Publicity Tip #4
Working on a budget is a harsh reality for most writers looking to publish. Consider alternative sources of funding based on your wants and needs from the industry.
Have you ever heard of Kickstarter? What about crowd funding? Want the best of both worlds? Consider CrowdScribed – it’s crowd funding for authors with a twist.
The premise of Kickstarter is that you request help from the public at large to achieve your goal for a project. The help you ask for is money, the project could be almost anything: new video game concept, new product idea, funding for a first album, raising money to have your book edited, you name it.
What does CrowdScribed offer?
CrowdScribed offers author exclusivity – its one place where readers go to help authors. Are you looking to self-publish but don’t have the marketing funds? Do you have an idea for an awesome novel but aren’t sure what the masses will think? This forum is dedicated to you.
“CrowdScribed is rebuilding the relationship between authors and readers, and we’re doing this by providing authors a legitimate platform to market and fund their books before they’re published and readers a method to discover new books and interact with authors.” http://blog.crowdscribed.com
Working within the guidelines, rules, and regulations of CrowdScribed, your monetary goal is set based on the length and genre of your book. Votes are cast two ways: support and donation. Support says you like an idea and want to see it pursued whereas a donation vote is the cost of a published version of the book and acts as a pre-order for said book should it be published. At the end of your 90 day funding period, if you meet your goal, 20% of royalties comes to you. If CrowdScribed is unable to find an affiliate publisher to support your manuscript, they will work with you to crowd source the fees necessary for editing and marketing and will publish your book under their own imprint.
Does this sound too good to be true? I’m sure you’re wondering if this is this a viable way to raise money…
The answer to both questions is: It can be. This is a new idea that is just gaining ground. Depending on how many readers are already apart of the ‘crowd’ and what their genre preferences are, it might be easy or difficult to find a following. You will need to do a lot of the marketing work for the project on your own by reaching out to your contacts and getting them interested.
In a way, CrowdScribed could be considered the crowd funding version of iUniverse, Abott Press, Friesen Press, or BookBaby – companies designed to ‘help’ authors self-publish under the company’s imprint for a fee. All I can say is that you are not out of pocket when all is said and done. You are, however, agreeing to a 20% royalty with the hope that CrowdScribed will be able to sway its publishing partners to take on your book.
Self-publishing will still see you earn between 35% – 80% royalties but you will still need to fund your editing, cover art, and publicity yourself. CrowdScribed is another option to consider when a traditional publisher or agent isn’t calling and you want to be published.
I think this is a great concept in theory, but keep in mind that you could manage your own crowd sourcing campaign with Kickstarter (whose focus is broad and wide) and keep almost all of the money raised if you meet your goal. You need to decide for yourself if what CrowdScribed offers meets your needs.
How much autonomy are you looking for? What’s right for your budgeting needs?
Only you know the answer to these questions. CrowdScribed adds a new dimension to the options you have to consider.
http://www.crowdscribed.com/index.html
Categories: Publicity
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