Crowdfunding...

[Jo Zebedee]

It's sobering that one has to sell about 400 to 500 copies of an eBook to "crowd fund" a professional final edit & proof and professional cover.
Still I'm committed to up dating existing SP eBooks when mistakes are found, or if there are sales to have it done professionally.

But that's not far off what you need to sell to break even for a properly produced self published book, allowing for say, £150-200 for a cover and £400-600 for editing (based on a full edit by a pro editor and a copy edit.) To cover that, you're looking at about 400 sales at around the £2.50 price point on kindle and a £2 profit on paperback.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

allowing for say, £150-200 for a cover and £400-600 for editing

Actually it's EXACTLY the same.
Yes, assuming you have the £800. I agree actually. Most people SHOULD spend the £800 per book FIRST. Some people don't have £80 to spare. I've no Pay TV sub, no smoking, no drinking, About £10 every six months on phone, no cinema, no video or music sub, no video via internet (not paying for cap), no meals out, no holidays, no buying CDs or DVDs or new books since forever. Oh well, at least writing is fun. Laptop is from 2002, workstation donated three years ago and its screens chucked out by local Uni. My Kobo and Kindle were presents. I couldn't afford them. Save me a fortune in printing.

Writing doesn't need crowd funding. If you are very poor there may be difficulties having the final professional Edit & Proof and Cover, but the amount of money isn't in the realm of the amounts in usual crowd funding (£10,000 to £1 Million).

I'm 61, I might be dead before I'd save up (how?) the money to do stuff properly.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Actually it's EXACTLY the same.
Yes, assuming you have the £800. I agree actually. Most people SHOULD spend the £800 per book FIRST. Some people don't have £80 to spare. I've no Pay TV sub, no smoking, no drinking, About £10 every six months on phone, no cinema, no video or music sub, no video via internet (not paying for cap), no meals out, no holidays, no buying CDs or DVDs or new books since forever. Oh well, at least writing is fun. Laptop is from 2002, workstation donated three years ago and its screens chucked out by local Uni. My Kobo and Kindle were presents. I couldn't afford them. Save me a fortune in printing.

Writing doesn't need crowd funding. If you are very poor there may be difficulties having the final professional Edit & Proof and Cover, but the amount of money isn't in the realm of the amounts in usual crowd funding (£10,000 to £1 Million).

I'm 61, I might be dead before I'd save up (how?) the money to do stuff properly.

Of course, it's hard to find the money. I think everyone here knows I'm not rich. (We're certainly comparable in terms of laptop age. ) But it can also be drip fed and not all paid out at once. Also, it's worth shopping around and/or seeing if you have support. I got Inish Carraig out for less than £200 because I'd paid for the editorial a number of years before (which had come to £300) and because Gary kindly did a cover for me FOC. And a very good one.

But, at the very, very least a copy edit is a good thing to reach for. I have heard ludicrous prices for them. I haven't paid anywhere close to what the forums and what not suggest they are. If anyone is looking for one, I found @TheDustyZebra excellent, and she didn't break the bank.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

at the very, very least a copy edit is a good thing to reach for.

I totally agree.

 

[JunkMonkey]

I think crowdfunding is fine for something that exists, works, and there is a prototype. I don't believe in it for books, comics, music or even films.

I'm considering doing a Kickstarter for a comic. I'm thinking of it as part of the marketing. I'm not raising money to print the thing - the run is going to be small and the outlay is minimal - but as a way of getting orders in and shifting some stock. If the campaign works and I sell more than I was originally going to print, I'll up the run, get my unit costs down, and increase my margin. If it doesn't succeed I go ahead as I was intending to anyway. I don't lose by it.

 

[pambaddeley]

But that's not far off what you need to sell to break even for a properly produced self published book, allowing for say, £150-200 for a cover and £400-600 for editing (based on a full edit by a pro editor and a copy edit.) To cover that, you're looking at about 400 sales at around the £2.50 price point on kindle and a £2 profit on paperback.

Depending on the book length, can be a lot more than that ... so far, the quotes I've seen for my 166K MS (and that is after a lot of editing by me) exceed £800 and go up into 4 or 5 grand, with £1600 quite an average. Anyway, I'm going to get several quotes when I get the current editing cycle done, but I'd be thrilled if it "only" cost £400-£600 for a pro edit.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Depending on the book length, can be a lot more than that ... so far, the quotes I've seen for my 166K MS (and that is after a lot of editing by me) exceed £800 and go up into 4 or 5 grand, with £1600 quite an average. Anyway, I'm going to get several quotes when I get the current editing cycle done, but I'd be thrilled if it "only" cost £400-£600 for a pro edit.

Yes, length can come into it. Have you contacted @Boneman and @Teresa Edgerton for a quote? I've always found editors by word of mouth, not advertising, and have never paid close to what you're quoting. But my mss are shorter than that, by and large.

 

[pambaddeley]

Haven't approached anyone as such (just worked it out from advertised rates on some sites). I think Teresa does more developmental editing and I had that done previously, so now I'm after line/copy edit. I was going to contact @Boneman and @Dusty Zebra when ready - more work to do at present. Thanks

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Depending on the book length, can be a lot more than that

CreateSpace might be 1 US cent a word.
It does logically depend on length.

 

[Tim Murray]

It's sobering that one has to sell about 400 to 500 copies of an eBook to "crowd fund" a professional final edit & proof and professional cover.
Still I'm committed to up dating existing SP eBooks when mistakes are found, or if there are sales to have it done professionally.

Tried it once and would think twice about doing it again. Made some mistakes that I would correct, even that would might not get me a winner. It is a crap shoot at best.

 

[JunkMonkey]

I just pressed the button on the campaign.

Gosh Wow! Comic Book

I'll come back and let you all know how I get on.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Well so far so good!

Strike that. So far - VERY good!

63% funded in less than 24 hours. We're surprised, and relieved, and happy - and that's without my mum chipping in...

 

[ratsy]

Congrats! Looks great

 

[JunkMonkey]

Still no sign of my mum but we're up to 96% in 24 hours.

So far most pledges have come from friends and relations, only 21% has come from regular Kickstarter backers browsing the site and looking for something to invest in.

Once you have a live project there is a dashboard of traffic stats. 42% of our backers so far have come from Facebook - that's my wife's department. 4.5% from forums like this - my department. It appears that quite a few of our backers have signed up to KS specifically to help fund us. 51% of our backers have never funded a project before.

I guess the thing I'm trying to say is that putting it up on Kickstarter is only the start. Once you've put your project up there you have to go out and hustle people to look at it.

Now relax and stare deeply into my project... deeper... deeper... deeper.... you see a link..... warm and inviting.....you want to click the link... you want to click the link....

http://kck.st/295ObDa
click me...​

It's worth a try.

 

[JunkMonkey]