A Time for Change
Last week, I had the fabulous opportunity to attend the Superstars of Writing Seminar in Colorado Springs, and being the conference junkie that I am, I soaked up so much goodness and learning until I was goggle-eyed with determination. If there's any conference I would recommend besides Realm Makers, this would be it. No other conference I've attended has the commitment and real sense of tribe that Superstars did. And it didn't hurt to spend the three days learning from mega bestsellers either.
In his address, Drawing Out the Dragons, James Artimus Owen told some amazing stories of daring to take leaps of faith in order to do what he loves. He told one story where a risk that looked like an opportunity of a lifetime turned out to be a dead end. In order to pursue the opportunity, he had sold practically all his earthly possessions and taken a trans-atlantic flight, only to have the goal fizzle before his eyes and leave him sitting on a bench in the rain, with less than $2 in his pocket. And what was his response? To turn tail and get a temp job in a meat packing plant? To move back in with his mom? No. His response to crisis was to start something brand new.
If you ever have a chance to hear James's talk, take it. I'm not going to give you more details of his, but what I will say is this: I sobbed my way through that talk. Although I still have my home full of worthless stuff that wouldn't amount to a flight to Europe even if I sold it all, I'm sitting on a creative bench in the rain, with not a whole lot in my pocket. I'm currently identifying heavily with where James was that awful day he thought his dream had evaporated. But in reality, it was the day a new dream was born.
We Minors have a million dreams, so much like P.T. Barnum in this past holiday season's sleeper hit The Greatest Showman. I've been feeling for a while now that I'm about to explode with the passion of those dreams, which all have a common denominator in this: creating art and stories I love and bringing them to people who might get a little joy from what I make.
Back before we started the first Realm Makers, we met with a friend who is a promotions and branding expert and pitched the conference idea to him. In the midst of our conversation, he asked us, "Do you ever see yourselves becoming a publisher?" I laughed and said, "Oh, nooooooo." At that time in history, there was no way we could have pulled that off, so I couldn't even conceive of it.
Fast forward to today, where the past 6 years have brought us a wealth of connections to extremely talented authors, editors, cover designers, financial experts and book marketers. Add to that my perspective from having worked through start-up publishers and eventually ending up with my book rights back, and thus having 4 books awaiting new editions. Tie those up with the fact that we're attending live events with the Realm Makers bookstore, where being a publisher and bringing your books is the norm. Maybe you see where I'm going.
I think it may be time to put some legs on the idea of Realm Makers Media. But as you know, nothing gets started without a wholehearted commitment, and what I need is time. One of my major income streams has recently run dry. If I could generate enough new income to whole-heartedly dig into the groundwork for a Realm Makers affiliated publisher, Scott and I could take some major strides in pursuing one of our million dreams that we didn't even dare consider 6 years ago.
Here's what we need: $9000 to carry us through the next three months.
Here's how I propose to raise that: I currently have a struggling Patreon page that offers my subscribers artwork and books as they come along, including my graphic novel of The Windrider Saga. If I could increase my subscribers to 600 people supporting at the $5 level, with a commitment of remaining a subscriber for 3 months, that would carry us through my initial period of concept development for Realm Makers Media. By that time, my first Windrider Saga book will be out and available, which means each of those subscribers would get the ebook of the novel, pages of the graphic novel, and updates on the publishing endeavor for their help. That support would enable me to put aside a major consumer of my professional time and instead dedicate that to building the publishing house.
Of course, if folks wanted to remain subscribed after those three months, that's great. But what I'm asking for now is 3 months. $15 each.
I hear all the voices saying "You can't start a publishing house in 3 months." I know--I'm not proposing that I can. I'm proposing that given 3 months to start planning, that the Lord will lead us to ways to sustain our income past that point.
If you feel prompted to help Realm Makers move into publishing so that we can work with authors to build their dreams, here's what you should do:
Go to https://www.patreon.com/rebeccapminor
Choose a subscription level -- Patreon handles the money end of things so that you don't have to remember to come buy-in every month
Share with friends you think might want to help the cause of launching Realm Makers Media.
If you hung with me through all of this storytelling and wistful hope, thank you! If you've trusted us this far to bring you quality author education, entertaining stories, and a tribe of your own, I ask you to consider whether you would partner with us one more time to help us take a terrifying step off the map into something amazing.
In his address, Drawing Out the Dragons, James Artimus Owen told some amazing stories of daring to take leaps of faith in order to do what he loves. He told one story where a risk that looked like an opportunity of a lifetime turned out to be a dead end. In order to pursue the opportunity, he had sold practically all his earthly possessions and taken a trans-atlantic flight, only to have the goal fizzle before his eyes and leave him sitting on a bench in the rain, with less than $2 in his pocket. And what was his response? To turn tail and get a temp job in a meat packing plant? To move back in with his mom? No. His response to crisis was to start something brand new.
If you ever have a chance to hear James's talk, take it. I'm not going to give you more details of his, but what I will say is this: I sobbed my way through that talk. Although I still have my home full of worthless stuff that wouldn't amount to a flight to Europe even if I sold it all, I'm sitting on a creative bench in the rain, with not a whole lot in my pocket. I'm currently identifying heavily with where James was that awful day he thought his dream had evaporated. But in reality, it was the day a new dream was born.
Back before we started the first Realm Makers, we met with a friend who is a promotions and branding expert and pitched the conference idea to him. In the midst of our conversation, he asked us, "Do you ever see yourselves becoming a publisher?" I laughed and said, "Oh, nooooooo." At that time in history, there was no way we could have pulled that off, so I couldn't even conceive of it.
Fast forward to today, where the past 6 years have brought us a wealth of connections to extremely talented authors, editors, cover designers, financial experts and book marketers. Add to that my perspective from having worked through start-up publishers and eventually ending up with my book rights back, and thus having 4 books awaiting new editions. Tie those up with the fact that we're attending live events with the Realm Makers bookstore, where being a publisher and bringing your books is the norm. Maybe you see where I'm going.
I think it may be time to put some legs on the idea of Realm Makers Media. But as you know, nothing gets started without a wholehearted commitment, and what I need is time. One of my major income streams has recently run dry. If I could generate enough new income to whole-heartedly dig into the groundwork for a Realm Makers affiliated publisher, Scott and I could take some major strides in pursuing one of our million dreams that we didn't even dare consider 6 years ago.
Here's what we need: $9000 to carry us through the next three months.
Here's how I propose to raise that: I currently have a struggling Patreon page that offers my subscribers artwork and books as they come along, including my graphic novel of The Windrider Saga. If I could increase my subscribers to 600 people supporting at the $5 level, with a commitment of remaining a subscriber for 3 months, that would carry us through my initial period of concept development for Realm Makers Media. By that time, my first Windrider Saga book will be out and available, which means each of those subscribers would get the ebook of the novel, pages of the graphic novel, and updates on the publishing endeavor for their help. That support would enable me to put aside a major consumer of my professional time and instead dedicate that to building the publishing house.
Of course, if folks wanted to remain subscribed after those three months, that's great. But what I'm asking for now is 3 months. $15 each.
I hear all the voices saying "You can't start a publishing house in 3 months." I know--I'm not proposing that I can. I'm proposing that given 3 months to start planning, that the Lord will lead us to ways to sustain our income past that point.
If you feel prompted to help Realm Makers move into publishing so that we can work with authors to build their dreams, here's what you should do:
Go to https://www.patreon.com/rebeccapminor
Choose a subscription level -- Patreon handles the money end of things so that you don't have to remember to come buy-in every month
Share with friends you think might want to help the cause of launching Realm Makers Media.
If you hung with me through all of this storytelling and wistful hope, thank you! If you've trusted us this far to bring you quality author education, entertaining stories, and a tribe of your own, I ask you to consider whether you would partner with us one more time to help us take a terrifying step off the map into something amazing.
Sweet. I'm so excited for you and Scott!!
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