We've moved!

Our official site is now up and running at: www.chasingmisery.com.
We've also got a Facebook page if you'd prefer: https://www.facebook.com/chasingmisery1
C'mon over and check them out!

Progress...

May. The month of review. For those of you who are following our progress, have donated to getting the book published, or who have submitted an essay or photograph we wanted to let you know where we're at and how things are progressing.

First, essay review! Our editors are hard at work reviewing the essays that were submitted. Each essay will be read by a few editors who will then come back with their thoughts on it. All of these will be compiled and then discussion had on which essays will be immediately accepted, which will need some work, and which we won't, unfortunately, be using at this time. We had hoped to be doing this in April but had extended the deadline and given that all of the editors are busy with full-time other jobs (one is graduating from Harvard, one is moving to Jerusalem, one is moving to Pakistan) we've decided to use all of May for the first review and give the essays the due time they deserve. If you submitted something expect to hear from us in June.

Second, photo review! Our photo team is taking a look at all the submissions we received and, like the above, expect to hear from us in June. 

Third, donations! First, thank you to ALL who have contributed big or small you're contribution has meant that we don't really have to worry about scraping together the money for the cover design, internal design, ebook design, etc. This is fabulous. However, we're still about $1,000 short of what we need to get a website up and going and everything totally funded so we're going to go ahead and do an Indiegogo project. This is like Kickstarter but, unlike Kickstarter, they allow you to keep the entirety of your donations even if you don't get fully funded. If you have donated we'll be keeping you updated on what the money is spent on and when. More on that soon...

Please feel free to write with comments, questions or suggestions. We love having you onboard with this project!

Plan B!

I love this picture! We're now moving along to try #24. As you've probably seen we didn't quite reach our Kickstarter funding. What does that mean? Well, for every grey cloud there's a silver lining. What we realised in watching the funding come in is that we know most of you and most of you know us. Why are we paying 5% to Amazon and 5% to Kickstarter when you can help fund this without taking that cut? Moreover, a lot of that $11,000-odd budget was to cover things like postage and prizes that we might/might not have had to ship.

So, our Plan B is this. There's a number of ways that you can help support this still...

1. If you know me personally and think I'm a reasonably safe bet you can send me your support through paypal. Click here to use your paypal or credit card. 
 2. If you'd rather send a cheque, wire transfer, or credit card details and we can process whatever amount you would like to contribute.

3. We're going to put up a new funding project on http://www.indiegogo.com/ in coming days. This website is like Kickstarter but they let you keep proceeds even if you don't reach your goal. (Taking a 9% cut if you don't and a 4% cut if you do).

Any way you choose, once you're on a contributor list we'll still send you the prizes that were listed on Kickstarter as well as sending you the budget and keep you informed of how we're spending the money for accountability purposes.

If you didn't get a chance to kick in on Kickstarter and want to be a supporter (uhhh, I'm lookin' at you DAD!!) then send me an email and we'll get you on board!

Sound like a plan? Right! Go!

Tomorrow, tomorrow...you're only a day a-way!

From the lyrics of another fabulous red-head in the musical, Annie. "Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow! You're only a daaaay, aaaaa-way!" 

Tomorrow's the 30th of March and the deadline for essay submissions. Thanks to everyone who's sent in their great submissions so far. And looking forward to seeing what the rest of you will be sending along!

Help us out on Kickstarter!

Our Kickstarter project is now up and running and we have 28 more days to raise all the money that we need to get this published and out into the world. There's some great prizes so if you're interested in this at all consider contributing and you'll get the ebook or copies of the real deal!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1526546593/chasing-misery

P.S. We wanted to give money to Headington Institute so they could develop online resources to support women working in emergencies but Kickstarter doesn't allow parts of donations to go to charities. We're still thinking of ways that we can work with and contribute to Headington's great work though - so stay tuned...

Calling all women photographers!

Have you got a great picture which you feel captures the essence of work in humanitarian responses? Would you like to submit it for publication in Chasing Misery? Please do! We are now accepting submissions for photographs from women photographers who have photographed humanitarian aid responses in the past 10 years. You don't have to be an aid worker - you could be a journalist, researcher, student, anyone! The key is that you have a great shot! Please send your submission to: kelseyhoppe@inkampala.com on/before 30 March 2013. Please ensure that the submission is 5MB or under. Submitted photographs will be reviewed and the ten selected photographers will be contacted by the editorial team in April. 

Kickstarter coming...

Our Kickstarter proposal is now being finalised. Do you know how Kickstarter works? It's awesome. It provides micro-funding for creative projects like this one. Basically, anyone can support us through donations of a specific amount ($25, $50, etc.) and for each amount our supporters will get 'prizes' - like our ebook before it's officially published, etc. The catch is that it's all or nothing funding so if we don't get the entire amount that we need then we don't get anything at all... You can check them out here: www.kickstarter.com. We'll let you know when the Chasing Misery Project is live!