This short extract from whitefox's The Ultimate Book Crowdfunding Guide considers the pros and cons of crowdfunding.
PRO: Low risk
Crowdfunding doesn’t require a huge investment from authors as rewards don’t have to be fulfilled unless the funding goal is met. You won’t be under any obligation to deliver the rewards in these circumstances, so the risk is incredibly low. With some platforms, such as Indiegogo, you don't have to reach the triggering goal to take the funding offered but you would then be liable.
CON: Crowdfunding takes time
Although the time spent on a crowdfunding campaign will be less than a traditional fundraising route, you’ll still have to invest quite a bit of time into making your campaign the very best it can be in order to acquire backers. And this is only the beginning. The next steps – publishing and promoting your book – will be even more time consuming, as well as continuously communicating with your backers so you can keep up momentum and use them as advocates for more pledges. You’ve got to be dedicated and plan effectively if your project is going to get the attention it deserves and reach your funding goal.
PRO: Audience building and community
Launching a crowdfunding campaign provides the opportunity for potential backers, who might otherwise never have come across your project, to learn about your book idea. These strong communities already have a large network of potential supporters, with some past campaigns having been backed by millions and millions of people. It does and can happen. There are probably a lot more people familiar with the idea of crowdfunding than you may initially think, and it is this familiarity that will make it easier to raise money as potential funders already understand the crowdfunding process.
CON: Prepare for the possibility of failure
You should never let the chance of failing stop you from trying. But it's important to recognise that the failure of a crowdfunding campaign can be quite public. However, an unsuccessful campaign doesn’t mean the demise of your book idea. In most cases, authors will revise, improve and relaunch at a later date or work out a way to fund their project from a different source.
whitefox was co-founded in 2012 by former members of the HarperCollins senior leadership team, John Bond and Annabel Wright. Their ambition was to build a creative agency designed to innovate the delivery of publishing services. Find out more about what they offer.
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