Hooray! My Scaredy Cats KickStarter Campaign was a success and I’m now putting the finishing touches to the book before it goes to the printers. As we reached another stretch goal before the end, I have made stickers and they are at the printers now.
I’m nearly done recording the audio books and the exclusive Scaredy Cat Flash Drives for them to go on should be arriving any day. All steam ahead.
I am relaunching my Scaredy Cats KickStarter project see it here – https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shoorayner/scaredy-cats-funny-scary-stories-for-children
One thing that bothered me, once I had launched previously, was the cover. I loved it, but after a while I realised that it was probably not the right cover. The style of the cat on the front of the book, did not fit with the illustrations inside.
Publishers often recover books with different styles, but I thought maybe it was also a bit too sophisticated for the age group the books are intended for and said something different to what was inside.
So I spent some time trying to do a watercolour version, but couldn’t get that right. In the end I decided to do a hybrid. Take the elements I loved about the first cover and add them to a physically drawn version.
The moral of the tale is that the first drawing is not necessarily the finished version. You can keep tweaking the design and a little time and distance is good – allowing you to see the design with free eyes.
Like Professor Frankatstein, I’ve finally relaunched and brought back to life my Scaredy Cats Kickstarter Campaign. Here’s the link: http://bit.ly/Scaredy-Cats
You will see that the cat on the cover design has changed from the previous version. This was the main thing that worried me before. I think this hand-drawn version is much better for the book and goes better with the Illustrations inside.
I learned such a lot from the campaign that I cancelled in May. Mainly that old-world publishing does not fit well with Kickstarter. I was asking for an element of an advance – as I would expect from a traditional publisher – to pay for my time while making the book.
I realise now that the “risk” should be much more on my shoulders. So I’ve been working away at the book ever since, and it is almost ready to go to the printers.
Meanwhile, I found yet another story that didn’t make it into a book – Hide and Seek – that was hidden away on my hard drive. I’m giving it away as soon as anyone chooses to make a pledge for the campaign.
I hope you will find the new, streamlined rewards that I have devised quite irresistible! They will make a wonderful and individual gift for someone’s Christmas, Birthday or Holiday Celebration.
I look forward to sending you your books and goodies soon.
