BNW Map Unlocked!

A little while ago, my college pal Dan Anderson upped his pledge toward the first 12 for ’12 Kickstarter from $100 to $251 to knock us right over the $10,000 mark. That unlocked the color map that Aaron Acevedo’s creating for us, and that will now go out to all backers. Thanks, Dan!

Since I slashed $3,000 from the final stretch goal to bring it down to $12k earlier today, that means we’re now less than $2k away from unlocking both the Shotguns & Sorcery story and Book 3. Despite the fact we only have 39 hours left right now, that’s very doable with just a bit more effort.

To that end, we had the help of a ton of coverage today:

Feel free to point your friends and neighbors in the direction of any of those. With any luck at all, we’ll be celebrating the unlocking of the entire trilogy soon. Thanks again for all your help!

12 for 12 (1.0) for $12k

The outpouring of support for this first 12 for ’12 drive has been both humbling and outstanding. We unlocked Book 2 last night, and we’re steaming straight ahead. I feel like I have the best family, friends, and fans around, and I want to do something big to thank you all for it.

This morning, we cracked the $9,000 mark, and we’re pushing hard for the finish, which happens this Sunday, December 4, at noon Central Time. Still, I had this crazy idea over lunch, and I talked with my wife to make sure I wasn’t just delirious about it from lack of sleep. Unless I hallucinated the whole conversation, she was all for it. Soooo…

I really want to write all three books, and I want you to be able to read all three books. While it’s possible that we can make it to $15k in the next 46 hours, I want to make hitting that final stretch goal as easy to accomplish as I possibly can. So I’m cutting $3,000 out of that goal for the final book. That’s right:

I’m slashing the stretch goal for Book 3 from $15,000 to $12k!

With less than two days to go, that might still be a lofty goal to aspire to, but it’s as low as I can conscionably go. I hope you’ll help give the drive the one last push it needs to get there so we can all reap in the rewards.

And yes, hitting $12k still unlocks the “Goblintown Justice” short story ebook too. It’s a double bonus goal. If we overshoot that, all the better, but now we have a more manageable goal line to charge toward.

Anyhow, please stay tuned and help me keep spreading the word. At Wired’s Geek Dad blog (for which I occasionally write), Michael Harrison wrote a fantastic post about the project this morning, and I should have at least two more bits going up later today. Point people you know toward them at will.

Thanks again to every one of you who have lent me your support. I’m in awe of you all and the trust you’ve placed in me.

BNW Book 2 Unlocked!

This evening, a generous backer pledged a whopping $500 to tip the first 12 for ’12 Kickstarter drive over the $8,000 mark. That unlocks Book 2! Woo-hoot!

I can’t tell you how thrilled I am about that. It validates the whole unlocking model, it shows how much faith the backers all have in the project, and it means I get two write not one but TWO Brave New World books!

At the moment, we have 178 backers who’ve pledged a total of $8,396. That puts us a hair over $1600 away from the next unlockable. At $10k, every backer gets an electronic copy of the full-color map that Aaron Acevedo is creating for the books. You can see an early mockup of it right here.

It’s going to look even more fantastic when it’s finished. I’m confident we’ll crack the $10k level at this point and get to share that map. After that, at $12k, we unlock a short story from the next series in the 12 for ’12 plan – all in the Shotguns & Sorcery setting. And if we hit $15k, we get Book 3 too.

Honestly, with only 60 hours to go, it’s going to be a good stretch to get to $15k from here. It’s not impossible though, especially with a bit of help. I have more interviews and articles going up soon, a couple on fairly big sites, and anything friends like you can do to spread the word far and wide would be wonderful too. Lots of people put off things like this until the last minute, and we just need to remind them that the last minute is now.

Thanks again to each and every one of you who have lent this drive your support. Literally, none of this could happen without you. I’m having a blast on this roller coaster ride, and I hope you are too!

Three Days Left!

Well, technically, tomorrow at noon we have exactly three full days left on my first Kickstarter drive for the 12 for ’12 project, but either way, we’re getting close. We have just about 88 hours from now until it comes to a close, and I’m dying to see how it all shakes out in the end.

Over the past couple days, we’ve gotten a surge of backers, just as I’d been told to expect. At the moment, we’re up to 157 backers and $7,116. We need just a little push to crack that $8k mark and unlock the second book. From there, it’s just a short leap to unlocking the color map at $10k and the Shotguns & Sorcery story at $12k. Lining up the $15k to unlock Book 3 might still be a stretch, but it only takes a few large backers to blow it all wide open.

For instance, I did have a convention inquire about grabbing one of the top rewards. They’re set up as travel to a private reading/signing, of course, but if any group wants me to come out for another event at my expense – along with a load of books – I’d be happy to do that instead. Just let me know.

If you have ideas for other bonuses I could offer, I’m open to suggestions about that too. I think we have a great package put together already, but if there are workable ways to sweeten the pot, I’m all for it.

In any case, I’ve often said that nothing motivates like a deadline, and that’s what’s coming up fast. Of course, the trick is to make sure that those who are planning to back the project don’t forget to do so before it closes on Sunday at noon Central Time.

To that end, I’ve been pounding the PR beat hard. Rick Novy interviewed me today on his blog for instance, Superpowered Fiction featured 12 for ’12 on their first Kickstarter post, and bestseller Lee Goldberg gave me a plug on his blog too. I have more coming up soon, but if you know of any journalists or bloggers looking for a fun story about 12 for ’12, don’t hesitate to send them my way.

I want to thank everyone who’s already backed the project for jumping on with me and to encourage those of you on the fence to act fast before it’s over. I’ll be releasing these books as ebooks later on this year after the backers get theirs, and I’m looking into doing print-on-demand paperbacks too. Chances are that this might be the only way to grab one of the hardcovers though.

Either way, it’s time to grab on tight and hold on to the end. It’s going to be a wild ride to the finish!

One Week to Go!

We only have one week left for this first 12 for ’12 Kickstarter drive. It ends next Sunday, December 4 at noon Central Time. (That’s 12/4 12:00, get it?)

Thanks to all of you who have offered support over the past three weeks. I’ve been floored by the project’s success so far, and I owe it all to you. It made me especially grateful over the Thanksgiving holiday, and I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend too.

We smashed through the first goal of $3k and stand at over $6k. At $8k, we unlock the second novel – and if we hit $15k, there’s a third – so I could use your help with spreading the word.

I’m confident we’ll get to the $8k mark as the deadline nears and people step up with last-minute pledges. That’s traditionally what happens with any successful Kickstarter drive, and this one’s been a huge success already. Getting to $15k’s going to be a stretch, but I’d love to be able to write that third book too.

The way the project is set up, once we break that $8k barrier, those who’ve backed a single book might consider upgrading to the omnibus levels. Those levels suddenly double in value (two books!) but remain at the same price. If that helps us break $15k, then they’re a triple value instead, so be sure to keep that in mind too.

I’m planning some more publicity over this final week to see if we can push the total even higher. If you can post, tweet, or gab about the project with your friends, family, and followers over the course of that week, I’d appreciate it. There’s no better recommendation than the kind you get by word of mouth, and I’m happy to know I have so many talkative backers and friends.

Thanks again for all your help. I’m looking forward to an exciting week that’s sure to keep me on pins and needles until the very end!

 

 

Magic #2 Card, #3 Cover

IDW recently released new images for the Magic: The Gathering comic I’m writing. First, here’s the exclusive card that will come with issue #2: “Faithless Looting.” It features the main cover art from the same issue – by the incredible Karl Kopinski – but one of the cool things about it is that the card’s rules haven’t appeared anywhere yet.

The cards that come with the comics are alternate art versions those that are already available for the game – or soon will be – so that we know they fit well with the game. While we want collectors to buy the comic and grab the card too, we don’t want players to feel like they have no choice but to pay for several copies of the comic just to get the card for their playing deck. The regular “Faithless Looting” card will appear in the Dark Ascension block of cards to be released in February, but the comic will be out at the end of January, a few days ahead of that.

IDW also released the cover image for issue #3. This one’s by Christopher Moeller, who provided one of the alternate covers for issue #1. I’ve been a fan of Christopher’s work for years, and it’s a real thrill to see his images grace the covers of my books. That’s our hero Dack Fayden there, facing off against a nasty vampire. Hope he survives it.

Two More 12 for ’12 Interviews

Over at SFFWRTCHT (Science-Fiction and Fantasy Writers Chat), Bryan Thomas Schmidt interviews me about a whole load of different things, including primarily my 12 for ’12 project. It wound up being an extensive interview that goes on for a long bit, but that’s what happens when you cover that much ground.

Then, over at Squid Eye and the Bitter Guy, Justin Mohareb (the Bitter Guy himself) chatted with me for a fun and breezy podcast that concentrated mostly on 12 for ’12 again. I’ve known Justin since the days when I wrote the Brave New World RPG, so it was fun to catch up for a bit and go over the new project.

Grab the BNW RPG for Only $5!

We only have 12 days left in my first 12 for ’12 Kickstarter drive, so it’s time to make a special announcement. One of the most frequent requests I’ve gotten for new rewards is to figure out some way to include copies of the original Brave New World RPG. Because I don’t publish that game – my friends at AEG do – I can’t just toss in copies. They’re not mine to give.

HOWEVER, thanks to my friends over at DriveThruRPG.com, I’m able to give any backers who pledge $25 or more a private link that allows you to grab the PDF of the core rulebook through DriveThruRPG.com for only $5! That’s a savings of $13 off the standard price, or over 72% off.

I’ll send the link out as soon as the drive ends on December 4. I won’t see any of that extra money, but I wanted to do what I could to make sure that those who want a copy of the original game have a chance to grab it cheap.

So, please spread the news far and wide! I want as many people as can to take advantage of this bonus. Many thanks to DriveThruRPG.com for helping me make this offer, and special thanks to all of you who have stepped up to back 12 for ’12. I literally couldn’t do it without you.

 

Kickstarter Over 200%!

This morning, bestselling author Mike Stackpole chipped in what we needed to crack $6,000, which brings our total to 200% of our goal! That puts us only $2k away from unlocking Book 2. I have little doubt we’ll be able to manage that within the next 15 days, but the real push will be toward reaching the final stretch goal of $15k, which unlocks Book 3 too.

Getting there is going to take a bit more work. To that end, I spent a chunk of last week writing blog posts and doing interviews with people. If you have friends who you think might be interested in the project, these are a great place to point them for more information. I post links to these regularly here and on Twitter and Facebook, but here’s a list of the latest ones to make it easy for you.

Please spread the word far and wide! If you have sites of your own or can recommend to other sites to cover the project, don’t be shy about having anyone contact me. The more people we get on board, the more books we wind up with at the end of the drive, and I cannot wait to start writing them for you.

Thanks so much for all your support!

P.S. IDW CEO Ted Adams, just pushed us up over $6k! Thanks, Ted!

BNW, Novelizations, and the Onion

Today, three articles about my 12 for ’12 project appeared. In the first, on the Civilian Reader website, I wrote a guest post about “What Is Brave New World?” It’s a question that comes up a lot, of course, and I tried to nail down the answer.

Next, I wrote a guest post for Bryan Thomas Schmidt’s SFFWRTCHT website. (That’s Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Chat, which Bryan regularly hosts on Twitter.) This time, I wrote about how to turn a game into a novel, something I have more than a bit of experience with. I’m so used to doing it, I sometimes forget that it can seem opaque and mysterious to those who haven’t done it, so I tried to shine a bit of light into the corners of that process.

Last up, Robert Wieland interviewed me about 12 for ’12 for The Onion’s AV Club. I absolutely love The Onion and the A.V. Club, so that was a true treat. Rob asked some excellent questions about the project and the game it’s based on, so be sure to give it a read.

I’m still looking for other ways to get the word about the Kickstarter drive out there, so if you know or have any, don’t be shy about letting me know. Thanks!