Cory Doctorow's Experiment

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

Read about it here. He's going to try to make money on a crowdfunded project equivalent to what he might be able to earn with a publisher. Called "With a Little Help." The Donation of Books section is brilliant, I might have to steal that...!

I think what you already notice, reading this, is that "A Little Help" is really a ton of help. How someone without his fanbase or peer network would be able to swing all the details... I don't think it could be done, reasonably. Everything from layout and proofreading help to people doing accounting and audiobook recording and mastering for him? Yikes.

I think the one thing he's already proven with this experiment is that you have to be a Cory Doctorow to even begin at a certain success level. So it leaves the question unanswered: how do you become a Cory Doctorow these days?

Comments

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

Heck, I have problems asking my friends to help me with a website and/or art, mostly because I feel like I have nothing to offer in barter (since a paycheck is out of the question). For all I know, my very talented network is just dying to spend an hour or two doing something for me gratis, but I'm really hesitant to inquire.

Sigh.

It feels like becoming Cory Doctorow is kind of like becoming a Big Name Fan (a la Cassandra Claire): complete chance.

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

Perhaps not chance, entirely, but hard work, time and circumstance, the last being not under your control, really. No one likes to talk about it but there's an element of luck and "right time, right place" for all these successes, including the traditional ones.

Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

I would say ask them. Some folks just enjoy a chance to be involved. Also, you do have one thing to offer: a professional credit. For someone with decent skill who is just starting what they do, that's quite valuable. It's particularly true with cover credits for artwork. Website design, however, is something that classes sometimes assign; catch someone in need of a class project and you might get lucky there.

[jolantru.livejournal.com]

Cory Doctorow's fanbase (I almost typed in 'retinue' or 'entourage') is huge. Then again, I am getting more and more convinced that publishing itself is a networking thing. The more connected you are, the more likely you will get published.

??

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Didn't you have friends edit and lay out both of your Kherishdar books, and then self-publish those through POD? Okay, you didn't need to find a friend to illustrate them because you did that too, but otherwise it's similar. And you set the donation target for the original stories based on professional rates, so you should've gotten at least what you'd get from a conventional publisher, excepting that none of them would've bought those books.

Success in cyberfunded creativity is based on:
* the quality of your material,
* how many people you already know,
* and your networking skill, which boosts the number of people you know and can get to consume your products.

The bigger your fanbase, generally, the better you will do. But it is possible to start small and grow. Based on personal experience, I vigorously encourage people to start new projects on a cautious scale, to allow time to work the bugs out. Last month I worked 12+ hours in my Poetry Fishbowl ... if that had happened the first time, it might have creamed me. As it is, the modest start gave me time to learn and grow with the project.

I wish Cory luck with his project. I hope that you, or someone, will continue to provide updates, since it's highly relevant to many of us. Also, I note that one of his fans made a conversion program that converts a single text file to multiple formats; that would be very useful to many of us.

Re: ??

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

We all have one or two friends we could probably get to help us with some of our needs, yes, but I'm pointing out the scope of this enterprise is probably beyond anyone but a Cory Doctorow. That would be one of the two big problems with do-it-yourself publishing: you have to do all the administrative work yourself, and the more you expand the more it multiplies, until you spend more of your time doing the administration than you do the work.

[fayanora.livejournal.com]

Steal his brain in the middle of the night and replace it with your own...