“Update” for 11/14/13

Remember when I mentioned that work might make reviews sporadic for a few weeks? Well, it is, and it’s even more sporadic than I thought. Things should be back to normal next week, and I may or may not manage to get a review up tomorrow (but probably not). But hey, this gives me a chance to ask all of you about something that’s been buzzing in the back of my head. Remember the Xeric grants? Remember how those ended last year? Or, if you haven’t heard about it: those ended last year. Anyway, I’ve been trying to come up with some way to put together at least a partial replacement for them. Obviously I wouldn’t be able to come close to replacing the dollar amount, but was kind of wondering if getting $20,000-30,000 a year from Kickstarter and maybe a few fundraisers would be possible. This would mean grants to 4-6 people instead of double digits like Xeric usually did, but at least it’s a start. So my question to you guys is: ya wanna? I could contact the groups who gave money to Xeric on a regular basis, maybe find a few (hundred) more people willing to donate a little cash, and at least there would be one avenue open for people who need financial help getting their book published. I’m mostly just looking for opinions now. Who out there thinks this is plausible? Utterly ridiculous? Write me and tell me why either way. Did you get a Xeric grant in the past? If so, write me and tell me about the experience. How much money you got, whether it was enough or too much (not that I’m expecting many responses in that last regard), what could have been improved, your general impressions, everything. I’d probably have to take a month or two off work to put this together and run it, so I’d have to ask for a donation for those months too. I work at a place where my taking a month or two off wouldn’t be that big of a deal (provided they weren’t months with electi0ns in them), but the idea of asking donations to cover my life for that time might be off-putting to people, and maybe a tacky thing to even ask. This is where your opinions come in! Finally, I guess there’s the chance that I’d just take the pile of money and move to a tropical island or something, so this is where I’d have to hope that my 12+ years of doing this have built up at least a little credibility for me. So yeah, send me your thoughts. If this strikes too many of you as ridiculous/fantastical/impossible, I’ll give up before I get started. If it seems remotely plausible, well, my understanding is that Kickstarter donations only really count if you meet your goal, and if that’s true I don’t see any reason not to at least give it a shot. Write me!