Years ago, photographer Scott Indermaur told me of his dream of putting his photographs from the REVEALED Project into a book. Not easy getting a publisher for a photography book in this competitive market and economy.
And, of course, self publishing a photography book full of photos on high quality paper is a much more expensive endeavor than self-publishing a how-to book. So, that seemed out of the question, until Scott discovered KickStarter and put together his own funding campaign to underwrite the project and make his book a reality.
Last fall I received the request that went out to Scott’s entire list–and subsequently many of our friends–and I “invested” in his book. In fact, I will soon receive my free copy now that the book is fully funded. How exciting to be one of the people in this grassroots movement to get this inspiring book out there.
Dylan Howard, who is filming a documentary about my mother-in-law’s art and her work for peace–Anne Mimi Sammis, painter, sculptor and host of PBS-TV’s Love to Paint with Mimi discovered Indie Go Go as a similar fundraising site for the arts. The documentary, which is being filmed in conjunction with PBS-TV in RI, has raised about 34% of its funding goal.
You may remember Mimi from the beautiful image of her painting of birches in winter that I sent out in my e-holiday card. Perhaps you’ll join me in supporting this project or another. And if you’re looking to fund your own project, check out KickStarter and IndieGoGo which make it easy for community to gather together and help you make your dream come true–and create the impact you know you can make with your book, film or art.
Thank you very much for sharing. It has been a ton of work, and very fulfilling on many levels! I highly recommend Kickstarter or IndieGoGo. They both have their niches and pick the one that resinates with yourself. I’ll be checking out Dylan’s documentary after this comment. 🙂 I can’t wait to send Lisa her book. 🙂
This is such am amazing idea! Thanks so much for posting, Lisa.
You’re welcome, Doreen. Let me know if you use it–and we’ll post your campaign on the blog and newsletter! Dylan and Scott, thanks for sharing the details and some of the specific results you’ve gotten. Clearly, there are many reasons these campaigns can kickstart your book, film or project.
I want to give a huge thank you for posted about our project. We made $1500 in just one night alone–enough money to send our film to 5 key film festivals for peace on our list! Thanks to all for making this possible. Please tell your friends and help spread a peace consciousness for this new year. We have 15 days left lets make it happen. Thank You!
I’d also like to add that my Kickstarter campaign had another benefit vs. raising the money. The publicity this Kickstarter campaign created exposed the project to new people. This campaign put it on a national level in a different light and introduced it to a new audience. New people pledged and even people who didn’t pledge are now following the project and adding more energy to it. Raising the money was amazing. Also, the amount of exposure this campaign created for REVEALED was tremendous.
Great post! Kickstarter is a valuable tool for fundraising but lacks a book or author-centric focus. Also if you do not reach your fundraising goal you end up with nothing. Take a look at Authr.com.
Since Authr.com focuses on both crowd-funding AND pre-orders for book projects only.
Here’s how Authr.com differentiates itself from basic crowd-funding sites:
1. We continue to support authors beyond initial fundraising – the book project transitions to pre-orders and a sales channel once the book is published.
2. We don’t take a percentage of fundraising dollars like other crowd-funding sites. We charge a flat monthly fee.
3. We do not hold their funds in any escrow or other accounts. Transactions are all done through PayPal. Our authors are always in control of the money they raise.
4. Even if they don’t reach their full goal, our authors can keep what they have successfully raised.
5. Authr.com is currently the only site to concentrate entirely on book funding for authors and writers (rather than other types of creative projects).
6. Author provides a QR Code service that helps to make printed books interactive. Our QR Code service is very easy to use and extremely powerful to connect readers with Bonus Features like Video, Podcast, PDF or any URL from within the printed book.
Although I haven’t used Authr.com for crowd funding I am using it to pre-sell my new book (http://authr.com/books/Shop-Local-_12-Secrets.html) as well as market and sell my previous titles. I’ve had quite a few pre-sales and I’ve seen sales for my other books at amazon increase since I’ve listed them at Authr.com.
Heidi, I love the premise of “Shop Local.” Good luck with it and let us know how it goes using Authr.com or any other tools. It’s exciting to see all the new options out there for helping authors connect with their potential readers.