When I was a little girl I used to make my own books out of typewriter paper. I wrote the stories myself, I drew the illustrations, stapled them together, and kept them on my bookshelf.

How excited I would have been in those days, had I been able to gaze into a crystal ball and foresee the emergence of technologies that put all the resources necessary to create a book at one’s very fingertips.

For several years now, I have been watching the emergence of the “new publishing paradigm.” I’ve watched with fascination as exceptional authors like Tim Pratt, Tobias Buckell, Doug Lain, and many, many others have seized control of their respective auctorial destinies and launched themselves into the once-reviled (and still, I am told, frequently tempestuous) seas of self-publishing.

And I thought—”Wow! That looks like fun!”*

Which is why, in Spring 2012, I will be throwing myself into that cold, reckless, glorious ocean to flounder alongside the brave souls who have preceded me. I will launching a Kickstarter campaign to fund the production of the next two books in the Veneficas Americana series: THE WARLOCK’S CURSE and THE UNSTEADY EARTH.

Unlike the little typewritten books I made when I was a kid, I will not be stapling these together and drawing the covers with colored pencil. Instead, I’ll be working with a hand-picked team of creative professionals, intensely brilliant people like cover artist Lee Moyer and editor Juliet Ulman (who, by the way, funny story, actually acquired the first book in the series—THE NATIVE STAR—for Spectra.) Together, I know we will create something wonderful.

This will all cost money—and it damn well should, because artists and editors (and writers) need to get paid. How much money? I don’t quite know. I’m building my budget, getting quotes, sketching out my timeline. Creating a project plan. Brainstorming goodies that will make supporters’ eyes pop. Oh yeah, and writing the books. That too.

And there it is. There isn’t much more to tell. Not yet, at least … but there will be—oh yes! You can count on that.

I invite you to join me on this adventure. If you’re interested, please subscribe to my mailing list. It will be my vehicle for providing random and irregular updates (and, most importantly, sounding the alert when the Kickstarter campaign is about to get underway.)

Well, there you have it. The apotheosis of my fondest girlhood dream is now in my grasp, and it only took thirty years. I wonder how much longer I’ll have to wait for the flying unicorns.

*Several of the authors mentioned have felt compelled to point out to me that when it comes to self-publishing the ratio of “fun” to “hair-pully-outy” is roughly 1:1. I consider myself warned and also challenged.