Violet Skies on Kickstarter?

[Edward L Cote]

I have a project on Kickstarter to raise funds for publishing expenses for my first book. I'm selling signed paperbacks.

Unfortunately, it's just not taking off, so I thought I'd see if you guys have any suggestions as to how I could turn it around. Thanks.

[Christopher Bunn]

To generate more sales of signed paperbacks? Hmm. I'm drawing a blank. I have a lot of ideas about selling ebooks, but paperbacks seem a tougher go. 1,000 dollars for a cover, though, seems kinda high. Are you committed to the artist you've selected?

[Essord]

A 1000 dollars isn't actually that a large amount if you add in regular salary for the hours spent on it and material costs. My sister is an artist, so I have a general idea. It all depends on if the artist is (already) able to make a living out of it or not and has made a bit of a name for himself.

 

I suck at sales, so I can't help either.

[Edward L Cote]

I do have other expenses to consider. I would have to pay Kickstarter $50 if the project were successful, and Amazon another $150 or so on top of that. The reason the goal is so much higher than I wanted is that I must also raise money to purchase and ship the very paperbacks that are the backer rewards. That's about half of the $1000 right there. Obviously, if I had $500 I wouldn't have to do this in the first place.

I had not thought of it that way, but if you divided $1000 by the number of hours I've put into this book, it would certainly be below minimum wage.

[Christopher Bunn]

It isn't from that perspective, you're right, but if you scour places like deviantart.com, or if you have a connection at an art school, you can find some younger artists who are willing to work for really cheap. Case in point: my covers. They aren't superb, of course, but they do the trick and I was able to get the work done really cheaply by using art students.

[Edward L Cote]

Well, this weekend is the end of it, pass or fail, so I thought I'd make one last push. Thanks.