Help Me Launch a Crowdfunding Award

>>I'll think about what's feasible to add to my schedule. I think poems & songs since I started the cyberfunding have had donation buttons, though.<<

The award will be going by calendar year, so what counts is having done cyberfunded poetry in 2009. If you've got one from that time with a donation button (or other cyberfunded model) on it, please let me know -- I looked but didn't see any. Oh wait, you've got the donation button on your profile page, so that ought to cover everything on your blog since you labeled it "If you like what I write..."

>>How would you set up a donor award? I'm thinking it's a good idea to honor donors, but what criteria could you use for who wins? I don't like the idea of it being simply who had the most disposable income over the year!<<

That was requested and cheered by several people, and I added it to the original four project categories because I felt that it would honor what is unique about crowdfunding. The parameters for this category are:

* In order to be nominated, a patron must have contributed money to at least one cyberfunded project. This establishes the "crowdfunding" aspect and distinguishes patrons from audience members who are not putting money into this business model. However, financial contribution is not the only consideration for this category, so nominated patrons may be -- but are not required to be -- the most generous contributors to a project. Feedback, promotion, and other forms of enthusiasm may among the factors considered in nomination or voting. Note that many cyberfunded projects have an "honor wall" or some other form of acknowledgement for patrons, and some indicate which parts of a project were funded by whom, which helps show who might be eligible for this category and how great a patron they are.

* You may nominate a maximum of three projects per category. You are not required to make that many nominations or to cover all the categories. You may not nominate your own project, nor yourself as a patron; that's tacky. You MAY nominate patrons for the Patron category who have contributed money to your project, or you may nominate patrons supporting someone else's project; but still only a total of three nominations for this category.

>>I know for sure that I have a donation button on some songs, which, since I don't have any audio version is really all about the poetry, but yes, there's one on the profile too. <<

I think song lyrics could reasonably classed as poetry. Plenty of my poetry is lyrical too; I'm just not presenting it in sung form. *ponder* For contrast, someone busking with MP3 files or posting musical notation would wind up in the Other Project category.

>>The criteria for patron sound kind of fuzzy, but I do think that such an award is a good idea! One of the problems with cyberfunded creativity at this point is that readers don't know how important they can be in the creative process. This is one way to highlight that.<<

The primary criterion for Patron is that you must have contributed money to at least one cyberfunded project during 2009. Beyond that, it is up to the person making the nomination; whatever they consider important in a patron is their choice. If you want to nominate the 3 people who donated the most money to your project, or the person who donated $2 and then pimped your project all over the 'net, those are equally valid.

If questions arise during the award process, we can work them out. I wanted to start with something clear yet flexible.

>>I'm trying to remember--you're taking nominations from anyone who reads or otherwise participates in cyberfunded stuff, right? Presented correctly, that could highlight the importance of readers too.<<

Yes, anyone can make nominations: readers, writers, artists, patrons, curious onlookers, people who hope to try their hand at crowdfunding someday, etc. Everyone who is remotely interested is encouraged to participate in this award. Ideally, people should browse around some different crowdfunded projects before making their nominations. If you're not sure where to start, look at the links and posts in crowdfunding for ideas. I've also posted excerpts of fiction projects over on Hypatia's Hoard of Reviews.