



(Are you ready? I'm so ready. Let's do it.)



Option 1 – The Lottery.



A Plenitude of Signed Books [Added Dec 3rd]

Books from Bad Moon Press [Added Dec 15th]

A Plethora of Signed Books [Added Dec 16th]

Signed books from DAW [Added Dec 28th]

More books from DAW [Added Dec 29th]

Yet still more books from DAW [Added Dec 29th]



Books from Neil Gaiman and Brandon Sanderson [Added Jan 1st]

A Veritable Cornucopia of Signed Books [Added Jan 6th]

The Glory That is Joss Whedon [Added Jan 11th]



[Last year's total beaten! Woo!]

the fundraiser is over at the end of January 15th .







Option Two: The Sure Thing.



Worldbuilders T-shirts. [Sorry, not this year.]

Option Three: Auctions.



read your fledgling manuscript and give you feedback. We've got a limited edition Stardust ARC signed by Neil Gaiman and a copy of The Gathering Storm signed by Brandon Sanderson and the production team at Tor. We've got original manuscripts, software, and a rockstar's guitar. Stay tuned for details.



Rare Manuscripts. [Added Dec 11th.]

Professional Editorial Advice and Critiques. [Added Dec 14th.]

A Quick Plea For Sanity



FAQ.



Suplementary FAQ [Added Dec 18th]



(Huzzah for Subterranean Press! Double Huzzah!)





What's that you say? You'd like to make the world a better place while simultaneously winning fabulous prizes?Well today is your lucky day. Heifer International is my favorite charity. It helps people raise themselves up out of poverty and starvation. All over the world Heifer promotes education, sustainable agriculture, and local industry.They don't just keep kids from starving, they make it so families can take care of themselves. They give goats, sheep, and chickens to families so their children have milk to drink, warm clothes to wear, and eggs to eat.This year we've got a couple different options for donating.This is the option most people will want. It's simple. You hop directly over to the page I've set up at Team Heifer , and donate.When you donate using my page at team Heifer, two things happen.1. Worldbuilders will match 50% of your donation. That means your ten-dollar donation becomes fifteen dollars. If you donate two goats, it becomes three goats. And so on.2. You'll be entered in the lottery.After the fundraiser is over on January 15th, we'll have random drawing for all the swag that's been donated by authors and publishers over the last couple months. More than a thousand books, DVD's and CD's.For every 10 bucks you donate, your name will get entered into the drawing once. If you donate thirty bucks, your name goes in three times. Think of it as buying tickets, if you like.We've had *way* too many books donated for me to post them all up at once. It's a prize-rich environment, with over a thousand books.So I'll be putting up a new blog full of donated books pretty much every day or so, just to keep people from being overwhelmed with all the awesome. Make sure to check back often.Last year we raised 114,000 dollars for Heifer International. I'm hoping this year we can do even better.Dec 1st - Fundraiser begins.Dec 3rd - 10,000 dollars raised.Dec 10th - 25,000 dollars raised.Dec 25th - 50,000 dollars raised.Jan 1st - 76,000 dollars raised.Jan 6th - 90,000 dollars raised.Jan 10th - 100,000 dollars raised.Well folks, we've got about five days left to the fundraiser, and I've re-set the thermometer for what I'm guessing is going to be the last time.$106836.28 may seem like kind of a strange target, but I assure you it's significant. It's exactly twice the amount that people donated last year. If we can raise it, I think we'll have pretty conclusive proof for the stunning awesomeness of us.Personally, I think we can make it. But remember,So if you're been waiting to chip in, now's the time.Or, as I like to think of it, the Christmas Present option.For those of you who aren't interested in the lottery, I have some stuff you can just buy. All the proceeds will go directly to Heifer International.This year we've decided to auction off some of the rarer items and specialized services people have donated.We've got industry professionals willing toLastly, I'd like to ask everyone to please read the instructions/directions carefully before they donate.I know you're excited. I'm excited too. We're going to raise some money, make the world a better place, and end up with big warm fuzzy feelings.But here's the problem. If you're *too* excited, you'll end up clicking buttons all higgledy-piggledy, forgetting vital steps and leaving things out. (Especially when buying things with Paypal) Then you'll send me an e-mail that says something like: "I'm sorry, but I forgot to include my shipping address/t-shirt size/signing instructions. Could you please fix it for me?"I know I'm bound to get one or two e-mails like this. No biggie. But each one is like a cold drop of water eroding my warm fuzzy feeling. If I get, say, a hundred, I'll have no warm fuzzy left at all. I'll be left with nothing but a cold prickly feeling.You don't want to give me a cold prickly, do you?I'm sure you don't. And I'm sure that you'll read the instructions carefully.Have questions about the fundraiser? Most of them are probably answered over in the FAQ . Even if your question isn't answered, I talk about Batman a bit, so it won't be a complete waste of your time.And, just in case you missed it, here's the link to the Team Heifer donation page Rock on,patSpecial thanks to our sponsor: Subterranean Press.

Labels: Heifer International, Worldbuilders 2009