Amy Morse is a writer, novelist and entrepreneur. She
regularly writes on business matters and is a columnist for Prowess
Women in Business (http://www.prowess.org.uk/author/amy-morse).
Enabling start ups in the daytime and penning random acts of creativity by
night, she is the author of The Bronze Box (writing as Amy C Fitzjohn) and is
publishing the follow up Solomon's Secrets in the autumn.
Crowdfund: http://bit.ly/1fvA0rq
Twitter: @TomCatDesigns
Blog: ideaism.blogsot.co.uk
web: www.AmyMorse.co.uk
Author: writing
as - Amy C Fitzjohn - http://amzn.to/1jd0sDE
Over to Amy
Can crowdfunding help you to publish your
next book? Nine tips for writers.
The
Holy Grail for many writers is to get that publishing deal with one of the big
presses such as; Harper Collins, Penguin, Pan MacMillan or Hodder &
Stoughton. We’d get a fat cheque for a five figure advance and be laughing.
Unless
you’re a celebrity or already have a track record of great book sales, the
reality is that for 99% of us, it just won’t happen.
Does
that mean you’ve failed? Does that mean you have no right to call yourself an
author? Of course not! Millions of writers make a respectable career living by
the pen (or keyboard!). They’re doing what they love and never getting near the
best sellers list.
The
book industry is undergoing a revolution that has opened up to independent
writers like never before. Gone is the stigma of self-publishing, in fact, for
many writers it offers the creative freedom they crave.
With
platforms such as Create Space and Kindle Direct Publishing, offered by Amazon,
it’s easier, and cheaper to publish your book than ever before.
But
what if you wanted to do it a bit differently? You will need to front the
costs, so how can you pay for it?
There
is an increasingly popular way of raising funds for a creative project, and
that’s crowdfunding.
The
principle of crowdfunding is that a project is posted onto an online platform,
a financial target and date is set and then anyone can back a project by
pledging support. It isn’t money for nothing, crowdfunding is not begging for
hand-outs. It can work in different ways.
The
most popular model, and appropriate for creative projects, is that money
pledged is exchanged for a reward of equivalent value. Effectively, customers
are paying in advance for your book.
The
risk is low because if the target isn’t reached, no one gets or pays out any
money. To increase your chances of success you need to market your crowdfund
pitch.
There
are a couple of well-known crowdfunding sites, such as Kickstarter.com and
Indiegogo.com that work in this way. There is also Unbound.co.uk that is
specifically set up for books and there are new ones are popping up all the
time.
One of
the latest to start is a Bristol based team, Fundsurfer.com. Fundsurfer
specialises in creative and social projects and it is the platform I have
chosen for my own project. I chose this platform because I’m passionate about
supporting businesses in my local area, it fits with my own ethos and is
tailored for creative projects. As a new business, they are also going through
a period of using every means at their disposable to publicise their venture
and I can take advantage of that.
For an
idea of how a live project works, here is my pitch for the publication of my
next novel, Solomon’s Secrets: http://bit.ly/SolomonsSecrets_Fund
It has
been a steep learning curve for me. Here are my 9 tips on accessing this route
to finance for your book:
1.
Do
your sums. First decide how much you need to get your project off the ground
but allow for contingencies and factor in the charges. In the case of
Fundsurfer, there is a 6% commission on funds raised.
2. Be realistic. What is
achievable? I had to alter my pitch part way through as I quickly realised I
had bitten off more than I could chew by trying to do too much.
3.
Have
a ‘crowd’. Following on from being realistic, do you have enough of a fan base
yet? 70% of pledges come from your immediate network so make sure you have a
good sized one.
4.
Do
your research. There are several platforms out there, do some due diligence
about how reputable they are before you commit to anything. Be wary of any that
ask you for money up front, most don’t do that.
5.
Spend
plenty of time crafting an excellent pitch. It’s a competitive marketplace and
you want to be noticed, especially if you choose one of the better known
platforms. A video is an essential component of the pitch, always include one.
6.
Ask
for help. If you’re no good at making and editing videos or not sure about what
rewards you should offer, ask.
7.
Have
a good range of rewards, starting small and going up in increments. Have a
couple of rewards that are relatively expensive, even if you think people won’t
pay. The chances are they won’t, but people tend to gravitate to the middle of
the list of rewards, so if you make the top of your list higher, then the
middle of your list will be higher too. And if someone does buy that expensive
reward – bonus!
8.
Have
a plan. For both the marketing of your pitch and the distribution of your
rewards if it is successful. Be realistic about what you can achieve alone and
be prepared to call in reinforcements if necessary.
9. Keep up the momentum.
Choose a sensible pledge period and keep plugging away at it, doing something
every day to increase awareness of your project
And
finally, enjoy the process and good luck!
Have
you ever backed a crowdfunded project or had you own campaign?
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