How to Build an Author Platform    Chapter 4 of 8

Chapter 4

Crowdfunding

In the last decade, crowdfunding has gone digital, and become a major source of funding for creative projects. Even more than raising money, crowdfunding can be an incredible way to connect with a community that will love a book, even before that book is made, building excitement and engaging readers.

Here are a few ways you can use crowdfunding to achieve your audience goals:

1. Tell Your Story

In addition to telling your story in words such as the jacket copy, author bio, and excerpts, you can use multimedia elements such as photos, videos, even GIFS. Your crowdfunding page should give you the space to create context around a project and get potential readers and backers excited about it.

2. Test an Idea

In the case of popular crowdfunding tool Kickstarter, projects are “all or nothing” which means that if you don’t hit the goal you set, your project does not fund, and nobody’s credit card is charged. That means that you can use it to see if there’s a big enough audience for something you want to do—such as a beautiful hardcover edition of your paperback book. If there isn’t, you can spend your time and resources on a project that appeals more to readers.

3. Try Something New

Writers and publishers can use crowdfunding to do something a little unusual that will resonate with their community, such as funding an author event, a tour, a box set, or an unusual collaboration. For example, if you had a book about dogs, you could run a campaign to host a dog-themed launch party for your book at a local independent bookstore, featuring cookies cut into dog shapes, costumes, and even pair with a local shelter to bring in adoptable dogs. Initiatives like this are a good way to think outside the box to garner attention for your book in your local community and beyond.

4. Build a Community

A crowdfunding campaign is a great way to connect with your fans, and turn fans into friends. You can provide updates to build awareness of what you’re doing, share cool behind-the-scenes peeks at the project, introduce your collaborators, and more. You can provide unique rewards to create a special experience that your supporters will never forget, such as including their name in the book as a character, or doing custom illustrations of something that means something to them.

5. Connect with a New Audience

TMillions of people from countries all over the world have backed at least one publishing project on Kickstarter, which makes crowdfunding is a great way to gain visibility for your work. In addition, that all-or-nothing funding model encourages members of your community and your supporters to share the project with friends and on social media to make sure you reach your goal. Your supporters become your advocates and you are able to hone in on your true audience.

6. Understand Your Audience

It can often be challenging for publishers to know who is buying their books and how those readers are finding them. It’s recommended that you choose a crowdfunding platform that provides information about how backers are finding your project. You can also use custom referral tags to gain even more insight into that question, but regardless of what platform you use, you need to make sure it gives you a good understanding of who your supporters are.

7. Create Something Magnificent

The reading community loves to find something unique, original, groundbreaking, or beautiful and support it to see it take shape in the real world. Numerous publishers have created exquisite books and special editions via crowdfunding that might not have been possible otherwise. And even better, with crowdfunding, publishers find out how many people are actually willing to pony up for their book so that they can hone in on their target audience and make educated decisions about their book marketing plans before publishing.

This chapter was compiled from the following posts on the IngramSpark blog:

“How to Use Crowdfunding to Connect with Readers” by Margot Atwell, Director of Publishing at Kickstarter