Hey Shauna! Thanks so much for coming over to talk about your fabulous Elemental series. I’ve been hearing a lot about the Kickstarter campaign you’ve got going on to raise funds for the completion of this behemoth writing project.
Could you tell us more about the campaign?
Heya Adriana! I’d be happy to!
Firstly, what is Kickstarter?
Basically it’s a crowd funding website, which means that fans and supporters of various artists can help artists absorb the cost of production before releasing their projects. In return for their monetary support, artists give rewards based on the amount pledged. I happen to have ten levels of pledges/rewards that I think are pretty spiffy.
(Click here to view Shauna’s Kickstarter campaign.)
How is Kickstarter going to help your writing career?
When you’re a self-published (or “indie,” if you prefer) author, you do have to pay for the up-front costs of everything since the big booksellers won’t let you set up pre-orders. With Kickstarter I’m basically giving readers a chance to pre-order my upcoming release (and many other things as well). By doing so, it makes it a little easier on me to keep producing books. I know how important editing is, and how important a good book cover is, but these things cost money–money one doesn’t have before the book starts selling.
Ah, okay. That makes total sense. What book are you currently working on?
This campaign is for the third book in my Young Adult urban fantasy series, Water. In this new adventure, our heroes are facing a new elemental foe: soul stealing mermaids! But I am also working on the fourth book in the series, Fire. Can’t really tell you too much about that since no one has read Water yet!
Right now my beta-readers have that one in their hot little hands so that I can gauge reader reaction to the story and find any plot holes or uncharacteristic traits going on. Then I’ll give it another read through before it’s off to the proofreader and editor! Ah, the glamorous life of a writer!
Glamorous indeed. (As long as no one sees us in our pajamas, sitting in front of our computers all bleary-eyed.) What’s been your biggest challenge with it so far?
Well with Water, at some random point, my story just went off the rails. I had taken a long break in the middle of writing it and when I came back to it, I didn’t do a proper re-read. So when I started writing again, I started going off in all these different directions that were, frankly, pointless and stupid. I gave it to my betas to read when I just couldn’t look at the thing again and they told me there was something really wrong with the pacing. So I grabbed a red pen, locked my office door and sat down. I ended up taking out over 10,000 words, which for me is almost three chapters, and I was just amazed at how far off the rails I had gone. This is why you need critical beta readers, ones who are not afraid to tell you when you’re not doing a good job. It is a much tighter, well-plotted book now, thank goodness.
The hardest thing with Fire that I’m dealing with is the big one: death. A major character is dying in the fourth book and it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my writing career. I’m actually afraid to get it back from my betas to continue to work on it.
Sounds like you’ve had to make some tough decisions! And wow, a major character dying–I’m already extremely curious about this one now! 
Getting back to the campaign, what do people get when they support you on Kickstarter?
Oh, what don’t they get?! Here, I’ll just give you a list:
- A pledge of $5 gets you an ebook copy of Water in the format of your choosing (.mobi, epub, PDF, etc).
- A pledge of $10 gets you ebook copies of book one, two and three – Earth, Air and Water in the format of your choosing.
- A pledge of $25 gets you all three books in ebook format and 3 bookmarks, one for each book cover!
- A pledge of $35 gets you the 3 ebooks, 3 bookmarks and a signed paperback copy of Water!
- A pledge of $40 gets you the 3 ebooks, 3 bookmarks, signed paperback copy of Water and 3 magnets–one for each cover!
- A pledge of $50 gets you the 3 ebooks, 3 bookmarks, signed paperback copy of Water, 3 magnets and a signed paperback copy of Earth!
- A pledge of $75 gets you the 3 ebooks, 3 bookmarks, 3 magnets, signed paperback copies of Earth, Air and Water! That way you’ll have all three books in ebook and paperback format!
- A pledge of $100 gets you the 3 ebooks, 3 bookmarks, 3 magnets, signed paperback copies of Earth, Air and Water and a thank you in the acknowledgments section of Water and a signed poster for Water!
- A pledge of $250 (limited to 10 people) gets you the 3 ebooks, 3 bookmarks, 3 magnets, signed paperback copies of Earth, Air and Water, a thank you in the acknowledgments section of Water, a signed poster for Water and a minor, walk-on character in Fire (the fourth book) named after you. Please note, Fire is not scheduled to be released until December 2012 (subject to change) and the character will be author’s choice. Please understand the character will be minor and may not (probably won’t) look like you, act like you or represent you–but it will be your name! Also, if I get an abundance of female names I may have to use the masculine equivalent of your name as there are male characters I would have to use for this prize.
- A pledge of $500 (limited to 5 people) gets you the 3 ebooks, 3 bookmarks, 3 magnets, signed paperback copies of Earth, Air and Water, a thank you in the acknowledgments section of Water and a minor, walk on character in Fire (the fourth book) named after you (all the same disclaimers as listed in #9). And a replica of Shayna’s pentagram necklace!
Amazing prizes for sure! Having a walk-on character named after me reeeeeeally appeals to my ego. And finally, the most important question of all: If you were a day of the week, which one would you be?
That’s a tough one. The obvious choice would be Saturday; work week is over, you still have one more day off before a new one begins. You can stay up late because you know you’re sleeping in the next morning and you can sleep in that morning. You can do whatever you want that day because you still have one more day to get other things done. Yeah, Saturday.
But to quote one of my imaginary friends, Jodi, in Earth, I’ll tell you why I wouldn’t ever be Tuesday: “Tuesdays are the worst day of the week… Think about it, people think Mondays suck because it’s the new week, but you still have the high and energy from the weekend. Wednesdays let you know you’re half way through the week, Thursdays mean it’s almost over, and Fridays it is over. But Tuuuuuesdays… Tuesdays mean the week just started and you’ve still got a ways to go.”
Haha, well said, Jodi! I recently had the exact same conversation with someone, too. Tuesdays should be the new Monday, I think. 
Thanks so much for spending time with your readers here today, Shauna, and we wish you the best of luck with your campaign. I’m donating some moolah for sure–it’s a win-win! 
About Shauna
Like so many other writers, Shauna grew up as an avid reader, but it was in high school that she realized she wanted to be a writer. Four years ago, Shauna started work on her Elemental Series. She released the first installment, Earth, on May 1, 2011 and released the sequel, Air, on October 31, 2011. She is currently hard at work on the edits of book three, Water. When not reading and writing, Shauna enjoys cooking and playing hostess whenever she can.
Find Shauna at her website or visit her Amazon page. She also hangs out on Twitter and Facebook. And again, visit her personal Kickstarter campaign so you can get your pledge on, peeps! Support the indie artist, help keep prices down, and everyone wins. Pretty simple, eh?
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