Incentives, Incentives, Incentives

 My husband and I were out in the backyard just this afternoon. I set up some small flags (in a precarious arrangement) on a metal lawn chair, to serve as a backdrop for our 84-pound golden. Our dog rescue is creating a calendar, and since we needed a July picture, I was planning on submitting a pic of Radar.

Of course, as soon as I dragged the chair into the middle of the yard and started attempting to prop up the flags in the lattice-work of the chair (the ground was too dry and hard to jam the poles directly into the ground… I tried that first) Radar became curious… in an energetic manner.

Translation: Radar started leaping wildly in the area of the flags, knocking them down. His body became a furry comma, mid-air, as he twisted and dived, over and over.

Translation of the translation: He was acting like a fool.

My husband stood right behind me, with a premium treat in his hand, holding it up in the air while I fiddled with the camera.

Translation: My husband had a Greenie in his hand, trying to bribe Radar into momentary stillness.

After snapping several photos, I came in and looked at them. I wasn’t truly happy with any of them. Radar looked heavy in some, he looked asleep in some (his eyes were closed), he didn’t look like the regal pup he is in any of them.

Translation: I stink as a photographer.

Eventually, I got a decent one (without the flags in the background) after making a second attempt. And Radar getting “motivated” by a Greenie got me thinking…

Two of the women in my writing accountability group (the Butt-Kickers) suggested I try Publishizer to get my manuscript published. I’m checking it out. It frays my nerves to imagine taking on a daunting task like a crowdfunding project. I am no marketing whiz. I’m a writer, but despite that, I started researching, and some of the advice caught my attention.

Offer incentives to your donors. Find things of value that you can 

provide… and offer different things up at different donation levels.

Of course, there’s the obvious ones: a copy of the book. A list of the donors on a special thank-you page. But the more I thought about it, the more creative I got.

I love teaching my students. We’ve begun the school year with some creative writing centered around memoir. I could offer donors a classroom visit and writing lesson (if they’re local) or via Skype/Zoom/Google Meets if they’re not local. The donor isn’t a teacher? They could donate it to the teacher of their child/grandchild/neighbor’s kid.

Mama, one of the characters in my manuscript, was a wonderful cook. I could send the makings of a sweet treat that Mama made, along with the recipe, to donors.

Okay, so my creativity was short-lived. It’s Friday night, the night I usually crash extra early. Two incentives do not an incredible spurt make, but I’m working on it. I’m considering going in a nontraditional, new-school route… and a tiny fire, almost too small to be seen, has ignited.

If anyone out there has used Publishizer, please leave a comment. I’d love to hear about your experiences.

  

Sioux Roslawski is a middle-school communication arts teacher who adores her students (already) and loves her job. (It’s true.) In her spare time she binge-watches TV series (too often), rescues dogs, and dotes on her grandchildren. (There’s three of ‘em now.) If you’d like to read more of her stuff, check out Sioux’s blog.