Why Authors Should Crowdfund for Their Books

Look for us this week at Pubslush, where we've posted Why Authors Should Care About Editing. In this spot, we welcome Justine Schofield, development director at Pubslush.

Launching a book is no small feat. And each stage — from first draft and on through editing, revisions, design, marketing and beyond — will have expenses attached. Some will be expected, and some won't. 

In our guest post this week, Why Authors Should Crowdfund for Their Books, Justine Schofield explains what crowdfunding is and what it can do for your book — and its future. 

by Justine Schofield
@Pubslush


Crowdfunding is a new innovative technology that is changing the landscape of the publishing industry. No matter if you’re a publishing veteran or a debut author, crowdfunding for your book offers an amazing opportunity as one of the beginning steps in the publishing process. Marketing for a book should begin well before publication and now, with the introduction of crowdfunding, authors have a tangible way to focus their marketing efforts, all while reaping the invaluable benefits of conducting a successful crowdfunding campaign: raising funds pre-publication, collecting preorders and gauging the initial market viability.

Raising funds pre-publication can help authors choosing to self-publish cover out of pocket expenses, mitigate the financial risk and produce a higher quality book. If an author is hoping to pursue a more traditional publishing route, crowdfunding still offers a unique opportunity to prove market viability for their book. An agent or publisher will be much more likely to take notice of a book that has already found and proven their audience.

Conducting a crowdfunding campaign is a concrete way to create a buzz and rally interest and support around a book pre-publication, which is essential for the overall success of a book. Through the established reward levels of a campaign, authors can offer copies of their book to their supporters. This allows authors to collect preorders for their book during their crowdfunding campaign. The ability to collect preorders provides authors with an active audience to jumpstart the success of their book once it’s published.

For example, let’s say an author’s book campaign gains the support of 150 people who will receive a copy of the book as a reward. The day the book debuts, the author will already have access to those 150 people who will be able to review their book on Amazon (or the like) and help create a buzz. If a book is able to generate attention and momentum immediately after publication, the likelihood of success is much greater.

No product can be successful if the right marketing efforts aren’t employed, and publishing a book isn’t any different. The author’s knowledge of the audience of their book and how to reach them is the key to success in the publishing industry. Through crowdfunding, an author is able to test the market for their book and find and connect with their audience pre-publication, which gives them a tremendous advantage when the book is published and promoted toward the broader audience of readers.

Crowdfunding for authors could quickly become the natural and necessary step between the writing and publication of a book. Even if an author believes they don’t need the money, the other benefits are immeasurable. Plus, authors can come up with many other enticing ways to allocate their funds if they don’t want to use them for the publication of their book. For example, Tracy Seivers, the author of Home Runs in Heaven, pledged to donate all extra funds she raised to March of Dimes in memory of her son. There are so many opportunities to extend the impact of crowdfunding and authors should be aware of how their campaign can not only benefit themselves, but others, too.

Crowdfunding, an integral predecessor to publishing, is a commitment that will require time and effort in order to be successful. Authors should have an established platform and network in place and be ready to dedicate themselves to their crowdfunding effort. They must treat their book as their business and although crowdfunding certainly requires work, so does writing a book, and if they have completed that venture, the finished product deserves to be the best version possible.

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Justine Schofield is the development director of Pubslush, a global crowdfunding platform only for books. Authors can raise funds and gauge initial market viability for their book projects. Justine graduated from Emerson College in Boston, MA with a degree in Writing, Literature, and Publishing and is currently enrolled at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA, earning her MFA in Creative Writing. She specializes in social media and public relations and in the past she has worked with growing companies to develop their online presence. Justine has become a prominent industry voice for educating authors and publishers about crowdfunding and her work has been featured on many online publications. She tweets for @pubslush.  Connect with her on LinkedIn.