Support for Indie Authors discussion

I recently heard about a group called Pubslush. While they have a lot of great features, they offer their own version of Kickstarter (not sure who existed first), specifically for authors!

Their website is https://pubslush.com/.

If you're looking for a way to fund your new idea, you might check them out. From everything I've seen, they run a pretty smooth operation and everyone I've dealt with has been extremely kind and helpful.

Thanks for the helpful information, Ann.

Thanks Ann! If anyone has any questions about us and our services feel free to send us a message.

Happy Writing!

Thanks Pubslush! Feel free to self promote a bit in this discussion :)

I've gone to Indiegogo but would like to look at your site. My promotion:

From Positive Reinforcement to Enforcement to Force
The Escargot Series: A thriller with an ear towards the future
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ne...

This is intriguing. Someone tell me how this works, exactly.

thanks, Morris

Exactly like Indiegogo or kickstarter. You put your work out there, everything you want to include to entice others like trailers, maybe a chapter or two, a blurb, and then hope that people donate to your cause. Of course, the expectation is that YOU will donate to other causes to help to spread the word about yours.

Other causes? Please give examples.

Thanks, Morris

Riley means other author's campaigns. Kind of like "I'll donate to your cause if you'll donate to mine" type of thing.

Pubslush offers you additional services that will help you promote your campaign.

They're very eager to speak to authors, so if you have questions, I'm sure they'd be more than happy to discuss their policies and services to you.

Ty

Interesting! thanks for posting this, Ann. Will check it out.

That reminds me of an article I need to find about how to maximize your campaign on Kickstarter. I'll see if I can find it again and post it here.

Now I feel like a jerk. I cannot find it. It was an article I read at work and now the magazine is gone. What stood out to me was that it was directed at large corporations in regards to them using crowdfunding as a means to adverting. It's main points were;

1) Even a failed crowdfunding campaign is still a success because you advertised to more people than you would have without it.
2) Be sure you have a prize system in place for your campaign because this was a huge motivator for many of the funders.
3) Interact with your funders. Post regularly on the crowdfunding site for best results.

I was planning on doing this for my second book when my first one gets out of it's 90 day required isolation in KDP Select. I think this kind of thing would work for any author on any crowdfunding site so I thought I should mention it.

Hope this helps.

I checked out the site, and it is interesting but I found the "membership" requirement to just view it off-putting. I'll have to get more info on that -- I suspect my readers would be put off by it as well, as it seemed kind of manipulative to me.

Hayden, can you expand on this point: "Even a failed crowdfunding campaign is still a success because you advertised to more people than you would have without it."

How do people find your crowdfunding campaign, unless you (the author, in this case) tell them? I couldn't find any hooks on this site to bring in traffic I did not direct there. I doubt many people surf looking for authors to give money to -- am I being pessimistic there?

I've never used crowdfunding, but the people I know who have, always did it by mobilizing a community they were part of. The crowdfunding did not, by itself, attract people to their cause. So to what extent is there a "crowdfunding community" that could be of benefit to an author even if they are not part of the author's community and do not donate?

That is, someone visits this site with the intent to check out another campaign, sees my campaign in passing, decides not to support my campaign, but does decide to buy my book. Does anyone have hard data on this?

Can anyone who has experience with crowdfunding shed any light on degree to which people who donate one campaign (whatever brought them to the site), also donate to other campaigns on a "drive by" basis?

Sorry for all the questions. Being ignorant, I'm interested in how this actually works.

Hi Owen, If you are going to start asking me legitimate questions then I am going to stop talking to you... Which translates as, I honestly do not know. I am only throwing out what notes I wrote down from the article. It is certainly something I am going to try in the next few days. My book is just over a month on Amazon which is when I said I would do it. So I will post back here with what results I get, good or bad.

Hayden wrote: "Hi Owen, If you are going to start asking me legitimate questions then I am going to stop talking to you... Which translates as, I honestly do not know. I am only throwing out what notes I wrote do..."

Looking forward to it. : )

Lol! When I first saw the title, I was thinking of my slush pile of manuscripts. This looks like a great idea, though. Thanks!

Very interesting concept and ideas by some of the writers here. Thanks for posting.

With Love and Gratitude,
TJ Shortt
www.shivercove.com

I just set up my first campaign! HollowTowns.pubslush.com

Hello everyone! if you're interested in crowdfunding for books you might want to check out also upspringer.com... It's just for books and publishing, so I think for authors these kind of platforms are way better than Kickstarter or Indiegogo. Just a personal opinion...

Hello,

Can someone explain Pubslush to me? I have gone on the website, and I think that I am understanding what they do but . . . Does the crowdfunding mean that you have to ask your friends for money? Is it a little like GoFundMe? The pre-order sounds better to me but then I got the feeling that it is the same as the crowdfunding in regards to asking people you know to sign-up and pre-order your novel. Someone please explain to me how Pubslush works, Thanks!

Terrica wrote: "Hello,

Can someone explain Pubslush to me? I have gone on the website, and I think that I am understanding what they do but . . . Does the crowdfunding mean that you have to ask your friends ..."

Yes, it's kinda like Gofundme, but geared only towards books or graphic novels. That way it will get readers that are serious about your books. And while asking your friends to donate is a key, another part is getting strangers involved and interested in your work and getting to know people who are serious about your work.

The concept of Pubslush might work, but the problem is, it will only work if Pubslush is able to attract nonwriters as well.
For example, I donated $5 to Ann's Hollow Towns campaign, and she promised me a free e-book (free-book for short) either way. But if Ann doesn't meet her goal, then my credit card won't be charged. Looking around the site I can tell a lot of traffic is mainly authors. It isn't bad, but if I can buy Ann's e-book, why donate to Pubslush?
The nature of crowdfunding in general relies on campaigning to everyone you know to donate. One way I think this will work is to get more campaigns reaching the 4-digit mark in funds raised, and offering the author to either pay only 5% if the project is funded, or 7% if the project is not (IndieGogo, but 7 vs. 9%)
Again, I think the concept can work over time, but Pubslush's founders need to come up with a way to get people away from Kickstarter, which has far more visitors, or even Indiegogo or Gofundme, to specifically focus on books, book trailers, book production, etc.

Has anyone used it successfully?

Happy (Mara) wrote: "Lol! When I first saw the title, I was thinking of my slush pile of manuscripts. This looks like a great idea, though. Thanks!"

I had the same reaction. "Pubslush" sounds an awful lot like "slush pile." I thought it was a site for weeding through the slush pile.

Well, Pubslush just got sold to a bigger company. The women who co-founded it must have made a decent chunk of change, even though it was not heavily used. One bonus of starting a company that lasts!

Eileen wrote: "Has anyone used it successfully?"

The creator or Terminal Lance, a Marine Corps themed comic strip, used kickstarter (I think) to fund a graphic novel, that he's now planning to release in early December.

An alternative I'm exploring is Inkshares.com

Seems to be the same sort of concept except they sell presales. If you hit the target number, the book gets professionally edited + cover art + marketed - the works. Their first books just got published a few months ago but they're in physical bookstores on top of all the E platforms.
Some big names backing it too.