Kickstarter

I'm a young, indie historical fiction author, I probably dream too much, and I'm in love.

In fact, I'm so in love that I'm marrying the best woman in the world in a month. On August 11, 2012, I'll wed Mandy, the perfect catch. We're both from small towns (We met in seventh grade when I was a talking dog in a play!), we're both artists, we're both dreamers. She's studying to be an art teacher, and I'm going to be a lawyer, although I dream of being an author fulltime someday.

Which brings me here.

Last July, I started my first novel, The Faith. A few months later, I finished the first draft, was elated for a few days, and then began the long editing process. Mandy knows about it, but has never read any of it, and certainly doesn't know that it's dedicated to her (so please keep that hush-hush! =) ).

I want her to know, and I want to give Mandy her novel.

I started this Kickstarter campaign in order to raise funds for book production of The Faith and the trilogy it opened. In the next month, I hope to finish The Faith to be publish-ready. When's it's ready - with a nice cover and good editing - I'll sit Mandy down and show her the dream that's become a reality. I want Mandy to see a professional book that looks like it comes hot off the press of a traditional publisher; I want her to smile when she knows it's her novel.

In a nutshell, The Faith is about the trials of a small European kingdom in the 1840s. Radicals butcher King Martin and then replace him with a master imposter while the heroes try to rescue Martin's twin and save the kingdom. On a deeper level, it's about eliminating fanaticism, ending poverty, and recognizing the humanity in everyone. It sprang from a tour I had of Versailles, France, and seeing the glorious and terribly sad wealth all around me. Thinking about all the peasants' sweat and tears that went into building/funding the palace nearly made me sick, despite the beauty of the place. Read the first three chapters here!

I'm also almost done writing the second in the series, The Invasion, and I'd like to hire a professional freelance editor to work through it. That, plus formatting and book cover costs add up to something beyond our budget.

With a new wife and law school ahead, money isn't plentiful, but I still burn to create, and I don't want to give up the independence and control of my art that comes with indie publishing.

Specifically, your generous help will go to the following:
1. Finishing the production costs of The Faith, including paperback formatting, printing costs at CreateSpace, and paying the editor who's currently working through it.

2. Hiring a freelance editor to go through The Invasion, as well as paperback formatting, printing, and book cover costs

With your help, I'll sit Mandy down a few days before the wedding, show her the eBook copy of her novel, The Faith, and tell her about my Kickstarter campaign and all the awesome people here! Soon after that, we'll order the paperbacks together.

This is my first time promoting my own project on Kickstarter, and I think I've set a pretty modest goal. If we reach that, I've several stretch goals and ideas, which I'll share if we get there, but any extra money will go towards helping cover the production and printing costs of more novels to help me keep doing what I love: writing.

Any input from you all is wildly appreciated, and if you want to see something extra in the rewards, just let me know! I want to thank everyone -generous donators and others- who believes in artists and the power of art to change the world.

And if you decide to help out, a very heartfelt thank you to you.