It’s not asking for charity — it’s a powerful marketing and pre-order sales tool
I am learning so much right now.
Just so much.
It all started with the modest goal of writing a children’s book about opossums and then publishing and selling it. No big deal. Lots of people do that.
Not everyone goes the traditional publishing route — there are many reasons for that, but this post is not about that.
Not everyone produces a high quality, beautifully illustrated, educational book that can be enjoyed by parents and children, which they then manage to sell and maybe even have a tiny little bit of profit left over in the end.
That’s my goal.
As with so many things, the adage seems to be “You’ve got to spend money to make money.” (Just ask my husband how good I am with money.)
I don’t have the resources of an independently wealthy heiress, but I know I need to invest in this project to make it work. Without the skills of some people who know what they are doing helping me, no one will want to buy the book.
My book will not appeal to anyone without gorgeous, engaging, professional artwork. It won’t sell without a beautiful, effective cover design.
There are so many important components that come together to make a book and most of them require a particular set of skills to do properly: editing, illustration, type setting, cover design, marketing, social media, even crowdfunding campaigns.
I can do some of these things on my own or with minimal help, but I don’t want to skimp and sell fewer books as a result of too much penny pinching.
Maybe I can save a little money by designing the cover myself — I know how to use the software. But I don’t have the training or experience to know how to create a cover that will make people want to open up my book and then buy it.
I could end up saving a couple hundred dollars and then miss out on several hundred sales, too.
No one wants that.
This is my baby I’ve been working so hard on and I want it to travel the city, state, country, and even the world!
Funding is one thing, but exposure is another.
Writers have to be marketers these days. It’s a fact. For some of us, it’s a sad fact, but a fact nonetheless.
Platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo help get the word out about your project. You can reach people and audiences you would not otherwise reach.
I started thinking about crowdfunding as soon as I began to learn about what it really means to “self-publish.”
Not only do you do all the work, or hire it out, you also pay for it all. Printing only becomes cost effective once you order at least 500 copies.
The problem is I don’t want to end up with 477 of them rotting in my garage for the next 23 years. I want to sell as many as possible before I’ve even finished the book completely.
As of this writing, I have one finished illustration and I’m expecting another in the next couple of days. When that is finished, I’ll get the cover done so I can print a few “dummy books” for pictures.
After I get pictures of children reading the faux book and make an introductory video for my funding campaign, then I’ll be ready to really get the word out and launch my project.
Like every author, I believe in what I’m doing 110%. Educating people about how wonderful opossums are is important to me and I know there is an audience of fellow opossum lovers out there who are interested as well. People need to know what I want to tell them and I can tell them in an entertaining way with adorable illustrations, too.
But it’s not enough.
You can write the best, most amazing book in the world and only ever sell a few copies.
We’ve all read god-awful books and found ourselves wondering how in the hell this person ever got published.
A huge piece of the publishing pie is getting the word out. The most ardent potential fans can’t buy your book or product if they don’t know it exists.
Enter crowdfunding. Yes, it’s well known for helping people harness the financial might of the masses to bring their product to market. But crowdfunding can also help you advertise.
Kickstarter, the platform I am planning to use for my book project, is a huge community of people who are actively looking for great new things.
There are some amazing books (and a lot more) being created — so, tread carefully if you’re anything like me or you’ll want to back half the projects you come across.
The catch is that you have to educate your social media networks, friends, and family. Many people don’t understand how crowdfunding works and have never backed a project themselves.
A common misconception is that people are looking for “donations.”
In reality, crowdfunding is more like a 30-day pre-order period with rewards.
With Kickstarter, creators set a financial goal and a time period, usually 30 days, and if they don’t make the goal, they don’t get any of the money pledged by their backers.
Getting backers is up to the creator though.
Some people have friends and family with deep pockets and get funded.
Some people use paid ads to get their project in front of the eyes they’re looking for.
Some people have a robust social media presence and have educated their followers about their project ahead of time to they are poised to succeed by the time they launch.
I decided to hire a consultant to help me prepare my campaign and I am really glad I did. I opted for two sessions with my consultant and I’ve done one of them so far.
Lisa Ferland, my consultant and experienced self-published, crowdfunded author, has been great so far. She stalked me all over the internet, looking at my messaging and digital footprint. She pointed out several areas I needed to improve, broken links, inconsistencies, etc. Lisa also gave me a healthy list of things to do to keep me busy for a couple of weeks.
I’m in the middle of figuring out my reward tiers for my future backers, building my email list, attracting as many followers as possible on social media, making lists of friends to contact, networking, and managing my illustrations.
Yep, that’s it!
But I have hinted at my plans by mentioning pre-orders in different posts. I’ll send out an update to my list each week and let them know what’s going on with the book. Interested fans and followers will even get to read this very article if they are curious about what’s going on behind the scenes.
People in my networks are interested in the topic, involved in making some of the decisions, and supportive of my ideas. I am more and more excited as things become more concrete. I cannot wait to see the second finished illustration and share it with my network.
I’m working hard and looking forward to seeing the fruits of my labor of love.
Thanks for reading.
To follow my progress and be the first to know when my book, Opossum Opposites is available, get on my illustrious email list here and follow me on social media for my daily homemade original opossum memes here.