Writing your first book might be challenging, but publishing and selling it is often the biggest hurdle. Unless you’ve established yourself as a talented storyteller or an authority in your niche, you won’t have much of an audience interested in your book.
That’s where crowdfunding platforms, particularly Kickstarter, become an essential tool for indie authors and creators aiming to launch a book—or any project, really.
Crowdfunding for Book Projects
The shift towards crowdfunding opens new avenues for indie authors and content creators to fund their book launches. Coupled with Lulu’s print-on-demand (POD) services, authors and creators can fulfill Kickstarter rewards quickly and easily.
Platforms like Kickstarter do two important things for you:
- They help you secure funding before you invest in your project
- They have a dedicated and interested audience
The first part is important; facilitating the safe and secure transfer of funds is key to the entire crowdfunding model. It’s the second point that really elevates Kickstarter. They have a base of account holders actively looking for new books, games, or other products, which can massively expand your audience.
Why Choose Print-On-Demand for Your Kickstarter Book Project
Kickstarter’s unique model, where pledge levels (called tiers) are rewarded with different benefits, aligns perfectly with the capabilities of print-on-demand services.
All kinds of creators use Kickstarter for funding. You should do some research to find how other creators in your genre are building their campaigns for inspiration. One popular example we see more and more today is serial fiction authors who historically have focused on selling ebooks or digital versions of their work.
Readers often ask to buy a special edition paperback or hardcover (or both!) of a completed serial. Those unique products perfectly align with Kickstarter’s tiered reward system!
Please note that Kickstarter campaigns have fees associated with them.
Reducing Upfront Costs and Financial Risks
While cost-effective for large runs, offset printing (the method most traditional publishers use) involves significant upfront costs and risks associated with unsold inventory. Print-on-demand services like Lulu eliminate those risks by printing books only when ordered. That could be a single copy to review or a thousand copies to fulfill backer rewards.
This model is ideal for crowdfunding campaigns, allowing you to order the books you need (and only the books you need) once you’ve met your funding goal.
Flexibility and Inventory Management
Flexibility is vital when starting your content business or launching your first book. You need to be able to set a budget, but it can’t be strict. Unexpected expenses will come up.
Kickstarter is huge because it creates some predictability. If 1,000 people backed your campaign, you’ll have a pretty good sense of how many books you’ve sold, but you won’t know beforehand.
With Lulu’s POD, you can order the books you need to fulfill Kickstarter backers’ rewards, eliminating overproduction and waste. Plus, if you’ve got your book ready to go when the campaign ends, you can have books in your reader’s hands within weeks.
The print-on-demand approach simplifies inventory management. In fact, it eliminates inventory entirely (though it is wise to keep a few copies on hand). Even after your launch campaign, you can use POD and direct sales through your website to maximize your earnings and simplify logistics.
Setting Up Your Kickstarter Campaign
The first step to launching your book with crowdfunding is to set up your Kickstarter campaign page. This is where your fans and new readers will pledge for a copy of your book.
Planning Your Campaign with Print-on-Demand
With your Kickstarter campaign up and running, you’re well on your way to reaching your funding goals. As you work on marketing efforts and stretch goals, you must prepare your book for print-on-demand.
By integrating print-on-demand into your campaign planning from the start, you can accurately estimate the cost per book and set your pledge levels accordingly. For example, our Pricing Calculator makes it easy to know how much you’ll need to charge at each pledge level to cover printing and shipping costs.
Using Lulu to Publish
Creative Ideas for Reward Tiers
Lulu’s print services make it easy to offer a variety of versions of your book. You could do a low-cost, black-and-white paperback for people who don’t want to invest a lot while offering a hardcover, full-color version with added art in the body for your super fans.
For example, your pledge tiers for your next book launch could be:
| Reward | Funding Level |
| Ebook | $5 |
| Ebook1x Print Paperback | $20 |
| Ebook1x Print PaperbackStickers + Pins Set | $30 |
| Ebook1x Print PaperbackStickers + Pins Set1x Print Hardcover | $50 |
| Ebook1x Print PaperbackStickers + Pins Set1x Print Hardcover w/ color images1x Themed T-Shirt | $80 |
| Ebook1x Print PaperbackStickers + Pins Set1x Print Hardcover w/ color images (signed + numbered)1x Themed T-Shirt | $100 |
Each tier ensures your backer gets your next book, but they can choose the format and the extras they want to purchase. And because they pledge before you’ve paid to design or print the book, you’ll know exactly your budget and how much you stand to make when you launch the book.
Of course, you should incorporate stretch goals with bonus content to inspire higher pledge levels. Kickstarter experts know campaign and marketing strategies best.
You should also strongly consider other merchandise. While I can hear my boss grating his teeth as he reads this, selling books is probably not the best and only way to make money. You need to diversify your products to ensure you offer enough options to create a steady income.
Products like t-shirts, mugs, scarves, bookmarks, magnets, stickers, and honestly so much more are easy to create using other on-demand services. Adding additional products supports your income while making it easy for your fans to get exactly the products they want.
Listen to ‘Crowdfunding Your Self-Published Book With Kickstarter’
Choosing the Right Print-On-Demand Partner for Kickstarter Success
It’s Lulu.
I don’t like to go too hard shouting ‘Lulu is the best’ because I think our products and services speak for themselves. But in this case, there’s really no competition.
Lulu has a few unique options that make us perfect for a book launch backed by crowdfunding. The best ones are:
- Order Import tool to fulfill ALL of your orders
- Transparent pricing and quality control
- Thousands of customization options
- Fast turnaround once the campaign ends
- Direct sales for continued sales after your launch
Here’s a little bit more information about each.
1. The Order Import Tool
If you want to offer three versions of your book for your crowdfunding campaign, you’ll have three unique projects published with Lulu.
Once your campaign ends successfully, you can use a spreadsheet to pair your backer’s order, book ID, and address. Upload it, pay the printing and shipping costs, and we’ll handle everything else.
Order Import Tool How-To
Learn how to use the Order Import tool from our Lulu Direct Help Center!
2. Pricing and Quality
When you set out to raise funds with Kickstarter, you need a clear picture of your costs to fulfill backer rewards. Lulu makes that incredibly easy with a Pricing Calculator that shows you precisely what you’ll owe us for printing, shipping, and any potential fees.
The only variable will be, of course, local taxes.
And thanks to Lulu’s dedicated printing facilities, you will have the best quality printing alongside a fast and responsive service team to help with misprints or shipping issues.
3. Customized Printing Options
Lulu provides the best printing quality in the most commonly used sizes, binding types, and paper and ink combinations. We also have hardcover options for special editions.
The beauty of print-on-demand is the flexibility. You can offer a variety of print (and digital) versions of your book, giving your backers options to support you at any level they want.
Customization and options are key to maximizing your fundraising efforts. Potential customers need options—if they’re new to your work, they might only be willing to spend a little on an ebook. Give them that option!
Likewise, your biggest fans will want something unique. Offering a limited quantity of a unique or special edition is a great way to let those super fans support you with a bigger pledge.
4. Fast Print-on-Demand
Did anyone else support Brandon Sanderson’s Surprise! Campaign? If you did, you know about the long delay in getting the second book and the shorter delay for book three.
The reason?
The books were printed offset and had numerous graphics and unique details.
The books looked amazing, but us backers were in a weird position of having to trust Sanderson (and his team) to get us what they promised (and what we paid for).
As an up-and-coming creator, you likely won’t have that luxury.
That’s why you need fast, quality printing that ensures your books get to your readers quickly. You won’t have as many options to offer your readers (things like leather covers or inked page edges are tough for print-on-demand to facilitate), but you’ll have the security of knowing their books will get to them promptly after the campaign ends.
5. Direct Sales From Your Online Store
Okay, your campaign ends. You upload your orders using Lulu’s Order Import tool. Lulu ships your books, you ship out all the other swag, and your fans rejoice.
Now what?
The long game for self-publishing usually involves continually selling your previous book while promoting/writing new books. Over time, you’ll earn a lot of sales from online retailers, but making your backlist as profitable as possible is vital.
Lulu Direct does just that, letting you sell the same books you printed for the book launch directly from your website.
Thinking Long Term: Support, Book Marketing, and Passive Income
One potential issue with Kickstarter is that the campaign ends. While you’re in it—promoting on social media, developing stretch goals, finalizing the book—you might feel amped up about the work. But once you’ve sent the books and fulfilled all the rewards, there’s nothing left to do.
Which is, of course, very wrong.
There is still so very much to do.
Customer Support
Most importantly, you’ve got to see to the customer service for your backers. As much as we strive for perfection, print defects will happen. Print copies require a lot of hands-on work to create. Then, the book has to be shipped, introducing other opportunities for problems.
As you can see in the video above, a lot of hands-on work goes into creating, packaging, and delivering your books. Our printers have decades of experience and expertise, leading to problems or delays.
While it’s easy to get these books replaced, thanks to Lulu’s support team, you need to be the one interacting with your customers.
Book Marketing
Launching a book through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign is likely the best way to secure funding and safely publish your book.
But if you want to keep publishing, you need to do more.
Crucially, you need to use the mailing list you build while working toward your fundraising goals. If these backers were willing to buy your first book, you can bet they’ll be interested in your second and third. Email them!
Likewise, you can learn a lot from the people who back your campaigns, helping you develop target audiences. That information is invaluable when sending it to your email list—you have to know what those backers crave or risk losing their interest.
Direct Sales
Using Lulu to fulfill your initial Kickstarter campaign when your book launches means you’re already set to use Lulu Direct’s ecommerce integrations.
If that’s too much jargon, you can sell books printed and shipped by Lulu through your own website using an ecommerce platform (like Shopify, WooCommerce, or Wix). With your backlist ready for sale and no inventory or storage fees to worry about, you can experiment with marketing to different audiences, do regular promotions for older books, or offer updates/special editions.
Using Print-on-Demand for Your Kickstarter Project
This is a great time to be an indie author or solo creator building a small business. Tools like Lulu, Kickstarter, and ecommerce platforms like Shopify or Wix make launching your business easier (and more affordable) than ever.
If you’re an author ready to launch your first (or fifth or fiftieth) book or a creator who needs to monetize your knowledge, crowdfunding is one of the surest ways to determine if you have a market for your content. Couple that with Lulu, and you’ve got a low-risk and very low investment means of running a campaign around your book, then quickly and easily fulfilling those orders with our Order Import tool.
