Let’s talk about Campfire
You may have noticed that at the end of October I started mentioning that Lost Blades was available on Campfire. Your first thought was probably “What on earth is Campfire?”, possibly followed closely by “Why is she publishing Lost Blades on a site I’ve never heard of?”
They’re fair questions. So let’s talk about it.
What is Campfire?
I found Campfire in the beginning of 2021. I had recently finished my first draft of Lost Blades and was starting the draft for Broken Blades. I had notes everywhere – organized, but not always easy to put my hands on. I’d started building the world of Gaia eleven years earlier, and so I had early concept art, notes, maps, species, etc. I was managing (since I am at heart an organized person), but it wasn’t as efficient as it could be, and I was considering putting together a series bible to make accessing that information easier.
A list of Campfire’s current modules
Then I saw a YouTube video with a sponsored ad – “Campfire Blaze”, a program meant to help writers organize everything. And when I say everything, I mean everything. Specialized modules existed for character profiles, maps, locations, timelines, species, relationships, and far more. Not only that, but you could put your manuscript in as well, and everytime something showed up that you had an element for, you could click on it and it would bring that element up in a side panel for easy reference.
I was in love immediately.
Campfire immediately struck me as very pro-creator. Not only did they have this amazing organizational software for writers to use, but their pricing options were incredibly flexible. They had monthly or yearly subscriptions as well as one-time purchase options, and you could pay per module, which is great (you don’t spend a lot of time with philosophies? No worries; just don’t get that module).
Campfire is also incredibly flexible. While they have templates for each module, you can also make your own setup entirely. You can make custom themes to match the mood or genre of your writing. You can use it to plot your book before writing it, and you can use it to actually write your manuscript. You can create projects that are linked, which is useful for series. All this made my little creative heart happy, and I dove in.
Over time, Campfire continued to make improvements. It rebranded to Campfire Write that October, launching Campfire Explore around the same time. Explore allowed authors to share their work publicly. I submitted the worldbuilding aspects I had for Lost Blades, mostly so that my beta readers had access to that information if they wanted to. I continued to use Campfire as a place to keep my writing information organized, and I was happy.
Campfire Makes Their Big Announcement
In July of 2023, Campfire announced their plans to expand more into the reading and publishing space. Not only would authors be able to monetize their eBooks, however – they could monetize the worldbuilding.
It was kind of mindblowing.
Now, this isn’t an entirely new concept – I’m sure there are many authors who utilize Patreon in a similar way. But Campfire already had the infrastructure to make that worldbuilding organized and accessible, more like a wiki readers could access rather than have information given to them piecemeal each month. And Campfire would be a one-time purchase for readers, not a subscription.
They put out a call for authors who were interested to apply for the first wave of submissions, which would be published on their site that fall. I applied, and to my surprise (I always have low expectations) I got in! I spent the month of October making my project extra pretty with a ton of exclusive extra content (including three short stories!). Lost Blades released on Campfire at the end of October 2023 with over thirty other amazing stories.
Why Publish on Campfire?
Lost Blades was already available on every other retailer, and I also have direct sales. Why was I interested in this, a brand new platform only writers had really heard about before?
There’s a number of reasons, actually.
1. Royalties
I know, I know – most people think either, “Oh! Once an author publishes a book, they are set for life!” or “Damn, they’ll be selling books out of the trunk of their car for the rest of their life.”
Neither of these are true. Publishing in 2023 is hard, and adding to the complications are the low royalties authors receive. As a self-published author, I actually make far more in royalties per book than a traditionally published author, but it still is not a lot.
Campfire offers 80% royalties without the promise of exclusivity or a contract. That is… basically unheard of in the publishing space.
2. Reader Choice
There are two options when you purchase an eBook from Campfire. You can buy just the eBook (though most of the eBooks on Campfire at the time of writing this also come with some free element unlocks so you can preview the kind of worldbuilding included), or the Complete Package (which is EVERYTHING). And if you buy just the eBook and decide you want to upgrade, you simply pay the difference in the two price points; you don’t have to pay for the eBook all over again.
Campfire also makes it easier to interact with authors. While you can (and should; reviews are incredibly helpful to authors) review a book on Campfire, I (and most other authors I know) never interact with reviews. Reviews are for readers. But there’s a comment system built into Campfire that makes it really easy to casually chat with the author of a project if you want to!
Also, they are releasing a new reading app that will make reading the stories you purchase even easier in early 2024!
3. Interactivity
I’m a gamer. I always have been (Thanks, Mom and Dad!). As such, while I do love stories, I also value some amount of interactivity – and Campfire delivers on that. See, I didn’t mention earlier how readers would be introduced to the extra content.
It unlocks as you read.
Now, I understand that your mileage may vary here. Some people like this type of information gathering, others do not. But I LOVE it. Now, I could choose when readers would be introduced to Jeri’s profile, for example, or drop a short story related to events that had just happened in the novel itself.
As a reader, you have a lot of choice with how to interact with this. You can look at the elements as they unlock, you can wait until you reach the end of the book to check them out, OR you can go to the last few pages of the novel to unlock them all before you actually read. It’s completely up to you.
But if you want a special experience curated by the author… Campfire is really the place to go.
In Conclusion
The publishing industry is changing. As more and more people publish, more ideas are going to be added to the publishing world as those authors think of new ways to shake things up (consider, for example, the Brandon Sanderson KickStarter). I truly do believe Campfire and its innovative method of sharing additional content with readers is something that has an unrealized amount of value.
I’m excited to be among the first group of authors to kick things off. If you want to not only read Lost Blades but dive into the world and characters of Gaia, please give it a look on Campfire. And while you’re there, check out some of the other amazing stories, too.
Cheers!
