Crowdfunding Nonfiction?

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Recently we've had an ongoing discussion about loneliness, community, social skills, and introverts:
"Loneliness and Fraying Social Fabric"
"Very Basic Steps"
"Friendship Tips for Introverts"
"Role Models for Introverts"

Along through here, I mentioned that I have a previously written class, "Friendship 101," created in response to seeing a lot of folks express a lack of friendship skills.  It's not currently available online, although I'd like to have a venue for offering classes.  I have several dozen  classes, I don't know how many articles, and assorted other bits of nonfiction in my archives.  (The recommended reading lists have been gradually appearing over on Hypatia's Hoard of Reviews.)  mdlbear suggested that I try crowdfunding for nonfiction.  I have previously considered bundling some of my nonfiction into ebooks, or making it available through a "buy this article" site; but I hadn't really thought about doing it with crowdfunding.  Two aspects that particularly appeal to me: 1) being able to keep my older nonfiction in print so that more people can benefit from it, and 2) being able to generate a steady trickle of income from older material, a bit like royalties.

So, I'd like to open a discussion on this topic.  What kind of nonfiction might you like to see from me?  What are some funding options that appeal to you?  Would you be interested in reprints of older material (which I can let you have cheaper, but you only get to pick from available items) or hiring me to write Just What You Need (which would cost more, but be more flexible in topic and form, and tailored to what you-individually or you-collectively ask for)?  What format(s) would you prefer for crowdfunded nonfiction?  Is there anything else that you'd like to request, propose, or discuss about the process or content of crowdfunding nonfiction?

To see examples of my nonfiction, you could simply read my blogs -- I've posted a lot of mini-articles this way, including the loneliness series above -- or you could type "Elizabeth Barrette" into your favorite search engine.  (Fair warning: last time I did this, the first 25 pages of hits were all me, so it can be a real timesink.)  There's stuff of mine online that I wrote years ago for print markets that, apparently, somebody typed or scanned.  I also have some of my earlier articles on my old archive website.  Oh, and you can look at the Amazon page for my book Composing Magic.

Over to you...

Comments

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

*squint* So how is it crowdfunding if you just pay to read it? Isn't that more like just... buying access? Or do you mean to make the archives accessible if you hit a certain cap?

Well...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

At this point, I'm just opening discussion; I don't have a business plan yet. My original ideas might or might not qualify as crowdfunding, because that's not really where they started. But someone else pointed me in a crowdfunding direction, so I'm looking for new ideas.

One possibility would be to set a price or target for pieces that would make them available to everyone, similar to the poetry sponsorships.

The archives ... are huge. I don't think I could make ALL the stuff accessible, and some is intended for later book-shaped projects.

Re: Well...

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

That's possible. I tend to think that nonfiction might make you more money collected into book form, though. At some point if you have too much content, not having a way to gracefully aggregate it makes it too difficult for people to pay for.

Plus, people have the sense that nonfiction is free, since so much of it is these days.

This is not to say crowdfunding it isn't possible, just that the intended audience might prefer a single collection of information they can browse/consult for reference, and that without a specific website a book might work better...!

Re: Well...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

I'm looking into programs that will let me create my own ebooks, yes.

>>Plus, people have the sense that nonfiction is free, since so much of it is these days.<<

That's fine, if the information you want is readily available. If you want something obscure, or something that is usually unwritten, or something that people try to describe but don't really succeed in teaching very well, or something on a cutting edge ... then you're out of luck.

Those are the kind of gaps I look to fill with my nonfiction. I suspect this will help make it marketable whether I go with crowdfunding or ebooks or some combination.