Many of you may have seen on my Twitter account how I launched an Inkshares campaign last week. Inkshares is a crowdfunding platform like Kickstarter or Indiegogo, but just for books and book publication. You have a concept and some writing done on a book, you can put that concept up and share some of your writing as you work on it. You work toward a specific goal of copies of books sold and the number of books determined decides what kind of publishing contract you will get.
I’ll be honest; I had not heard of Inkshares before they did a competition last month with Geek and Sundry for a hard science fiction novel. That was well out of my league since I’m not a science fiction writer, but I followed the group on Facebook to see what the next contest would turn out to be.
Video games. And the competition is partnered with Nerdist.
I felt like I hit the jackpot (other than the fact that I found out about the contest days before the June 1st start date). When we stopped producing the weekly podcast last year, I started brainstorming ideas for books I wanted to work on. I have found it difficult to return to writing about the material in my dissertation, not because I don’t love it but because I think the dissertation finished much of what I had to say about identity and women gamers.
From there, I bounced around many other ideas for books. The phrase “write what you know” echoed through the chambers of my mind for days as I threw around a few ideas. I thought about an academic memoir where I discuss my radical decision to not become a full time faculty member and perhaps expose some of the problems I experienced in the process of getting my Ph.D.
But I realized that whatever I made this book about, that was going to be my life while I was writing it. And that same echoing voice said, “write about what you love.”
That’s how the idea of “Mothering: The Game” came to be. I had already been writing all of my reflections about parenting in gaming terms; a book would just take those reflections and put them together under a single banner. I did my research about women gamers for my dissertation because I love gaming and I have surprised myself in how much I love being a mom. Being able to blend those two concepts together means making something that shows off in one way or another the deepest parts of my heart. And as I write this, I realize I am still writing about women gamers, just in a much more personal and self-reflective way.
How You Can Help
Please check out my campaign on Inkshares and, if you are able, pre-order a copy of my book. Ebook copies start at $10. If I do not get 250 copies pre-ordered and therefore, do not get a contract for publication, then you will get your money back. I have my fingers crossed for the dream of 750 pre-orders and to be able to walk into my favorite local bookstore, Powell’s, and see my name on the shelf.
One of the perks of backing the book early (the contest for the Nerdist ends July 15 and is based on unique readers, not copies sold) is that you will get updates and secret glances into the book as I am working on it. I am currently working on a chapter called, “Achievement Unlocked: Daily Quests.”
Don’t you wanna read it?
Let me know in the comments your thoughts about this project and the contest. So far, there are some pretty exciting concepts floating out there. Make sure to check it out and wander down the all the possible rabbit holes that are on Inkshares. I am finding a lot of my writing energy renewed and more ideas flowing than I have experienced in a long time.
It’s a good feeling.
