I don’t often talk about my “other” roles here on my site.  I’m just a thriller author, here.  But one of my other roles is that of editor in chief at our publishing company, Stories Rule Press.

We’ve been doing a lot of brainstorming lately, about the state of the book industry and where we think it might be going.  Part of that is the role that Amazon plays in the careers and fortunes of authors and publishers, plus the monopolies and take-overs of the bigger NY publishers and their impact on the industry.

As a result of all that research and discussion, SRP has moved into a new phase of publishing that includes crowd-funding.  Crowd-funding the publication of new books, new fancy leather-bound editions, audio book versions, and more, has become a new way for indie authors to deal directly with readers, and cut out the middle man (<clears throat> “Amazon”).

Readers benefit from this one-to-one relationship because the projects have tiers of sponsorship that include bonuses and other goodies that readers don’t get on the retail sites.

And earlier this year, Brandon Sanderson opened the eyes of readers to this way of publishing when he ran a Kickstarter campaign that raised $48 million dollars.  That’s another thing you will like about Kickstarter.   Everything is open and above board.  You can see how much a project has raised right there on the front page.

We launched our very first Kickstarter project just a few days ago, featuring the urban fantasy series Magorian & Jones, by SRP author Taylen Carver.

If you like urban fantasy at all, check out the Kickstarter project.  There are some great bonuses and goodies to pick up, depending on your level of sponsorship.  You’ll find the project here.

Mark.