That Thing I Give You Has a Name
I've been talking with stonetalker about ideas for the ceramic business that she wants to do, and how crowdfunding might work with that. She mentioned the idea of showing pieces to her donors before posting them for sale on Etsy, "giving them right of first refusal."
And the penny dropped: that's what I'm giving you, my Poetry Fishbowl audience. You all get right of first refusal on all the poems produced in each month's fishbowl. I knew the phrase from my work in conventional publishing; I simply hadn't thought of it in this context before. It's actually a valuable right. People argue over it in contracts. It means you get to cream off whatever you want before anyone else even gets to hear about it.
I've been thinking more consciously about crowdfunding and how I do it, this week, because of the Spotlight over in crowdfunding. I talked a little about how my business breaks down: the biggest market is writing for the Llewellyn annuals. The second is the Poetry Fishbowl as a whole. That puts you folks ahead of all the magazines and other places where I sell my work. Yes, a few times I've sold a story or poem to a magazine that gave me a bigger bundle of money -- one time -- but you folks are here every month. The exact amount fluctuates but the market is regular. I customarily give more influence and priority to my better markets. So, you're it. You're buying about 8-9 poems for every 1 that a conventional editor buys. That's why you get goodies like "right of first refusal." You provide regular support, so that puts you in my regular business plan.
Thank you all very much. I just wanted you to know that you're special.
And the penny dropped: that's what I'm giving you, my Poetry Fishbowl audience. You all get right of first refusal on all the poems produced in each month's fishbowl. I knew the phrase from my work in conventional publishing; I simply hadn't thought of it in this context before. It's actually a valuable right. People argue over it in contracts. It means you get to cream off whatever you want before anyone else even gets to hear about it.
I've been thinking more consciously about crowdfunding and how I do it, this week, because of the Spotlight over in crowdfunding. I talked a little about how my business breaks down: the biggest market is writing for the Llewellyn annuals. The second is the Poetry Fishbowl as a whole. That puts you folks ahead of all the magazines and other places where I sell my work. Yes, a few times I've sold a story or poem to a magazine that gave me a bigger bundle of money -- one time -- but you folks are here every month. The exact amount fluctuates but the market is regular. I customarily give more influence and priority to my better markets. So, you're it. You're buying about 8-9 poems for every 1 that a conventional editor buys. That's why you get goodies like "right of first refusal." You provide regular support, so that puts you in my regular business plan.
Thank you all very much. I just wanted you to know that you're special.