Comments | crowdfunding: I'd like to crowdfund, but need some help getting started

chordatesrock in crowdfunding

I'd like to crowdfund, but need some help getting started

May 28, 2013 01:03

Hello, everyone. I'm pleased to meet you all, including the ones I've already met. :) I would like to use crowdfunding as a business model for original fiction writing. However, after having read ysabetwordsmith's articles and taken a look at what some people are doing, while I think I have some idea of what to do, I'm still a little confused.

( cut for length )

discussion, questions, writing

Comments 10

lb_lee May 28 2013, 17:05:22 UTC

Hey chordatesrock! I'm pretty new to this myself. And fear not, sometimes I'm a slow writer too; my brain is a sick brain, so sometimes I can churn them out really fast (like recently) but Xenothon ended up taking me over a month to finish entirely, and it still went pretty well. As long as you get some work done and don't leave people in the lurch, I haven't had a problem. But then again, I also make it clear that sometimes I won't make everyone's prompts; that's why I use the 'plug or pay' thing to guarantee a prompt gets written ( ... )

chordatesrock May 28 2013, 23:46:59 UTC

Thank you! :)

So, I see that the semi-pro rates are a range from one to five cents per word. Do you pick a number in that range and stick with it? Does it depend on how hard those words were to write?

Yeah, there's a lot about this layout that could be better.

lb_lee May 29 2013, 17:59:02 UTC

I chose a little arbitrarily, since $20 seemed a nice round number for the pieces I was putting out. I tend to stick with it, though I noodle around sometimes if I'm writing pieces in a series that people might not be as interested in.

Okay... ysabetwordsmith May 29 2013, 01:21:23 UTC

>>First, is this correct? Or does the process differ materially from what I've outlined?<<

What you have outlined is a good composite of a popular model. There are other versions, so if a particular point doesn't work for you, it's okay to try something different.

>> Second, why are there discrete prompt calls? <1) In general, participation is higher in a limited-time activity than an ongoing one. The short fuse encourages people to act on it. This is a known feature of human behavior, and it's one reason for stores doing "specials ( ... )

Okay... ysabetwordsmith May 29 2013, 01:22:07 UTC

>> Fourth, how do I know who my donors are? How do I tell where a donation came from? <<

If you use PayPal or another money-handling service, it will give you the sender's name with the money. That's not always the name you'll know them by, but sometimes it is.

If you're using checks or some other payment option, the person will probably need to email or message you anyway because most of those are slower and you can get the name then.

>> Fifth, how do I know which work they're paying for? ... )

Okay... ysabetwordsmith May 29 2013, 01:23:33 UTC

For poetry, Duotrope's Digest claims $50+ as pro rate. Let me tell you, almost nobody pays anything like that for poetry. I've gotten $50 a few times and $100 a couple times for poems bought by ordinary editors. But I've had plenty of my fans buy epic poetry at those rates, and more microfunded (only a handful of folks can afford that kind of money for poetry but the ones who do really like poetry ( ... )

Re: Okay... chordatesrock May 29 2013, 07:15:04 UTC

Thank you so much. That helps a lot.

Re: Okay... ysabetwordsmith May 29 2013, 07:21:35 UTC

I'm glad I could help! I want to make it possible for more people to try crowdfunding and find a method that works for them. I really hope you give it a go; I'd enjoy seeing what you are writing. A long span wouldn't dissuade me from leaving prompts.

my_partner_doug May 29 2013, 02:52:11 UTC

>>Sixth, how do I set up a donation button?<<

I can only speak to this insofar as using PayPal as your funding source. Once you've logged into your account, there's a tab at the top of the page labeled "Merchant Services". Clicking on that takes you to a menu page, which includes the item "Create payment buttons for your website"; from there, what you do depends on what type of button you want to create. We usually use "Donate" as we've found it to be the most flexible, but whatever you choose, PayPal offers step-by-step instructions for each possible button as PDF documents, which can be read with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. Hope this helps!

chordatesrock May 29 2013, 07:15:31 UTC

Thanks! :)