There will be TWO book launches for Bruce Finds A Home in February 2018 - one in Auckland and one in Dunedin. 

Bruce Finds A Home: Auckland book launch
11am, Sunday 11 February ​
Dorothy Butler Children's Bookshop
1 Jervois Road, Ponsonby
Join the event on Facebook.

Bruce Finds A Home: Dunedin book launch
10.30am, Saturday 17 February 
UBS (University Book Shop)
378 Great King Street, North Dunedin
​Join the event on Facebook.

Both events are free, and everyone is welcome to attend.

At both launches, free activities for kids will include colouring-in and face-painting. And of course, copies of the book will be signed and pawtographed.

​I hope to see you there!

I've just returned from a flying visit to Auckland where I signed (and pawtographed) the books that are going out to Kickstarter backers!

The books will be sent out shortly, and then the next big milestone will be the general release - and the book launch - in February. 

​A huge thank you to everyone who has supported me and the development of this book over the past two years. 

A long time ago in a land far away, I used to write plays. Then I went and wrote songs and played in bands for a while. Then I got a job and did all that stuff. And over the past few years I've been getting into writing short stories, writing articles, and most recently, writing and illustrating a children's book. 

But every now and then one of those plays pops up, and I was contacted recently by a young woman who is studying my play Indiscretions (published in Playmarket's No8 Wire) as part of her high school coursework. 

Then yesterday another play of mine, Painted Lips, was mentioned in an article about the fabulously talented Michelle Langstone and Caroline Bell-Booth. 

It's kind of nice to get a reminder of my old work, at a time when my new work is starting to take off. 

Well this is exciting - these are advance copies of the #Brucethecat book Bruce Finds A Home!

Thank you so much to Mary Egan Publishing who have done such a brilliant job on the production, and of course to all our Kickstarter backers - we literally couldn't have done this without you!

We're on track to send our books to backers in November as promised. If you didn't pre-order a copy, don't worry - they'll be available for sale through my website a bit later (I'll be sure to let you know when). 

​Woop woop!

Video music by Bensound.com.

I've just returned from three amazing days in Auckland at the Storylines Hui - a conference for children's book writers and illustrators. Here are some notes from the sessions I attended...

Workshop: Great ideas and writing texts for picture books with Kyle Mewburn
Kyle took us a high-octane roller-coaster ride of his tips and tricks:

• The story should have a rhythmic thread. Create music that people can read
• Can your story be told in 3 - 4 quick scenes?
• Keep whacking the reader with emotion. Don't be afraid to go as low as you can - the lower you go, the higher you can come back
• Obstruct your character from getting what they want
• The first couple of scenes should hint at the resolution
• The main character should have a key attribute, eg stubborn
• Have a little linguistic hook. Kids like to repeat things. Try to get a rolling rhythm
• Find words that ring in your head - "nuggety" words

Workshop: Illustrating children's books with Gavin Bishop
Gavin took us through his journey into children's books, which began with a degree in fine arts. Listening to his story was an absolute delight. Here are some of the pointers I took away:

• Take photos of buildings and landscapes for reference
• Always make story boards and dummies (Gavin does his storyboards in a journal so he can go back to them)
• Use tracing paper!
• The pictures can tell a second story
• Collage can be quite a quick way of working, and a good way to get block colours

Gavin also got us to do an exercise where we sketched out some ideas for a story on a storyboard similar to this one.

Pitch slam
We all had the opportunity to pitch to publishers and agents if we wanted to. I pitched to three publishers. I need to work on my pitch, but I really appreciated the chance to meet the publishers and hear their feedback.

Literary banquet
I'm including a line about our conference dinner because our table won third prize in the 'design a label for a bottle of wine' competition! We won for 'The Little Yellow Swigger' (other possible label ideas included 'The Wine in the Meadow' and 'Duck Drunk').

Workshop: Illustration for children's picture books with Vasanti Unka
I love Vasanti's work and her workshop was really useful. Some top takeaways include:

• Don't be afraid to use text in your illustrations
• Don't be afraid to use a variety of different techniques, eg collage
• Vasanti has a design background, and the design of the page is of utmost importance to her. In this regard she's influenced by the Swiss design school style
• Vasanti is also influenced by Sara Fanelli and by Japanese artists
• Play around with the form of the book. What special things can the book do? What extra treats can you give your reader?
• You can draw or paint an element and use Photoshop to turn it into a pattern
• Try using patterned backgrounds
• When Vasanti sends different options to a publishers she makes sure she loves all the options. That way, she'll be pleased with the outcome no matter what they choose

Workshop: Writing catchy poetry for children with Paula Green
I entered the workshop with some serious FOMO (David Elliot was giving a workshop at the same time, which I missed) but Paula's session was an absolute delight.

• Poetry is play
• Think of something you want to write about and quickly write down all the words that you associate with that thing. How can you use repetition, alliteration and rhythm to create interest?
• Think like a film camera. What's in the 'establishing shot'? What's in the 'close-up'?
• Try writing three possible last lines
• Try taking the same idea for a poem and writing it three different ways.
• Paula has an A - Z of her favourite children's poets on The Sapling

The conference finished with a wonderful speech from Joy Cowley, who spoke about the power of books to affirm and empower children. It was a fabulous hui and I'm already looking forward to the next one!

Other tips

• Check out Sandra Morris Illustrators Agency
• Advise these organisations upon publishing: The Sapling, NZSA, Storylines
• Talk to Creative New Zealand about your project before applying for funding
• Other resources: SLANZA, Booksellers New Zealand, bestseller lists, NZ Book Council...
• Visit Strategicgrants.co.nz for grant-writing resources
• You only get one chance when you approach an agent. Research them beforehand. Do they publish someone you admire? Let them know. Always read the submission guidelines on the website
• Income can be derived from the school speaking circuit / teaching school holiday programmes
• Enter the Storylines competitions!
• Read: Myths and legends, Robert McKee's Story
  

I'm on holiday!

Which means - over the next two weeks I'll be writing and sending away a submission or two, continuing to fulfill my custom Kickstarter rewards (I've done the custom videos and have just got the custom illustrations to go), trying to squeeze in as much reading as I can, and preparing to go to the Storylines Hui in Auckland this weekend!

Storylines is a network for children's book authors and illustrators, and at the Hui I'll have the opportunity to hear from legends like Tessa Duder, Joy Cowley, David Elliot and more. I'm also going to meet some local publishers and pitch a new idea to them. Wish me luck!

Today marks the beginning of the last week of the ‘Bruce Finds A Home’ Kickstarter campaign!
 
As of today we are 89% funded with eight days to go and feeling cautiously optimistic / freaked out / a bit sick / incredibly grateful for all the support!
 
We’ll be pulling out the big guns over the next week (well, by ‘The Big Guns’ I mean a couple of Facebook ads, contacting every internet cat under the sun and hosting this crowdfunding workshop / closing event at Port Chalmers Library).
 
I also have a story on OH! Baby today, and we have a story coming up on I Iz Cat, which is billed as “probably the best cat website on the planet”.
 
We’ll send a supporter update and the “Bruce Mews” newsletter out over the next few days and encourage people to share the campaign (though I must say, people have been AMAZING about sharing it so far).
 
One of the loveliest things about this project has been getting so much support from friends, family, colleagues, Bruce fans and other people from all over the world. It’s been incredible. Lately I’ve struck up some conversations with two awesome bloggers in America. It’s amazing how many wonderful, helpful people there are out there.
 
It’s also been interesting keeping an eye on the other crowdfunding campaigns that I’m aware of at the moment (notably Gecko Press and Bachelorette) and I hope they meet their targets too.
 
Well I’d better get onto contacting all those internet cats… I’ll update you next week once it’s all over and let you know how we got on!

We are 81% funded with 15 days to go and I am so super-stoked!
But… It’s happened. We’re in Death Valley.
 
All the crowdfunding websites tell you about Death Valley. It’s the middle two weeks of a four-week crowdfunding campaign, where instead of trying to stay afloat on a tsunami of pledges… you’re watching a dripping tap.
 
So I’ve trawled the internet for advice, and these stand out to me as tips worth trying when you’re drying out in Death Valley.
 
Host a Kickstarter live video event
Am I game for holding a live video event? Would my backers actually be interested in this? I’m not sure. A lot of crowdfunding advice is geared at Americans and / or people peddling tech products. I’m not sure that a live video event would appeal to children’s book / cat lovers in New Zealand. (But if you think it would, let me know in the comments!)
 
Love your backers
One blog asked how I am providing “an extraordinary experience” for backers. That’s a good question. I think I put on a good event for the people who were able to come to my launch… but what about everyone else? I will put my thinking cap on as to how I can make supporting my campaign a fun experience for my backers. (Ideas welcome!)
 
Set micro-goals
Some people suggested creating micro goals and posting updates such as “I only need 2 more backers to get to 100 backers!” Again, I’m not sure that my audience would love this approach. So I probably won’t try this one.
 
Contact bloggers
I have already done this, and I must admit I have found this quite challenging. There are plenty of blogs for tech products, but book blogs want to see a published book and cat blogs want me to pay for advertising. So I’m feeling a bit high and dry on the blogger front, but I’ll give it another go. (I did have a guest post on Elsewhere today though!)
 
Call to action
I sent my backers one update where I asked them to share my campaign and then I felt a bit cheap and dirty. But I think I could probably get away with asking this one more time before my campaign ends.
 
Celebrate milestones
I think celebrating genuine milestones is a better approach for me than setting micro-goals. I posted on Bruce’s page when we got to 75% backed and that post got really good traction.
 
Add new rewards
I have added a new reward (the ability to buy a book AND stickers) due to popular demand, and I’ll add another reward (an eBook – also the result of a request) in the next few days.
 
Thank you so much to everyone who has followed this journey, shared the Kickstarter page or become a backer. I’ll update you again next week!

It’s been a week since my Bruce Finds A Home book Kickstarter began (ok a week and a day... I kind of lost track of time for a while there), and I am already 68% funded! The Kickstarter goes for another three weeks (until 22 June) so I’m feeling quietly confident that I’ll reach my target. 

Today I’m going to write about two things that have struck me over the past week – awesomeness and analytics. 

First up, awesomeness. I have been absolutely blown away by the amount of support this project has received. It’s had a great reception in the media, with stories on Stuff.co.nz, in the Otago Daily Times, on Dunedin Television, in a cat blog called Katzenworld and in our local community paper the Rothesay News. (Credit for this goes to media maven Megan Martin, who crafted a killer media release. Shout-out to Megan's cat Mouse, who is still getting frisky with a laser pointer at the ripe old age of 13!)

The Kickstarter page has been shared by friends, family, colleagues, fellow writers and Bruce fans all over the world, and it is so nice to know that people are going out of their way to support this project. Thank you everyone – I feel like the luckiest cat lady in the world. 

Now for something a bit less awesome but nevertheless interesting… analytics. Kickstarter has analytics you can tap into to find out about your customers, and you can also connect your Kickstarter to google analytics to learn about your site visitors. I found connecting my Kickstarter to google analytics a tad confusing at first, but this blog post soon sorted me out:
A simple guide to using Google Analytics for your Kickstarter 

So what have I learned about the people who’ve visited the Bruce Finds A Home Kickstarter page?

Visitors to the page are coming primarily from New Zealand and America (not surprising – we’re based in New Zealand but most of Bruce’s fans are in The States). Although we've got a lot of lovely American backers, the majority of people who are pre-ordering books are currently from New Zealand (I wonder if the cost of shipping to the US is putting some people off). 

It’s interesting that there is a very slightly younger skew of people visiting the page, when Bruce has a similar number of fans across most age groups on Facebook. Perhaps some younger people feel that little bit more comfortable using a platform like Kickstarter. I have to admit, it took me a while to get my head around it.

I know some people have had a few technical problems using Kickstarter, and other people have had ideas for different rewards, so I’ve put a comment on my page encouraging would-be backers to get in touch if they have an idea or if they need technical support. Hopefully that will encourage people to make contact - and I always love connecting with Bruce fans. 

So that was this week… what about next week? From what I’ve heard, Kickstarters seem to follow this trajectory (see diagram below)... so I’m steeling myself for a nail-biting two weeks of little movement – while of course doing all I can to keep on moving that needle. 

The "Bruce Finds A Home' Kickstarter is now live - you can check out the page and the video here. 

This evening we launched the Kickstarter at Startup Space Dunedin. My speech is below - it gives a bit of an overview of the journey getting to this point. The Kickstarter will be live until 22 June, so this is the first of four installments as I go on my Kickstarter journey. Thanks for following along!

Hi, I’m Kathryn van Beek, also known as Bruce the Cat’s “mum”. Over the years I’ve been in bands, produced plays and written fiction. So I’ve been involved with lots of projects that I would have liked to have gone viral. But in the end, what went viral was my cat.
 
I found Bruce on a footpath in the rain when he was just one day old. My boss let me work from home a couple of days a week so I could look after him. On the other days I packed a ‘mom bag’ and he was looked after by my friend Kalee, or by Carol, an Otago Polytechnic Vet Nursing student. I made a Facebook page for Bruce so my friends could follow his progress. The next thing I knew, I was in a meeting when one of my colleagues burst in. “Bruce is on the front page of The Herald!” she cried. Soon after he was on The Dodo, then he was on Love Meow… and now he’s got 31,000 fans all over the world. Most of his followers are in New Zealand, The USA, England and Germany, but he also has fans in Austria, Thailand, India, Peru, Japan, Pakistan… you name it.
 
So I had a curious problem – finally I had a huge audience, but I had no way of really maximising it. Creating a children’s book had never really been on my radar but I’ve always loved writing and drawing, so I decided to write and illustrate a children’s book that’s a fictionalised account of Bruce’s story.            
 
In the book it’s a little girl called Kate who finds the kitten on her way home from school. She has to find out where he belongs before a rainstorm drenches both of them. Her neighbours Miss Conduct, Sir Real and Rev Olding are little help, but Kate and her mum are able to save the day.
 
Because Bruce has been such a hit on online I’m turning to the internet to get Bruce’s book published. I’m crowd funding through a platform called Kickstarter to raise the funds to print the book. Kickstarter enables Bruce fans to pre-order copies. There are all sorts of other rewards too – including the ability to donate copies to Dunedin’s Animal Rescue Network, a charitable trust dedicated to helping stray and abandoned cats and kittens. You’ll be glad to know that your raffle ticket has put you in the draw to win a candle, not a kitten. (But if you would like a kitten, speak to Sharon.)
 
I’d like to say a huge thank you to the organisations that have come on board as partners: Royal Canin, Black Cat Interiors, Humanimals, Quick Brown Fox coffee liqueur, Blackcat Educaton, Pet Doors R Us and to principal sponsor Otago Polytechnic. Thank you to the Startup Space for hosting this launch, and to Invercargill Brewery who donated the Pitch Black beer in honour of a certain pitch black cat.
 
Thanks to Megan Martin for working her magic with the media, to Hayden Parsons who created the amazing video that I’m about to show you, to the kids at Port Chalmers Primary School who helped me develop the story, and to my three expert children’s book consultants Lena, Atticus and Myla.
 
Thanks also to the Digital Content Coordinators who have helped me bring the Kickstarter to life: Shamintha Kumar, who has contacted pretty much every cat blog under the sun, and Laura Sutherland, who has been creating incredible GIFs and graphics. (Laura also happens to be the CEO of Black Cat Candles.) And of course thank you to my husband Tim who has been on this crazy journey with me for the past year and a half.
 
Publishing a book this way is an amazing opportunity but it’s also incredibly scary – because Kickstarters are all or nothing. If we don’t reach our target, no one gets charged and we won’t get any funding. If you’d like to pre-order a copy that would be great, but another way you can help is by sharing the link to the Kickstarter campaign, which will be available on Bruce’s Facebook page this evening.

​Now I’ll show you our Kickstarter video, and after that we’ll draw the winners of the candles, you can pre-order a book if you’d like to, and I’ll be around to answer your questions over a glass of Pitch Black beer. Thank you.