One year, three novels. Help me do it!

I'm Christopher Ruz/D.D. Marks, Australian author. For the past two years I've had the privilege of living the dream - writing from eight to six every day and paying my bills by selling books. For this, I owe a tremendous debt to my fans and friends.

That dream, unfortunately, is over.

Maybe it's due to algorithm changes on Amazon. Maybe it's because I split my time between too many projects. Maybe it's bad luck. Either way, I'm cleaned out. I've returned to university to retrain as a high-school teacher, but that hypothetical job is at least two years away. In the meantime, the bills still need paying, my cat Muffin is crying for her chow, and my house is missing half a wall.

I've got two options. One: I tell my readers and fans to cool their jets and put all my projects on hold for the next two years, until I have a full-time job and enough security to resume writing, and flip burgers at McDonalds to pay the bills. Two: I ask for help.

I really, really don't like disappointing people.

With your support, I'd like to write and publish three novels in 2014. From left to right, these are Century of Sand 2, Rust: Season 2, and Olesia Anderson 7. That's one fantasy novel, one horror novel, and one espionage thriller.



It's a huge amount of work. Most authors would be happy to pump out one full length novel a year. I'm trying to triple that, all while completing my Masters in Secondary Teaching. But I'm confident that, with your help, I can pull it off.

I have no idea who you are or why I should care.

I'm a prolific, life-long writer who publishes under two pseudonyms: Christopher Ruz and D.D. Marks. As you can see, I don't mess around - since beginning my self-publishing journey, I've put out eight novellas in the horror, scifi and espionage thriller genres, one full-length fantasy novel, and a chunky short story collection. Download a free sample of some of my work, see if it catches your fancy.

If I support you, what does the money go towards?

Writing, plain and simple. Every donation funds time that I spend with my butt in my seat instead of putting lettuce-cheese-pickles-onions on sesame seed buns. I won't be working for myself. I'll be working for you, and I'll give it 100%, sunrise to sunset.

Why $5000? That's a TON of money.

Honestly? It's a big round number I chose. I don't expect donations to ever reach the full amount. However, if you'd like the raw math, it costs around $200 AUS a week to keep a roof over my head and food in my stomach in Melbourne, Australia. $5000 = 25 weeks of full-time writing. I write around 15,000 words in a good week, so $5000 funds around 375,000 words of fiction.

Of that, 140k words is Century of Sand 2, 120k is two drafts of Rust: Season 2, and the remaining 115k is 2 drafts of Olesia Anderson 7. Considering my university workload, I think that's solid output.

Do I get anything out of this?

Books, books, books! Every level of donation comes with ebooks attached. Some come with extra rewards, like becoming a supporting character in one of my novels, or getting me to write a short story just for you, about anything you want.

If you were making a living from writing before, why didn't you, you know, save for a rainy day?

There are different definitions of 'making a living'. Some people see a six figure income as 'scraping by'. For me, my writing living was below minimum wage - in fact, below the Australian poverty line. Trust me, I live very frugally and saved all I could. If I hadn't, I'd have run out of money six months ago.

If your concern is that your money will vanish into blackjack or wizz-fizz, rest assured, not a cent will be spent on anything except food, accomodation and book cover design. My priority is, and will always be, getting great books into the hands of my fans.

When will these books be done?

Rust: Season Two will be the first out of the gate. I'm working on the first draft at the moment and would love to launch it in April or May, but that depends entirely on how much time I have to write. Century of Sand 2 is in a draft stage - one more complete draft will do the trick, which will be finished around August or September. Olesia Anderson 7 has been planned and plotted, and will probably be finished around the end of the year.