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Madison Scott-Clary 2024-02-01 16:20:05 -08:00
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We did it! *Marsh* is funded! Not just that, but so was all of this:
* ✨$750✨ funded! — Special hardcover edition of Marsh
* ✨$1,000✨ funded! — Short stories by other authors surrounding the events of Marsh will be included either as interludes or in a separate volume, turning the book into an anthology of sorts
* ✨$1,250✨ funded! — A Post-Self TTRPG module surrounding the events of the book, released alongside it
* ✨$1,500✨ funded! — Ask., a collection of stories in the form of responses from the Ode clade to questions asked by those who have not uploaded, inspired by (and using many of) the audience questions asked on cohost
* ✨$2,000✨ funded! — Post-Self themed stickers and bookplates
* ✨$2,500✨ funded! — Illustrations to accompany the book
* ✨$3,000✨ funded! — A full audiobook version of Marsh
* ✨$3,500✨ funded! — Motes Played, a new Post-Self novella (already written!) about the Ode clade to be published as a paperback
All money raised above $3,500 ($255 as of close) is set to be distributed among the authors writing for the anthology.
## Post-mortem
As with the [*Mitzvot* Kickstarter](https://mitzvot.post-self.ink/kickstarter/), I would like to write a small post-mortem for the whole experience, because, as before, I am completely overwhelmed by the response to this campaign.
((Funding breakdown))
I began with the same goal of $500. While the *Mitzvot* Kickstarter proved to me that there was a demand for another book in the Post-Self cycle, I was not sure, with how definitively *Mitzvot* (and especially "Selected Letters") wrapped that up, how much demand there would be about a book not about the Odists and their travails. Yes, Dry Grass is a somewhat major character, and yes, themes of the eighth stanza's work do arise in the story, but it is not *about* them.
The Odists, with very few exceptions, are skunks, you see. Even the ones who are not shaped like skunks (*especially* the ones who are not shaped like skunks) are skunks. One of the joys of the setting is that, by virtue of its metafurry nature, those who are furries remain furries, even when they are shaped like humans.
The Marshans, however, are not. This is a story about identity, yes, but it is not a furry story. A large chunk of the audience for Post-Self — prior to the last quarter of 2023, I would say nearly all — is furry. They are here for the shitty foxes and wicked/tragic skunks and the weasels the have a not-so-subtle crush on. I worried that perhaps writing a non-furry story would limit the appeal to an audience that loves furries.
This was a conscious goal of mine, in a way. I was starting to feel limited by writing within furry, and I wanted to increase appeal to a wider audience. I was in my MFA program and felt a pressure to write MFA Stuff™. Very heady, lyric essay type stuff. Of course, when I got there, one of the other students was writing a novel about baseball and sex, and the other was writing a YA book about magical girls. Ah well. I am still proud of my thesis, for which I may also seek publication.
Towards the end of 2023, however, the tone started to shift. I will attribute much of this to two factors. The first is the engagement with Post-Self on [cohost](https://cohost.org/post-self) ratcheted up significantly. It turns out that queer people escaping toxic environments vibe with a story surrounding a bunch of queer people escaping toxic environments.
The second is that my partner, The Lament system, rapidly latched onto the setting in general and the Odists in particular for informing eir various identities (ey has added A Finger Pointing, Warmth In Fire, No Longer Myself, and True Name as headmates since diving into the setting). Ey also finally nudged me over the cliff and into plurality, myself, something which has been coming since before [*ally*](https://ally.id/plurality).
Post-Self has always found appeal for plural and median systems, and many of those within the [Discord server](https://makyo.io/ps-discord) would describe themselves as such (many even adopting 'clade' in place of 'system' for themselves).
As such, Post-Self saw a boom in popularity and reach, and it was perhaps misguided of me to maintain that assumption that a less furry book would not find a place.
The *Marsh* Kickstarter once more found success within the first few minutes, and the first three stretch goals were met by the end of the first day, and I added stretch goals to $2,500 by January 2nd.