Publishing, Pasta, and Prosecco

aka…Help Angel get to RAREFlorence.

Being an indieauthor means you are self-employed, hands on, Do Everything In The Business. You are constantly doing something. Being an indie is no easy ride, trust me on this. I’ve been really lucky in that I’m able to write full time but do not for one minute assume this means I’m a *wealthy* indie author. Is the goal to write great books? Absolutely! Is it also to make a profit? Also, absolutely. It’s a business. And sometimes businesses need a helping hand.

I have received a fantastic offer to attend RARE Florence in September – an author/reader event that would put me in front of my Italian readers, allow me to meet my Italian publisher *and* my cover designer in person, and reboot my writing after a year of chronic health issues. Wow that’s a long sentence. Bad writer. Bad. Anyway… is this a holiday where I fly to Italy and swan around sipping prosecco by the pool? No, absolutely not. It is a whirlwind trip that would see me arrive in Florence on the 20th, hopefully deal with the worst of my jetlag (going NZ to Europe is always a bitch in my experience) on the 21st, and be at the event on the 22nd. What does that mean though? Be at the event. It means meeting readers, meeting other writers, signing books, hopefully selling a few, hopefully gaining some new readers. It means getting my face out there so people know who I am. It means meeting with my Italian publisher, Quixote Edizione, for the first time and hopefully convincing them to pick up a few more of list for translation. There is a Meet and Greet (where hopefully I will not be convinced via mojito to do something I shouldn’t – see my previous post…). These events are intense, busy, loud, and absolutely fabulous. This takes care of the 22nd and the 23rd. On the 24th I would fly to Spain to meet the inimitable May Dawney, my cover designer, before flying home 48 hours later.  While there might be a couple of gulped proseccos, there definitely will be no sipping it by the pool. By the time I’m on the plane home, all I will want to do is sleep!

The problem is that I have a very short time frame and a trip to Italy from New Zealand is not cheap. Hence the needing help. So…I’ve started an Indiegogo page. Full disclosure – it feels weird. I always think of things like Give A Little or Go Fund Me as existing for people who are facing real emergencies, not authors who are trying to get their careers back on track (even if that is a real emergency for me). But, as someone pointed out – it is a business and business crowdfund all the time for all kinds of weird and wonderful reasons. In that case, I figure why not give it a try? Nothing ventured and all that…. If we don’t meet my goal of $NZ8,000 (minus the 8 % that goes to Indiegogo and the 5% retention fee that will be released after six months)the money will go toward advertising and marketing. If we make more than the goal, the excess will go to advertising and marketing.

Should you feel inclined to donate – or even just check it out – you can find it here: Publishing, Pasta, and Prosecco