Monday, July 8, 2013

Moving from Self-Publishing to Crowd-Publishing





Ever since the new Veronica Mars movie was funded by excited fans through a start-up website called Kickstarter, crowd-funding is the place to be. I asked my fellow Silicon Valley inhabitant, author Keith Raffel, to tell us about his decision to try crowd-funding for his latest thriller, Temple Mount. Here's what he had to say...


I expanded my readership by publishing an ebook myself.  It worked; I was pleased. So I did it again, but the next ebook did no better than the first one. Did another self-published ebook make sense then? As Albert Einstein is reputed to have said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

So I am trying something different this time.

Now I’m a Silicon Valley guy by upbringing and inclination. My dad went to work at Ampex, the inventor of the videotape recorder, over 50 years ago. I myself worked at the first company in the Valley that delivered software via the Internet. Given that background, I could not resist a new publishing model. I am moving from self-publishing to crowd-publishing.

What does that mean? It means that I want to work with readers to kick-start publication of my fifth novel, a thriller set primarily in Jerusalem titled Temple Mount. The publication, launch, and marketing of the book will be financed in part by readers who pre-order Temple Mount in either ebook or trade paper format. They can sign up to join me at the launch, help name characters, or even take out their red pencils and edit the book. (Eleven people have already signed up to help me edit the book; I am figuring that crowd-editing will work better than any single editor ever could!) Most of all I hope that those who join will feel they have a stake in the venture and will help spread the word about Temple Mount.

The whole endeavor is laid out here on Kickstarter. Please let me know if all this makes sense to you or if I’ve taken leave of my senses.

I am just hoping others will join this possibly crazy author in getting Temple Mount out there for readers by using the crowd-publishing model.








I think one of the most fun things about Kickstarter is the special gifts you get if you donate, and Keith has some doosies --- you could be a character in his novel or even edit it for him. Go check out the fun gifties on his Kickstarter page.  
UPDATE: Keith's book was fully funded so Temple Mount is a go. 

5 comments:

  1. This is very interesting and I wonder if it will catch on?!

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  2. I'm hoping it will catch on. Kickstarter is giving life to many interesting but non-traditional projects.

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  3. Kim and Deb, keep your fingers crossed for me. You can track my progress here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1488262238/join-me-in-publishing-temple-mount-my-5th-novel

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    1. @Keith - looks like you are making great progress!

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  4. I expanded my readership by publishing an ebook myself. It worked; I was pleased. So I did it again, but the next ebook did no better than the first one. Did another self-published ebook make sense then? As Albert Einstein is reputed to have said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Ascenergy

    ReplyDelete