AKA Everything you ever wanted to know about buying my special edition books through crowdfunding but were afraid to ask
I occasionally sell special editions of my books through Kickstarter, which is a crowdfunding platform described in detail below. Sometimes those “Kickstarter campaigns” are for new-release books and sometimes they’re for classic reader favorites that I’ve decided to create beautiful collectors’ versions of. It can be either or both, but you should know that no matter what, Kickstarter is a “special occasion” sort of thing: I promote them for a short time, and then those special-occasion campaigns end.
I don’t launch EVERY new book on Kickstarter (and I don’t do a special-edition Kickstarter campaign for every book in my backlist), but a few times a year, I’ll run one of these campaigns. For that reason, I decided to write this guide for people who don’t yet understand the whole “Kickstarter thing” in the hope that when my next campaign rolls around, you’ll understand what’s going on and might choose to join me and my most fervent fans in all the special-edition excitement.
Anyway, I guess we should start with the most obvious question:
What the hell is Kickstarter?
If you’re asking, it’s probably easiest to understand if you have an actual example to look at. So:
Click here to open the Kickstarter campaign for my book Gore Point in a new browser window.
NOTE: The above-linked campaign ended in mid 2024. You’re viewing its archived campaign for reference, but you can’t buy from it anymore. (See Point #1 below.)
Kickstarter is a creative crowdfunding platform. It’s not charity and it’s not begging, which are two misconceptions I’ve heard plenty. You can ask people to help you pay your rent on GoFundMe or IndieGoGo, but not on Kickstarter. Kickstarter projects must have creative merit. The whole point is to allow creators to test far-out ideas by seeing if people will buy them in advance.
Personally, I use it because it allows me to play a bigger and better game than I could without the support of Kickstarter backers.
As an Artisan Author, I want to make beautiful books. To me, that means elegant hardbacks with texture on the dust jacket and the book itself – maybe foil stamped, maybe with spot UV treatment that makes certain parts elevated and shiny, maybe with embossing, debossing, sprayed edges, custom endpapers (that first sheet you see when you open a hardback), ribbon bookmarks, maybe interior illustrations … you get the idea.
I’d never be able to sell books like that through the usual routes, but Kickstarter eats them up. Voila! Suddenly I’m able to feasibly offer beautiful books (or even just plain ebooks for people who want to read them early but don’t care about special editions) in the campaign, then release those books in the normal ways and places later on.
What’s especially cool is that in addition to just letting me sell beautiful books, Kickstarter also lets me create all sorts of bonuses to go with them.
Through Kickstarter, I can offer signed books. I can offer things like audio commentary. I can offer extra-book bonuses, exclusive bundles … even in-person meetups. If you still have that other window or tab open showing my Gore Point Kickstarter (link above), take a look at the rewards on that page to see what I mean. Very little of what you see being offered there is reasonable (or even possible) without the excitement of a campaign.
In brief, Kickstarter lets me reward my most enthusiastic fans. Readers who join my Kickstarter campaigns get my best books earlier than anyone else, and in some cases get stuff that nobody else will ever be able to buy.
Got it? Cool. Okay, so here’s another question you might be asking:
Why go to all that trouble? Why complicate the book-launch process like this? Why can’t you just release your books on Amazon and other stores from the start like everyone else?
There’s a simple answer to this. It’s not black and white (seeing as I won’t ALWAYS release first on Kickstarter or another non-Amazon platform), but what’s true is true … and what’s true, for authors like me, is this:
Building an author platform on Amazon is a terrible idea.
Amazon can – and often does – change the rules for authors whenever they want. They can (and have) cut royalties, closed author accounts for no reason at all (and then refused to explain why), or hidden a given author’s books from search so they can promote other books that make Amazon more money instead. The other bookstores are better, but it’s still unwise to build your empire entirely on ground owned by any company other than your own.
It’s necessary for authors to publish on Amazon and I’m grateful for the opportunity, but honestly it’s become a shit show in the past few years. I publish every book there at some point, but it’s my least favorite choice and therefore sometimes comes last in line.
Now, I want to be crystal clear at this point: If you prefer to buy books on the usual bookstores instead of on Kickstarter or my store, awesome! I love that you want to read my books and you should get them however is best for you. It’s just that sometimes I need to look out for myself, and that may sometimes mean that Kickstarter or buying direct from my store comes first … and the other stores come second.
Okay. Now that we’ve made our little side jaunt into “why not,” let’s get back to Kickstarter. If you’re considering supporting one of my Kickstarter campaigns (which means the same as “buying one of my books on Kickstarter”). Here are some things to know:
Point #1: Kickstarter campaigns run for a limited time.
The first thing to keep in mind is that Kickstarter isn’t forever. Campaigns are limited-time launch-style events that begin and then end, and after they close down, they’re closed forever. If you want to buy something from a Kickstarter campaign (for me, it’s usually special-edition books and cool bonus stuff to go with it), you have to do it while the campaign is running. Most campaigns last between 14 and 30 days, though some outliers are shorter or longer.
After that, the page stays on Kickstarter, but it’s inactive. You can look at it, but you can’t join it (i.e. “buy stuff from it”) anymore.
Point #2: The purpose of Kickstarter is to show creators (like me) whether or not a project is worth doing.
Personally, I use Kickstarter as a way to gauge interest in versions of a book that cost money to produce and are only worth making if people actually want to buy it. Kickstarter answers that question for me: If enough people join (buy into, or “back”) the campaign that it reaches its “funding goal” (an amount of money that the creator (me) has decided is “enough to make it all worthwhile,” I create the special edition books and send them out.
If the project doesn’t reach its funding goal (something that’s never happened to me, but it does happen), the whole thing just fizzles out: backers don’t pay and the creator doesn’t make and deliver anything. When you back a campaign, you’re pledging to it, not really paying just yet, so your credit card is only charged if the campaign is successful. If it’s not, your card isn’t charged.
POINT #3: Buying a book on Kickstarter doesn’t have to be confusing or difficult or weird.
If all you want is a plain old ebook, cool! You can choose to only buy a single ebook in my Kickstarter campaigns, same as you’d normally do. The process of buying is a little different, but that’s all it is: buying a normal ebook. (And no, “a little different” doesn’t mean “hard.” It’s not difficult to get or read an ebook sold through Kickstarter (or my store) … and after you do it once, you’ll have no problems at all in the future.)
But you don’t have to stop at ebooks. You can buy normal paperbacks, normal hardbacks, signed paperbacks and hardbacks, and more.
Also, this is worth noting: If you do opt for a physical book, you’ll ALSO get the ebook! Every physical-book-buyer also receives the ebook version to read while they wait for the physical book to arrive.
That brings us to another point: On Kickstarter, most backers end up with bundles of goodies … not just a plain old book! (Again, just look through the “Rewards” section to see what I mean. Everything higher than the $10 “ebook only” level has more than just one thing in it.
POINT #4: “Tiers,” “Backers,” “Rewards,” and other Kickstarter jargon really just amounts to “buying stuff.”
On Kickstarter, instead of buying single items that you then receive right away, you instead “back the campaign” at whatever monetary level you choose … and get the reward for that level of “backing.”
But don’t let the jargon confuse you. It all boils down to simply buying stuff today that you’ll receive after the campaign (which runs for a limited time) ends.
Different “tiers” of support are listed along the side of the page (or in a different tab on the same page, depending on what device you’re using). Each tier comes with a different set of items that you get if you “back” at that tier level. Kickstarter calls those items “backer rewards” because you (the backer) will be rewarded by me for supporting the campaign after the campaign is over.
I know it’s confusing at first, but in the end, despite using words like “tiers,” “backers” and whatnot, a Kickstarter transaction is still just an exchange of money for stuff (just books, or books and other cool reads).
So for instance, if you “backed the Gore Point campaign” at the $30 tier, your “rewards” for that tier are a paperback plus an ebook. There were 11 different tiers in that campaign, each offering different stuff that you’ll receive if you choose to “back” at that tier.
POINT #5: You’ll get your stuff after the campaign ends.
You get your stuff AFTER the campaign because in theory, Kickstarter creators are using their backers’ funds to MAKE the stuff they’re giving away as rewards. For authors, we usually have the books already made, but we don’t print them until we know how many copies to print and ship, as determined by the campaign.
Make sense?
Not getting your stuff instantly might seem like a downside, but try to remember that the campaign exists TO HELP CREATE the best books I can. You’re my co-creator, and we’re building the books together.
Normally, readers don’t even have access at that early stage. Normally, readers have to wait until months and months later, after the author makes safe and conservative (i.e., NON-awesome) guesses at how much to invest in their books, and then has to upload, print, and release them.
You’re not actually getting your stuff LATE if you buy on Kickstarter. You’re actually getting these books months before everyone else, even if there’s a delay between the time you “order” them (i.e., “back the campaign”) and when you receive them. In most cases, the books aren’t even on Amazon and the other stores until several months later.
Kickstarter backers get first access if Kickstarter is involved at all. Period.
POINT #6: It’s fun as hell, and it brings the Truantverse community together!
Kickstarter is its own community, and individual campaigns are something groups of like-minded people do together. That’s what makes it so cool: Instead of ME making books, WE ALL make them together.
WE decide how good the books get.
WE decide what bonuses end up being offered.
WE co-create … because I can’t be an artisan author without a bunch of amazing artisan readers.
POINT #7: If you’e like, you can always ignore my Kickstarter campaigns and just wait to buy books in the usual way.
Still not into the idea of Kickstarter for new books? That’s fine! Just because I might choose to launch a book on Kickstarter first (which will happen for some but not all of my books) doesn’t mean you have to buy it there. If you prefer, you can just wait until I release that book on “normal” bookstores like Amazon, which usually happens a few months after the Kickstarter ends.
It’s all good, however you choose to read!
Still have questions? Ask them in the comments!