What we're about:
We want to create a website that can help shine a light on the work of good quality self published authors, a place where they can stand out, not oversaturated with poor quality content.
As independent authors, we've often found ourselves struggling to gain exposure in a world oversaturated with content. Too often, it feels as though the publishing industry is working against us rather than with us, focusing their resources on bigger, more established names. We know this is a frustration that other's are facing too. In August 2019, we launched 'phase 1' of Rogue Animal, a platform for self published authors to share their work.
https://www.rogueanimalbooks.com/.
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Phase 1 - Our First Year
Whilst there were sites with similar concepts, they almost always favoured either authors of traditional novels or graphic novelists. We wanted to create a space where both would have an equal weight. The other major difference between us and other content sharing sites, is that we aimed to build a relationship with all our authors. All work displayed, has first been read by us. Although we feature a variety of different kinds of work (samples, short stories, one shots, poetry collections) we only upload work of a high standard from authors with clear evidence of commitment and passion for their work, always favouring quality over quantity. We’ve tried to make it clear to authors that we’re there for them, providing advice or support when they need. We’ve also worked to help lessen the load of social media responsibilities, by promoting author work across our social media pages.
During our first year, we’ve been interviewed, received our first review, and even created the first instalments of our magazine ‘Rogue Reader’. We’ve also seen a host of new authors join our ranks. It has been heartening to see the number of people that have reacted positively towards our project.
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Phase 2 - What’s Next?
Almost a year after launching ‘phase 1’, we want to do something bigger, something bolder. Our dream with Rogue Animal has always been to create a community of independent authors, yet our current site has limitations; the sheer amount of content has meant that it has become slow and unwieldy. But we don’t want our new site to just look sleeker and run smoother. As an independent author, networking and building a rapport with one’s audience is vital. In ‘phase 2’ we want to give you the tools to do that, allowing users to comment on your work, follow you and have easy access to your social media pages and selling points. We also want to give users the ability to upload work to the site themselves, though of course, we will want to read the work first. This is only a foundation and we will keep adding and building on the new site as we grow. Our long term goal is to publish the most successful books and graphic novels.
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Our Commitments to Readers
We want to offer something new for readers too. As has already been mentioned, we will only be accepting work that is of good quality, this means that you can spend more time reading, and less time sifting through poor quality work to find a story that you enjoy. Another commitment that we make, we will only try to accept work that will be finished. We don’t mind including stories that are updated in instalments, as long as the author can guarantee that they will finish the work.
We want you to be able to communicate closely with authors and provide feedback. When it comes to our long term goal of publishing books on the site, it will be reader feedback and comments that help determine which books are chosen.
How your support will help us:
If you are an author or a reader feeling the same frustrations we did, consider supporting our page and helping us to build a new platform for independent authors.
The new site will be extremely costly (Costing £3,000) and we’ll need all the help that we can get. Every donation towards our overall goal will allow us to do more in growing our site. Helping us to pay for additional features and to properly market the site, bringing new authors and readers.
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Risks & Challenges
A great deal of planning and preparation has gone into the creation of this project, so we feel that we are ready for any setbacks that could occur. As our project is entirely web based, we should be minimally effected by the Covid-19 pandemic, that said, the completion of the website itself will likely be slower than usual. We hope to meet our deadlines, but if there is any delay, we’ll make sure to let everyone know well in advance. This is also our first Indiegogo, this is a learning curve for us, although as already mentioned we’ve done a large amount of research and are confident in our campaign. Obviously, there is also the potential for issues outside of our control, but this comes with any project.
Other Ways You Can Help
If you can't afford to support us financially but still want to help us out, you can assist us by spreading the word on social media and telling people that you know that could be interested. Any and all help is appreciated!
Featured Pages:
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