Book Crowdfunding for Publicity, Credibility, and Money
Book crowdfunding campaigns can provide authors with publicity and credibility, while earning money from the fundraising project and book pre-sales. While there are some risks, you can avoid or reduce them by understanding what works, what to offer, and things to avoid.
Publicity
Crowdfunding campaigns tend to quickly get listed high in search engine results and are discoverable long after your book funding campaign is over. This provides publicity and may allow you to earn money while promoting your book and related services.
Credibility
Having a crowdfunding campaign project shows you are an expert or a leader and that you are making progress on your book. Your book crowdfunding project page can include book images and details which describe why your book is valuable. You and your book can be associated with a trusted and known brand name such as Kickstarter or Indiegogo.
Feedback
People who pre-purchase your book as a crowdfunding reward are likely to be willing to give you feedback on early pre-releases of your book. This feedback can help you to learn what your readers want, don’t want, and ways that you can promote your book.
Contact List
The messages and rewards you offer can help you to build lists of fans, book buyers, and potential future clients or employers. Avoid directly asking for people to subscribe or submit their contact information on our project page because this probably violates the terms of service for the crowdfunding service. Instead, offer rewards that allow you to capture the contact information such as book pre-sales, consulting time, and other services.
Rewards
Setup 5 to 10 rewards to give contributors with a range of contribution from $5 to $1,000 or more. You may be surprised at the who and why people contribute to your project and how much.
Review rewards offered by similar book crowdfunding projects. This will give you ideas and provide a reference for your reward amounts.
For a $5 contribution, offer them a Thank You Message. For a $10 or more contribution, offer to include their name and a link to their website as a founding sponsor.
Create rewards for eBook and Printed versions of your book. Offer a pre-release or partial early version to people who contribute for your book reward. Offer autographed copies of your book for a higher reward amount.
You can setup other rewards which can include consulting, interviews, services, and other things that potential readers and contributors are likely to value..
Pre-Sales
Crowdfunding campaigns allow you to earn money from book sales before you release it. You may get pre-sales from contributions or as a result of the publicity and other rewards you offer.
Crowdfunding Risks
Book crowdfunding risks include setting your goals to high, delays in releasing your book, and setting up rewards that do not interest your audience.
Be careful when selecting your crowdfunding financial goal and type of crowdfunding campaign. Setting a goal too high may not allow you to reach your target. If you don’t hit your target or you cancel your crowdfunding project, your project may display cancelled for months or years after the project is over.
Crowdfunding projects can be fixed campaigns (must hit target) or flexible campaigns (keep money even if you miss your goal). Flexible campaigns usually keep a higher percentage of the contributions but reduces or eliminates the risk of your project being cancelled because you didn’t achieve your goal.
You may have delays in your book release or never completing the book. If you don’t complete your book, the crowdfunding platform may require you to refund contributions or provide an alternative reward.
To Get More How-To Details, Lists, and Templates for Book Crowdfunding, Go to: Book Marketing for Authors Course