Is there a market for your book idea?

Maybe you a great idea and a market to sell to, but you don’t have funding to make your dream happen?

If those are obstacles for you, crowdfunding could be a great solution.

Platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo are grounded in solid marketing psychology fundamentals like Urgency, Scarcity, and Popularity (Social Proof). Many authors have successfully funded and published their books with the help of crowdfunding campaigns.

To teach us about crowdfunding, I interviewed Chris Fox. He’s written several popular books, including Write to Market and How to Write 5000 Words Per Hour (Affiliate Links).

What is crowdfunding?

Thomas Umstattd, Jr.: What is crowdfunding?

Chris Fox: Crowdfunding uses the internet to tell everyone in the world, “I want to make this cool thing, but I don’t have the resources to do that. If you guys pledge a bit of your resources, we can make this cool thing together.” You give them ownership and a reward. Authors usually give a copy of the book. If your product and your pitch are good enough, people will rally to fund your idea. 

Thomas: It’s like passing the offering plate at church. Some contribute a little, some donate a lot, and some people don’t give anything. But everyone benefits from the generosity of the crowd.

Chris, you have a Kickstarter campaign currently in progress. It’s for a role-playing game based on your book. Why did you put it on Kickstarter?

Chris: I figured Kickstarter would be the best way to raise awareness about my product—the game. I funded the development of the game with income from my fiction book sales. I used the Kickstarter funds for the artwork budget needed for building the game for the next 12 months. I knew there’d be a lot of people excited about the novels, and I was gambling that they would be as excited about the role-playing game and fund it through Kickstarter.

Who funds Kickstarter campaigns?

Thomas: The first step of crowdfunding is building a crowd. How did you assemble a crowd before you started this campaign?

Chris: I did very little traditional prep work for a Kickstarter. Normally, you would raise awareness for three to four months by guesting on podcasts, writing blog posts, and creating free content around your product or campaign.

For example, if you wanted to crowdfund your audiobook, you might create an audio sample and run a Facebook ad for it. If people listen and like it, they may be interested in your Kickstarter campaign when it finally goes live.

Most crowdfunding sites allow you to set up a page long before it goes live so people can see you’re going to start raising funds on a certain date.