John Brown’s electric car website TheChargingPoint.com isn’t just ahead of the curve as a concept; so are its writers. Contributor Robert Llewellyn, perhaps best known as the rubber-headed android Kryten in BBC comedy series Red Dwarf, has chosen to publish his new fiction novel in a rather innovative way.
News from Gardenia, Robert’s fifth book, is being pre-sold through Unbound Books, a website that allows potential readers to listen to the pitch before pledging to support the book with cold hard cash. If the target number of supporters is reached, the author can go ahead and start writing (if they haven’t already). If the target falls short, those who have pledged can either have their money refunded in full or put it towards another Unbound project).
Those who stump up cash get access to the author’s private area or 'shed', where they can receive updates on the book’s progress, watch exclusive interviews, read draft chapters and join discussions with the author and other supporters. In the words of Unbound, “It's a portal into a new community of writers and readers: a place to comment on and contribute to a work in progress.” Neat.
There are also several levels of support, each with different rewards. The higher the pledge, the greater the reward. For News from Gardenia, £10 gets you the basic e-book edition while the top pledge means lunch with Robert and a race track test drive for two in an “iconic electric car” (which may result in fame via an article on TheChargingPoint.com, no doubt).
News from Gardenia is a science fiction novel that turns the popular dystopian image of the future on its head. “Dystopia has now become so pervasive it’s almost engulfed the entire science fiction genre,” says Robert. “I felt driven to search for an alternative to the tiresome predictions of everything getting much worse; I wanted to imagine a world where everything has got much better. A world where we eventually get it right, where we don’t oppress each other, where we don’t burn anything to make anything else, we don’t rip the planet to shreds to maintain our way of life and we don’t need to rely on endless growth to achieve contentment.”
To pledge your support for the book, go to http://unbound.co.uk/books/news-from-gardenia.
To read Robert’s electric car column on TheChargingPoint.com, go to http://www.thechargingpoint.com/authors/Robert_Llewellyn.html
For more information about Robert and TheChargingPoint.com, please contact managing editor Will Dron at will.dron@johnbrownmedia.com