Alexandra Erin is creating
Blue Author Productions
Dedicated Crowdfunded Author/Serial Writer
89
$429.38
Milestone Goals
2 Milestone Goals
reached
Advertising!
At $500 (and for every $100 thereafter) I will spend $20 a month advertising Tales of MU (or occasionally my other works). How does this benefit you as a reader? It will bring in more readers, revitalizing the community and helping my works to become more self-sustaining. It's the old case of it takes money to make money. Tales of MU would never have caught fire the way it did if I hadn't found places to advertise it. It just hasn't been in the budget as much since writing became my primary income. You can help me fix that.
Ad Free For Members
Once this level is reached, I can afford to extend the ad-free version to anyone willing to create an account and sign in.
Ad Free For Everyone!
With this level of total support, I'll no longer need ads on the site at all.
Location
Hagerstown, MD, USA
Top PatronsSee all 89
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Hello, internet, and all the ships at sea! I'm Alexandra Erin: blogger, poet, and author. Since 2007, I have used micropatronage to pay my bills and keep my stories alive. Now Patreon makes it easier for me to do what I do, and for you to help me do it.
Why should you help support authors on Patreon?
The Power of Thinking Small
I started my writing career with a simple belief: that there is room in the hearts of readers for more types of stories than can fit on a big box bookstore's shelf. I believe that people who are under-represented and under-served by the publishing industry should not be ignored. I decided to write stories that challenge assumptions and break the rules, and played with conventions of format, medium, and content.
These kinds of stories have a hard time finding a home in the traditional marketplace, where everyone is looking for the next bestseller and everyone wants something with mass market appeal.
I believe that self-publishing, small press publishing, and the direct support of readers have the power to free the marketplace of ideas from the shackles that big business imposes on it. It takes millions of customer dollars to make a book a bestseller, but a single person working only for herself can afford to be successful on a much more modest scale.
This means I don't have to worry about who I might alienate by dealing with queer characters and queer themes, or including BDSM/kink in a story that's not ~*about*~ kink that, or writing a short story in gender neutral language. If these stories are not for everyone, that's fine. I don't need a large audience, just a loyal one, and I believe that giving people something they've been missing is a good way to build that loyalty.
What I Do
My best-known work is my flagship web serial, Tales of MU. Most of you who are seeing this page probably already know what MU is about. For the newcomers, this story is not a novel in the traditional sense. It's a serial. I think of it as being more like a webcomic without pictures... and like a comic, it can sprawl. There's already an archive of nearly two million (estimated) words that are free to read, and each new chapter is also free.
As my sponsor, you will know that your contribution allows me to focus on my work, giving each thing that I write all the time and attention to detail that it needs. In 2015, I will be giving my Patreon sponsors direct access to my draft folder so you can watch me work (if you don't mind spoilers, that is!), seeing each chapter take shape over the course of several days.
I also write short stories, novellas, and poetry. Much of what I write is self-published and available for sale as an ebook for Amazon Kindle or in a multi-format bundle directly from me. Since it is the support of patrons like you that allows me produce these works, you will be able to read HTML versions of all my self-published works for free.
How This Works
With your pledge of monthly support, you will receive immediate access to the patron-only content I post to my feed here, which includes behind the scenes glimpses of my work, sneak previews of upcoming things, and any number of other things. You can leave comments there, and I can use this feature to solicit feedback directly from my audience.
I'll also link new chapters of Tales of MU in the feed, so you'll be notified when they go up. Of course, this story is free to read so those won't be locked posts.
The Benefits of Benefactors
Why should you help support authors on Patreon?
The Power of Thinking Small
I started my writing career with a simple belief: that there is room in the hearts of readers for more types of stories than can fit on a big box bookstore's shelf. I believe that people who are under-represented and under-served by the publishing industry should not be ignored. I decided to write stories that challenge assumptions and break the rules, and played with conventions of format, medium, and content.
These kinds of stories have a hard time finding a home in the traditional marketplace, where everyone is looking for the next bestseller and everyone wants something with mass market appeal.
I believe that self-publishing, small press publishing, and the direct support of readers have the power to free the marketplace of ideas from the shackles that big business imposes on it. It takes millions of customer dollars to make a book a bestseller, but a single person working only for herself can afford to be successful on a much more modest scale.
This means I don't have to worry about who I might alienate by dealing with queer characters and queer themes, or including BDSM/kink in a story that's not ~*about*~ kink that, or writing a short story in gender neutral language. If these stories are not for everyone, that's fine. I don't need a large audience, just a loyal one, and I believe that giving people something they've been missing is a good way to build that loyalty.
What I Do
My best-known work is my flagship web serial, Tales of MU. Most of you who are seeing this page probably already know what MU is about. For the newcomers, this story is not a novel in the traditional sense. It's a serial. I think of it as being more like a webcomic without pictures... and like a comic, it can sprawl. There's already an archive of nearly two million (estimated) words that are free to read, and each new chapter is also free.
As my sponsor, you will know that your contribution allows me to focus on my work, giving each thing that I write all the time and attention to detail that it needs. In 2015, I will be giving my Patreon sponsors direct access to my draft folder so you can watch me work (if you don't mind spoilers, that is!), seeing each chapter take shape over the course of several days.
I also write short stories, novellas, and poetry. Much of what I write is self-published and available for sale as an ebook for Amazon Kindle or in a multi-format bundle directly from me. Since it is the support of patrons like you that allows me produce these works, you will be able to read HTML versions of all my self-published works for free.
How This Works
With your pledge of monthly support, you will receive immediate access to the patron-only content I post to my feed here, which includes behind the scenes glimpses of my work, sneak previews of upcoming things, and any number of other things. You can leave comments there, and I can use this feature to solicit feedback directly from my audience.
I'll also link new chapters of Tales of MU in the feed, so you'll be notified when they go up. Of course, this story is free to read so those won't be locked posts.
The Benefits of Benefactors
Because of your continued support, I not only have the freedom to keep producing Tales of MU but I can afford to develop other creative endeavors, like short stories, novels, and even tabletop game design. As my patron, you are on the ground floor for all of these things. You will know what I'm working on. You will see my creations take shape and watch my works in progress progressing.
As an ongoing partner in my creative endeavors, you will receive newsletter updates on my life and endeavors every month and receive full access to any fiction that I self-publish before or during the term of your patronage. My patrons can view an archive of my past newsletters and all self-published stories in HTML format at any time. This archive is growing all the time, increasing the value of your sponsorship as it does.
The benefits of your support to me are too many to list, but they include paying the webhosting and bandwidth fees to keep the story up.
New/Current Projects:
In the spring of 2015, I published a series of satirical book reviews lampooning the authors of the Sad Puppies/Rabid Puppies campaigns to stack the Hugo awards. I stopped that before (in my opinion) the joke wore thin, but people have been asking for more of John Z. Upjohn, USMC (aspired). With that in mind, I've started putting together "his" debut novel, The Freedom of Liberty.
You can read the prologue here.
I'll continue work on this project as long as there's sufficient interest.
As an ongoing partner in my creative endeavors, you will receive newsletter updates on my life and endeavors every month and receive full access to any fiction that I self-publish before or during the term of your patronage. My patrons can view an archive of my past newsletters and all self-published stories in HTML format at any time. This archive is growing all the time, increasing the value of your sponsorship as it does.
The benefits of your support to me are too many to list, but they include paying the webhosting and bandwidth fees to keep the story up.
New/Current Projects:
In the spring of 2015, I published a series of satirical book reviews lampooning the authors of the Sad Puppies/Rabid Puppies campaigns to stack the Hugo awards. I stopped that before (in my opinion) the joke wore thin, but people have been asking for more of John Z. Upjohn, USMC (aspired). With that in mind, I've started putting together "his" debut novel, The Freedom of Liberty.
You can read the prologue here.
I'll continue work on this project as long as there's sufficient interest.