Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Dale Lowry:
[related to an earlier post about a gay fairy tale children’s book on Kickstarter]
So my question is, are Kickstarters a more profitable way to market books than going through traditional publishing or straightforward self-publishing? And is it necessary for the author to already have a lot of social media or other connections
I’m quite surprised at the amount of money some authors been able to raise when there’s not even a sample passage on the Kickstarter page (at least that I can see), especially given that gay fairytales aren’t exactly a new thing. Is it successful because people like the illustrations, or because supporters don’t already know what’s out there, or because people are familiar with the authors’ other works?
None of this is to imply that the book won’t be good. It looks charming! And I think it’s great that they’ve been able to garner interest. I just can’t help having these questions from a business perspective. How is this kind of “success” replicated?
For discussion purposes, I’ll broaden this out a bit – has anyone used these kinds of services (Kickstarter, Patreon etc)? And if so, have you had success with them? Are there any in particular you are considering, and why?