How to crowd-fund your new book

[caption id="attachment_335" align="aligncenter" width="705"] It works for publishing books too![/caption]

 

Edward Hancox provides some advice on crowd-funding a book, following the successful publication of his debut; Iceland, Defrosted. No puffins were harmed during this process.

Crowd-funding was something that I had never even considered to publish my book, but when traditional publishing routes failed, and cash for a half decent self publishing package was not available, I found myself drawn to it. What I found was an overwhelming, wonderfully positive experience of support and validation. I raised a staggering 179% of my funding goal, smashing it out of the water, as they say.

My book, Iceland, Defrosted, is not your usual Lonely Guide, Rough Planet travel book, but more of an exploration of my - slightly worrying - obsession with Iceland. It is a travelogue of sorts, albeit one which concentrates less on the travel, and more on the people, places and music of this extraordinary country. I am a first time author, and you could say that my subject choice was, well, niche. These may have been barriers to traditional publishing houses, but the crowd funding community welcomed me in with open arms. And wallets.

I chose Kickstarter. There are an ever growing band of crowd funding websites out there - Indiegogo, RocketHub, Razoo, Crowdfunder - the list goes on. There are crowd-funding sites designed especially for literary campaigns (Pubslush) and I even found an Icelandic based one (Karolina Fund). Kickstarter was open, honest and had the widest reach of all the sites. They also provide secure means of payment, and don't release any funds unless you reach your target. This was the one for me.

Here are a few hints and tips for crowd-funding. They apply to all crowd-funding campaigns, but especially those relating to publishing.

Don't forget your content.

Your crowd-funding campaign has to capture the interest of 'backers', not only through the rewards, but getting them hooked in the first place. It's quite like writing a blurb for your book, only you'll need to include some decent photographs and a video too. You'll need to explain how you will spend the funding, and what the backers get in return. I went for a Puffin based theme, including a video I shot of a (toy) Puffin roaming the streets of Reykjavik. No Puffins were harmed during the making of this crowd-funding campaign.

Be prepared to explain it.

Crowd-funding is still new. It's part of the reason why it's so exciting. It also means that people might not fully understand it. No, you won't get your book until its published. Yes, your money is safe. No, I won't get a penny if I don't reach 100% of my goal. Yes, Kickstarter take 5%. Yes, you can upgrade your pledge to a higher level. Just get ready to explain how it works. You may find yourself repeating this on a regular basis.

Rewards are key.

Your backers need to feel they are getting value for money. Yes, they are supportive, but no one is going to pay over the odds for any old tat. My rewards were the book (ebook and paperback), invites to the launch party, hand stitched bookmarks, photographic prints and acknowledgments in the book itself. Don't forget postage costs, and try to add value that you couldn't get elsewhere.

Get ready for the plateau.

On Kickstarter, you can opt for a 30 day or 60 day campaign, although statistics show that a 30 day campaign is significantly more likely to be successful. But here is the thing. Initially, your campaign will rocket off, and you'll be sure you've cracked it. Actually, this is likely to be just family, friends and colleagues and by day 10, you might find you flatline. Don't panic. This is normal. Just get out there and....

Promote, promote, promote.

You are going to work your rear off. Just pressing the 'launch' button - as hard as this is - won't be enough. You need to tweet, Facebook, blog and do anything to get your campaign noticed. I managed to get myself featured on an Icelandic news website, and even the Mayor of Reykjavik tweeted for me. Link everything to everything else like a huge sticky spiders web with your campaign at the centre. Email everyone in your address book, and SMS everyone on your phone. Call in old favours, and owe new ones. Offline, talk about nothing else and hand some cards out. Repeat until your campaign starts buzzing.

Say 'thank you'.

Backers don't have to support you. They are sending their hard earned cash because they either support you or support your campaign. There are myriad other campaigns out there, or even a pint at the local pub. If a backer chooses you, don't forget to publicly thank them, by Twitter and Facebook certainly, but also by email. This will go a long way, and they are more likely to pull out all the stops to make sure your campaign is a success, by telling friends, or just re-tweeting, for example.

Keep everyone updated.

Once you have a merry band of backers, keep them updated. This might be during the funding process, or once you have achieved your goal. I decided to publish with SilverWood books, who were fantastic and super-excited about being involved in a Kickstarter project. I updated my 122 followers with every step of the publishing process; editing, cover design, blurb, ISBN allocation (no, really!), right though to delivery. I got some amazing feedback, and gathered an audience that I could trial things on. One backer from Canada wrote to me begging for a change to the cover design - I did it too. All the backers loved being kept updated. I think it's because they felt involved, like they were making this happen. They were, of course.

 

Ultimately, without crowd-funding Iceland, Defrosted would have remained forever on my hard drive. I'm hugely grateful to my backers who showed enough faith in me and my book to support me and allow me to get my book out into the real world. If self-publishing is the new frontier of the publishing industry, then crowd-funding a self published book must be like being the lead scout finding new ground, or a puffin finding a brand new place to nest.

More info can be found here: www.icelanddefrosted.com and on Kickstarter.