Hi,
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crowdfunding! A lot of new people have joined since I last posted, so as a Very Brief history: I have been crowdfunding fiction, nonfiction, art and card readings since 2003 and I'm always on the look-out for new payment models. I like creative payment models, because they create two points of interest for readers: they can get excited about the story and they can get excited about how it's being funded, and that means more reasons to check back.
For instance, my first experiment involved "pay to vote," where readers who tipped were allowed to influence parts of the story I deemed amenable to that kind of ambiguity. We had a lot of fun: the readers, who got to see their choices change the story, and me, since I sometimes didn't know what I'd be writing until the day I wrote it!
Anyway, most of my crowdfunding efforts have been to fund stories I haven't finished yet. People pay, I write, we discover the story together. But I've been wanting to serialize some already written novels and I thought, "well, let's try some new things with these." My attempt with my latest, a spiritual fantasy novel entitled
A Rosary of Stones and Thorns, is "pay to accelerate." Since the book is already written, I thought, 'why not accept tips to post more often.' So I post one free episode on Tuesdays, and if I get enough tips, we can get extra episodes on Thursdays and Saturdays.
This works really well. It works so well I'm busier prepping this story for upload than I am writing the not-yet-finished serial I'm posting simultaneously,
Black Blossom. That one's on a "pay to post" model: a certain amount gets the episode posted, and if I don't have enough, then there's no episode until I do.
So a round-up of the models I've tried with fiction, so you can experiment with them if you're looking for ideas:
• Pay to Post. Set a price tag for each episode you upload and wait until you accumulate enough tips to post. Bread and butter money.
• Pay to Accelerate. Set a price tag for extra episodes and see if people are eager enough to read the next segment to tip you. Try this only with stories you already have mostly or entirely written, just in case!
• Pay to Vote. Let your readers influence the story. Great for when you want to see what people are interested in, don't really know what to write next, or want to be as surprised by the story as your readers.
One final note: I tend to prefer models that let readers try the story for free; in cases where they have to pay to get a chapter uploaded, I always start the serial with 3-5 free episodes before going pay-to-post so readers can decide whether it's worth the investment. "Try before you buy" is very good marketing, and it's kind to the audience as well. :)
If you'd like to keep up with my stories, they go up on my Livejournal weekly. Or if you want to see previous crowdfunded fiction efforts, they're all listed
on my Webfiction Guide shelf. (My only advice there is to wait on
Flight of the Godkin Griffin; I'm negotiating a contract for it and there will probably be a print book and compiled e-book version within half a year, making it far easier to read!)
I have been doing this for 8 years! And I now make pretty good money doing it. I welcome questions anytime, just ask. :)
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ariestess
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