For me the list comprised Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In, Pinterest, and a business Facebook page I started, named after the book title. My publisher recommended that I build my followers list to a minimum of 1 person for every $10 (800 followers for $8000). He endorsed my plan, saying that it was vital to have followers sharing the adventure and being part of the success. My biggest supporter was my son-in-law, who owns a search engine optimization business, and knows a lot more about marketing than I do. In my opinion, an author must think of the work as bigger than him/herself, and that it will make the world a little better, raising the bar for literary excellence, and/or showcasing an important concept, which in my case was an endangered species. Their rules exclude any charity, focusing instead on projects for “creating something and sharing it with the world”. Their mission statement welcomes entrepreneurs in the fields of art, music, theater, journalism, publishing and technology. The perfect fit for authors is Kickstarter. I later learned the agenda of GoFundMe, as explained on their website, is to help raise money for “ medical expenses, education costs, volunteer programs, youth sports, funerals & memorials – even animals & pets.” It’s obviously not appropriate for us in the book business.

My only exposure to crowdfunding had been a few projects I had seen online, for GoFundMe. I was reticent, not fully understanding the “how”. Dancing Dakini Press, a small but well-established entity, had used this method previously to fund printing of their award-winning books, and promised to guide me through their steps.

My publisher suggested Kickstarter to me at an early planning meeting. I’m blogging my own personal journey here, not the framework of Kickstarter, because that can be easily researched at At a recent meetup for Phoenix Publishing and Book Marketing, a few people were interested in my experience with Kickstarter, a crowdfunding company I used to fund printing for the children’s picture book I wrote and illustrated, Orangutan: A Day in the Rainforest Canopy.

Orangutan by Rita Goldner