(Read Parts 1 , 2 , and 3 of this 3-Part piece at FundsforWriters.com.)

2: Getting the orders in!

After getting the book deal signed with Unbound, we now had to raise a five-figure sum in pre-orders to get our manuscript turned into a real book.

One of the fun things Unbound does is teach you to offer different levels of pre-orders (pledges). These go all the way from basic ebook and paperback versions up to pricier bespoke levels. We offered book critiques, and various fun items “created” by some of the book’s dotty characters. Some actor friends recorded an audio version of the first few chapters, which we offered exclusively as another pledge. See a list of all our pledges here.

The first few weeks of crowdfunding proved easy. Friends and family chipped in generously, and the target ticked over nicely. (Unbound provides dashboards you can obsessively consult.) But then the pace starts to slow, and you start to reach out to former colleagues, school friends, neighbors, ex-neighbours, friends of friends… anyone you think might pre-order a book and not be offended by you asking.

This is the hardest part, and, honestly, I’m not sure we performed as well as we could have. We weren’t especially comfortable with selling to people we didn’t know very well or hadn’t been in touch with for a while. I think I blasted out lots of emails very quickly to get it over and done with, which probably didn’t give the best impression. (Unbound advises you to only send to a few people at a time, and to tailor your messages.) One old friend did get offended, and plenty more ignored us, but on a good note, I did revive a few friendships and there were some lovely surprises – including an order from my first boss of 30 years ago!

We tried other tactics as well. We gave a couple of talks to workplaces, and experimented (without success) with paid search ads and display ads in small magazines.

As well as sales, we looked to promotion and publicity through:
•    Articles about the book in local websites and papers
•    Content in lit mags about collaborating, crowdfunding etc.
•    Flyers in the library, clubs, shops, etc.
•    Promo messages on Twitter and Facebook groups

At first I was happy to write articles for sites that didn’t pay, thinking it would be enough just to get the book plugged. But this didn’t do much, so we decided to use the skills we had and write our way more professionally to the rest of our target.

We wrote over 70 paid articles, and ploughed all the proceeds into our target. We wrote for: Writer’s Digest, The Author, Boundless, The Millions, the SFWA blog, Writer’s Write, Re:Fiction, Pen & Prosper, Barefoot Writer and many more. I also wrote many pieces for FundsforWriters, and I am very grateful to Hope for all her support and guidance.

Gradually the target edged nearer, boosted by two incredibly generous contributions – one from a relative (anonymously) and another from a book-loving tech entrepreneur that I’d emailed about our “ask.”
We felt exhausted but elated when we hit the target. And then COVID arrived…

Key learnings:
•    Be prepared for the hard yards of promotional and sales hustle.
•    Have a good explanation ready for what crowdfunding is: many confuse it with vanity publishing.
•    Be prepared to supplement the publisher’s activity with your own promotional work any way you can.
•    Keep your supporters involved. (Unbound lets you email out updates.)
•    Be realistic about the money to raise and whether you can do it in time (books are sometimes withdrawn and monies returned if the funding stalls).

Read Parts 1 , 2 , and 3 of this 3-Part piece at FundsforWriters.com.

Read more of Dan Brotzel’s articles on writing fiction and content at https://danielbrotzel.medium.com/