APOCALYPSE WEIRD: What It Is and Why YOU Should Care

APOCALYPSE WEIRD is the first offering from Wonderment Media, a cadre of creative professionals who seek a middle path between the (often warring) camps of independent and traditional publishers. Take note; whether you’re a reader or a writer, the AW may just be the publishing model of the future.

Enter the BookVerse

Think of the great creative franchises of our age: James Bond, Harry Potter, Star Trek, to name a few. All of them use a fixed world and a mostly stable cast of characters to bind the adventures into a cohesive brand. Other franchises, like MARVEL Comics, operate more like a creative umbrella, each character and storyline is unique, but they all share a “look and feel” that brands them a MARVEL property.

Apocalypse Weird is more along the MARVEL line, employing a small army of authors to play out “End of the World” scenarios. Each author takes a specific geography and develops his or her own disasters, heroes, and villains. In February, the Apocalypse Weird crew released FIVE novels to get things started, and they’re building their BookVerse at a rate of two novels a month for the foreseeable future.

Whatever you think about the concept, here’s some reasons why you might want to consider investing in this publishing model.

Readers – Get More Content Faster

Let’s face it: picking out a new book to read is a pain. But in the AW, they’ve done the work for you.

In the AW, you get the best of both worlds. On one hand, you get pre-selected, talented authors writing in a genre you love, so you know these stories are going to be good. On the flip side, you get to meet new authors you might not have otherwise discovered on your own.

Win-win.

Authors – Let Me Help You Up On that Very Big Platform

Being an independent author is not for the faint of heart. Not only do you have to write that book, you need a professional edit and a professional cover to make sure your story shines. After you invest all that time, money and effort, you still need to get the word out with a marketing plan. Even if you do everything right, you could end up selling only a few copies.

The AW crew wants content creators who know how to tell a good story. You create the content; they’ll handle the edit and the cover, and get you started on the marketing. Oh, and you get to put your book up beside the likes of indie superstars like Michael Bunker and Nick Cole.

One Writer's Experience

But don’t take it from me, let Chris Pourteau, author of The Serenity Strain tell you about his experience with the AW:

“The guys at Apocalypse Weird gave me an opportunity to tell a story in their world, and I jumped at the chance. I’d done the self-publishing solo thing for a while, and it’s hard to get noticed. AW gave me the chance to connect with a wider audience, and just seeing my work on the same shelf as Nick Cole, Michael Bunker, Stefan Bolz, and my other fellow AW authors—it’s just thrilling. Long before I was a writer, I was a reader, and every reader of fiction wants the same thing: to be transported somewhere else by someone who’s really good at storytelling and get lost in the world they’ve created. It’s a dream come true to be a writer in a family of writers all dedicated to the craft of great storytelling.”

And check out the amazing cover art for Chris’ book—courtesy of Apocalypse Weird.

Freedom Ain’t Free

Sounds pretty good, right? As we speak, there are about 30 authors involved, and the project has even been written up in The Guardian-UK as “an impressive level of creativity and ambition … something too often missing from mainstream publishing today.”

But let’s face it, this is a startup business and the guys at Wonderment need the same thing every other startup needs—capital. That’s why they’re running a crowdfunding campaign right now to make sure they can keep up the pace of delivery to the AW universe without sacrificing quality.

It’s All About YOU

Whether you’re a reader who’s interested in getting a steady supply of quality, inexpensive books, or an author who wants to make their creative mark in a new Story-verse, this is a creative cause worth supporting.

Support the Weirdness

David Bruns is the creator of the sci-fi series The Dream Guild Chronicles, and one half of the Two Navy Guys and a Novel blog series about co-writing the military thriller, Weapons of Mass Deception, coming in May 2015.