Guest Post by Jennifer’s client Jamey Stegmaier
Recently it was announced that PubSlush, a books-only crowdfunding platform, was shutting down. I was rooting for them, but the announcement came as no surprise to me, since the “Publishing” category on Kickstarter historically has one of the lowest success rates (29.67% as of October 2015).
I’ve experienced this myself. By all accounts, I’ve had a large amount of success on Kickstarter, raising over $1.4 million from nearly 21,000 backers. But my first project—a book project—attracted only 17 backers and barely reached its funding goal of $250.
Why is this? Why can anything from board games to dance projects reach their funding goals on crowdfunding sites, but not books? I have a few theories, each with a notable exception to the rule:
- Crowdfunding works particularly well for production-ready items, not ideas or concepts. This is perhaps the biggest challenge with book projects. Backers generally don’t want to support something until it’s close to completion, not when you’re considering a new idea and want to gauge demand for it. Exception: The first project I backed on Kickstarter was called “Robin writes a book (and you get a copy).” Author Robin Sloan composed the book in real time during the Kickstarter campaign, which was actually rather thrilling to be a part of as a backer.
- Crowdfunding works best when the item will not exist without the funding. Backers take a lot of pride in knowing that the project creator is relying on their funds to make the product. It’s a very compelling reason to support the project now instead of waiting for the retail release. Unfortunately for book creators, the public perception is that there is a very low financial barrier to self-publishing a book thanks to e-books and print-on-demand. It’s hard to convince backers that you really need Exception: Chris Morey of Dark Regions Press has had multiple successful book projects on both Kickstarter and Indiegogo due to his focus on enhanced, limited-edition versions of the books. He gives backers something to treasure, like the $150 signed and numbered edition of I Am the Abyss that garnered 70 backers.
- Crowdfunders excel when they collaborate with backers. While it’s important for creators to have a clear vision and a near-finished product, backers really enjoy voicing their opinions and having the best of those opinions shape the product itself, even just in small ways. However, I think books may be the exception to this rule. Think of your favorite novel—is it appealing at all to imagine a version of it that was crowdsourced? Exception: Author Eric Reis ran a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign for a book called The Leader’s Guide. Reis leveraged the power of the crowd by creating a “best tester community” among backers so they could help to improve the book and even share the stories of their businesses in the book.
- Crowdfunding is more about the crowd than the funding. One of the secrets of crowdfunding is that most successful projects have a fanbase in place before the campaign begins. This is crucially important for book projects, which may end up only having fans as backers. But many authors with strong fanbases may not even consider crowdfunding because they don’t need it—they already know people are going to buy their book if they publish or self-publish it. Exception: Blogger and author Seth Godin raised $287,342 on Kickstarter for his book, The Icarus Deception. He built up a massive fanbase over many years and leveraged it for crowdfunding success.
- Crowdfunding campaigns need visual appeal. When you scroll through a well-conceived project page, you’re drawn to it by the illustrations and graphic design that capture your imagination and inspire confidence in the creator. However, most books—with the exception of graphic novels—aren’t particularly visual, so backers are left looking at a text-heavy page. Exception: The most recent book project I backed caught my attention mostlybecause of the illustration the author used as the main project image. The author of Beneath the Burning Sky, Jonathon Burgess, wisely commissioned a talented illustrator for his project image. Follow his lead if you decide to launch a book project.
This post isn’t meant to discourage authors from trying their hand at crowdfunding.. Rather, be aware of the perceptions and roadblocks, and make sure you are the exception for all of these rules.
Jamey Stegmaier is an entrepreneur, game designer, blogger, cat owner, and author of A Crowdfunder’s Strategy Guide: Build a Better Business by Building Community
