In the last couple months, short story writers suddenly realized Kickstarter was a great way to finance an anthology. Heck, there are 192 anthology projects on Kickstarter alone, and those don’t include the ones on IndieGoGo, RocketHub or any other crowdfunding platforms. A lot of those anthologies get full funding, which means even though The Big Six Publishers gave up on short stories in the 1990s, readers are still willing to shell out the bucks to read some short fiction.
Whether the blistering hot summers drive you mad or the impossibly long drives to escape the state make you feel like Texas is an endless post-apocalyptic wasteland, for some reason Texas is blessed with an unusually good crop of horror writers. Therefore, it’s no surprise Austin is home to Texas or Die: An Anthology of Horror.
A. Lee Martinez, Robert Jackson Bennett, Ed Kurtz and a slew of nationally known Texas writers have already signed up for the project. In order to make it a reality, they need cash. Like most anthologies, a $15 donation gets you a copy of the ebook. For $25, you get both the ebook and a trade paperback hardcopy. Autograph collectors can get their copy signed by every single one of the authors for a mere $50. For $100 or $200, they pile on extra horror books from Abbattoir Press.
As an avid reader, I really like the Kickstarter approach to funding anthologies. If there’s a demand (and hoo boy, in genre fiction you can bet there is) then the anthology editor gets a good gauge how many copies to print and gets automatic feedback from the readers. If there’s not a demand, no trees are wasted in production and no writers are disappointed while watching spiderwebs grow on their lonely books. I think this year’s unexpected bumper crop of Kickstarter-funded anthologies is the beginning of a new era in short stories. If you love horror and want to be in on this change from the beginning, support Austin’s own Texas or Die: An Anthology of Horror. The campaign is set to close in early November.
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Curious how our previous Austin Kickstarters did?
The Live Action Jem and the Holograms Movie was over 250% funded! Mind you, they were only asking for $200. Go ahead and throw them a couple more bucks just to be part of something awesome.
Jumpshot made an amazing 500% of their goal! They raised more than $147,000, putting them in the top tier of all Kickstarters.
My Education was fully funded! Our instrumental band is set for their European tour.
Rockrgrrl Magazine’s GRL Talk Book was fully funded! They made over 120% of their original goal.
Strange Kid Comix was over 114% funded! They raised more than $2850 for their taste of pure pop culture nostalgia.
The Anachronist didn't make it to the $17,000 goal.
Wholly Kabob is fully funded for just north of $15,000.
Stabil-i-Case sadly didn’t reach its goal and therefore didn’t receive funding.
The Doctor Who Review Project sadly didn’t reach its goal and therefore didn’t receive funding.
The original Spinferno Kickstarter was cancelled and replaced by a new Spinferno for Android kickstarter.
