Curiosity survey: Would a RBE fundraiser work?

[von Darkmoor]

Just a quick and simple survey here at the core of RBE's fanbase. Before exploring the key idea, I am wondering about a few things.

Does the idea of hosting a fundraiser for Rogue Blades Entertainment generate negative connotations? (E.g., would it be negative exposure, making people believe RBE is floundering, thus reducing their desire to support it period, even through product purchase?)

Does soliciting a dollar per person elicit a negative reaction? (E.g., would asking for such a small amount generate derision, sarcasm, disbelief that so little can make a change, or some other equally unhelpful reaction?)

Would soliciting for a specific project/publication be better than just a general request for funds? (E.g., would asking for help with the publication of a specific title makes folks more inclined to give than if monies were not specifically designated? Or would naming a specific title be more restrictive, as it would be easier for folks not interested in that title to ignore the request?)

Would soliciting for a specific title be more inclined to work if I were to offer a commensurate reduction in the final price of the title for all those who donate? (E.g., would applying the donations toward the future purchase of the title entice more donors?)

I'd like all the input you're willing to give. Once this runs here for a bit and gets some thoughts from the lot of you, I'll evaluate my options.

A few obvious points I'll make in parting:

A dollar from each member of SFReader would generate almost $1500 - a terrific increase to the RBE budget and more than sufficient to address the remaining costs of one title.

RBE should not, can not, and will not restrict itself to begging from or preying upon its friends and fans here. You are only my sounding board, my home and support group. If I choose to go this route, I will expand my fund raising beyond SFReader.

That said, I do not wish to abuse any of my friends nor active and current RBE supporters. If I choose to fundraise in this method, and if the only funds raised come from those who have names in or on RBE titles or those who have worked with me in previous RBE titles or roles, I will return the money.

~~~~~~~~~~
Jason M. Waltz
Publisher, Rogue Blades Entertainment (RBE)

Facebook RBE Group, RBE Page
RBE Twitter

~~~~~~~~~~

Books Published:
Return of the Sword
Rage of the Behemoth

~~~~~~~~~~
Ever waltz with the Devil? Or devil with a Waltz?
von Darkmoor's thoughts

[erazmus]

Jason,
You will get better funding and have more fun having your high school age daughter (should you happen to have one handy) and her friends run a car wash for RBE than soliciting funds on the boards. Yes, if that is an issue by all means run with it. Have a fund raising month/project/raffle--whatever. Apply for a stimulus package grant for your home grown literacy project while you are at it.
It might scare off a few with negative connotations. On the other hand, rumors mean people are talking, that is never a bad thing.


Mike

Michael D. Turner
'Psyched Up' in _Turn the other Chick_-ed. E. Friesner-Baen books
www.baen.com
'Dutchman Rescue'in Continuum SF #6
www.continuumsciencefiction.com/orders.htm

'An Incident at Black Tongue Tavern' in _Bash Down the Door and Slice Open the Badguy_ from Fantasist Enterprises:

www.fantasistent.com/books/anthologies/BASH.php
'Pink Plastic Flamingos''What Smitty Saw' 'Elvis's Space Alien Lovechild' 'Two Ravens''Rejection' (forthcoming) in Big Pulp
www.bigpulp.com/index.html
'Stains''Two ravens''Job Security' 'Yeti Yet' 'Characters in Flight'(forthcoming)in Tales of the Talisman 3-1 www.zianet.com/hadrosaur/index.html
'Morning Coffee''Happy Landings''Teller of Tales''Silver Shells''I'm tired of Bombs, and my dog is dead' 'One Dark Night'in Every Day Fiction
www.everydayfiction.com
'The Jewel Below' 'Mo the Mountain' in Flashing Swords
flashingswords.sfreader.com
Read 'Silver Shells' In The Best of Every Day Fiction
www.everydayfiction.com/features/the-best-of-every-day-fiction-2008/

[MichaelEhart]

You know, I have always wondered why some publisher or org didn't have a bake sale at some con. I can't imagine a better market for low-nutrition, high caloric density foods.

Click here to buy my book!
The Servant of the Manthycore from DEP
Illustrated by Rachel Marks, with an introduction by Michael Moorcock
Read me in 2009!
"Without Napier" Best of Every Day Fiction
"Night of Shadows, Night of Knives" Magic and Mechanica,Ricasso Press
"Only His Name" Best of Every Day Fiction
"An Exorcism Straight, Hold the Elvis" They Are Not What They Seem, Janrae Frank, ed., TBA
"The Death of Number 23" Arkham Tales, TBA
"The Tomb of the Amazon Queen" Dark Worlds, Winter 2009
"As From His Lair, the Wild Beast" Rage of the Behemoth, RBE, June 2009
Still in print!
"To Destroy All Flesh" Return of the Sword, RBE, 2008
"Six Zombies Doing That Mick Jagger Strut" Damned in Dixie, Tenoka Press, 2007
http://mehart.blogspot.com/

[Jaqhama]

Bikini bike wash?

Sorry. Just thinking out loud here. I really shouldn't should I?

The image of Jason in a bikini suddenly made me feel all queasy.

Donations...hmm...does make me think a company is in trouble when I see one asking for donations.
Unless it's guide dogs for blind swordsmen.
Or the old Sorcerers home.
A dental plan for senior vampires.
That kinda stuff.

I'll be off now.

The Jaqzone:
http://kevin-jaqhama-lumley.blogspot.com/
http://alfwarz.blogspot.com/

[The Griot]

I tried raising money through a donate button on my short story page. Never got a hit, but that might be a comment on my writing skills (I hope not). If you decide to do it, I'm partial to barbeques and fish frys.

[Bill Ward]

I don't really see it as a good idea -- as you say, signs of weakness. Who wants to send stories to a for-profit press that asks for money? Might be different if you were a non-profit organization, or just a blogger with free content or something. Griot's found out how eager people are to donate as well -- and even Ralan has trouble raising his target goals so you know it isn't any easier to get donations than it is to sell books.

I think you have to figure out some other way to raise the cash or cut costs -- like more ways to sell books and get the word out. Obviously, it's a lot harder than that simple statement makes out. But I think it's normal for every small press/magazine to be hurting for the first few years, and you don't have a 'critical mass' of titles out yet to generate those sales. You do seem to be getting some decent press, though.

Do you notice a bump in sales when you announce new open submissions? Maybe you should announce 'until filled' subs for Assassins and Reluctant Heroes, with a 2010+ TBA pub date, with the idea of getting some more aspiring writers to buy samples of RoTS and RoTB.

Hell, run a 'getting to know RBE' special for writers since they are your main target demographic at this stage of your business. Offer a package with RoTS and RoTB and a pre-order of Demons (maybe a pick tow of these three for this price kind of thing, so you don't exclude those who have bought one book and not all of them) for whatever is an attractive price, in exchange for a link to a published story or copy of a rejection slip/email.

For fantasy, science fiction, and horror news, books reviews, opinion, and short fiction, check out: BillWardWriter.com</font>

[Bill Ward]

And, another idea that I'm always going on about, is to publish sword & sorcery novella chap books. The form is a natural match for novellas, for starters, and there are barely any markets out there for them. We are talking a smaller book with a lower cover price, done with the same sort of 'collectible' type covers you already do (ie. they all look nice together on the shelf as part of a range), using authors whom you have published in your anthos (for a start). You pay a flat rate that works out as less than the equivalent antho and offer a percentage, and in addition the authors are getting their name on the cover of a book. All of a sudden, your authors have much more incentive to promote their book and buy author copies.

As a cheaper to produce line, you can offer more titles at a faster rate, hitting that critical mass early. From a word count standpoint, you are talking three novella chapbooks to one anthology. Which would look more impressive on a table at a convention, 3 anthologies or 9 chapbooks? You approach authors with serial characters, or stories that are higher-concept style that appeal on that basis. You hit a range of different types of sword & sorcery, heroic fantasy, etc. -- so when you are talking about the books you can specifically recommend various *low cost* titles to people based on their tastes. Lower cos makes these more friendly to impulse buyers, and I think to people who might want to collect the whole line.

Excerpts on the web for each title, guest posts and interviews with the authors, and whenever you publish the author again the chapbook novella they have with you gets mentioned again in your anthology.

More books, more eye-catching artwork, more motivated authors, more promotional fodder, more appeal to people that like novels, lower cost. You might even consider doing limited edition traditional print runs for these, as they'd be cheaper to do than full-sized books and, if they sell well enough, the profits would be greater than POD.

I do realize this is from the 'spend money to make money' school of thought and may not be exactly what you want to hear right now.

For fantasy, science fiction, and horror news, books reviews, opinion, and short fiction, check out: BillWardWriter.com</font>

[von Darkmoor]

Wasn't going to reply to any specifics for a few days, but have to insert one thing here:

I wouldn't be asking for money if I didn't believe I could use it. I totally understand the 'spend money to make money' idea - it's pretty much the only practical idea. Prob is, spending money the action verb requires spending money the noun. My housing/familial situation didn't just suck away all my time.

Ask CW - I usually don't ask for help until it's past the point.

~~~~~~~~~~
Jason M. Waltz
Publisher, Rogue Blades Entertainment (RBE)

Facebook RBE Group, RBE Page
RBE Twitter

~~~~~~~~~~

Books Published:
Return of the Sword
Rage of the Behemoth

~~~~~~~~~~
Ever waltz with the Devil? Or devil with a Waltz?
von Darkmoor's thoughts

[darkbow]

Jason, I know you offer ebooks, but if you haven't already, you might also consider putting up your anthologies on the Kindle. Even if you only made $20 a month, at least it's something. And with a little marketing (hanging out on Amazon and Kindle boards), you'd probably start making more money.

Bill Ward, I like your idea about the chap books. I'm not sure it's the same thing, but Hard Case Crime has been doing sort of the same thing with mysteries and hardboiled works for several years now, the publisher's most notable success being King's "The Colorado Kid."

Heck, Jason, try to contact King. Maybe you'll get him or his agent in a giving mood and can talk King into adding a Dark Tower tale to one of your anthologies.


Just some ideas.

Available for the Amazon Kindle
City of Rogues:Book I of the Kobalos Trilogy, epic fantasy novel
Road to Wrath:Book II of The Kobalos Trilogy
Dark King of the North: Book III of the Kobalos Trilogy

Available for download at Smashwords
City of Rogues: Book I of the Kobalos Trilogy, epic fantasy novel
Road to Wrath: Book II of the Kobalos Trilogy
Dark King of the North: Book III of the Kobalos Trilogy


Short stories
"Beneath a Persian Sun" upcoming in Carnivah House's "Infinity Swords" anthology, "Zombie Tears" at Dark Fire, "Everyone is Zombies" at Demonic Tome,"Devil and Devil Damned" at Flashes in the Dark, "The Death of Lester Williams" in the anthology Deadlines, "Deep in the Land of the Ice and Snow" in "The Return of the Sword" anthology, "The Way the Sunlight Lies Upon Her Hair" at Every Day Fiction

For more, check out my blog at www.tyjohnston.blogspot.com</A></A>

[ghostposts]

I did great with Fictionwise. For an unknown author, I made some pretty decent sales, and I didn't do much in the way of advertising. If you pull together old copies of your mag into bundles and make e books out of them (anthologies) and if you also offer chapbooks at a lesser price, the Fictionwise sales might help a lot.

Check your contracts if you bundle old copies: You prolly don't have the copyright without paying the authors again.

http://whisperingspirits

[Jaqhama]

The chapbook idea is good.
Ghostwriter Publications are starting to do this in the UK.

Either two novella's making up 40, 000 words in one chapbook from one author, or two authors. Sold at a much cheaper price, with a black and white sketched cover.

You don't pay for stories...the publisher and the author(s) share the profits between them after all publishing and postal costs have been paid.

Now...saving money on the RBE anthologies.
I'm guessing you paid a fair whack of money for the cover art work?

If you want to save money in future...Forget the cover art work.
Just have a blood red cover with RBE presents in bold yellow and a sillohette pic of a warrior or a sword and shield or something, completly black against the red background. A lot of major press fantasy books have had that kind of cover recently.
Most notably The Raven series and the Platinum issue Matt Reilly adventure thrillers and the newly re-released David Gemmel books.

Forget about interior artwork altogether.
I personally don't care that much for interior artwork. I buy a book to read printed stories, not to look at comic pix.
There were never any pix in the original REH or M. Moorcock or Thongor novels.
While it may enhance the stories for some it is another cost you probably don't need.

I'm being cruel to be kind here, and mean no disrespect to any and all artists who currently do the covers or interior artwork for you.
I'm blunt, we all knoiw that, or should do by now.
You asked how to save a bit of money so I'm offering ideas.

Are you saying you will be unable to produce anymore RBE anthologies or chapbooks without donations?

Ok..another idea..but more time and effort needed.
Change the RBE website into an ezine website.
Post up some shorts from contributing authors.
Let new readers get to see what they can expect from chapbooks and anthologies.
Have a forum where readers can talk about RBE authors and stories.
Have RBE authors have their own forum threads like we do here at SFR. But not to talk about themselves per se...only to talk to readers and tell them about thier up-coming RBE stories.
This of course will mean that RBE authors will need to submit a few shorts for the RBE ezine for free.
I'm prepared to do it to help Jason out, what about the rest of you?
Surely we've all got S&S stories laying about that with a good dust off will be enough to whet a S&S fans appetite for a chapbook or anthology by those authors?
Even if Jason uses a few re-prints for free, that were published elsewhere some time ago?

We're almost back to my 'how to make an ezine work' idea here.
But seems to me the idea is to get more new readers in..and then keep them.

Cheers: Jaq.

The Jaqzone:
http://kevin-jaqhama-lumley.blogspot.com/
http://alfwarz.blogspot.com/

[Chaos Perpetual]

There's nothing wrong with fundraising. You could always give it a shot, but there are also other ways you could do it.

Here's one. Host a story contest, with a broad theme and a small entry fee. Advertise it well.

-Tommy B. Smith

In the Eye of the Storm

[darkbow]

I think the free stories idea is good, as is the whole ezine thing. But that being said, I have to disagree with Jaq about the idea for a forum. Everybody has a forum. It's no longer anything special. For a lot of readers (and writers), it's just one more thing to have to keep track of. One of the reasons I stick with the SFReader forums is because I know a variety of publishing people (mainly editors, writers, publishers, etc.) come here. I check out other forums from time to time, but not consistently because most either don't offer anything for me or there are so few posts. And why are there so few posts? Because everybody and his brother has a forum nowadays.

Available for the Amazon Kindle
City of Rogues:Book I of the Kobalos Trilogy, epic fantasy novel
Road to Wrath:Book II of The Kobalos Trilogy
Dark King of the North: Book III of the Kobalos Trilogy

Available for download at Smashwords
City of Rogues: Book I of the Kobalos Trilogy, epic fantasy novel
Road to Wrath: Book II of the Kobalos Trilogy
Dark King of the North: Book III of the Kobalos Trilogy


Short stories
"Beneath a Persian Sun" upcoming in Carnivah House's "Infinity Swords" anthology, "Zombie Tears" at Dark Fire, "Everyone is Zombies" at Demonic Tome,"Devil and Devil Damned" at Flashes in the Dark, "The Death of Lester Williams" in the anthology Deadlines, "Deep in the Land of the Ice and Snow" in "The Return of the Sword" anthology, "The Way the Sunlight Lies Upon Her Hair" at Every Day Fiction

For more, check out my blog at www.tyjohnston.blogspot.com</A></A>

[darkbow]

And yes, I'm sure I could come up with a story for Jason if he should decide to go the ezine route.

Available for the Amazon Kindle
City of Rogues:Book I of the Kobalos Trilogy, epic fantasy novel
Road to Wrath:Book II of The Kobalos Trilogy
Dark King of the North: Book III of the Kobalos Trilogy

Available for download at Smashwords
City of Rogues: Book I of the Kobalos Trilogy, epic fantasy novel
Road to Wrath: Book II of the Kobalos Trilogy
Dark King of the North: Book III of the Kobalos Trilogy


Short stories
"Beneath a Persian Sun" upcoming in Carnivah House's "Infinity Swords" anthology, "Zombie Tears" at Dark Fire, "Everyone is Zombies" at Demonic Tome,"Devil and Devil Damned" at Flashes in the Dark, "The Death of Lester Williams" in the anthology Deadlines, "Deep in the Land of the Ice and Snow" in "The Return of the Sword" anthology, "The Way the Sunlight Lies Upon Her Hair" at Every Day Fiction

For more, check out my blog at www.tyjohnston.blogspot.com</A></A>

[Bill Ward]

Getting rid of cover art? I'd pay authors less before I stopped with cover art. Interior art, yes, but cover art sells books and it's worth every penny.

Agreed on 'everybody and their uncle' having forums -- what good is some ghost town dead forum on a website, just makes you look unpopular. Look at FS's new digs for an example of what I'm talking about.

Ezines are great and all as a loss leader . . . but you guys have probably heard how busy Jason is, and I think he has his hands full already with what is basically a one man operation. Besides, declaring yourself an ezine is a 'no going back' moment -- once you turn that corner you'll be judged on how consistently you upload content. And double besides, weren't we all just talking about how fiction ezine's can't seem to find ways to break even? How would that help RBE at this juncture?

Now, no reason he couldn't put up some story excerpts from stories he's published, but I can't imagine that having a really huge impact.

The notion of fostering a community through interaction is a smart one and valid approach, but it is a very long-term goal. Beyond that, it's not a guarantee of people buying one's products as the history of vocal support at SFReader vs. the disappointing number of actual issues/books purchased from publishers that frequent here will attest.

Any chance you can hit some cons and really try to do some selling, Jason? I know that's another idea with costs associated, but face-to-face selling seemed very effective.



You know what Apex used to do when they had trouble? Online raffle. Writers and supporters would donate items (signed books, horror toys, grab bags, etc.) and services (offer to edit, proofread a story) and people could buy chances through a paypal shopping cart.

For fantasy, science fiction, and horror news, books reviews, opinion, and short fiction, check out: BillWardWriter.com</font>

[SGF]

I agree with Bill not to get rid of the cover art. The interior art is maybe not so important. I'm not sure if a fundraiser would work, but why limit it to just one dollar per person? Donating just one dollar, for me, would barely seem the effort of going through the paypal process.

I can't speak for other writers, but I write short stories to get my work out, not for the stipend that comes from publication. In the case of Demons, I wasn't even planning on cashing the check (going to save it as a momento). Why not ask the authors if they'd be willing to forego their payment, and say that it will go for publicity of the anthology? (just don't call it a donation ).

[von Darkmoor]

There has been much food for thought provided me here. Thank you one and all for your candid input.

I learned pretty much what I had anticipated regarding the idea of fundraising. I also got a strong sense of what is important to some and not so much to others. There are several good ideas mentioned, several I will seriously consider, and more than one I will implement.

I appreciate all of your interest and advice. RBE is not going any where - I fully intend for this house to be around for a long, long time. What I've had to realize though, is that I cannot - anytime soon - hit the production schedule of 4-8 books per year I had gone into this aiming for. I think, once I get my personal schedule back under control and get my finances resettled, that a 2-4 book/year catalog is possible. Anthologies, while I like 'em and plan to keep on producing 'em, are costly beasts. The collections I'd hoped to have out by now just haven't received their fair share of attention yet. Neither has the Heroicologies I'd like to introduce in time for Christmas but... The novella chapbooks are a sound idea. I hadn't wanted to pursue them, but each of the offered reasons are sound and I cannot find fault with them. So, look for RBE to begin pursuing such in 2010.

Again, RBE will not be closing. I'm a bit behind the original targets I had for myself and I bit off a bit more than I realized with the RotB multiple covers and all. I don't regret doing them, I still think it a cool idea - but realistically, it was not a sound move for a new press and no room for loss leaders.

~~~~~~~~~~
Jason M. Waltz
Publisher, Rogue Blades Entertainment (RBE)

Facebook RBE Group, RBE Page
RBE Twitter

~~~~~~~~~~

Books Published:
Return of the Sword
Rage of the Behemoth

~~~~~~~~~~
Ever waltz with the Devil? Or devil with a Waltz?
von Darkmoor's thoughts

[Jaqhama]

Ghostwriter Publications in the UK has just started publishing their Chapbook series.

It looks like it's more popular than their novel line.
They reckon they will release 3 new titles each week.

Everything from straight horror to young adult to sword adventure.

The chapbook website is here:

http://www.thepennydreadfulcompany.com/

I'd like to see them list the number of pages or words per chapbook myself.
But apart from that it looks like a great publishing idea.
The profits are equally divided between publisher and author after costs are removed.

The Jaqzone:
http://kevin-jaqhama-lumley.blogspot.com/
http://alfwarz.blogspot.com/

[von Darkmoor]

Hmm, thanks for that link, Jaq. I've read through their site and liked what I saw. I do wonder, however, how they're scoring their covers - that's a lot of art I don't have the time to create myself. Probably not the talent either. A 3 book per week schedule I could never hit, but 3 per month perhaps. Taking off the months the full-size anthos come out, that would still put about 30 of these out per year. Even cutting that down to 20, coupled with 2 anthos and then some larger collections, and eventually nonfic and novels, RBE could do around 30 titles per year in total. Hmm...

~~~~~~~~~~
Jason M. Waltz
Publisher, Rogue Blades Entertainment (RBE)

Facebook RBE Group, RBE Page
RBE Twitter

~~~~~~~~~~

Books Published:
Return of the Sword
Rage of the Behemoth

~~~~~~~~~~
Ever waltz with the Devil? Or devil with a Waltz?
von Darkmoor's thoughts

[Jaqhama]

I think the covers are just photoshopped and graphics tablet.

I've got the stuff to do that myself.

Scan a pic of an old barn from Nat Geo. Superimpose it on a lighting strike.
Sketch in a shadow with the graphic pen.
Click on paint or grain or sepia etc.

Voila.
Hulking shadow lurking in front of old barn in a storm.
Cue the music...dah da da da daaaaaah!

The actual paperback books covers were painted by a UK artist.

The Jaqzone:
http://kevin-jaqhama-lumley.blogspot.com/
http://alfwarz.blogspot.com/

[Lyn]

My initial reaction to fundraising is also on the down side of up (um, ie, sorta negative, lol)...but I don't necessarily judge the company asking for money in a negative light. It's just what is. I personally don't like donation buttons (so I don't have them on my zine) but I'm okay with a link to a storefront (Amazon or Lulu) where something is exchanged for the money. In that light, I will donate to Ralan and Duotrope each year as I feel they are providing a service to me by listing ResAliens info and updating it so quickly when I contact them. Not saying you shouldn't do a fundraiser, but I like what I see right now on RBE better - the extra promos/gift packages, etc. Keep up the good work.

Lyn from ResAliens Zine, Blog, & Reviews
You can Follow, Friend, and/or Shop!

[Ropespor]

Jason, I tried to post this reply the other day but it wouldn?t let me and I lost the text (maybe because I hadn?t voted?) So here is a brief retread of what I wrote far more articulately a couple days ago:
</o>
Having read through all the above responses, three ideas really stood out to me:
</o>
1. Novella chapbooks. As Bill says, there are very few markets for these anymore. They might not sell as well as the anthos, but with less overhead (one author rather than a dozen) they could become a significant portion of RBE?s income.
</o>
2. Online raffle. I?ll bet there are quite a few people on the SFReader board who would be willing to donate books, magazines, services for the cause.
</o>
3. Annual contest. A modest entry fee of $5. Top prizes of, say, $50, $30, $20, with a free RBE book and refund of entry fee to a couple honorable mentions. You?d probably get enough entries from writers on this board alone to make a profit.

http://knighterrors.blogspot.com The official serialization of Knight Terrors: The (Mis)Adventures of Smoke the Dragon, published by Abandoned Towers!
http://ozment.livejournal.com
http://manning.coldfusionvideo.com

[erazmus]

Jason,

I don't know that its much of a fund-raiser idea, but the novella chap-book is a sound format for a small press with an active personal marketing program to pursue. By that I mean, if you are planning to either do the Con-table thing (horribly expensive, IMO) or if you have a couple of active convention booksellers you are working with, it can be a sound way of getting product into the hands of people who might like your other products.

A chap-book isn't an unreasonably expensive risk from the reader's point of view. I've seen damn few lately but bought a fair percentage of what I saw. Like most fans, I'm at a con to see people and snarf up cool goodies I can't get at the local B&N. What I usually buy is recent issues of small press magazines, small press books (usually anthologies) and of course my special collector needs (old pulp magazines). I usually get only one or two anthologies and a lot of magazines, but chap-books fall into the magazine category, its divided by price, after all. So if you can manage to lure a couple of dealers to having your stuff on their table, it would be a good thing.

Chap-books are also less of an investment for the dealer. I know there are several booksellers who do extensive convention selling. I don't know who they are personally, I'm afraid.

Mike

Michael D. Turner
'Psyched Up' in _Turn the other Chick_-ed. E. Friesner-Baen books
www.baen.com
'Dutchman Rescue'in Continuum SF #6
www.continuumsciencefiction.com/orders.htm

'An Incident at Black Tongue Tavern' in _Bash Down the Door and Slice Open the Badguy_ from Fantasist Enterprises:

www.fantasistent.com/books/anthologies/BASH.php
'Pink Plastic Flamingos''What Smitty Saw' 'Elvis's Space Alien Lovechild' 'Two Ravens''Rejection', 'Stains' (forthcoming) in Big Pulp
www.bigpulp.com/index.html
'Stains''Two ravens''Job Security' 'Yeti Yet' 'Characters in Flight'(forthcoming)in Tales of the Talisman 3-1 www.zianet.com/hadrosaur/index.html
'Morning Coffee''Happy Landings''Teller of Tales''Silver Shells''I'm tired of Bombs, and my dog is dead' 'One Dark Night'in Every Day Fiction
www.everydayfiction.com
'The Jewel Below' 'Mo the Mountain' in Flashing Swords
flashingswords.sfreader.com
Read 'Silver Shells' In The Best of Every Day Fiction
www.everydayfiction.com/features/the-best-of-every-day-fiction-2008/

[erazmus]

actually I do know one, over the net:
www.themissingvolume.com/?page=shop/index&CLSN_665=125939017766539e88e681afa19a535b
Glennis LeBlanc, from Baen's Bar, I know her. Looks like signed books are a big thing for her, but impressive convention coverage.

Mike

Michael D. Turner
'Psyched Up' in _Turn the other Chick_-ed. E. Friesner-Baen books
www.baen.com
'Dutchman Rescue'in Continuum SF #6
www.continuumsciencefiction.com/orders.htm

'An Incident at Black Tongue Tavern' in _Bash Down the Door and Slice Open the Badguy_ from Fantasist Enterprises:

www.fantasistent.com/books/anthologies/BASH.php
'Pink Plastic Flamingos''What Smitty Saw' 'Elvis's Space Alien Lovechild' 'Two Ravens''Rejection', 'Stains' (forthcoming) in Big Pulp
www.bigpulp.com/index.html
'Stains''Two ravens''Job Security' 'Yeti Yet' 'Characters in Flight'(forthcoming)in Tales of the Talisman 3-1 www.zianet.com/hadrosaur/index.html
'Morning Coffee''Happy Landings''Teller of Tales''Silver Shells''I'm tired of Bombs, and my dog is dead' 'One Dark Night'in Every Day Fiction
www.everydayfiction.com
'The Jewel Below' 'Mo the Mountain' in Flashing Swords
flashingswords.sfreader.com
Read 'Silver Shells' In The Best of Every Day Fiction
www.everydayfiction.com/features/the-best-of-every-day-fiction-2008/

[von Darkmoor]

Thanks much all, for your terrific thoughts and input. I've reached many of the same conclusions, so it's good to know I'm not alone and off in another world.

In regards to

1. Novella chapbooks - the idea has grown on me. I want and will be doing single author collections of the 90k size (there should have been one out now, but that's just another of the many fronts I've failed on recently). I hadn't gone into this wanting to publish smaller books, but if I can't adapt, RBE's future will be rather dim. I must get Demons, RotC, the possible collection, and some debt addressed, but these novellas are now on the RBE horizon.

2. Online raffle - actually, I'd been working on this. From a terrific suggestion, I was going to raffle a S&S heroic adventure fantasists' dream: a sword. Prob is, my anticipated contact no longer deals in such, and no one at Dragon*Con was interested in working a deal out with me. I've been considering books from my own library, at least as 2nd and 3rd place items, but was still working on a 1st place. I'd like to work something out along the lines of a Perkins' cover art, though I'd love to buy them myself.

3. Annual contest. A possibility, though very low on my list. I don't really have any desire to judge or publish a 'Best of' anthology, or a collection of contest subs....though this idea could work in conjunction with the Heroicologies. Hmm, have to give that some thought. As for a pay-for-entry contest...I'm not a fan of them, really, unless there is some specific purpose behind them that people/submitters are willing to support.

Again, thank you all for your support and help. I love the family of this board!

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Jason M. Waltz
Publisher, Rogue Blades Entertainment (RBE)

Facebook RBE Group, RBE Page
RBE Twitter

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Books Published:
Return of the Sword
Rage of the Behemoth

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Ever waltz with the Devil? Or devil with a Waltz?
von Darkmoor's thoughts