KickstarterForum.org

[dylanmad]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/438546710/juniper-leaves-quirky-ya-fantasy-book

A project like this is very important to many young readers. I believe we're in a world where both our projects can succeed; the money is definitely out there, it's a question of where backers choose to put it. However, if it came down to a hypothetical either-or which should never occur, I would suck up temporary personal failure for a project of such importance. Because I have it easy, I have all kinds of fantasy novels catering to me, or with characters I can relate to on direct and immediate levels, and it's too easy to forget that not everyone has such an easy time finding the same. An excerpt from the campaign explains it well enough:

Juniper Bray, kinky-haired queer nerd, embarks on a magical adventure in Scotland after losing her grandmother in this YA fantasy.

"A survey of 3,200 children’s books published in 2013—out of a total of 5,000—found that only 67 were by African-American authors, and only 93 titles centered on black characters. That’s the lowest number of black protagonists since 1994, when the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison began tracking that data. " Nina Terrero of Entertainment Weekly.

Times, they are-a-changin' and it is extremely important that our media reflect that. Growing up, I struggled to see or read about many people that looked like me, and I definitely didn't see many queer characters anywhere. Visibility is a powerful thing and without it, so many kids and teens will go through their formative years developing the thought that they possibly don't matter as much as the visible do. Juniper Leaves can be just a tiny part of the movement towards positive representations of PoC and queer youth simply because reading it will show how relatable an awkward teen girl can be, no matter her race or sexual orientation.

[RICSB]

Books of any kind are important. Since I was a kid I've watched "the dumbing down of America." I commend you your efforts and wish you much success.

[sbriggman]

@dylanmad - Interesting. How did you discover the project?

[dylanmad]

@sbriggman I look around on Kickstarter at times and like to reach out to others with similar ongoing projects, to see if there are cross promotion opportunities, or ways of showing solidarity given that we're both trying to get something published. I have backed a few such projects and left comments indicating that it would be neat if we could share each other's projects, but it's cool if they're not comfortable with that. And either way if I've pledged something I'm not going to back out on it. My expenditure on promotions has sort of got me cash strapped so I'm limited to lower-tier pledges, but it all counts. And I see Jaz has backed my project in return, which is nice. What I believe I did was type something like "publishing" or "fantasy novel" into the search bar, and browsed what came up. I take interest in projects which have a few weeks left and appear to have generated a good amount of their own momentum to start. And I do care about quality and social significance, and I saw both here.