My name is Michael Chandler, and I have been a New York City-based rock & roll musician since the early 1980s. Among the groups that I have formed are The Raunch Hands, The Lost Crusaders, and Chandler & The Chasers. I was also the front man for the 1980s garage band, The Outta Place. I have traveled to thousands of places around the world and have thousands of stories to tell.

I began writing for public consumption while still in high school in Portland, Maine, as a radio news writer/reporter. I have continued to write and to journal ever since, my most recent contributions having been published in Italy's Dante Magazine.

In 2009, I began writing a blog, entitled, "The Rock & Roll Element." It is a collection of short stories (some quite lengthy), memoir, personal essays, and poetry. It by no means contains all of my output, but pieces which I believe will interest my readers. My audience is small, but dedicated, and the blog is followed by people in twenty-three countries on four continents.

For my collection of stories, I have selected thirteen, which I feel are the most entertaining, compelling, and thought-provoking from my blog, as well as from my personal collection of stories and essays, which I have withheld, for just such a publication as, "The Story Tree."

As a teaser, here is a link to where you can read two of the pieces which appear in "The Story Tree." (I'm not divulging the rest of them, but if you want to try to guess which ones by going to my blog, please remember that as they appear there, they are in raw, unedited form and may have typos, grammatical slips, etc.)

http://thestorytreecollection.blogspot.com/

Financing

As any literary project must have financing, mine has expenses and requires the work of professionals who must be compensated for their time and effort. Among them:

• At least one copy editor - I have a person who has agreed to do the bulk of the work for what I consider to be a very reasonable rate. She is a writing instructor at a college here in Santa Fe, holds a Master's Degree in Fine Arts, and she has offered me invaluable input and criticism on much of my recent work. Once the first draft is completed, I will send copies to various literary friends and acquaintances for further review and refinement.

• A designer/layout consultant - The book cover and print layout are obviously extremely important to the book's potential acceptance into the literary community - it is the face on the body. Again, I have a Santa Fean who has been helping me along, and whom I intend to pay for his services. I am very impressed with his portfolio, which spans the past thirty years, and his suggestions so far have been eye-openers.

• A printer - At this juncture, I have not decided whether to work through an online publisher, or to hire a local printer. I intend to balance the cost per copy with the quality of the finished product. Start-up funds are necessary to bring my collaborators and me to that decision - first things first.

Promotion - All artistic projects need a promotional budget. Future sales rely heavily upon websites, publications, reviewers, and small-press advocates whose  subsequent attention and glowing reviews will increase sales. I expect to have to comp and ship between 100 - 200 copies of the book. That costs money.

An LLC - I have future projects in mind, so I would like to make my small endeavor into something larger and self-sustainable. I will have to pay to register the publishing company. I have a name for the company, but since it is not registered, I can't tell you just now.

Your Perks

• For a contribution of $25 or more, I will include, at the end of the book, a list of all contributors, no matter how many there are. After all, your financial support makes this book yours as well as mine, and I want all of our readers to see what advocates of the arts can achieve. You may also choose to make your contribution in someone else's name, having that person's name appear in the acknowledgments instead. If you choose to use a pseudonym, please keep it within the bounds of good taste.
• For a $100 donation, I will ship you a signed copy of "The Story Tree." (For those of you whom I know personally, I will try to include an individual message.) You also get the above acknowledgment.
• Contributors of $200 or more will receive both the acknowledgment and s signed copy of the book, as well as a signed preview edition of the forthcoming Lost Crusaders CD, "Near-Life Experience." It is a full-length LP of new and unreleased songs, with some updated versions of your favorites from or first LP, "Have You Heard About the World?" It is being mastered and the artwork prepared, as you are reading this, and I can assure you that it is a terrific album.
• $2000 and up - I will come read at your literary event (plus all of the above).
• $5000 - I have not figured out to whom I'd like to dedicate "The Story Tree." For $5000, it's you or whomever you choose (plus all of the above, excluding the reading).