Self-Publishing Journey: Part 3
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to my self-publishing journey! Last time, I’d sorted out which printer to use for my debut anthology. I also took a look at shipping and distribution. Now, we’re moving on to perhaps the craziest step in this process so far: Kickstarter.
Why Kickstarter?
Initially, I decided on crowdfunding because I liked the idea of a preorder with a bonus, getting the community involved and interested in my book ahead of printing. Of course, offsetting the costs of producing a book is also a perk, but I didn’t set this up to completely cover all the costs of producing a book—just a print book.
At first, the brainstorming process was exhilarating. Just thinking up the various rewards and stretch goals was a lot of fun. Asking my Patrons for their ideas turned into a collaborative effort to expand my collection of short stories even further (there are four extra stories in the book thanks to them!).
But then…
The Math
I’ll skip over the days and weeks of crunching numbers and making sense of what would be feasible—but do not hurry this step. Between the costs of creating a book (cover art, editing, designing, printing) and figuring out shipping, I very nearly went completely mad.
To summarize, because I chose to go with a local printer, their lowest feasible print run was 50 books. I budgeted everything around that number—rewards, packaging, shipping—and then doubled, tripled, and quadrupled those costs just so I had all the variables (Marquis Printing very kindly offered me exact quotes for each print run). In the end, I averaged out the prices based on similar projects and my projected audience—so my Kickstarter goal would be $3,000.
Printing and shipping the books to me would vary based on unit count between $800-$1,200.
Cover art and editing were budgeted at $1,500.
Rewards averaged out to approximately $500.
Packaging—bought in bulk—would run about $350.
Shipping, based on a rough idea of my audience, could vary between $900-$3,000, depending on how many units sold.
Of course, Kickstarter would take about 10% of whatever I made up to and beyond my goal, so, $300+.
No, you’re not seeing things, that all adds up to way more than a $3,000 goal, but my aim wasn’t to get backers to pay for every last detail. I broke items down into two lists: 1) what the book needs to exist and 2) what was a Kickstarter cost.
Any book needs a cover, adequate design, and editing. Those costs exist whether you want a print book or an eBook. It has to be done regardless, so I decided to eat those costs as part of the business of being a writer.
The printing, shipping, packaging, and rewards were all Kickstarter costs. Kickstarter allows you to price out each tier and also include shipping. Shipping, by the way, is included in your total goal so I had to scale the numbers: if I sell 50 books, how much will my shipping average out versus if I sell 200 books. The shipping calculations also had to be done on what I thought the population of my backers would be—that is, by percentage, how many would be in Canada, how many in the United States, how many internationally.
I created a disturbing amount of Excel sheets as I tried to break down the costs versus the tier prices. In the end, the aim is to break even and not have the project cost more than it would have had I printed without Kickstarter.
Rewards
This was fun—no, that isn’t sarcasm. I genuinely enjoyed thinking up neat and interesting things I could add as bonuses to each tier. As an anthology, I had fewer options in terms of specific rewards that I see many books on Kickstarter do. I was also cautioned not to complicate my life, ha.
My cover artist, Nino Vecia, was all kinds of amazing. He suggested an art print of the book’s cover. His work is so stunning, I think it would have been a huge loss not to include a print.
I really love my Scribe Cat logo, so I pushed the envelope a little and set up a limited tier with a Scribe Cat pin and bookmark (which I’ve been hand-making in my free time).
Beyond that, the tiers are pretty simple: eBook only, softcover only, and a double copy tier for anyone buying for a friend.
Oh yeah, and one monster tier in case any one also needs any editing services. (Backers in this tier would get everything out of the limited edition tier, plus an 80,000-word manuscript assessment and one-hour chat.) Of course, it hinges on a backer needing any editing services, but that’s why a lot of you are here, I imagine. ;)
The Stretch Goal
I had huge ideas for stretch goals. Rewards that, at a minimum printing quota, didn’t make sense as a reward: holographic stickers, fancy gold foil edging on the bookmarks, a new pin. All of that, however, has to be considered on top of the extra costs of going over your goal—more books to print, more of the base rewards to purchase, and higher Kickstarter fees (curse those fees).
So, I thought, what’s one thing I can focus any extra backer funds on?
I landed on an audiobook. Why? Because I happen to know a phenomenal voice actor, Tom Craig, and he knows more phenomenal talent, like Cristina Gonçalves.
I know the biggest hurdle we have as writers is getting people to read our books. Some of that is because, well, reading isn’t easy for everyone. Aside from the obvious accessibility issues, if you spend a good chunk of your day staring at a screen or paperwork, the last thing you want to do at the end of the day is read. I’m an editor—my job is to read books—but, by the end of the day, my eyes need a break. So, I tend to read on the weekends…when I’m not taking that free time to write. Audiobooks are a great way around this; I can rest my eyes and still delve into a book.
Usually, I see Stretch Goals meted out in increments, but, as this was my first project, I decided to go big or go home. Backers would either back my book’s printing or the audiobook—no extra fuss. It costs almost double to have an audiobook created with the right talent, but I have every confidence it’ll be worth it.
Finalizing the Book
Meanwhile, I had to finalize all the little details with my cover artist. I couldn’t do any of the graphics or mockups on Kickstarter without the cover—never mind the book just being incomplete without it!
More on that next time as I put the last few touches and pre-launch the Kickstarter!