More and more authors are exploring the benefits of “out of the box” book promotion, and one way that has gained popularity in recent years is crowdfunding through sites such as Kickstarter. In fact, there are over 66,000 publishing-related live projects on Kickstarter at the time of this writing, proving that it’s one of the best crowdfunding sites for authors. There’s good reason to be excited about this method of selling your books, and not just because of these staggering numbers:
As we see throughout publishing, there are always outliers (e.g., Stephen King, Harry Potter books, James Patterson, Rebecca Yarros, Colleen Hoover) that we build our dreams on but not our expectations. Those in the graphic are obviously outliers. Still, even lesser-known indie author campaigns are generating four-, five-, and even six-figure revenues. Depending on the project, there can be considerable extra costs for fulfillment, but even so, Kickstarter is proving to be a profitable channel for selling books and the best crowdfunding platform for authors. There’s a reason authors keep coming back to do their third or fourth or tenth Kickstarter project.
The beauty of Kickstarter for authors is that it’s specifically made for creatives, and “project backers” on this site are eager to support the arts. Hundreds of years ago, artists, including writers, were housed, fed, and otherwise supported by patrons of the arts as a way to ensure more culture was brought into society. Think of Kickstarter backers in the same way. They may not be able to give you room and board for a year, but they are looking for exciting, inspiring, and intriguing books and other creative projects to give their money to. This means you aren’t solely reliant on your own platform and marketing efforts.
That said, the bigger audience you bring yourself, the more new backers you’ll attract. The above outliers already had a big following, but because of their campaign’s success in the early stages, other Kickstarter backers who’d never heard of them before jumped in, too. This is social proof at work.
Other Reasons Kickstarter & Crowdfunding for Authors Is Exciting
- Keep more of your hard-earned money. Rather than giving the retailers up to 30% of your book sales, you only pay Kickstarter up to 10% in fees.
- Higher sales and profits. Besides keeping a higher percentage, publishing project backers spend on average $25-$30 (possibly more, depending on your reward offerings) compared to maybe $5 for buying an ebook on a retailer site. Even if it costs you $15 to fulfill that average order, your profits still far exceed that $4.99 ebook.
- Generates big buzz for an upcoming release. Kickstarter is basically a platform for pre-orders, whether it’s for a new book/series or for a new format of a previously published book. Compared to pre-orders on the major retailer sites, readers are much more excited about what they can get by backing your Kickstarter project, so they’re talking about it more. Plus, with the higher revenues, you can have more capital for marketing the new release when it goes live on the retailer sites.
- The opportunity to do some really fun and creative things with your books. Authors are particularly finding success by offering something in these campaigns that isn’t available anywhere else (yet). For example, special edition hard covers; beautiful custom artwork; leather-bound books and illustrated vellum inserts; and/or sprayed and custom page edges. Authors get creative in offering a previously published book in a new way at a higher price point.
- The psychological benefit of FOMO (fear of missing out). Readers love being able to attain something they can’t get anywhere else, and Kickstarter projects only last a few weeks, so there’s a built-in sense of urgency. People love collecting items related to their fandoms, especially those that are exclusive and limited, and your readers are no exception.
- Expand your author community. Readers bond over their collection as well as their support of something they mutually love, creating community around you and your books.
- Stay connected. You receive the email addresses of all your backers, so you are able to add them to your newsletter list and keep them informed of other projects.
Consider Kickstarter as part of your marketing plan, either for launch or once you’re more established and want to bring something extra to your loyal fanbase while growing your reach even more. You can learn more on the Kickstarter site, as well as the many Facebook groups with authors experienced in running successful crowdfunding campaigns.
You can also learn more by watching this recorded video from a webinar presented by CraveBooks and Kickstarter, where our own Kerrie Flanagan, an experienced crowdfunding author, talks with Kickstarter’s Head of Publishing, Oriana Leckert, to serve the tea on all things Kickstarter for authors.
