On August 17th, I'm planning on releasing my third major book, Derik's Luck. I don't do this often, but some books just cry for the full treatment and this is one of them.

Pre-orders are set up at the following:

• Itch
• Smashwords
• Amazon

Patrons have access to the ebooks with their login, but this post applies to non-patrons also. Once I get the print versions up, I'll link them here.

I want to do something special for this beefy book, so I'm going to run a contest. Also in here are a few questions to judge how much else I want to do, mainly to see who is interested.

Forum

All of these refer to a single source of the contest, a link on my discussion forum. I'm doing this for a number of reasons, but the main one is that it gives me the information I need to get answers while still covering everyone who contributes to me, it is gated behind a signing that requires you to say you are old enough to read my stuff, and also because (ultimately) most places aren't emotionally invested in me.

Also, because I use the discussion forum like a mailing list since you can hit the notification icon on announcements and (almost) never come back again.

The Contest

I'm going to run a simple raffle contest. It won't require you to buy anything or even be a patron. I'm going to with a simple entry because I fucking hate the "tweet for a vote" and "sell your left arm for five votes". All you have to do head to my forum and check the box that says "Enter me into the contest" and you're entered! (Remember, you can use your Patreon login to automatically get your tiers.)

(There is a poll here.)

There are three primary prizes, basically the winner gets to choose which one of the three they want:

• A signed copy of Derik's Luck. The caveat is that shipping a big book internationally is expensive. I'll cover the first $10 of any shipping costs (enough to get anywhere in the US in a small flat rate box), but if you need more, I'll ask you to the cover the difference.
• First Alternative: A year of the $5 tier benefits.
• Second Alternative: An unsigned copy from a local Ingram printer. Since Ingram has multiple international printers, this lowers the shipping costs significantly but doesn't give the nifty signature experience (but, maybe book plates).

I'm not automatically including my patrons into the contest because not all of them are interested in giving me their personal information, they don't want books (or free memberships), or another reason. So even if you are a patron, you still have to enter.

Stretch Goals

Let's be honest, I haven't had a lot of luck with contests and sales in general. But, I like the possibility that things will blow up, so let's set up some stretch goals. Since this is in the middle of August, I get reports from various ebook retailers and Ingram in the second week of September. So, I'll total up all the sales (including Patreon and SubscribeStar) and use those against the following stretch goals:

• Every $100, I'll add a prize of one year of $5 tier.
• At $250 and every $500 after that, I'll add a second primary prize.
• At $1000 (and every $1000 after that), I will add a new grand prize:
  • First Prize: A signed copy of all three of my printed books (The Mummy's Girl, Eliza and the Raptor, and Derik's Luck). This is expensive to ship, so I'll cover the first $25 (flat rate large box) for anything that requires more.
  • First Alternative: Five years of the $5 tier benefits including suggesting and voting for new stories.
  • Second Alternative: An unsigned copy of all three books from an Ingram printer (there are European and Australian printers, so the expense is much cheaper).
• At $5000, I will write a winner a novella of their choice of (legal) topics, settings, or anything else they want.

At-Cost Books

I've said that patrons can get my books cheaper. What this means any patron can order a book "at cost" (which is defined as the cost for me to get it printed and shipped, shipped twice if you want it signed) as long as you have a lifetime total of more than $25. I'll be glad to send you a copy of the paperwork to cover that, but it's about as cheap as I can make it.

(There is a poll for this.)

Book Plates

I've never tried this, but I know some authors have signed book plates. Basically stickers that I can sign and send out in the mail. I haven't tried to do that before. If I did, would you be interested? Since they are relatively flat and cheap, there wouldn't be any shipping costs associated with it (unless you ask for lots).

(There is a poll for this.)

Naturally, all the winners of the prizes would get stickers if I have enough of a demand for them (say more than 25 folks ask).