It takes a crowd to tell the real Canberra story

Posted on 14 August, 2018

Four years ago, I was fortunate to raise enough money to print a book of my short fictional stories.

Despite the roller coaster ride of potential public failure and community affirmation that is crowdfunding, I’m preparing to do it all again.

My model of storytelling seeks inspiration for the Canberra stories beyond the corridors of Parliament House and watering holes of Kingston. I invite readers to give me three items to weave into a tale set in Canberra. Items like the ‘Belconnen Owl’, cryptography and freakshakes have inspired and featured in stories about haunted trams, secret government surveillance and finding love at the Fyshwick markets.

Capitals Yarns

Crowdfunding in Canberra was an incredibly rewarding experience, with friends, family, social media feeds and outlets like HerCanberra providing wonderful support. Yet, it was an exhausting experience too, juggling full-time work, family commitments and unexpected challenges to print my book.

For me, crowdfunding double-downed on the existing (potential) public humiliation of my online publication model. Once I have written a short story, often too hastily, I release it into the wild where it stays largely unchanged for six months. I’ve likely put a lot of half-baked ideas, plot disaster, poorly-drawn characters and terrible typos into the digital world. With the help of a professional editor, the stories in the book will be far more polished and refined.

Crowdfunding is a similarly daunting process, not only to make sure you are not missing any critical tasks or expenses, but because in crowdfunding, you are really ‘putting yourself out there’. Failing to raise your target can feel very deflating.

On the other hand, one of the big advantages for a self-published author is that you get a sense of the demand for your book. If you can’t reach the funding request, or your figures don’t add up, then it’s unlikely the product will be commercially viable. This time round, I am not seeking the full costs of printing, and will personally contribute half those costs. Yet I will do so with some reassurance the project is worth pursuing.

While I wait nervously to see if the pledges arrive, I have sought feedback on improvements for the second volume from friends, readers and the wonderful Canberra book retailers and national institution shops that stocked volume one. The entire project will be unabashed Canberra-proud again including using a local illustrator, editor and printer.

I will likely learn many more lessons this second time round, but despite all the fears of failure, it is exciting to again be creating something creative and collaborating on a Canberra-proud project.  It is comforting to know that success or failure in this crowdfunding adventure, I have the support of a great community, whose stories I want to tell.

You can follow Sean’s crowdfunding effort on Pozible.

Feature image: Melanie Skinner. Image supplied.