use crowdsourcing to fund your next creative project
Hello and thanks to everyone who contributed to the amazing discussion we had on the subject of friendship. Your comments have made that the 2nd most popular post ever on this blog!
This week, we’ve got Jim Kukral, internet guru and self-published author of ‘No Publisher Needed: Crowdfunding your book. How I raised over $30k in 30 days’ to share his thoughts on how he raised enough financial support via crowdsourcing to fund his book project.
Crowdfunding is a new concept to me, but one that is gaining popularity among authors and other creatives as traditional publishing contracts are increasingly difficult to come by and less attractive to authors than they once were. Here is Jim’s post. I hope you’ll share your thoughts at the end of it, and also your experiences, if you’ve ever tried crowdfunding. Were you successful at it?
What The Heck Is Crowdsourcing?
‘I could go and pull the official definition from the Wikipedia right now, but instead let me give you my non-researched opinion.
Crowdsourcing is when you use the power of people—the crowd—to accomplish a goal, like raising money, or organizing to get a better deal on a product or service.
Crowdsourcing is tapping into the massive power of a “crowd” of people and using their collective power to get something done.
Here’s the Wikipedia definition, just for perspective: “Crowdsourcing is the act of sourcing tasks traditionally performed by specific individuals to an undefined large group of people or community (crowd) through an open call.”
The concept of using the power of a crowd isn’t really that new. Just ask Frankenstein or Count Dracula about their experiences with an organized crowd with pitchforks and crosses and torches. “Crowd, BAD!!!”
Take it easy, Frank.
Protesters have used the power of the crowd to accomplish many great things over time. Right now as I write there are hundreds of thousands of people squatting around the USA in the Occupy Wall Street movement. Regardless of where you sit with their overall message, you cannot disqualify that their collective approach has not gotten the attention they were looking for. Governments have been overthrown using the power of a crowd. Crowds cause change, and change is good.
No, crowdsourcing is not new. The Web simply made it more powerful because of the ability for people to organize and band together from their den offices in their underwear. What did you have to do to organize a crowd before the Internet? You’d maybe create a flier and post it up on telephone poles in your neighborhood. Then you’d stand on a soapbox and try to get the attention of people walking by. Or you’d be the annoying guy handing out fliers in front of your local supermarket, until the cops came and hauled you away.
Then maybe you’d convince a local newspaper to print a blurb about a rally you were having, and maybe people would read the newspaper and come. Then when everyone got there, you’d have to re-explain your message and mission, and re-educate the crowd. Then you’d have to motivate them and let them learn about you. Then maybe they’d go home and tell so more people, and so on….
Whew… a lot of work. And not that effective in the grand scheme of things. It worked, but it was hard to get it to work fast.
Yes, the crowd’s power before the Web was limited. But now—wow! You could have an idea like I did and use the power of the Internet to spread that idea and organize that idea in minutes! Now that’s true power. Now that’s true change.’
Thanks to Jim for sharing his thoughts on the subject of crowdfunding/crowdsourcing. One of my readers directed me to this link, where you’ll find invaluable info about crowdfunding. Please check it out if you’re interested, and please do share your thoughts if you’ve been involved in a crowdfunding project. We’d love to hear about your experiences.
An update to anyone following this thread: I have launched my own crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo at http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/chocolatour-a-quest-for-the-world-s-best-chocolate/x/1102796.
I chose Indiegogo as the platform for my campaign because Kickstarter is not open to Canadians. We’ve now had the campaign going for one week and have raised close to $4,000 toward the printing and production of Chocolatour. The official campaign will close on April 13/13, but you can donate after that via https://chocolatour.net. Thanks to all.
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Posted by. miss Sandra
Very well said Doreen! It just so amazing how an ordinary person can make money with crowdfunding a pitch. Of course, how to make it flourish is another thing. Here, in Netherland its getting more and more popular.
Hi that’s very interesting I have never heard of crowdsourcing Looks very good idea especially now with social media it’s usefulness could now have a whole new meaning.
Thanks lee
Thanks for your comment, Lee.
Yes, both crowdsourcing (obtaining info/input from your readers) and crowdfunding (asking your readers or followers to help fund your project are both great ways to strengthen the creator’s ability to bring a great project to reality. Good luck with it, and stayed tuned to this blog. I’ll soon be launching my own crowdfunding project for my upcoming book.
She Writes just ran an excellent post on crowdfunding that I’m posting here for anyone following this thread. Find it at:
http://www.shewrites.com/profiles/blogs/crowdfunding-what-it-is-and-why-it-matters
Right on, Doreen! It’s amazing what kind of projects people are using crowdsourcing platforms such as Kickstarter for. Some don’t make it, but for some it makes all the difference in the world.
Is crowd sourcing the same with outsourcing? Thank you so much for the post.
You’re welcome, and thanks for dropping into the blog.
No, crowdsourcing is not at all the same as outsourcing.
Outsourcing is something companies do when they need a job done but don’t have the employees or specific talent or knowledge in-house to accomplish the task. They may then choose to outsource the job by hiring a contract or freelance worker to do the job for them. So you outsource a task or project.
Crowdsourcing is a concept used to tap into the common resources of the public at large. You may crowdsource an answer by asking for an opinion from the readers of your blog. i.e. choosing a book cover based on the number of votes rec’d for each entrant.
To take the crowdsourcing concept one step further, many small businesses and creative entrepreneurs are using crowdfunding to fund their projects or businesses by asking for donations from anyone who supports or believes in their project. Kickstarter.com is the best known crowdfunding platform.
A friend of mine tried a crowdfunding project and had this wisdom to share:
“Most important thing about crowdfunding is that you have to bring the crowd yourself. So if you don’t have a big list (several thousand at least) and a lot of influence, it might be a frustrating experience. It also takes a good amount of time to prepare your page because it has to be a strong marketing piece, and more time to keep sharing that page with people so they will go there. Just because they go, doesn’t mean they’ll pledge even $1. I had 138 people who “LIKED” my page, but only about 17 who actually pledged. Then, depending on the crowdfunding site you use, you may not get any money if you don’t get the full amount pledged. Definitely use all the time they give you, especially if it’s a large amount. Look at the successful pages that have been funded and learn what you can from them. Study all the tutorials, too.”
As for my own opinion, well it’s somewhat like yours but I guess crowdsourcing is not just about raising money and getting great deals on products and services. You can use crowdsourcing as a way of getting new ideas on producing a product. This is very helpful for business start ups since idea may only come from few, with crowdsourcing, idea comes from different angle and aspects from everyone involved or willing to help.
Thanks for dropping into the blog. Clyde.
Yes, I definitely see the value of asking the crowd for input on the sub-title for my book, style of illustrations they’d prefer, etc.
In the past, I’d asked my (blog) readers) for topics they’d like me to cover on future posts, so I guess that’s crowdsourcing, too! It’s definitely a way of ensuring you’re giving the people what they really want. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.
Thanks for connecting on Twitter!
I followed your link and found this post, and it’s very, very timely. Notes have been taken, and watch for some cool implementation in the next few weeks! 😉
Super, Danny! Keep me/us abreast of your project.
I am 99% sure I will be using crowdfunding to support the publishing of Chocolatour. I’d really like to retain creative control of this project and it looks like this is the way to keep it.
Thanks for dropping by the blog.
Thanks for dropping in to the blog, Kay. Great to hear from you.
I like your comment about using our digital contacts to help us achieve our goals. I think I’m certainly leaning in the direction of using crowdsourcing to help fund the printing and distribution of my next book.
I love Jim’s concept of asking Frankenstein or Count Dracula about their experiences with an organized crowd with pitchforks and crosses and torches. LOL
In truth, the internet has given so much power to the individual these day there seems to be nothing that a person with enough digital contacts cannot achieve.
Kay in Hawaii
Thanks to wwb 2.0 it so much easier to work in and with the crowd. And now projects and businesses are possible to build which seemed impossible before. Thanks for sharing Jim project on book publishing.
Thanks for joining us here, Peter. I believe it is your first visit to my blog.
Yes, it’s interesting how many more opportunities are now available to us because of the expanding facets of the web. The crowdfunding option seems to be working on such a wide variety of projects.
Hey, Doreen,
Interesting post, although I wish we’d learned more specific info. about his book. I haven’t read the other articles suggested in other comments yet. But I will.
Thanks for the info.
Suzanne
Hi Suzanne: Yes, I, too was hoping for more detailed info from Jim in his guest post. But the info you’ll find in the link I give at the end of my post is AWESOME! Check out Craig Mod’s blog as recommended by Jonny. The info is most useful.
And it’s certainly a model that I can see many of us using. Thanks for dropping by the blog. Always love hearing from you.
Interesting post about crowdsourcing. The internet and social media sure make it a relatively easy tool to use!
Fellow WWC member.
Welcome, Karen, and thanks for dropping into the blog.
Yes, the internet has indeed opened up some amazing opportunities for us as authors. The key is to know which ones are the right ones for us to use!
I hope you’ll drop in again soon.
This is certainly a new angle on getting your book published.
Hi Carol, and thanks for joining us.
Yes, I’m thinking this may indeed be a great way for an author to get the book published the way they want to without putting a lot of their own funds and still retaining their rights and income earning potential on the project. It certainly seems to be working for some!
A very simple and easy to understand view of crowd sourcing and I can give another example especially for the “Bloggers helping bloggers” group on LinkedIn and using your words “Crowdsourcing is tapping into the massive power of a “crowd” of people and using their collective power to get something done.” When we as the group help each other by commenting on other people’s blogs we are in the grand scheme getting more noticed and helping others become more noticed…at least that is how I look at it.
Thanks for making a fairly complex concept so much easier to understand
Thanks for your comment, Diane. Yes, our Bloggers Helping Bloggers group on LI is wonderful. I always enjoy reading different perspectives and feedback to my posts. And also helping my fellow bloggers by visiting their blogs and sharing my perspective.
I urge you to go back into the post and at the end, I’ve recently added a link provided me by a reader. It’s got AWESOME info about crowdsourcing.
Crowdfunding is awesome but you really have to differentiate yourself from the crowd – I’d recommend for publishing especially reading this post http://craigmod.com/journal/kickstartup/
Stats are a bit out of date but the content is priceless.
Thanks so much for that link, Jonny. That is priceless info in the link you have provided, so I’m going to include it at the end of Jim’s blog post as I think people will learn much from it. My blog is all about info sharing and community building.
Thanks for joining us, and congrats on doing so well with your crowdfunding project. By the way, for people reading this, if you want to see a successful crowdfunding project, check out Jonny’s site at http://www.pleasefund.us/projects/alakazam-iphone-app.
Crowdsourcing has been around forever, it just didn’t have a catchy name. It certainly has worked to overthrow regimes in the Middle East and propelled the Occupy movements, as discussed in your guest blog. However, it can backfire. You may recall that The Gap, the clothing chain, introduced a new logo that everyone hated. The CEO decided to “crowdsource” the public to come up with new ideas for a logo. Not a good idea in my view and I wrote a post about it http://bit.ly/K3panM if you’re interested in reading more.
Thanks for sharing your link, Jeannette. I enjoyed the post and it reminded me of the Coke fiasco! Remember when they introduced the “new brand” of Coke? What a mistake that was!
I think the focus of Jim’s post is how authors can use the crowdfunding idea to finance the publishing of their books. I had been hoping for more excerpts from the book itself in the post, but I’m presuming many of us will buy it for under $5 on Kindle. Cheers!
Crowd Sourcing is not new but in the context of the Social Media it takes on a whole new look and approach. It gives us all the power to move our concepts and ideas in a much faster and, hopefully, successful way.
Right on, Susan! It’s amazing what kind of projects people are using crowdsourcing platforms such as Kickstarter for. Some don’t make it, but for some … it makes all the difference in the world.
I just recently learned about crowd sourcing. Putting in the context you just did helps fill in the blanks of my limited knowledge. Thanks! Cheryl from LinkedIn