So... I've been doing some more back-and-forth mailing with my editor at the publishing house, and somemore poking and prodding at numbers regarding the Kickstarter, and I can tell you - it's daunting. Very, very daunting.

I would like to offer the book at a price that will end up being slightly lower than the final retails price, because I'd like to give backers the extra bit of "I got a good deal" feeling that I would want at a crowdfunding thing myself.

The problem with this is that it will involve a good deal of guesswork regarding the final price of the book - which can only be calculated finally once we have the finished manuscript, which needs to be translated first. Which is what I am going to run the Kickstarter for.

So there's some guessing involved, and some insecurity because we'll be dealing with currency change from Euro (the campaign will automatically run in Euro as I'm based in Germany) to British money, and the two are not fixed together regarding exchange rates. By now, I have run a lot of numbers, and I can already see that it will need a really, really huge number of backers if the margins are what I am currently expecting them to be. Too huge - it will look rather unrealistic, I'm afraid, so I will have to tweak and poke some more, and try to find a solution together with the publisher.

Things I'm currently planning to add, Kickstarter-exclusive, are signed (and possibly numbered) bookplates. Also possibly with some nice design on them. There will be Thank-you-postcards somewhere in the works. Most probably the majority of backers will just want the book, though, so I will really need to nail down things regarding its pricing.

Stay tuned - and keep your fingers crossed that we'll be able to hit the target when guesstimating things!

From time to time, or so I've heard, it's good to do something that scares you.

Well. Maybe there's truth to this, and maybe not, but whichever is the case, I'm going to do something that scares me - I will run a Kickstarter.

And yes, that's really scary.

Ages ago, when I published my thesis in German, I was already thinking of getting it translated into English. What I did not know back then was how difficult it would be to get this done. Translating is hard work, and it needs to be done carefully, and this will take time - especially for a hefty volume like the one I wrote. I remember almost toppling over with surprise when I got an estimate for the translation costs the first time. Then I did some test translating, and the appropriate maths that goes with it, and yes - it's sound. It's fair.

It's also a shitload of money, because it takes a shitload of time.

So it's a small wonder that a traditional, smallish publishing house will not be willing, or able, or both, to pay for the translation costs for a book that, despite its relatively great success in Germany, is still a niche publication. Which is a problem.

Finally, though, I have found a publishing house with people adventurous enough to try and go for alternative funding for the translation... which means a normal book contract for the book itself, and a Kickstarter campaign to pay for the translation costs, with the printed book as one of the pledge rewards.

And this is what I'm currently working on (yes, well, among the other things, obviously): trying to think of all the expenses and possible pitfalls, and trying to work out what pledge levels to offer. It's a task that somehow keeps on growing, as the questions add up, and it's surprising how much of an individual pledge's money will disappear into item costs, fulfilment costs, payment and kickstarter fees and taxes.

I'm also still wracking my brain about possible pledge rewards. (Suggestions are more than welcome - it's hard for me to imagine what you might want!)

So. Scary stuff. Happening. Let's find out if that thing about being scared really is a good thing!

The NESAT is still lingering on for me, not only because I got new ideas and new contacts that I have not yet followed up on completely - it also is still lingering as I need to finish my paper writeup.

I like to give my presentations freestyle, with no written script, and I very much enjoy doing that. It means preparing the presentation so I get all my prompts from the Powerpoint, and doing multiple test runs (but then I guess everybody has to do these). For those test runs, I really like to use the "rehearse timings" function ("Neue Einblendezeiten testen", for the Germans among you). This gives me a running count of how long I've already babbled to myself, and in the overview pane in the program, I can see how long each slide took me to narrate everything I wanted to say. This makes it easy to see if a slide has too much babbling done, and I should probably split it, or lets me see at one quick glance where I might be able to cut something. (Just be aware, if you are planning to try this out, that PP will automatically adjust the settings for the presentation to automatically advance the slides according to the rehearsed timing; make sure you set your presentation to advance manually before you save the final version, or you will be irritated no end as your slides advance without your doing, and probably just a little out of sync with your talk.)

The upside of this? I only have to concentrate on the presentation, and I can speak freely, and if necessary speed up some part or go more into detail in another one. (This, obviously, is mostly the case when it's a longer presentation in a lecture setting and not at a conference, where the usual 20 minute time slot does not allow for much deviation from the rehearsed durations.) The downside of this, however, is that when it is time to write the presentation up in form of a paper, all the writing still needs to be done - there's no presentation script to build up from.

So this is what I am currently doing - writing up my paper for the NESAT conference publication. There are clear author guidelines for it, with a very clear hard deadline, and also hard limits on the number of pictures and words - and I'm sort of half-happy and half-sad that both are rather low. It means less writing, but also less space for thoughts and considerations and explanations, and some of my points are rather easier to show with pictures - so I'm wrangling with that.

And while I'm doing that... maybe you would like to see my presentation? I have kind friends who filmed my paper, and with kind permission from the NESAT organisers, I have put this recording on Youtube - so here's a little bit of the conference for you to enjoy, even if you couldn't be there in person:

 

I've learned that my book "Kleidung im Mittelalter" is currently out of print... which is, in a way, good news (because that means it has sold all its copies, obviously) but, on the other hand, bad news (because it's out of print and thus not available at the moment).

I'm in contact with the publishing house, and it does look like there might be another print run. I'll keep you updated!

Today's blog post is different - but in case you need some editing done, it is hopefully also helpful:

My friend and co-author Gillian Polack, known for a list of books both fiction and non-fiction, has an unexpected opening in her schedule... and she is thus taking on editing work (which she normally doesn't). This will be possible until February 2017, so it's sort of a special offer.

I've had the pleasure of working together with Gillian with her editor's hat on, so I know that she does a very good (and very thorough) job.

In a similar vein, if you would like her to give you private consultation for your writing, or research, that would be possible per chat (or, I guess, if you're in Australia or willing to travel there, it might even be possible in person).

If you are interested, you can reach Gillian via this contact form on her website - she'll give you her rates for the job you are asking for, and you can discuss details with her, too.

I'm not entering a title, though. I'm not. Because today is somehow... weird. I did manage to get a stack of stuff done, most of it in preparation for the next fairs, but I'm still feeling way behind, and would have liked to be much, much faster. Story of my life.

Parts of that stack of stuff done today include:

Updating and printing my spinning instructions. (While the downloadable version is available for free through my shop, you get the printed-out instructions in the spinning kit, so I need to print some more from time to time).

Getting together with Gillian for a chat - we're planning a crossover blog interview in celebration of the Beast's release as paperback, and it was my turn to get interviewed. I'll have the pleasure of pestering Gillian with questions next week, and you will see the results here on the blog.

Taking photos of the oil lights in action. I'm still totally in love with these things - they have been produced for ages (the three-bladed swimmer has been made, unchanged, since 1808) and they are just so incredibly nice to use, both for atmospheric lighting and for keeping your tea hot. However, the concept of using these swimmers is rather forgotten today, so people often stand in front of the swimmers at my table, looking puzzled. So I obviously need some explanatory thing to sit around on my stall table at a fair - and this, also obviously, needs photographs.

[caption id="attachment_2574" align="alignleft" width="265"] Atmospheric lighting. With a wineglass, a bit of water and some oil... and the swimmer, of course.


[caption id="attachment_2580" align="alignright" width="265"] Keeping tea hot. Because life is better with tea, and tea is better when hot. Obviously, right?


Actually that was the main bits I did today, as these things all tend to eat up more time than you'd guess at first. (Photos, in particular. Never underestimate the amount of time needed to take good photos - especially if they involve tricky lighting conditions. Or gold embroidery.) The rest was eaten up by the usual day-to-day things such as sorting out emails and working on the current paper/presentation projects. And having coffee. Plus tea. Tea was obligatory since I had to take teapot warmer pictures!

I'm back home from the forum lanarum, which was lovely - there were lots of very nice visitors, the organisers were incredibly well-organised and nice and helpful, the workshop room had plenty of tables and was light and spacious, and there was a coffee source just a few metres from the stall. Margit and I also got to have delicious food in the evening and enjoy wonderful, sunny and summery weather, plus relaxing knitting time - so there was absolutely nothing to complain about, and plenty of things to make us happy.

[caption id="attachment_2548" align="alignnone" width="640"] My booth at the forum lanarum, with the tables crammed full of stuff - as usual...


I even got to have a corner table. I like corner tables - especially as people look at one part, then think they have seen it all, move on and - surprise! - there is even more around the corner. Makes me grin every time.

Another reason to be happy: Today is release date for The Middle Ages Unlocked in its paperback incarnation. The hardcover book has done well enough to get a paperback sister - so my and Gillian's thanks to all of you who bought a copy of The Beast and made this possible!

And now... I am going to go celebrate!