The day I first met my wife, I learned a lesson in rebounding from failure. I tried to cross over one of those chains they place between poles to section off the sidewalk. My foot got caught and I stumbled. Sensing I was about to fall in front of someone I was trying to impress, I ducked forward and turned my fall into a roll, thus sparing me some pain and earning me some “suave” points with my lady friend.

That’s called rolling with it. Literally. Taking failure and turning it into success.

The Failure:

My Kickstarter didn’t get funded. I was only able to raise about $800 out of $3000, and since Kickstarter is all-or-nothing, I got nothing and I can’t publish Ferryman right now.

It’s frustrating, disappointing, and a major setback. However, I’m not as bummed as I might have been. For one thing, God helped me not to be bitter against those who didn’t help me, or even bitter at failure itself. For another thing, he reminded me of a book I’ve been meaning to read.

 

While the Kickstarter was going, I read The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. The man’s industriousness amazes me. He was always doing something, in fact it became one of his virtues. Thus, when failure was on the horizon, I began to wonder what I could do next instead of bemoaning my fate.

The Rebound:

Kickstarter gave me the idea for a slower approach to Ferryman. Several people had already been willing to back me, so I simply opened up donations with the promise of the same rewards as the Kickstarter. While this model would not have the instant gratification, it meant I could have the money I needed when I needed it and thus divide and conquer.

How is that success? Let me explain. Breaking publication into individual pieces means once I get money for the cover art, I can buy it and just have it on display until I can fund the whole book, rather than waiting for every penny. Fun fact: people like visuals more than vague ideas. How can do you give someone a visual of a book? The cover art, which I’ll have.

Seeing cover art will get people to take my writing seriously (people respect books they can see more than abstract concepts), help them memorize what I’m doing, and pique their interest if the art is good (should be, my guy is awesome and I already have a quote).

The cover art generates awareness of and interest in the book, which increases the number of potential backers for the second step: editing. That’s a bigger cost, but once its funded, I’ll have the bare minimum I need to self-pub this book.

Of course “bare minimum” is not an attractive phrase, so I plan to keep going. Step 3 is hiring a professional to format the book, which isn’t that pricey. Once that’s accomplished, I can comfortably self-pub.

However, I want to shoot for the stars. Step 4 is to get a website where I can promote my books, blogs, and editing services. Finally Step 5 allows leeway for any surprises. These two are more helpful than mandatory, but it’s always good to dream big.

The Future:

After the book is published, I plan to not only sell it normally, but to use it as a promotional tool for subscribers and Patreon supporters to generate a larger audience and more funding so that I can publish new books in the future.

The best part? Step 1 should be done within the week. It’s already 74% funded and I know another backer is in the works to complete it. One domino down…

Thanks to God and Ben Franklin (there’s a sentence…) I was able to rebound from failure and plan for success. I’ve been informing by backers that I’m still accepting donations if they would be so kind and I’ll still honor the reward system. Click here or click the Countdown page up top for more info.

So far, so good. Thanks to those who have believed in me so far and to those who choose to believe in me in the future.