Thanks man! Delivering what you promised sounds simple but in reality it’s very easy to overpromise and underdeliver. I’ve seen projects—not from anyone we know—fail hard based on that metric.
One thing I'm curious about is why it seems like creators of crowdfunding campaigns always ship the books themselves.
Wouldn't it be much cheaper and more efficient to self-publish the book through Lulu, Amazon KDP, or some other platform, and then order a copy to be shipped to each backer? Some platforms (like KDP) allow publishing a book in multiple territories, so it should even be possible to, for example, have the book published through both US and UK Amazon KDP, and order copies for American backers through US Amazon and for British backers through UK Amazon, meaning that shipping would take place within the country that the backer is from, eliminating international shipping fees.
In my case, it’s a question of paying full price for my own books, AND shipping, or ordering vastly cheaper author’s copies sent to me, for me to ship. I’m paying for shipping either way; might as well save money on the books themselves.
Not sure I'll try any crowdfunding until I move on to graphic novels, but I sure appreciate articles like this that warn me what not to do when the time comes.
Fantastic write-up on crowdfunding. Your points on delivering what you promise can't be stressed enough!
Thanks man! Delivering what you promised sounds simple but in reality it’s very easy to overpromise and underdeliver. I’ve seen projects—not from anyone we know—fail hard based on that metric.
Thanks for the article! Definitely bookmarking this for future reference.
Do you have any projects planned?
Yes indeed, although I'm not sure how I'm going to raise the capital for them yet.
Ha ha ha ha, damn I forgot about use 2.
Guess I’m not so smart.
Thank you for posting this. Neat to see how the sausage is made.
You’re welcome! And it’s never too late to start telling people what to do!
One thing I'm curious about is why it seems like creators of crowdfunding campaigns always ship the books themselves.
Wouldn't it be much cheaper and more efficient to self-publish the book through Lulu, Amazon KDP, or some other platform, and then order a copy to be shipped to each backer? Some platforms (like KDP) allow publishing a book in multiple territories, so it should even be possible to, for example, have the book published through both US and UK Amazon KDP, and order copies for American backers through US Amazon and for British backers through UK Amazon, meaning that shipping would take place within the country that the backer is from, eliminating international shipping fees.
In my case, it’s a question of paying full price for my own books, AND shipping, or ordering vastly cheaper author’s copies sent to me, for me to ship. I’m paying for shipping either way; might as well save money on the books themselves.
Not sure I'll try any crowdfunding until I move on to graphic novels, but I sure appreciate articles like this that warn me what not to do when the time comes.
Glad you find this useful. Let me know when you launch any campaign!
Just remember: you asked for it!
I'm curious how many fans you've accumulated just from folks on Kickstarter who happened to come across your campaign.
I honestly don’t know!
Getting a book crowdfunded can definitely be harder than it looks.