Wow. 

I'm not sure how this happened, but yesterday 35 people donated a total of $2,015 to my Kickstarter campaign. I am ecstatic, over the moon and buzzing with amazement!!! 

This means so many things to me - it means I can truly come up with an incredible marketing plan for my book. It means that the book I have written will be read by many others in a brand new format with professional editing, and I can create an incredible book trailer. Finally, it means that I can start devoting more time to the edits of my screenplay.

Please continue to encourage others to donate so that I can start planning for a marketing campaign that will push my book beyond the boundaries that I had originally imagined. With your support and the support of others, my external marketing can take a huge step forward in 2012.

Guest Posts

First off, I've been writing guest posts like mad for various blogs to promote this campaign (in an off-hand way). My post on The American Resident on Are British Actors Better than American Actors? is here. You can read my post on Pond Parley's called Repatriation: An American's Story can be found here.

Also, I queried Hope Clark of a great, and very popular newsletter called FundsforWriters about writing a post about my experience in the midst of Kickstarter. On Thursday, it was completely accurate. I didn't expect my situation to change so quickly so drastically. Please see below for the full post that went out to her thousands of readers. If you are a writer and want some good leads, I recommend signing up for her newsletter. Here goes:

At the time of writing this, I am franticly trying to raise 
another $1,658 to meet my Kickstarter goal. $4,400 didn't seem 
like so much when I launched the campaign for my novel Three 
Questions a few weeks ago. That's right. I'm using Kickstarter.com, 
a crowdsourcing site where one can post a dream, in hope that 
others want to help fund the journey.

I am quietly panicking, but I trudge on. I gave myself 30 
days, which meant I needed to raise an average of $142/day. 
So far, I have exactly $2,742 with 46 backers. I continually 
work to keep visitors excited and donating for the duration of 
the campaign.

When I decided to self-publish, I had no idea everything that 
it would entail, and how expensive it would be. You can read 
about why I decided to go this route on my Kickstarter page. 

To cut down on costs, I started with an e-book on the Kindle, 
and was able to get a bit of press here and there (see links 
below) from going the non-traditional paper-less route. However, 
I was missing a significant portion of my potential market only 
going the Kindle route, and I wanted, for example, my grandparents 
to be able to read my novel. So, I put $250 into a book cover, 
and pre-ordered copies from Createspace.com.

(See the Kindle article, coverage and interview athttp://tinyurl.com/bu5yaql ) 

(See a local newspaper's coverage at 
http://towson.patch.com/articles/towson-native-releases-online-novel ) 

After all of my closest friends and family members bought their 
copies, I realized I needed marketing. Sales were declining. I 
needed materials to help promote my novel, like a book trailer, 
postcards, bookmarks and pre-ordered copies for book fairs or 
signings, and a new back cover. One problem: I didn't have this 
kind of money.

Then, I learned about Kickstarter. I'm the co-founder of a social 
media marketing company, and my colleague recommended it to raise 
money. I spent several weeks doing research, applied, and was 
accepted within 24 hours.

Kickstarter's success is skewed from the unique few that have 
had astronomical media coverage, such as these: 

The iPod Nano Watch: 
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1104350651/tiktok-lunatik-multi-touch-watch-kits

Save Blue Like Jazz, the feature film based on a best-selling memoir:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2128223578/save-blue-like-jazz-the-movie-0 

Alice's Story, the anti-bullying play: 
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1359930720/alices-story-an-anti-bullying-play 

However, the average Kickstarter campaign is pretty basic - 
an artist needs money to help him build his project, and in 
return for donations gives basic rewards to the supporters. 
I'm not saying the projects aren't exciting, just that there 
are some projects that are more news-worthy than others. For 
most of us, it takes work to get others to know about you.

So, what am I doing to stay on the path of becoming fully funded?

Writing this article is one way I'm hoping to keep up the pace, 
as well as ten more guest posts during the next couple of weeks, 
and a few book giveaways and contests. I fight to show why my 
project is different and promote it. I had a book launch party 
and signing last week where I invited 200 of my closest friends 
in the Chicago area. I sent individual, personal emails to all 
of my family members. 

I messaged 45 of my most influential Twitter followers asking 
if they would send a very specific message. (Hint: always make 
it easy for people to help you out.)

I wrote a press release. I found a media list and sent a 
personal email to every reporter on that list. I made a video 
on my Kickstarter page.

Finally, I admit that working in social media, I tut-tutted 
email marketing as if it were so archaic. I was wrong. Most 
people are on Facebook, but pretty much EVERYONE has email. 
Start building your list now. The day I emailed my contacts 
on my email list, I raised $350.

I'd be happy to speak to anyone who is thinking of doing a 
campaign. Someone did that for me, and it helped immensely. 
You can email me at Meagan@ladywholunches.net . 

Also, the campaign isn't over, so please help me get funded 
by donating! The rewards are fabulous.

(Again, see the Three Questions project at 
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/meaganadele/meagan-adele-lopez-debut-novel-three-questions) 

BIO
Meagan Lopez has been around the world, pursued an acting 
career and gone on a 3,000 mile roadtrip to Las Vegas. So 
being a self-published author scares her little. The 29-year-
old recently published her first book, Three Questions, on 
Amazon's Kindle service. 

http://www.amazon.com/Three-Questions-ebook/dp/B005L910LS  

The book, loosely based on that Vegas roadtrip, tells the 
story of two friends going through a quarter-life crisis. 
Follow Meagan at Twitter: http://twitter.com/theladylunches 
Her website is http://www.ladywholunches.net/Home.html