Kickstarter for Authors: How to Crowdfund a Book

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

A successful crowdfunding campaign allows authors, businesses, artists, creators, charities, and others to raise money for specific projects. Individuals and organizations can donate to projects via crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter in return for rewards, recognition, and the satisfaction of supporting a cause or endeavor they feel strongly about. Here, we’ll discuss how to crowdfund a book and the intricacies behind a crowd funding campaign.

Crowdfunding for books is a great book publishing option for authors and publishers with an engaged fan base anticipating a new book release. A successful campaign in a crowdfunding platform is usually short, specific, and launched with an exciting video highlighting your book publishing project.

A successful crowdfunding campaign lets authors, artists, businesses, and creators raise money for a book before it ever goes to print. Readers and supporters contribute to your project through crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter in exchange for rewards, recognition, and the satisfaction of helping bring a book they care about into the world. For authors, crowdfunding books does two jobs at once: it funds production costs upfront and proves reader demand before you commit to a print run.

Crowdfunding for books works best for authors and publishers who have an engaged fanbase and are anticipating a new release. A successful campaign is usually short, specific, and launched with an exciting video that highlights your book project. You will also want to spell out why your project matters, why your readers will love it, and exactly what backers can expect after they contribute. In this guide, we cover how to crowdfund a book step by step, from setting your funding goal and building reward tiers to fulfilling printed books, eBooks, and posters once your campaign ends.

Does crowdfunding books work?

Yes, and the success stories keep coming. Books are consistently one of the most active categories on Kickstarter, with thousands of publishing projects funded every year, from debut novels and poetry collections to cookbooks and photo books. The campaigns that succeed share a pattern: a clear project, a defined funding goal, compelling rewards, and an author who actively promotes the campaign to an existing network.

Authors and publishers build momentum ahead of a book release with a campaign page that offers different rewards at various contribution levels, and BookBaby makes it easy to print and deliver your crowdfunded books, short story collections, or poetry to your Kickstarter contributors once the campaign closes. Contact our publishing support team while you are still planning your campaign so we can help you nail down project details, including book specs and printing prices, so your fundraising goal is built on real production numbers and your project is positioned for success.

How Kickstarter reward tiers work for authors

Reward tiers are the engine of a Kickstarter campaign: each contribution level earns the backer something tangible, and the tiers should escalate in value. A typical structure for an author campaign looks like this:

• Contribute $25: One copy of the printed book.
• Contribute $50: One printed book plus a special 11 x 17 inch poster.
• Contribute $100: Two printed books, two posters, plus six limited-edition custom bookmarks.
• Contribute $500: Three printed books, three posters, a dozen limited edition bookmarks, plus a personal thank you in the book credits.

Once your Kickstarter campaign is fully funded, you collect your funds and work with BookBaby to print the books, posters, and bookmarks for your contributors.

Not every Kickstarter project needs to raise tens of thousands of dollars. Many first-time authors set a modest goal, often 2,000 to 3,000 dollars, funded by close friends, family, community members, and business associations. In that case, keep your rewards simple and focus on one or two contributor levels, for example:

• Contribute $25: A signed copy of the book and a bookmark.
• Contribute $50 or more: A signed copy, a bookmark, plus a personal thank you note from you.

Kickstarter for cookbook authors, photographers, and more

There is no limit to the type of book project that can raise money on Kickstarter. Successfully funded campaigns come from every genre, including photo books, cookbooks, novels, memoirs, children’s books, and graphic novels. Visual genres often perform especially well on crowdfunding platforms because the campaign page can showcase sample spreads, illustrations, and premium printing options like hardcover bindings and dust jackets that backers want to own. Whatever you write, Kickstarter is a crowdfunding option every author and publisher should consider when planning how to fund a book project.

Kickstarter for business

Many startups use Kickstarter to get their businesses off the ground, and books frequently play a supporting role in those campaigns. A company might publish a book about its products, commemorate the story of building the business, or offer a photo journal documenting the journey as a premium contributor reward. If you are crowdfunding a restaurant or food truck, a custom cookbook makes a natural reward for backers and a product you can keep selling at your place of business afterward. 

If you are struggling to land on the right idea, contact our publishing team and we will help you develop a commemorative book your contributors will love.

What you need to know about a Kickstarter book project

Crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter give authors, artists, and creators a way to minimize financial risk by raising funds and gauging market demand before production begins. But funded campaigns are earned, not lucky. These five principles separate book projects that hit their goal from the ones that stall.

1. Most of the work of crowdfunding happens pre-campaign

By the time your campaign goes live, the outcome is largely decided. Successful authors spend weeks building their network, growing an email list, and developing a clear, proactive marketing strategy before launch day. Map out a week by week plan covering your announcement, launch push, mid campaign updates, and final 48 hour sprint. You cannot post your book on a crowdfunding site, sit back, and expect strangers to fund it. Networking and planning are the real keys to crowdfunding success, and the campaign itself is just the public finish line.

2. Know your costs

If you want to fund a full-scale book launch, complete with printing, eBooks conversion, and audiobook production, you will need to raise more than an author who only plans to sell eBooks on Amazon. Research the real costs of editing, design, and printing for your trim size, page count, and binding options before you set a funding goal, and remember that reward production and shipping come out of your raise too. Kickstarter and payment processing take roughly 10 percent combined, so build that margin in. BookBaby’s publishing specialists can quote your exact specs so your funding goal covers production, fulfillment, and fees with room to spare.

3. Make it simple for people to support you

Every email, social post, and conversation about your campaign should include a direct link to your campaign page so supporters can act immediately. When you reach out to your network, do not just ask them to back the project; ask them to spread the word, and make that effortless by giving them a prewritten email or post they can copy, personalize, and send to their own contacts. The easier you make it for people to help you, the more of them will actually do it.

4. Maintain personal contact with your supporters

Personal beats broadcast every time. A direct, individual message will outperform a general email blast because people support authors they feel connected to, not just projects. And the relationship does not end when someone backs you. Keep supporters updated throughout the campaign and the entire publishing process that follows, from manuscript milestones to printing updates to shipping confirmations. Backers who feel included become your launch team, your first reviewers, and the core audience for your next book.

5. Know your audience and find them

our book has a target audience that is predisposed to support it, but knowing who they are is only half the job… you have to go find them. Identify the communities where your readers already gather — including genre forums, social media groups, newsletters, podcasts, and local organizations — then show up there well before launch.

The key ingredient in a successful crowdfunding campaign is time and effort. You are your own best advocate, so plan, network, execute, and don’t be shy. Like any other marketing and promotional effort, crowdfunding takes work, but when it succeeds, the results can fund your book and launch your author career at the same time.