Inkshares Community discussion
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Review-a-Thon!
I'll help. Sign me up for the two reviews. Not sure if my Inkshares writing contest "Earth In The Year 10,000" fits with this, but if not, I could come up with another contest.
Where are these reviews going to be posted?
Are we reviewing incomplete works based on the writing samples on a project page?
Sounds like we are actually reviewing project pitches, is that correct? I'm Ok with that, I'm just not sure what exactly is going on.
I'll chip in $100 in Inkshares credits, if there is a mechanism to do that.Otherwise maybe turn that into Five $20 Paypal deposits that Five winners promise to use to pre-order a book in funding.
Or find some other method to get it done.
I'll help. I think I book could handle a few more reviews anyway. I'm interested. :)
I'm game! This is an absolutely amazing idea and maybe (without those awesome prizes all the time 'cause cost and stuff) hold something like this monthly, or bi-monthly? Like a monthly "review day"? That's my two cents for this.
Mod
Not sure if my Inkshares writing contest "Earth In The Year 10,000" fits with this, but if not, I could come up with another contest.
Where are these r..."
I was just thinking of the review function on our project pages - the one that shows up as an option at the bottom of the page when you click "read more" to read an excerpt.
I'm sure there are other ways to leave reviews for people that would be useful and I'd 100% recommend them, but other ways won't be included in the batch of names Inkshares pulls from their database to use for the raffle prizes.
I don't see a way to review "Earth in the Year 10,000", probably since it's not funding yet? But you can absolutely use the day to draw eyes to the project however you want. I'm not sure if you can donate credits. You'd have to ask Inkshares. I bet it wouldn't be hard for them to do.
I think you could select winners and then pre-order books to be shipped to their address instead of your own, avoiding Paypal altogether.
You could use that $100 in credits as your own prize for... anyone who submits a short story on that day, or something? Oooh, you could have people pitch story ideas and then have readers/authors vote, and whichever idea is best could win your $100. Or something!
Yicheng - awesome! Glad to have you aboard.
Tabi - Fabulous idea! Monthly review days! That'll help me keep track of new projects, too. I'm not going to be able to wrangle so many prizes every month, but this will be a good kickoff. Then maybe every month Inkshares will still offer the credits part.
:)
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Cara, thanks, that sounds like a good way to do it.I'll offer Five $20 prizes - the winners will tell me what book they want to pre-order. I'll place the order for them and then change the mailing address and name to theirs.
Instead of starting my own contest, just add these Five prizes to the "raffle".
Earth in the Year 10,000 is only in draft, so maybe at some future date, if it moves to funding, then I'll do something either on my own or in another event like this if you are still doing it.
Mod
I'll offer Five $20 prizes - the winners will tell me what book they want to pre-order. I'll place the order for them and then change the mailin..."
This is a fantastic idea, Mykl! I'd like to make sure people know it's you offering the prize; is that okay?
I had a thought - would you like me to put your published short story, Journey, on the review assignment spreadsheet?
It sounds like the main purpose of this particular effort is to get some traction for projects in the funding stage that need help - so probably a good idea to keep it that way. Once you get funded, the pressure is sort of off and you can relax a little. Getting funded is soooo hard, it's good to shine the spotlight on those projects. Since I'm one of the fortunate (17) to get published in Inkshares first year, I want to give back and help others get funded. I hope the other 16 join in! In fact, I challenge them right now to step up in some way, large or small! (pass that on:-)
Just lump me in with the raffle prizes and the winners can later be directed to message me for the fulfillment part.
No need to mention my name beforehand, unless there is some general list of prize providers, then you could add me to that list. I like being part of a group, but don't want to be singled out - like many writers, I'm a bit of an introvert.
Maybe others will pick up on this and donate even one $20 (free pre-order) prize - or $10 for an eBook prize - then we could have a list of those donations.
I suggest that the list only says "Prizes provided by . . ."
Then you list the names in Alphabetical order, without saying so and so $100, John Doe $20 Jane Doe $10 etc. Give everyone equal billing.
But if it is just me, then don't mention my name.
Mod
Joe, when you place an order, the default "Ship to" name and address shows up - there is a link at the bottom that says something like "Change Address" - click that and you can enter a new name and address - it only changes it for that order and your default info remains the same. (I've already done this a couple of times myself) And during my funding phase, I had two friends place a bunch of orders for people who wanted to get the book but didn't want to place an Internet order. Those people all got their books last week.
In fact once a project funds, you get an email from Inkshares telling you that the project has funded (or will be shipped shortly) and it asks you to verfify your mailing address - if there's no change, you do nothing, if it has changed, you follow the link and make the changes.
Even if I screwed that up and all five books got shipped to me, I would just re-mail them to the winners and eat the postage.
Mod
I do think Inkshares should have an order history place on their site, like most bookstore websites have. I'm officially placing that request, if it hasn't already been placed...and I should probably voice it in the suggestions thread, but hey double posting, whoop, whoop!For the monthly review idea, I've another idea: work with the featured authors to build up some exclusive swag (bookmarks, posters, stickers, etc) that would be available only to those who pre-order in the set amount of "pushing" time. Thoughts?
Oh, and I also think that building a base of book bloggers (ooh, so many B's in this sentence!) that would help spread the word about the monthly review day AS WELL as host giveaways (up to authors and stuff to decide what is given) that are not connected with Inkshares, but as part of the requirements for entering the giveaway (optional) you have to order a copy of the featured work(s).
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I am hoping to bring together authors willing to help promote this thing, so is this you volunteering to help? Please say yes!
I absolutely would love for authors to create their own swag, and at this point it's kinda up to you all. I'm organizing this event, but I can't do everything. You all need to make their own swag and promote it. I'll promote you all, too, of course! But I can't come up with ideas for everyone.
I don't have any "featured" authors at this point. I'm hoping we can get Gary Whitta or someone to consent to being interviewed during the livestream (or maybe holding a Q&A), so that might count as a feature. Is that what you meant?
I would love to get promotions on multiple book blogger's blogs. Let's do that. Yes. We'll need authors to create their own text/images promoting whatever pre-order bonus or contest they are holding so we can put everything together for book blogs to use.
I'm currently working on a promo blog post for Inkshares to post on their blog, plus send out to the Inkshares community via email. I have to find a date that works before we can send that, but everyone can start working on their own giveaway/contest ideas right now.
Christine - That sounds like it could be a cool tool to send out to our participants the day of, and maybe in the lead up to the event. Sure! Thanks!!
Cara wrote: "Tabi - I agree 10000% on the order history thing. I am hoping to bring together authors willing to help promote this thing, so is this you volunteering to help? Please say yes!
I absolutely woul..."
I like this idea too!
Count me in. I'd be happy to do the reviews and help out!
Cara: I emailed you with an official "yes, I volunteer" for this project, so if you have anything you think I could help with (or if I see something, I'll definitely let you know!) then just give me a ring =)
I'd like to take part as well. My book isn't ready for reviews itself but more than happy to help out any way I can.
Mod
Ok, everyone, I'm done requesting prizes and here's where we're at:
General prizes for everyone, readers and authors, who post reviews:
-Sword & Laser Contest Winners Package - print copies of the six winning books from the Sword & Laser Inkshares contest
-Nerdist Contest Winners Package - print copies of the five winning books from the Nerdist Inkshares contest
-An immediate pre-order of the book of their choice for five winners
-$30 in Inkshares credits
AND there are two author-exclusive prizes that authors will only be eligible for if they sign up for our review exchange. (We didn't want readers to win these prizes and find no use for them.) Any author can sign up for the review exchange, even if you don't have a book currently funding on Inkshares.
Author-Only Prizes:
-A free download of the writing software Scrivener for Mac or PC.
- One month free of the Author Accelerator program (http://authoraccelerator.com/) beginning at Phase I, II, or III. This is a FANTASTIC prize for any author. You'll have the option of continuing the program after the one month is up, but you won't have to.
- Plus, ALL authors (and maybe all participants, I'm not sure) will receive a 20% off code for Scrivener.
I'm working on graphics for the prizes, but those can come later.
Here's a message I'm going to be sending out, that you can all also send out to your readers:
***
Get ready for the inaugural Inkshares Review-a-Thon!
On December 19th, all authors and readers are invited to leave reviews on currently funding Inkshares books using the Inkshares "leave a review" option.
Throughout the day we'll be hanging out on Twitter in the #InksharesReviews tag as we share our favorite book projects, answer author Q&As, debate the merits of astronauts with swords versus cavemen with lasers, and much, much more!
From 6 - 8pm ET, JF Dubeau and Paul Inman of the WriteBrain Podcast will be hosting a video livestream filled with author interviews, review readings, and live announcements of prize winners!
Prizes?!?!
Everyone who leaves a review on December 19th by 6pm ET will be eligible to win one of our fantastic general prizes:
(make this a bulleted list)
Sword & Laser Contest Winners Package - print copies of the six winning books from the Sword & Laser Inkshares contest!
Nerdist Contest Winners Package - print copies of the five winning books from the Nerdist Inkshares contest!
An immediate pre-order of the book of their choice for five winners!
$30 in Inkshares credits!
Readers: Peruse the "currently funding" books on Inkshares and leave as many reviews as you want on Dec 19th. You could even start up a "must-have" list of books to order in case you win a free pre-order or the $30 in credits!
Authors: Join our review exchange to leave three reviews in exchange for two guaranteed reviews on your Inkshares project and a chance at author-exclusive prizes!
Email the event organizer, Cara "A.C." Weston, at cara.c.weston@gmail.com to learn more and get on the list.
(And authors, if you're in, please copy the message above and include it in your next update!)
It's gonna be fun.
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You can adjust this if you want. The event is definitely author-driven; Inkshares is not running this thing. You can use the event to hold your own contest, reveal a new excerpt, do a giveaway for anyone who pre-orders that day... participate!
Tabi, I'm working on something for you...
Thanks, everyone who has already jumped in. I will let you know how you can help as soon as I can. :)
I definitely want to be part of this. I emailed Cara but I'm not sure it got through. I can't offer anything by way of a prize unless someone wants a book critic/beta read.
Glad to see things are shaping up. Great things happen when enough of us come together!(and it's Craig... Too many "Craig Munro"s on Goodreads already apparently)
I'm excited! I can't wait! Any interviews set up yet? I have been thinking hard about the format of the live show and how we can work out the logistics. There are a few ideas percolating!
Mod
Paul - I'm working on it! I'll let you know as soon as I know anything.
EVERYONE - I want to follow up on Tabi's idea and create a list of book/writing/author bloggers who might be willing to promote our event.
Start listing ideas (with links) in this thread!!
Thanks!
This sounds amazing!!!! Great job on the organization Cara! I wish I could help but I'll be on vacation and I've already been told that if I left a finger to work in ANY sense of the word I'll be picking up lawn duty. (I can't even tell you how scary that is to me) BUT I'll be able to sneak peeks at the twitter feeds while maintaining that I'm just keeping people updated on our vacation through social media..... ;)
I sent an email a day or two ago to get on the participation list for this but hadn't heard back yet. I found this thread and thought I'd pipe up here as well. I copy/pasted the info into the last update I sent out on Inkshares for my book. This sounds like a great event and Cara, please let me know what else I can do to help out! :-)
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Hi, Alan! Yeah, I haven't sent out any further group emails yet, but you're in!
This is a lot of work, so I hope you can understand why I'm not replying to you all individually.
What you can do to help (and this is for everyone at this point):
- Suggest any blogs that might be willing to post a promo for the event
- Create your own contest - more on a side thought I had about that will come in an email
- Join and share the facebook event that my smart friend Leah just created: https://www.facebook.com/events/68361...
- Participate the day of the event - answer the questions we post in the #InksharesReviews tag, or ask your own and see what other people answer!
- Watch the livestream on youtube!!! I'm not sure of the country limitations, though... :(
Guys... we got Gary Whitta to do an interview! He's one of the writers of Star Wars: Rogue One, and probably (??) the most successful Inkshares author so far. It's going to be so interesting!
JF and Paul will also be interviewing Jim McDoniel of "An Unattractive Vampire", Rick Heinz of "The Seventh Age: Dawn", and Jeyna Grace of "The Battle for Oz"/"The Slave Prince".
And John Robin's going to talk about syndicates and give an overview of our prizes!
Keep telling new authors about this, too.
Thanks, everyone! I'm excited!
Cara wrote: "Alan wrote: "I sent an email a day or two ago to get on the participation list for this but hadn't heard back yet. I found this thread and thought I'd pipe up here as well. I copy/pasted the info i..."Fantastic, thanks for the update! Joined the FB party and looking forward to it :-)
So I invited a few people from my creative writing group, but I don't think I can participate in the review-a-thon. I'm not a twitterer, just a twit when it comes to social media. Happy to review some books (was planning to do an update where I review the top five in the Sword and Laser comp this weekend, but I'm at a critiquing group most of the day Saturday and painting a fencing in the hot sun on Sunday - so maybe Monday when I'm on holidays)
Now I understand what's happening. Should have read this earlier. Haha! Excited for the interview, no doubt :DBtw, I'll post a promo on my blog for this event, this coming Thursday. Are there particular details you need me to emphasize on?
Really looking forward to this. So very impressed by the lengths that the three of you have gone to in organizing it, and regretful that circumstances have kept me from participating more fully. I'll continue to promote the event in my upcoming reader update and in my forthcoming SM posts.
I have my projects picked out to Review. The reviewing shall commence!
I'm in on this but unfortunately I have nothing to give in way of prizes. I want to get both my books reviews and for the word to get out there and I plan on reviewing as many as possible while i'm at work tonight! We are all great artists and I feel we all deserve getting noticed. :)
Perhaps I could offer to design a book trailer for the winner?
Mod
I am definitely in. I have not decided on prizes yet. I will be aiming to do at least two reviews, if not three. All depends on how other things I am doing tomorrow go.
Mod
Well! The Review-a-Thon is tomorrow!! Look at this long email for you to read!!!
I'll be sending out the review assignments ASAP this evening, so you can start reading early if you want. They're pulling the list of reviews posted just on the 19th by 6pm ET, so if you actually submit your review tonight you won't be on the general prizes list, BUT you will still be on our review exchange list, since that's just me keeping track. So you'll still be in the running for the author-exclusive prizes.
What you can do tomorrow:
- Spiffy up your book project page for all the new people who will be checking it out. I still need to do this!
- Be nice in your reviews! These aren't critiques of full-edited manuscripts. Authors can decline your reviews, anyway, so if you're mean you will just make someone sad. Try to find something good in everything you read, okay?
(Note: A review is a review, a comment is a comment. Comments on selected text from excerpts are not reviews. Post comments if you want, but reviews are what will get you in the running for prizes.)
- Tweet out at least one recommendation of a book!
- Participate in our twitter discussions! Just check the #InksharesReviews tag periodically. This will be a good way to find fellow authors to follow, too.
- Watch the livestream tomorrow on youtube! It's going to be great!
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pSOpn...
We'll be announcing the winners of the contest at the end of the livestream! I will also email each winner individually.
Here's what I didn't get done:
- A comprehensive "look at all the contests/giveaways!" update/facebook post.
Remedy: Go post on the facebook event page so we can share, and send out your own update letting us know what you're doing!
- Introducing a little star graphic for us to add to our book covers so people browsing can see which books have contests and giveaways.
Remedy: Oh well. This would be a good thing to get going for our campaigns in general, anyway. We can upload any book cover we want, so you can have a star on your cover when you're doing a contest if you want. I think we should all do this any time we have a contest going on!
- Lining up people to be our "Twitter hosts" for certain times of day, to make sure questions get answered and people are engaging.
Remedy: Just participate, okay? Answer me when I post questions! Post your own questions and I'll answer them. I'm relying on you all!
Thanks, everyone!
I don't have prizes for the review-a-thon itself, but I'm giving away a $10 Amazon gift card every 10 readers reached toward the funding goal of The Devil You Know (3 to go for the next one!). Is that something to mention on the FB event page or just contests pertaining to the event itself?
Mod
Yes, definitely promote your thing on the facebook page, your updates, twitter, etc etc! This whole event is just to promote Inkshares in general, and you should take advantage of it however you can!!!
Hey everyone! Excited for tomorrow. I was going to start reading tonight, but one of my assigned books page keeps crashing on Inkshares! Are we breaking the web site already?? Has anyone else had a problem? I'm going to try again later, but hopefully the servers will hold up tomorrow!
Hello everyone, I'm back! Super excited for today, and as I'm at work until the afternoon, I won't be active AS much until the evening...but I'm using this time (when I have free moments) to read the books I'm going to review.
So just finished watching the live streaming. Good job everyone! Would have liked to make comments while it was happening. Was also looking for the twitter hashtag to read and cannot find it. Maybe I'm just showing my twignorance.Julian
Great fun today. Thank you Cara!!!@Julian thanks for the review! and the hashtag is #InksharesReviews
I'd just like to send out a HUGE thanks to Cara for all her work in organizing this. This was a tremendous amount of work and probably even more than that :-) So, thank you, Cara! I doubt this would have been such a success or even happened without your efforts.
HERE IS WHAT IS UP
* This will be a day of reviewing Inkshares books that are currently funding! Anyone can review - authors, readers, anyone.
Reviews help you promote your book! Reviewing other books might also help you find like-minded authors who would be willing to cross-promote your work! This is a good thing all around!
If readers participate, you might sell some books. Heck, maybe other authors will pre-order your book!
* The point of these reviews is NOT to critique books. You can do that via comments or privately; the purpose of these reviews is to find something nice to say to encourage one another and help an author's potential audience (we all have one, ok) find a book and decide to give it a chance.
The point is NOT to dissuade anyone from pre-ordering a given book. Ok?
* Authors who are interested in guaranteeing their book will receive at least two reviews must contact me to be put on the LIST.
1. Email me at cara.c.weston@gmail.com expressing your desire to participate.
2. I'm gonna make a spiffy little excel spreadsheet that will assign each author TWO books to review.
3. You should also pick a THIRD book that looks interesting to leave a review for.
4. On the day of the Review-a-Thon, hang out with us on twitter, read up on your assigned (or not assigned) books, and submit your reviews for your three books! If nobody craps out, you'll receive TWO REVIEWS in return and maybe more!
5. PRIZES PRIZES PRIZES
Everyone who posts a review the day of the event, signed up for the exchange or not, will be entered into the PRIZE RAFFLE!!! (Inkshares will be compiling the names of everyone who posts reviews; I will not be doing this.)
Prizes committed so far:
* $30 in Inkshares credits
* 1 copy of Scrivener for Mac
* 1 copy of Scrivener for PC
* A Nerdist Contest Top Five print book package
* A Sword and Laser Contest Top Six print book package
* POSSIBLY MORE I'M WORKING ON IT OK
Scrivener has also generously agreed to give us a 20%-off discount code for EVERYONE who posts a review that day. YAY!
JF Dubeau and Paul Inman of the WriteBrain podcast have agreed to host a livestream thing (that I'm currently figuring out) to wrap up the day. I'd like them to announce the prize winners live, read a selection of reviews that are posted that day, maybe answer questions people pose on twitter, and anything else we can think of. Their podcast is pretty great, so I'm not worried about their ability to do an amazing job.
THINGS OF NOTE
Inkshares will be asking all authors with books in production and available to participate. Not all will, but I'm hoping a couple of us will end up with a review from Gary Whitta or Mike Mongo or Patrick Sheane Duncan or one of the other authors of note.
Maybe one or more of them will be willing to be interviewed during the livestream? MAYBE.
I'm working on it!
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Hold a contest, my friend! Give away something! Host your own personal Q&A! Brainstorm! (I really hope we get to eat tacos all day.)
I have plans for periodic twitter Q&A posts for authors to answer. We can tweet at your fave authors asking them to check out your book. We can do all sorts of things!
You could reveal an exclusive scene or... you could hold a cover make-over contest! That could be fun.
I AM OPEN TO IDEAS, GUYS!
...So that's what's up so far. No date set yet, but I'd like it to be maybe mid-December. December 12th? We'll see.