“Crowdfunding is the new black.” ― Rowena Wiseman
Imagine having a great idea and wanting to share it with the world. Once that idea peeks into your consciousness, you wake up every morning with it percolating in your head. It starts there and then it travels to your heart, slowly consuming you until it has every fiber of your being calling out to attend to its beckoning. Often that idea comes with a price tag. Rarely can you create and implement an idea without accruing some type of cost.
For an author, the price tag varies depending on the book design and its debut in the world of publishing. It has often been said that the epitome of true success is when you can find someone else to finance your dream or idea and share the benefits. Crowdfunding allows you to do just that. Oxford Dictionary defines crowdfunding as “the practice of funding a project or venture by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the Internet.” So it’s a great way to raise the money to finance and market your book project.
There are hundreds of crowdfunding or crowdsourcing websites out there, but the granddaddies are Kickstarter, Pubslush, and Indiegogo.
If you are conducting a crowdfunding campaign, here are a few essentials:
- email list for email marketing (ex. MailChimp or Constant Contact)
- have profiles on social media platforms such as Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Tumblr
- a separate Facebook page or website that serves as your crowdfunding central office
- a blog
- a marketing video
So how does this help you market your book? 30 days before you actually start your campaign, you should initiate the marketing buzz about its imminent arrival with a “Save-the-Date.” Once the campaign has started, experts recommend that you launch a marketing movement enlisting others to support you in getting the word out about your campaign. You can get started by promoting your book on social media, through email marketing, on YouTube, or anywhere else you can create a marketing flash mob. In essence for the length of your campaign you will become a “lean, mean marketing machine” promoting your book and the campaign with a little help from your friends.
The benefits of doing a crowdfunding campaign are you may raise your entire budget for your publishing idea and you will create an audience for your book before it’s even published!
Change something today to make your tomorrow better.
Tom Blubaugh
Literary Strategist, LLC
TomBlubaugh.net
tom@tomblubaugh.net
417-812-6110
REGULATE! Thanks Tom for this information. Although I’ve been in the book writing and marketing for a few years. Your information helps with the directions and avenues of promoting and selling my books. I will follow your blogs they are very helpful when it comes to being a successful entrepreneur. Thanks! You are in here!
Thanks, Clarence. Appreciate the kind words. Much success to you.