The SFR Brigade celebrates the Third Anniversary of its Portals Project!
In 2016, Portals was an initiative brainstormed by Pauline Baird Jones to introduce new readers to SFR via four volumes featuring the beginnings of SFR books. The idea was to save readers a lot of browse-and-search time by offering a sampler of the openings of about ten science fiction romances per volume, with links to purchase the books if they enjoyed the introduction.
But the project became so wildly popular with authors and readers alike, that three new, unanticipated volumes were later published, bringing the total number of Portals volumes to seven!
More than 70 authors became involved with the project. Portals Volumes 1 - 7 are still popular downloads on Amazon today. And yes, they're all FREE! See them here.
Volume One debuted on May 10, 2016 with the balance of the original four, and added three, being published over the coming summer and fall that year.
So how did it happen? Here's a look back at an archive blog from three SFR Brigade members who related how it all came about.
FROM THE SFR BRIGADE ARCHIVES
[Edited for space]
MAKING
OF THE PORTALS PROJECT
You may have already heard the buzz about Portals or this might be the first time
it’s come to your attention. The idea behind the project is to help readers
find Science Fiction Romance books they love by offering a free sampling of a
wide variety of story openers. Here’s the concept summary from the official
project unveiling:
The SFR Brigade community of writers is planning
a FREE four volume set of Science Fiction Romance beginnings ~ and only
beginnings ~ of 40 books by 40
different authors!
This isn't an anthology, it's a
transport to whisk you away to a host
of exciting SFR worlds. We know you're going to enjoy the
trip, and you're sure to find many amazing adventures you'll
want to get lost in.
The first volume has an anticipated release date of May 17th,
with a new volume releasing approximately every two weeks after that.
As you can imagine, this project required a few dedicated
individuals to spearhead the efforts. Here’s how it all happened, in their own
words.
HOW
IT ALL BEGAN
by Pauline
Baird Jones – Production Manager
Laurie asked me to write a post about how the Portals
Project came to be.
Blink. Blink.
Usually when you tell a story, you start at the beginning;
you share the interesting points along the way, and then segue into the Big
Ending. But the beginning is hard to find in the tangled story of this project,
so I’ll just say…
I let my fingers type something like, “I saw where this
group of authors has a first chapters thing that they give away for free. We
should do that.”
I shouldn’t have been surprised by the level of enthusiasm
this simple statement garnered. There are a lot of positives in a project like
this, the main one being:
1. No one has to write something new.
2. No one has to keep track of payments to various authors
for a free project.
I can’t say I planned to find myself in the middle of all
the mayhem (though I shouldn’t be surprised since mayhem is my go-to place). I
just tossed the idea out as something that sounded like it might be a good
promo tool for the Science Fiction Romance Brigade author/members.
I’m still not sure how I ended up herding forty authors and
their first chapters into four volumes with staggered release dates over the
next two months.
Yes, I am officially crazy. (It was just a rumor before…)
But… despite the crazy, the three of us spearheading this
effort, Laurie A. Green (founder of SFRB), Veronica Scott (USA Today Columnist) and I (lowly author), are so excited by the surge of support and excitement being
generated within the group. Other efforts at raising the visibility of the
genre are spinning off this one, including some anthologies.
There is a growing feeling that maybe it is finally going to
happen. That the Big Ending will actually be an amazing beginning as science
fiction romance takes off as a Genre to be Reckoned With out there in the wider
world of readers.
The 800+ members of the Brigade love the genre for as many
reasons as there are members, but mostly we’re hoping that these collections
will help readers discover the amazing variety—and just plain fun—to be found
in reading your next great adventure in science fiction romance.
In addition to the collections, there is a dedicated readers
group, the SFRB Fan Page, and the official Portals Website. If you want to try,
or just read more, SFR, we are here to help you find it!
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: DESIGN
COVERS FOR THIS FOUR-HEADED MONSTER!
by Veronica Scott – Cover
Coordinator and General Consultant
I thoroughly
enjoy the cover art process, in partnership with the wonderful Fiona Jayde, who
creates my science fiction romance covers. It’s time consuming, searching
through various stockphoto sites for a few candidate heroes, which is where she
and I usually begin. (Yes, hard work but someone has to do it, ahem.) Often we
go back and forth a few times, with Fiona patiently explaining to me why the
various guys with whom I fell in love-lust-or-like really don’t work for a
romance cover.
So
imagine me tackling this process for what is essentially a book with
thirty-nine other authors! When the Portals
project was first conceived by members of the Science Fiction Romance Brigade,
I volunteered to come up with a cover that could be used for four volumes of
differing heat levels, and which would do the best job possible of representing
the content.
Fiona
was up for the challenge. We had some conditions, set by various authors who
had strong feelings. No bare chested model. No tattoos. We had suggestions
galore – use a couple, change couples on each cover, use a guy looking over his
shoulder at us, have a bare chested tattooed guy on the volume with the high
heat content, use silhouettes, have spaceships, don’t have spaceships…it sounds
head spinning, but it was valuable input for Fiona and me.
The
feedback from the authors also beautifully illustrates the sheer variety of
stories available in science fiction romance. Readers can enjoy tales set in
space, on Earth, on other planets, on space stations… the characters can be
human, alien, different genders, same genders – the possibilities are endless.
We hope that among the forty stories represented in the complete Portals collection, readers will find
many combinations of setting, plot and characters to enjoy.
Eventually
Fiona and I collaborated on the Portal Keeper concept, with this appealingly
scruffy, slightly mysterious, but handsome sentinel inviting you to enter the
“Gateway to the worlds of science fiction romance.” We felt that the concept
embodied a strong brand identity to tell readers what they would find behind
the cover of each volume.
I’d go through the
Portal, wouldn’t you?
MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE…FACEBOOK GROUP
by Laurie A. Green – Coordinator
Let’s
make no bones about it. This project wouldn’t have come together in such a
spectacular way without the expertise and enthusiasm of these two dynamos! With
Pauline and Veronica doing all the heavy lifting, I tried to make myself useful
by managing the high amp background energy.
Once the
Project Portals buzz started swamping the SFR Brigade Facebook group, I created
a breakout chat group where the authors could ask questions, provide information,
jump up and down with excitement, and hammer out some of the finer details
without having the discussion threads overrun the general group. (Did I mention
this is a very high energy group?)
I worked
closely with Pauline and Veronica to provide project support, and filled a few
PR functions such as making the first public announcement about the Portals
project concept on Spacefreighters Lounge, coordinating the exclusive
cover reveal of the four Portals volumes hosted by Heather Massey of TheGalaxy Express 2.0, and creating the Portals site
to serve as “Portals Central” for both readers and authors.
I also worked on a special bonus courtesy of Riley and Whiskey With My Book Reviews--the first-ever public unveiling of the Portals site.
One of
our very fun side discussions involved gracing our Portal Keeper with a fitting
name, and many of the authors offered well-researched ideas and suggestions.
The group eventually settled on Sender Najan as his name (Sender because….well,
isn’t that just an awesome name for a Portal Keeper? And “Najan” means star in Arabic). Authors Lea Kirk and AR
Riddle-DeClerck teamed up with Veronica to provide his introduction, including
his explanation of Portals’ heat levels, which can be found here.
I
couldn’t wrap this up without first giving a huge hand (applause, applause) to
the enthusiastic authors of Portals
for making this such a rewarding experience. Each is dedicated to the Science
Fiction Romance genre as a whole, and makes a shining example of one of
Pauline’s favorite phrases: “A rising tide floats all boats.” From New York
Times bestsellers to debut pioneers, these authors have been downright amazing
to work with! They put the team in teamwork.
Be sure
to check out the Portals Author Page for the full list of authors
and the links to their websites.
___________________________________________
So that was then...and this is now.
Today, three years after the release of Portals One, the volumes still have a strong showing in Amazon rankings! As of this writing, here's how they're faring:
If this is the first you've heard about Portals -- and you're looking for some great SFR reads -- this is a great way to quickly find some stellar science fiction romance reads.
They are, and always have been, FREE!
If you're an author, please share the Amazon Portals Volumes link on your websites, in your newsletters, on social media and with your readers. It's a great way to introduce new readers to Science Fiction Romance.
Congratulations on Three Years of Success, Portals Project!
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