Brother, can you spare $700?

Well, I've been frustrated enough by an independant publisher to go out and get my anthology published on my own. The anthology is called "Blocks Of Babble" and it's really nothing more than a collection of short stories... some are really good... some are really bad. I'm looking at getting it published through Lulu.com -- nice of them to give me 80% of the profits. So, you ask yourself, why are you asking for money? Simple -- while publishing on Lulu is free, some of their services isn't. For example: editing which I know I am going to need and need badly. I am not saying that I am a bad writer. If I believed that, I wouldn't have gone through so much grief. Instead, I want to make sure that this book is the best it can be, and get it out there in the market... therefore I need an editor.

Lulu has an editing service (third-party) that charges a high amount for their services, as in $700 for the work count I have (48K). Now, I am going to strike out a couple of stories because I know they're not good. I put them in there just so that I could get the word count to where I wanted it to be. Now that I am striking out on my own, I'll keep the ones that I know work, and if I have a good idea for another one, I'll write it and stick it in there.

Now, here comes the clincher. If people who read this blog want to chip in some cash -- here's how: contact me through this blog and I will set you up with my paypal account. Donate some money and you'll get a mention in the foreword. Foot the bill and I will write a short story in which you are the main character and I will suit it as much to your liking as I can. That's right, I am bringing back the lost art of patronage. Now, obviously -- don't go broke in doing this. If you can spare a dollar, spare a dollar. I don't upsell. I am merely asking for what you can handle, and in return you'll get a mention.

Some of you are saying "Do the editing yourself, jackass". I could, but I don't need someone to look over the work and point out grammatical errors. I need someone to evaluate the work, to tell me what's good and what isn't. That's what I need an editor for -- that's why I am holding my figurative hat out. Think of it like this: how many people would like to have said "I helped out J.K. Rowling" or "I gave Stephen King a boost", other than relatives? Wouldn't you like to open up a book and read the sentence: "This work could not have been possible with the timely assistance of..." If I were on the other end of this, I would give some money. Not just to have my name in print, but to know that I have helped out a struggling artist.

novel word count: 4054