Crowdfunding For Authors 101

by Jason Brick

If you’ve been a writer or aspiring writer, you’ve at least heard of crowdfunding, usually in the context of a major platform like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Backerkit, or GoFundMe. It’s not a new model, but it’s the most recently added model to the widening array of success options for authors. Today, Elizabeth has invited me on to discuss it. We’ll take a look at:

• How Crowdfunding Works
• The 5 Key Misconceptions About Crowdfunding
• 6 Top Tips for Crowdfunding Campaigns
• Your First Step, If You Dare to Take It

I’ve personally used crowdfunding to get five different books published and in the world, and presently using the Patreon platform for my Flash in a Flash Fiction Newsletter (which is accepting submissions, hint, hint.)

By the end, you won’t be the world’s leading crowdfunding expert. You will know enough about crowdfunding to ask the right questions about how to make the model work for you. 

Sound good? Great. Let’s get to it. 

How Crowdfunding Works

On any crowdfunding platform, you pitch your book to existing fans and the general public, asking them to pre-order copies because they believe your book will be good, and you will deliver on your promise to write, publish, and distribute it. 

It’s essentially presales, made more viable by the scope of the Internet and the infrastructure provided by major crowdfunding platforms. It has made a lot of books happen, and a few authors surprisingly rich. A couple years back, Brandon Sanderson raised $40 Million with one campaign. You can’t expect success like that, but you can make enough to meet more reasonable goals.

5 Key Crowdfunding Misconceptions

Like all endeavors, there’s a lot of misinformation circulating about crowdfunding. I want to address the five most common and/or harmful.

1. Build It and They Will Come

Just putting up your campaign will not bring enough interested eyes for you to succeed. This was almost true at the beginning, but now the market is fairly saturated. You will have to bring eyes to your page, fueled by your existing platform, partnerships, and some promotion and advertising. It can bring you more as our campaign builds momentum, but it must start with you.

2. You Have to Make All Your Money From It

A crowdfunding campaign that breaks even, or even loses you a little money, can be successful for some goals. At the end, you will have a fully built book and some copies in stock. You will have gathered more followers and fans. Depending on your goals, that’s all it has to do.

3. It’s a Sprint

A typical crowdfunding campaign is live for two to four weeks, but you must do your advance work and follow up with fulfillment. This process is a marathon, requiring work every day for months. Don’t let that scare you — if you can write a book you ran crowdfund — but go in knowing what’s required. 

4. Independents Can’t Succeed

Over the past decade, professional publishers have entered the crowdfunding space. They’ve brought with them professional promotion and design teams, and a business-sized advertising budget. It’s harder to succeed as an independent now, but not impossible. You just have to come in with a well-built plan, and execute it as close to perfectly as you can manage. 

5. Your Book Has to Be Finished First

You can successfully crowdfund a book with just a cover image, an outline, and an idea you’re excited about. If the campaign doesn’t succeed, you can move on to your next idea. If it does, you’ll just have to make sure you build time to write into your promised delivery schedule. 

6 Top Tips for Crowdfunding Success

With those idea in mind, here are six things to think about and plan for as you begin to devise your own crowdfunding campaign.

1. Start Early

I mean early. Start planning and getting your ducks in a row a year before launch day. The more resources and planning you have on deck at “go time”, the better your efforts will succeed. That said, don’t use extra planning to procrastinate. Set your start date far in advance, and get moving right away.

2. Budget Before You Start

Know how much the campaign and fulfillment will cost. It’s the only way to gauge your earning goal and not go into the red by the end. You will need to budget for:

• Per-unit printing costs for your books
• Per-unit shipping costs for your books
• Fees for editing, layout, and art
• Your marketing budget (see below)
• How much profit you want to earn from the campaign
• An extra 10 percent for processing fees

Finish by adding an extra 5-10% for overruns, and you know how much you want to earn from your campaign. 

3. Have a One-to-Six Month Plan

I know I said to start a year early, but the real action happens at least one month before launch day. If you can start gathering interest and followers six months out, that’s even better. Build a preview page early, and just keep bringing eyes to it from whatever sources you can manage. 

4. Include a Marketing Budget

Word of mouth, and some algorithm support from your platform, will get some copies sold, but most backers for successful campaigns are strangers. Expect to spend money on marketing. There’s no hard-and-fast rule, but I’ve had success with spending 10% of what I want to earn. Where to spend it is a whole other blog post. If you want it, and can talk Elizabeth into it, I’ll come back and write it.

5. Build a Power Squad

Your power squad consists of six to twenty “ride or die” fans who will help you spread the word about your campaign. Gather them early, give them clear instructions and options, and reward them handsomely for their efforts. 

Fair warning: almost none of your friends and family will come through for you on this. You’ll be leaning on your fan base and fellow burgeoning writers here. It’s just part of the reality of being an author — just like how none of our friends will bother to leave a review. 

6. Get Some Graphics

You will need at minimum a good cover and a short video telling people about your project. They don’t have to be works of art, but they have to be present and at least presentable. The data says a video and cover increase your chances of success by 80%, and the income from most campaigns by at least 25%.

Your First Step (If You Dare to Take It)

If you think crowdfunding might be for you, your first step is to sit with exactly what you hope to accomplish with it. Do you want to cover the printing, editing, and art costs for your next work? Grow your platform? Make a profit from the get go? Simply “kick the tires” and see how it works? 

Sit for a while and really nail down what you hope to accomplish with your first crowdfunding journey.That information will inform every further step.

Jason Brick is a freelance writer and journalist, and the skipper of the Flash in a Flash literary newsletter. They’re always looking for submissions in any genre under 1,000 words. You can get all the details here. 

Image by Kevin Schneider from Pixabay