Guest Post: Jon. S. Lewis

Today on Winterhaven Books we have the amazing Jon S. Lewis with us.  He is starting a really awesome campaign and we are so thrilled to have him on to discuss it!  

Why I’m Excited About the Future of Publishing

Technology has pushed the publishing industry into a state of hyper change and even though change can be terrifying, I’m excited. 
Amanda Hocking couldn’t find an agent (let alone a publisher) so she went to market with her own books and now she’s a literary rock star. After Hugh Howey found success publishing his own books, agents and publishers came knocking on his door, but he didn’t need them any longer. 
There are dozens if not hundreds of other authors experiencing similar success because they were brave enough to submit their stories to the public, even after agents and publishers rejected them. That’s the kind of author who is going to succeed in this new paradigm. And it’s time for me to jump on board.

I Can’t Believe I’m Saying This But I’m Publishing My Next Book

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve been lucky enough to publish nine books through publishers like Scholastic, Little Brown, and Thomas Nelson, but I’ve decided to publish my next book alone. Why? It has nothing to do with money and everything to do with rising to the challenge that independent publishing offers. I want to find out if I’m up to it.

An Anthology to Battle Breast Cancer and Help Kids Get Books

Okay, so part of it actually has to do with money, but the money isn’t for me. While I write Grey Griffins: Night of Dragons I’ve asked some of my author friends to write Grey Griffins short stories that will be collected into an anthology. 100% of the profits from that anthology will go to the National Breast Cancer Foundation (http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/) and Kids Need to Read (http://www.kidsneedtoread.org/).
 
Here’s a list of the participating authors:
• Brandon Mull | NY Times Bestselling Author, Fablehaven
• Aprilynne Pike | NY Times Bestselling Author, Wings
• Frank Beddor | NY Times Bestselling Author, Looking Glass Wars
• Michael Spradlin | NY Times Bestselling Author, Youngest Templar
• Dean Lorey | Co-Executive Producer, Arrested Development
• Shannon Messenger | Let the Sky Fall, Keeper of the Lost Cities
• Tom Leveen | Party, manicpixiedreamgirl, Sick
• Joseph Nassise | International Bestselling Author, Templar Chronicles
• Matt Forbeck | Leverage: The Con Job based on the TNT television series
• Janette Rallison | My Fair Godmother, Slayers 
  
The Drawback with Self-Publishing 
Each short story in the Grey Griffins anthology will be professionally edited. It will also have its own professional cover painted by Scott Altmann (http://www.scottaltmann.com/), which means that the final product will look every bit as good as what the major publishing houses produce. But the one drawback with publishing your own book is managing the upfront costs.  

Crowdsourcing with Kickstarter 
It’s why I’m running a Kickstarter campaign to help pay for the artwork and the editorial for the anthology as well as Grey Griffins: Night of Dragons. Crowdsourcing a book is basically a way for readers to pre-order it so we can invest the money into making the product. And pledge levels for the campaign start at only $1. There are some fun rewards like custom Grey Griffins short stories, collectible character trading cards and sketches from the cover artist. For the writers out there, we’re offering the chance for a query letter review, a partial manuscript review, and even a Skype brainstorm session where I’ll help you come up with ideas for your story.
 
You Can Even Get Your Story Published in the Grey Griffins AnthologyI have a passion for helping new writers break into the industry, and I thought the best way to do that with this project was to give someone a chance to get a short story published in the anthology. Your story will end up in the same book with all those New York Times bestselling authors. If it sounds like something you’re interested in, you can find the submission guidelines here: bit.ly/gg-anthology.
 
Thank you 
Thanks for taking the time to read this and for your consideration to back the Kickstarter campaign. I’m going to need your help to make this project a reality, and I know that together we can do something incredible!

Jon we want to thank you for reaching out to us about this amazing campaign.  We love that the proceeds will go to Breast Cancer Foundation and Kids Need to Read.  Those are both causes that are personal to us.  We really hope this awesome idea takes off!

 UPDATE!  The Kickstarter program is now LIVE!  Click on the links below to help a great cause!

• BITLY: http://kck.st/1aXVQQC
• Full URL: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1363603530/grey-griffins-night-of-dragons

 About Jon S. Lewis
Jon Samuel Lewis is an American writer best known for the acclaimed Grey Griffins series published by Scholastic’s Orchard Books. After selling nearly a million copies in the original trilogy, Lewis and his writing partner, Derek Benz teamed with Little Brown to publish the Grey Griffins Clockwork Chronicles. He is also the author of CHAOS Novels, a young adult urban science fiction series published by Thomas Nelson and has written for DC Comics. Lewis is also a marketing executive and content strategist who works with Fortune 500 companies on their digital marketing strategies.