My Story
My name is Joshua Guess. For the last several years I have been writing as a hobby, then part-time job. Now I'm on the edge of going full-time, but I need your help. I ran a campaign previously for the first novel in a series, Victim Zero, which tells the story of how the zombie apocalypse began in my Living With the Dead universe. While that campaign didn't reach its goal, the success we achieved together gave me enough time to finish and publish Victim Zero.
That novel is doing well. Enough that I want to strike while the iron is hot and write the sequel I've been planning. So many ideas, so little time!
That's where your help comes in. If you read and enjoyed Victim Zero and/or my Living With the Dead series, then supporting this campaign will help me bring you more of the same. My outlook right now is as positive as it has ever been, and when the royalties from June hit my bank account in August, I should be in a financial situation where I can write full-time, even if it means eating cheap and turning off the air conditioning.
But to make it that long, I need your support. This campaign is intended to keep the lights on and let me spend the next six to eight weeks writing. The period of time between now and August is a bridge I need your help in crossing. It doesn't take much to help change someone's life. A few dollars here, sharing a link there. If this campaign is successful it will allow me to go for broke and be a full-time writer now.
See? It's that easy to make a dream come true.
The Book
Victim Zero was about how The Fall began and the man responsible, Kell McDonald. The story follows Kell shortly before the outbreak and long after as he struggles to cope with his part in the end of the world.
Dead Will Rise continues his tale. It's a smaller story told over a shorter time that chronicles Kell's effort to deal with his losses. With the zombie apocalypse as the backdrop, DWR is at its core an examination of how the weight of the world bends and distorts the man whose shoulders hold it. Victim Zero is the first leg of the journey and focuses on survival.
Dead Will Rise is about learning to live.
What I Need & What You Get
Many campaigns get vague with where your money goes. Some are for things like board games that require a lot of cost for materials and the like. While a portion of the proceeds from this campaign will go to costs such as cover art, editing, fulfillment of perks and shipping costs, this is a campaign for a book. What you're doing by supporting Dead Will Rise is helping me afford writing full-time for the next few months while also getting unique, cool rewards for doing so.
It's a total win-win.
Rather than list the perks here, which are right there -------> in the sidebar, I'll just give you the action-packed synopsis of the kinds of things you can get by supporting this campaign.
Perks start at five dollars, with everyone from that level and up getting an eBook version of Dead Will Rise as well as an exclusive short story written just for this campaign. From there it gets very interesting! I'll be doing a print version perk, another for personalized signed copies, a perk allowing you to beta read the book and give your feedback, making you a part of the process. I'll even write a short novella for you if, in the words of the immortal Bob barker, the price is right! Yep, you haven't gone nuts. For the top tier I will work with you to write an original novella using you as the main character, set in the Living With the Dead universe. The best part? When we're done, you totally own it. Publish it yourself, let it gather dust on your hard drive, sell it for charity, whatever you want. The rights are yours!
The Impact
This campaign will change my world. I'm modest, to be frank, and I don't think my writing will have the same effect on the world as success here would have on me. You, the fans, do seem to enjoy reading my books and I certainly love writing them. I like looking at this genre from different angles, telling stories you never really see elsewhere.
I get to entertain. I became a writer because I'm a reader. I read a lot and have since I was a kid. There is no feeling better than falling into a world and feeling your pulse pound as the main character struggles and triumphs. I want to write this book because enough of you expressed your satisfaction with Victim Zero and a desire for a sequel pretty much NOW. You asked, and this is me trying to come through.
If this campaign isn't successful I'll have to pick up a full-time job soon. I'll still work on DWR but it will take longer. As a flexible funding campaign I will get your contribution shortly after you make it, allowing me to pay editors, artists, formatters, and my bills to keep on writing.
Other Ways You Can Help
Some of my most hardcore readers are, in an interesting slice of spectrum, college students and retired people. Two groups who generally live on fixed incomes. Because I will never ask any of you to spend money on me or my work if you can't afford it (been there myself more than once and recently, too!), please don't feel bad if you don't have the ability to do so. I say this because a few people backed the last campaign but had to scrape up the money to do it.
That's super nice of you, but please don't feel you have to do that!
If you want to help but money is a problem there are other ways you can show your love. On this very campaign page are sharing tools for Facebook, Twitter, and the rest. Share a link, write a blurb about me and my work, spend a few minutes chatting with a friend who might want to help out. These campaigns work because fantastic friends and readers like you take the time out of your day to share and spread the word. If you can't back in dollars, then simply backing me up with kind words (and word-of-mouth) is more than enough.
