AMBER LOVE 16-APR-2013 #ProTip: If you want nerd media like blogs/podcasts to cover your crowdfunding, have a reward tier for that and actually be a visitor of the site. It’s extremely rude to ask a blogger to cover your campaign when you haven’t even checked out their content to see if it’s appropriate. Now, before you say, there’s no technical component in crowdfunding software to have a tier for “barters,” what I’m saying is you need to make one for yourself and do the work manually.

I’ve posted this #ProTip a couple of times on Twitter and Facebook. Every once in a while I feel it needs to be said again because there always new listeners to the show and new followers to the feeds.

Let me say this as clearly as possible: I write, podcast, and create comics because I love it. It’s not “my life.” I’m not driven by some passion seeded deep within my soul to do it. I simply discovered some things during my life that I enjoy doing and pursue them. I also don’t make any money from it. The server space, equipment, convention travel, making comics, and software cost me money. Therefore I don’t have the incentive to promote other people making thousands on places like Kickstarter unless I personally believe in the project.

If you’re wondering how to include the nerd media in your campaign rewards because crowdfunding tiers implement a payment checkout system, it’s easy. Every site that gives you coverage gets put on your Press List. Give the people on your Press List the perks of an appropriate tier. It doesn’t go through your crowdfunding numbers or checkout so it doesn’t make your campaign more or less successful, but it’s the right thing to do.

A friendly blogger is not there for you to take advantage of. Me, for instance. I rarely accept unsolicited requests for people to be on Vodka O’Clock. That means they have asked to be on the show rather than me seeking them. It’s nice when that happens; it means someone has heard of me. But I realize that doesn’t mean they’ve heard the show, as in actually sat down and listened to it. I don’t put all my pride in the site stats or number of downloads through iTunes, but I do pay attention to them. There is something more important than the numbers: the engagement. This means making encouraging comments in the comments section of our posts or on the videos or leaving iTunes feedback. It could also mean tweeting to us that you enjoyed an episode and why; or mention you went out and backed a project Ashley featured because you liked her interview with the creator.

The AmberUnmasked comments are not for you to post your unsolicited project especially on a page that is completely irrelevant.

We are on social media and my email address is on the site. It doesn’t take a world class detective like Batman to figure out how to reach us personally. Create a press announcement and an email and send it privately and courteously asking if we have the time to p/review it. There should be some details: how many pages is the book; what is the status of the production process; AND WHY you want our site to cover it. P/Reviewing also implies that you are going to share the work with us so we have a clue why it matters to our audience and to us. There are certain publishers that we have excellent relationships with who give us advanced copies of the work because that’s how the process works. Neither I nor Ashley are going to take a crowdfunding video seriously when it shows almost nothing about the project.

We also expect timely responses. You want us to feature you? You should not take more than a week to respond to the questions. Both of us have day jobs and p/t night jobs aside from the hours put into the website each week. Please feel free to ask me any questions about this. These aren’t demands; they are requests. I said being engaged with followers matters. I may not be able to reply to every tweet but I read them.

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of AmberUnmasked.com and Vodka O'Clock Podcast. Author of The Farrah Wethers Mysteries, comic book short stories, prose, and non-fiction. Cosplayer and figure model.