Earlier this year I was sent a link to a writer\u2019s patreon begging for money.<\/p>\n
He was a bestselling writer who had become a full time author, and had written nearly 30 novels. Then, when the coof hit in 2020, his sales took a nose dive. And after trying a kickstarter that was successful, he got nailed by the tax man because he didn\u2019t realize how it all worked with kickstarters and taxes. So he took a full time job to pay his taxes, but during that time he was racking up more bills, with his royalties not meeting his monthly nut anymore, and was trapped between a rock and a hard place trying to find time and energy to write while working his arse off, just to sink deeper into the abyss.<\/p>\n
Thus, his kickstarter.<\/p>\n
His goal was $20k.<\/p>\n
Last I checked it topped off at less than $9k.<\/p>\n
I suppose that\u2019s better than no \u201ck\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
But, still not really enough.<\/p>\n
Which brings me to the point of all this:<\/p>\n
The guy messed up by thinking like a writer vs thinking like a publisher.<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t say for sure since I don’t know the guy from Adam.<\/p>\n
But I doubt he had an email list, or if he did, it probably was not all that responsive. I also doubt he had any kind of back end sells in place. I further doubt he did even the most basic things for building a list and audience beyond just social media. And I would bet someone else\u2019s left testicle he wasn\u2019t doing JV\u2019s with other writers for list building and sales purposes. Frankly, just doing what I write about on pages 14-15 (that most of my long time Email Players have heard me teach, but few ever do, even as they claw for breath to get leads on Facebook, Twitter, etc) would have helped probably double his contributors.<\/p>\n
This is not a critique of crowdfunding.<\/p>\n
Personally, I admire the really savvy crowdfunders.<\/p>\n
Some of them have taken \u201cOPM\u201d (other peoples\u2019 money) almost to an art form. I think of guys like Vox Day, Ethan Van Scrivener, and especially Eric Sanderson\u2019s $41.7 million.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a lot of leverage in that if you can pull it off.<\/p>\n
But, if you can\u2019t, then simply be your own crowdfunding platform.<\/p>\n
Like for example:<\/p>\n
To do this you obviously need customers.<\/p>\n
And, they have to be engaged customers who buy.<\/p>\n
And, just as important\u2026 engaged customers who repeatedly buy, refer, advocate, etc.<\/p>\n
That part is where my Email Players newsletter shines.<\/p>\n
More info here:<\/p>\n