This looks promising – a Kickstarter, but only for books. Or: a kind of Authonomy, but where people actually put down money instead of votes.
The process is simple. Just as it’s done in the publishing world, we ask authors to submit ten pages and a summary of their book. We then let you browse the submissions based on your preferences. You read a brief overview, and if it strikes your fancy, you click through to read a more in depth description. If you’re still interested, you read an excerpt. And if that leaves you wanting more, you support it (which is essentially like preordering the book)! You don’t get charged unless the book is published, so there’s no risk. And for every book we sell, we’re donating a book to a child in need….
You get bragging rights for discovering a published book. You get to read what you want. You support aspiring authors. And you support aspiring readers. We’d say it’s pretty much a win-win all around. Our goal is to create a sort of online global book club, marked by respect, raw creativity, and conscious consumerism. Join our revolution today!
Trouble is, the great majority of books have 0% funding, so Kickstarter it isn’t. But it’s a good idea at least, and hopefully it gains traction.
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Thank you once again for the information, Henry. I just can’t get my head around having other people sharing the expense of publishing and making available to the public my books. I’d assume I’d have to be giving up something to do that. Making your book live up to what they, perhaps conflictingly, want? Maybe this will work for some people. If it does, I hope they keep us informed.
I’m soo with you on this topic. Nothing has convinced me, emotionally, that giving away even a part of a manuscript will work for me.
I give away free PubCoach advice all over the net – but a book – No Way!
Weird how we humans ‘draw the line’.
Further, PubSlush? Not going with the name – or anything else that connotes ‘Slush’ unless it’s a hot summer day. It’s been a hard enough battle to pipe in for ‘Self-Publish’ ;D
I’m giving away a whole novel for free on my website. I tried going the traditional way but the book is a bit unusual– half fantasy, half sci-fi– so it was always going to be difficult. But now I’ve gotten a couple of god reviews to get me started (http://stuffwhatiwrote.wordpress.com/books-reviews/the-space-between-by-scott-j-robinson/ and http://bookonaut.com/2011/08/ebook-review-the-space-between-tribes-of-the-hakahei-1-by-scott-robinson/) and already have some donations. I couldn’t have afforded to do it any other way.
If you want crowd-funding, you have to build up a following. I doubt people are just going to randomly select unknown authors to support. MeiLin Miranda had success with crowd-funding though, to the tune of $1500 for editing costs and cover art.
She was publishing web serials on her own site for over a year, though, before asking for anything from those readers, and they got a pretty good deal out of helping with the funding (signed paperbacks and advanced copies).