There are two types of business books: the ones that talk about business, and the ones that teach you how to do it. Coleman’s Crowdfunding Your Fiction falls solidly into the second category.
If you’ve ever thought about using Kickstarter (or a similar crowdsourcing platform) to launch a book, you need to red Crowdfunding Your Fiction.
CYF (which I’m going to call it from now on) gives you a high-level overview of everything you need to do in order to successfully launch a crowdfunding campaign. Then it dives into every little detail, and holds your hand while guiding you through every step, including pointing out where to click on the homepage.
Yes, it’s that detailed.
You might expect it to be bloated, but Coleman manages to keep the word-count down. CYF is incredibly fast to read, and Coleman points out that you should read through it once, then come back and do all the steps.
That’s what I’m doing. I’m in the beginning stages of launching my Warded Gunslinger series (spaceships + cowboys + dragons = fun), and I’m following along in CYF, doing it step by step.
Because when I tried to figure this out on my own, I missed a lot of things. I thought crowdfunding was difficult (it sort of is), and I wouldn’t be able to pull it off (I likely will). But with CYF, I have a plan already made, from how to prepare, all the way through pricing decisions, stretch goals, and fulfillment. All of it laid out as a series of simple decisions.
That’s not to say that CYF is simple. On the contrary – it takes a very complex topic and makes it seem simple by dividing it into concrete steps that you can do, one at a time, to get to your goal: a successful crowdfunding campaign.
And that’s the hallmark of a great business book!
Blurb
Crowdfunding Your Fiction: A Best Practices Guide includes thirteen chapters, two appendices, and one Tip Sheet. It is not a quick-read pamphlet. It’s over 25,000 words of the best starting advice I know and routinely give out in paid consultations, plus detailed how-to instructions on Kickstarter’s campaign-building interface.
Ten of the thirteen chapters are written for a hands-on learning experience. It will guide you through researching the Publishing category, designing and running your first campaign, fulfillment, and special pitfalls to avoid.
The book’s primary focus is on a working writer new to crowdfunding, or a recently-established crowdfunding writer looking to tighten up their game. Hobbyists and unpublished writers will get a lot out of the guide as well, so long as they heed all warnings with extra precaution.
Links
Crowdfunding Your Fiction by Loren L. Coleman on Kickstarter (yes he crowdfunded it)
