Publishing with Crowdfunding – Part I

Become an Author: Crowdfund your Book Project

Anyone who would like to write and publish their own book must first jump over some major hurdles. The creative process of actually writing the book is only the very beginning of every book project. From proofreading, graphic design and PR/marketing to printing and distribution – it takes a monstrous process before books hit the shelves of a bookstore. And each step of the way costs capital that is usually pre-financed by the author, publisher, and in some cases with sponsors.

Escape Financial Risks with Crowdfunding?

It’s not uncommon for publications to fall short of their pre-financing goals. For example, when a book project is written for too specific an audience, you can lose a lot of money. So what can you do if you would like to publish a book worth reading, but you can’t quite assess the market opportunity? Well, crowdfunding could be the answer. With crowdfunding you can introduce your developed idea to a community, who can then support and contribute to the project with donations.

The concept assures three fundamental advantages:

• You can assess how many people are interested before publication by the number of donors.
• Donors can decide for themselves how much they want to donate – your financial risk is minimized.
• Crowdfunding platforms are creeping into the social web, so you can also build and maintain important personal contacts with other users (authors, publishers, readers).

Platforms such as: Kickstarter, mysherpas or startnext make Crowdfunding for creative projects possible.

Inspire the Crowd

But if you think publishing a blurb of your work on one of these platforms and waiting would be sufficient, you’re wrong. The goal here is to get noticed. If you want the crowd’s support on your project, you’ll have to come up with something good. And even the crowd will want to know why they should be used for this project and not another. A clear approach with defined objectives ensures clarity of what will come later from the initial project.

But also certain incentives can attract the interest of the community. For example, smaller sum donors can receive an autographed copy of the book, while you can offer higher subsidies private readings or names of minor characters in the book. Yet in every case you should remain true to yourself. And finally, hiding behind the crowd are normal people who respond to honesty, charm and authenticity usually better than a dubious sales strategy.

(Image by flickr user stevecoutts)

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