NOTE: This is taken from my most recent update posted on the Clockwork Phoenix 4 Kickstarter page. I hope to have time for something like an actual con report later today or this week; Kickstarters apparently eat one’s life whole.

Anita and I have just gotten back from our extended trip to Boston and New York, which included all four days of ReaderCon. (Which was wonderful, by the way — but I’m really exhausted, so I’m sorry if this comes out discombobulated.)

My seat-of-the-pants plan had been to launch the Kickstarter just before the convention, and then tout it heavily once I was there in hopes of getting it rolling. (I am proud to report a public relations coup of sorts, as Eric Van, host of ReaderCon’s tongue-in-cheek Kirk Poland Memorial Bad Prose Competition, in which I was a contestant, got the entire 400-strong audience to repeat after him, “Mike Allen has a Kickstarter for Clockwork Phoenix 4, an original anthology.” You had to be there, but if you were you were hopefully laughing your head off.)

Frankly, I had thought I might be getting my first donations by now, NOT that I would already be over halfway there. I am amazed and delighted by those who’ve chosen to back the project and those who’ve signal boosted and those who’ve done both — people I know from many different walks of my life and people I’ve never met before (though I’m happy to make your acquaintance.) I’m astonished that we’re 58% funded in eight days. [This morning it’s 62% funded.] Heck, at least for the moment, we’ve even made the “Popular This Week” page for fiction.

Mind you, this experience has been much more of a roller coaster ride than a smooth rocket launch. During that first giddy 48 hours, when we made it past $2000 with startling speed, I started thinking I’d better break out those stretch goals now, because at this rate securing $8,000 to pay pro rates for all the stories would take no time at all, and of course I’d love for this book to be the best yet in the series in all possible ways…

And then we had a couple days where no new backers pledged, which had me sweating bullets. As I’m sure all of you know, Kickstarter is all or nothing, and if this campaign fails there won’t be a Clockwork Phoenix 4.

But that trend didn’t last either, and here we are almost at $3,000, with 22 days still to go. This is wonderful. Thank you all. Thank you.

Please forgive my first-time jitters. Of course, I’d love to see this campaign cross the $5,000 threshold with time to spare, so that I can be certain that this book will be something you can hold in your hands (where in a perfect-bound paper back or within an iPad, Nook or Kindle). And also so that I have time to work toward goals that will take this project beyond the bare minimum. I want this book to be the best I’ve ever assembled.

But for now, it’s clear I need to concentrate on shortening the long march to fully-funded. Anything you can to to further signal boost and get the word out to more people will make a difference. (I know it will, because I’ve been watching it happen!) I’ll be doing a lot of promoting in the next couple weeks (I already have some guest blog posts lined up in various places) but I certainly can’t do it alone.

By the way, if any of you have suggests for things I ought to try, I’m all ears.

Anita, for her part, has already begun making Clockwork Phoenix pins for those who’ve pledged at those levels. More on these anon. With pictures.

Posted in Clockwork Phoenix, Editing, Kickstarter, Signal boosts