I’m Rick, and I love crowd funding and contests. Since all of you are entering this Fantasy contest (my genre of choice) and I’m going to end up bankrupt in the near future. I figured I’d give you some quick pointers on how to get started on the prospect of crowd funding. Because for many, you’ll quickly find it’s more daunting than you realize. 

1. Contests are the best way to drive orders to your book because they provide a sense of urgency. ~Make sure you tell people you are in a contest, it’s a big deal, the top 3 get published and be excited. 

2. In order to crowd fund, you need a crowd. This one is one I often see overlooked. Even if your crowd is 10 people, that’s fine, get those 10 people before you pitch strangers. There is this farmers market theory of kale thing that John Olivir did and it’s totally true. Nobody will buy the one, sad, lonely piece of kale. But that same kale with 10 more people behind it giving it a thumbs up! Perfect.  Basically, before you go mass pitching to anyone who will listen: Get your immediate 100% surefires to order. Spend that time polishing your campaign page. 

3. Use Video. @Joseph Asphahani ran a fantastic campaign using video updates. Short, simple, and sweet. @Tal M. Klein went and had some amazing muppet ad’s and he was the prior Geek N Sundry contest winner. 

4. Don’t be afraid to ask people to support yourself, not your book. It’s a small division, but it makes a big deal. Ask people to help support you get published and back that dream. It will take 2 years before they have a book and there is a lot of editing that goes into it. Your story may look completely different, so focus instead on your idea, and who you are and why it’s important to you. 

5. Focus on your own extended networks, family, and friends first, then turn your attention to crowds and other Inkshare authors. Yes, there is a community here, and everyone is trying to get their books funded. At some point, it’s about playing match maker and cross pollination of reader bases. That is a good and healthy thing. It’s okay to market each others books to your crowd. That’s why you knock your people out of the way first. Then you can help others and others can help you. 

6. Passive media: Ads, cards, fliers, these things help you build your author brand and focus your vision, but they don’t help with crowd funding in a contest. They won’t net you any sales. What they will do: Is polish your writer brain into a fine-tuned 15 second selling machine. 


So, those are some of my quick tips. Inkshares had blogged about it before: and Tal Klein wrote his tips. I’m willing to help and offer advice to anyone, just send me a PM. 

~Rick Heinz

The advice @Rick Heinz gave is excellent so I will expand upon that a little bit by saying this: don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone! As a participant in the previous contest, I had to reach out using  multiple platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google, blogs, Reddit, etc) and pester coworkers, old teachers, friends, extended family members, and Inkshares members. From day one, I promoted my book, messaged people constantly, and updated my readers regularly. The contests are grueling, but if you set your mind to the task you’ll be surprised at the outcome. I started off with no fan base when I entered the contest, but I didn’t give up and kept fighting. In the end, I was about 8 orders behind 3rd and reached Quill by the end of the contest. If you’re passionate enough about your project, people will see that and support you :)