02/10/2014
Hi everyone,
As most of you know, I spent 10+ years completing a collection of poems about my experiences in the Gulf War, titled Equipment. Though a good many of the individual poems have been published in various journals and magazines over the years, I've recently decided to publish the entire collection myself, as the first book out of my own small press, Two Birds, which will be dedicated to publishing and reprinting the work of veterans.
And that's where all of you come in. I've launched a Kickstarter campaign to make this a group effort, like bringing together all my old army comrades for one last mission.
I'm doing this through Kickstarter for three reasons. First, to help fund the publication of Equipment. Second to help me launch Two Birds. Third, to start putting together the funds necessary for the Living Veterans Project, a custom-built social media and content hosting platform I'm developing for veterans.
Kickstarter funding will go toward design and production costs for Equipment, as well as set-up costs for ebook and print-on-demand distribution, and promotion and marketing. If I can double my Kickstarter goal of $5,000, I will put the additional money toward hiring a marketing and social media consultant for a 6-month push after the book releases, including veteran outreach through veterans’ organizations, websites, and VA hospitals.
Any funding beyond that will go toward my larger goal of launching Two Birds and building the Living Veterans Project.
All of these efforts and goals go hand in hand with what I'm doing with Brooklyn Editorial. Here at BklnEdtrl we work with all kinds of authors in all genres, but my special focus has been veterans who want to share their experiences. My hope is that publishing Equipment will be the first step toward publishing the many stories that remain to be told by other veterans—of whichever war, at whatever age.
With everyone's help, I'll have the book produced in time for the 23rd anniversary of the cease fire on February 28 and will also have the funds needed to begin making real the dream of creating a space for veterans to find each other, give shape to their stories, and share them with the world.
Visit my Kickstarter page for more information and details: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/681016162/equipment-gulf-war-poems.
And to really make you eager, I'm attaching images for the tshirts that will be used for one of the KS rewards. All three will be used for tshirts; the "Affordable Armageddon" ad will also be used as a poster and marketing flyer.
Please spread the word to any and all. Thanks so much for your help.
Take care, Tony
A story told in poems about a young soldier and his comrades' experiences in the Gulf War and the battles that followed them home.