Great, can you cc @ivan in the email?
1 Like
@nadia I am still working on the crowdfunding page as it has a lot more content going into it. I will have the full draft uploaded by the end of the day.
Hi Tineeka, thanks for this!
This kind of material is super challenging to produce if you have not followed the entire process from the beginning. And I am just one person/perspective. So Iâm adding my comments here so that others can chime inâŚ
My own thoughts, curious to hear what others thinkâŚ
- I would have the personal benefits uvp up top - here you are asking someone to give/ do first, not whatâs in it for themâŚ
- what immediate benefit does this game bring to me in my life as an individual? What burning/ super interesting question is it answering?
See here as a reference for how we have approached this in the past: Sci-Fi Economics Lab - Live streaming & event | Indiegogo
And this was before we had a concrete value proposition - which we do now- finding alternatives what your own life and work could look like in a sustainable future - and how to credibly get there. UVP is that you do this with creative and knowledgeable people â ie. you get creative and realistic.
Then how you get access to this amazing opportunity that is fun, social and simple to participate in. A game!
But it can only happen with your helpâŚand why/what we need the money to do
âŚOnly then get into the story of how this came to happen.
See the setup we had for the first campaign. Look at the promise we made. And then look at what we are doing in terms of how it is the manifestation of our having kept our promise and built on it.
@ivan @ChrisFarnell @augusto @FrankD @matteo_uguzzoni @marina @hugi @yudhanjaya @alberto pinging you for your thoughts on this?
3 Likes
Writing competition invites 1 & 2. Will come back to this Wednesday to take my next pass at it: Witness Writers Competition Invitations - Google Docs
Hi Chris, thanks for this. Could I ask you to add one header call to action per invitation? (think title of blog post entry)
Hi @nadia Thanks for the feedback. I will keep the window open for 24 hours for othersâ comments and do all the changes in one go. I am currently working on the promotional material copies and will have them uploaded by tonight.
2 Likes
Just checking- is the first invite supposed to be up already?
I published it to get going but we can change the title
(and yeah, Iâll get those headers written up soon as I start work- watching the 2yo this morning but should get to it after lunch)
2 Likes
Also, and here weâre entering territory thatâs not really my business but- where did the wordcount and rates come from? 3,000 words seems like a lot to ask competition entrants to read before writing their own stories (especially since, in total youâre look for what, 3, 4 or 5 stories?) and 3,000 euros, even for a story that long, is bigger than quite a few novel advances Iâve seen.
You might also want to make sure youâve some back end T&Cs ready to establish who will âownâ the story once itâs written (Work For Hire would probably be normal for this, but Iâm not sure itâs in keeping with the generally open source, alternative-to-capitalist ethos youâre going for?)
3 Likes
Urgh it should say up to 3K Eur - thanks for the heads up, fixed it.
I did a bit of research about reasonable rates for professional fiction writers. It is important to bear in mind that the writers are going to have to spend quite a bit of time familiarising themselves with the body of writing and discussions we have had around building witness. We dont know about how people will approach the writing- some will be putting in significant research, while others not. I would much rather we put in a budget that ensures that we are not excluding thoroughly researched work, high profile writers etc. As for the length: Even a super short speculative futures piece like this one is minimum 1.5 words and then you have almost no character development at all.
Regarding contributions in the actual competition. I think reading 2-3 pages of text is not much of an ask.
We would much rather have a few quality contributions that make a meaningful contribution towards - helping us surface and think of creative responses to some of the deeper questions/ building the world.
2 Likes
as for the ts and cs its the usual Edgeryders terms of use and privacy policy: Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
1 Like
Do you mind if I move the thread of your questions and my answers to the post itself? I think others will have the same questionsâŚ
Not at all, please go ahead!
1 Like
Is it 3000⏠for a single story? I thought our calculations at SFWA rates put it to ~$240-320 a piece?
Itâs up to 3K a piece. And it will depend on how much work people are putting into the work. I mean if their piece takes 2 weeks of deep research vs 3 hours, you see?
Fair, if itâs going to be good work, theyâre going to have to pore through a LOT of writing. By my very rough count the Witnesspedia is around 20,000 words right now.
Things you should specify, though:
Is it for each piece submitted? Or is it for a final piece picked out among submissions, like Grist did? How many final pieces will be there, if so?
PS: At those rates, Iâm throwing my hat in the ring as well. -rolls up sleeves- Any limitations on entry, or are we looking for new writers only?
Letâs put it this way, how would you answer your own questions based on what is realistic and fair?