined to take a chance on new to them authors if a book is priced in the $8-10 range so this is a way to pick up some of those book buyers, while hopefully getting some work out there that might otherwise not be available. I’ll be experimenting on some of my own work first to get an idea of how best to market these and releasing a small collection of my horror, dark fantasy and adjacent work, Unfinished Business: Tales of the Dark Fantastic, in October. QoSP is not open for the mini subs yet but will be opening for full length book queries from 6/1-7/15. Queer and/or POC and/or international authors are urged to send in proposals

Next up, a poll on reviving my Patreon. Currently QoSP is supported through book sales (about a third to roughly one half of all expenses) and my savings (everything else). Sales are going up slowly but since my job is Magic 8 Ball in terms of the future and we have a new furnace and a much needed attic remodel happening this summer, it would be super helpful to have additional cash coming in. I may not have set the radio buttons up right, so you can also respond in the comments. It will likely be a mix of 1 and 2, if everyone responds as they have elsewhere. Thanks for weighing in on what you would be most likely to support.

Reviving my Patreon:
1. Queen of Swords Press support? (rewards to be determined)
2. Serialize my works in progress?
3. Other - specify in comments

Thank you, wonderful patrons!

I have matched your pledges and donated to the NAACP for September pledges.

So far this year, your pledges have enabled me to donate $275, including matching, to the following organizations working on social justice, civil rights, feminist and environmental issues:

NAACP

Southern Poverty Law Center

Ultaviolet

Center for Biological Diversity

Planned Parenthood

NCLR

Rainbow Railroad

Next up:

ADAPT - disability rights and healthcare direct action

Nature Conservancy Caribbean Projects - restoring habitat and biodiversity

National Center for Transgender Equality - social justice advocacy for transgender people

For folks thinking about signing up, to date, I've posted 4 short stories, 3 essays and 14 resource lists on topics ranging from socially responsible investing to my favorite comfort books, TV and films. $1 gets you 2 resource lists, $3 gives you the opportunity to suggest topics and $6 gets you all of the above, plus an additional essay or story.

https://www.patreon.com/CLundoff

NonPatreon stuff:
Accomplished so far today, apart from Patreon organizational stuff: one interview sent in for Lounge Books Horror Month event, about which more soon, one event description sent to DreamHaven Books for vetting.
Next up:

reading through the Queen of Swords Press contract to send out to writer in hopes that we can make bookish magic together (first contract as publisher! Am experiencing squee!)
Working on Blood Moon, Silver Moon's sequel
Writing cover copy and an intro for the new Emily Byrne collection
Prepping for Twin Cities Book Festival and WomenVenture events
Recovering from Hell Cold so I can go see the Delores Huerta and Billie Jean King movies
The health tally: stomach bug last week, Hell Cold this week, persistent should pain. Blergh

Accomplishments for the weekend: 1. I have an executor for my literary estate! Lambda Literary and I made it official; they'll own the copyright and publishing rights to my ouevre when I shuffle off this mortal coil and all. 2. Second Patreon post for the month is away! This month, the recommendation lists are: sfnal works featuring older women as protagonists and fun music to work to. The nonprofit is the NAACP, out there fighting the good fight against racism and for social justice for decades. https://www.patreon.com/CLundoff

On a related note, if you are an author with published books and stories, make a will and designate someone or preferably, an institution likely to outlive you to handle things when you're gone. I have a current archive of my work at the University of Minnesota Tretter Collection, as well as donating to several other libraries, which takes care of what's out right now, but not what happens down the road. Some folks designate friends or the literary agencies they work with, for example. Have faith that someone will want to read your work down the road apiece and do some planning.

You, yes, you, can help me do good works! Which in this case entails raising money for nonprofits doing amazing things. In return, you get lists of useful things - book recommendations, films, easy food preservation, other fun stuff. If you pledge $3 a month, you get to request a list. At $6 per month, you get all of this, plus a story or essay per month. Such a deal!
This month's recipient of my Patreon dues will be the Center for Biological Diversity. The posts will be on some basic food preservation techniques and comfort films ($1-$6). And there will be a piece of unpublished short fiction ! ($6 level only).

https://www.patreon.com/CLundoff

Big week coming up on the reading front.

Tomorrow, Sunday, March 26th from 1-$PM, I'll be reading at the Anderson Library at the University of Minnesota for the annual Quatrefoil Library/Tretter Collection joint event, Women Who Read. Also reading are Jessie Chandler, Rachel Gold, Stephani Maari Booker and a host of other talented queer female-identified writers. Just as a general observation about the kind of talent that reads at this event, Pat Schmatz won a Tiptree Award 3 days after our reading last year. So come by and check it out! The beauty of group readings is that there's always enough variety to find something you like.
Which is why I'm doing 2 readings this week. On Tuesday, March 28th, I'll be reading at Intermedia Arts for Queer Voices, an ongoing series featuring local LGBTQIA_ authors and creators. 7:30-9:30PM, sliding scale admission.
My latest Patreon posts on Comfort Reading and Comfort Television are out - check out some new stuff for only $1! Pledge $6 and get my essay on Irene Adler too. This month's proceeds will benefit Planned Parenthood.

It's also my birthday this week and I'm neck deep in projects so it's going to be a wild ride! Send good thoughts and virtual chocolate!

Out of This World is on sale at Smashwords through 3/11 at 50% off as part of Read an Ebook Week. Pick it up for a mere $2 when you use the code RAE50 at checkout!

I'm plugging away at my posts for Patreon. This month's nonprofit donations will be going to Planned Parenthood and this month's post topics will be comfort reads, comfort TV and an essay on author Melissa Scott. Pledge at the $1 level to get two posts a month, at the $3 level to request future posts as well as to receive the existing ones and at the $6 level for all of the above + an additional piece of fiction or non fiction or whatever I'm currently working on. Such a deal!

Other than this, I'm looking at a print layout for Out of This World and have a fabulous new cover for Knife's Edge, the first Emily L. Byrne collection, both by artist and writer Terry Roy. Terry is great to work with and I heartily recommend her! Editor Carrie Cuinn is proofing the text for Knife's Edge, and once she's done, I'll do a final pass over it, get it formatted and turn it loose shortly thereafter. Carrie does a very thorough job and I definitely recommend her too.

I'm expecting my interview on the Skiffy and Fanty Podcast to go live soon, as well as some guest blogs on various topics on other folk's sites. I have another guest blog due as Emily, some editing to do, sundry other stuff related to Queen of Swords, then I start on the next book. And promo for my various readings and such. Whee!

Next weekend, I'll be volunteering at the MN Advocates for Human Rights International Women's Day event at Hamline, which I'm looking forward to. They've put on a good event in years past. Then I'll be off to Theatre Unbound's production of Susan Glaspel's Trifles and two other short plays. They'll also be hosting Little Black Dress Ink! Female Playwrights Onstage Festival on March 8th; it's free and open to the public. Come hear some new plays before they make it big.

Wednesday is also A Day Without a Woman as well as being International Women's Day. Skip work if you can, limit any necessary spending to women and immigrant and/or minority-owned businesses, donate to organizations that support women and other targets of the Orange Menace and his merry band of evil and ware red. I'm taking the day off, because I'm fortunate enough to have that option, and will be supporting women-owned business. There's ERA lobbying day at the State Legislature as well (see the Women's March MN for more details) and miscellaneous other events. Or plan your own.

Now to go wrangle some more stuff.

Patreon posts are done and posted for my current pledges - recommendation lists of bookstores and comics and graphic novels, and for my patrons pledging at the $6 level, an additional bonus article about woman's bookstores and feminist science fiction and fantasy that I wrote for Women In Science Fiction and Fantasy: An Encyclopedia. February's donations are going to NCLR, which provides legal support and representation for LGBTQ folks dealing with a whole range of issues. I'll be donating to a different nonprofit every month and there will be different rewards each month. Sign up and help me do good works!

Apart from that, working on new stories and getting stuff moving along for Queen of Swords Press (Emily L. Byrne's new collection Knife's Edge comes out soon). There'll also be a new print edition of Out of This World: Queer Speculative Fiction Stories coming soon. I also just got interviewed for the Skiffy and Fanty Podcast and that'll get posted soon. And I've added a Tea and Ghost Stories Reading at Bingley's Tea Room in Minneapolis in April. More updates coming soon!

Currently watching When We Rise around getting other things done. On the one hand, there's too much going on. On the other, holee shit, they're doing this on primetime for a mainstream audience with kissing and everything. So, thanks, ABC. This is kind of cool and I'm really glad to see it.

I've decided to start a Patreon - www.patreon.com/CLundoff/ - and got the whole thing set up yesterday. Why am I starting a Patreon? I still have a job and don't need the money at this point on a personal level, but I do a lot of donating and funding and helping folks out when I'm flush. But one of the grants that kept my wife employed has been redirected to a different organization, her Etsy hasn't really taken off, I've had medical bills, the house needs work, some of my project fell through, I'm starting a business, etc. None of it is dire at the present time, but it is stressful and mildly uncomfortable. And it's cut into what I can afford to donate to things and people I'd really like to be supporting. That would be where this comes in. I get asked about a lot of things and provide tons of free advice and connections on all kinds of things. I'm also not always great about carving out writing time when I get stressed out. So the idea is that you pledge me, I donate your money to cool things, I produce recommendation lists on various topics and writing about interesting stuff (and fiction!). This is all spelled out in detail on my Patreon - I'm hoping this is enough to get you to check it out. Please let me know what you think; I am open to suggestions.

In other news, Out in Print gave my new book Out of This World a very nice review. I'm really pleased since I'm pretty certain that this reviewer is not familiar with my previous work so there's that moment of "Yes! New people reading me!" that's always cool. Out in Print gave my novel Silver Moon one of my all time favorite reviews so I'm really glad to see them up and running again. :-)))

And in appearance news, I've had to drop the Golden Crown Literary Conference trip I was hoping to make this year. I didn't get a workshop or programming items and at this point, pricier out of town conventions have to pay for themselves to one degree or another (no programming = less likely to sell books or be able to use as a tax writeoff). I have added one podcast appearance, a new reading at DreamHaven and am in discussion on some other things so I will be out and about.

It's been a full week at Chez Lundoff, what between one thing and another. I've got two guest blogs due and I'm trying to knuckle down and finish another story. I've been working on various resistance and work-related things so it's been lively.

Another box of miscellaneous writings, papers, tshirts and ledgers from Grassroots Books in Iowa City off to my archive at the Tretter Collection at the University of MN this week. For those less familiar with my past, I lived in Iowa City, IA for 9 years before moving to Minneapolis. While there, I picked up an M.A. in Feminist Anthropology, spent time in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala, worked at the archeological field school, worked scoring standardized tests, worked as a research assistant for independent scholars like Elsa Chaney and Deb Fink, opened and ran a feminist/LGBT/progressive bookstore called Grassroots Books for 2 years, contracted walking pneumonia, closed the store and went on to attend an accelerated semester of law school at the U. of Iowa. Then I dropped out to write, then ended up as as one of the cofounders, then the Director for a year, of the Iowa Women's Music Festival. I also volunteered at a ton of other things so my queer/feminist/miscellaneous activism collection is fairly large. And will soon be researchable, with more coming.
Queen of Swords has a newsletter! And if you sign up at the website by 3/15/17, you will be entered in a random drawing for some fabulous prizes (folks already signed up will be automatically entered). Plus, all the latest QoSP news! Winners will hear back by 3/17/17. (Queen of Swords will not sell your name or use your information for any purpose other than sending you the newsletter for as long as you want to be a subscriber.)
Respectable Horror has a glorious cover!
I've decided I want to start a Patreon for the combined purposes of doing good deeds and giving my actual writing more structure and deadlines. I'm finalizing the description, et al and will try and post it this weekend. More updates coming soon.

So I am thinking about setting up a Patreon when I get back from vacation. For the last several years, I've been working on a series of pieces on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer science fiction. fantasy and horror. These have appeared in SF Signal, Nightmare Magazine and as part of various guest blog tours and I'd like to expand on them and make them into a book-like object on the topic. I do need to make a living at the same time, however, so I know I will end up prioritizing whatever brings in money. And I do better with set deadlines. (And yes, Queen of Swords Press is still going to happen - I had to finish a bunch of other things first). Given those needs, I think Patreon would be a reasonable model for me to use for this project. What I'm considering is something along these lines:

A monthly or possibly, biweekly, short essay on a topic related to LGBTQ SFF - queering Gothic fiction, lesbian ghost stories, gender identity and sexuality and worldbuilding, sfnal erotica, a profile of the work of a specific author, being queer in horror movies, TV, etc. This would go to all Patrons at say, the $2 level.
At, say, a $5 level, you could make requests for upcoming posts.
When I thought I had enough assembled and got to the book creation stage, all patrons would get an ecopy, and high reward levels would include...something else.

Does this seem like something that people would be interested in? My first essay on LGBT SFF Before 1970 is in the post before this one.

Crossposts: http://catherineldf.livejournal.com/396435.html

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Okay, so I meant to post last week, but...
New book! Wordplay! A poll, if I can get it to work!
Xposted from my Patreon, plus other things
Accomplishments!
Patreon update for April
My baby loves a bunch of authors!
Smashwords sale, Patreon and other fun stuff
Checking in
New review and Patreon news!
Queen of Swords Press newsletter, Respectable Horror and Patreon
Patreon thoughts

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Dwelling in Probabilities

Catherine Lundoff's blog

Entries tagged with patreon

Okay, so I meant to post last week, but...

New book! Wordplay! A poll, if I can get it to work!

Xposted from my Patreon, plus other things

Accomplishments!

Patreon update for April

My baby loves a bunch of authors!

Smashwords sale, Patreon and other fun stuff

Checking in

New review and Patreon news!

Queen of Swords Press newsletter, Respectable Horror and Patreon

Patreon thoughts