Featured Q&A with Ali Berlinski

[Michael]

What made you decide to crowdfund for your project?

As a young, inexperienced, and unknown author I found the traditional method of getting published to be very difficult. I was too much of a risk so I knew I had to go a less traditional route and I'm glad I did. If anything, I feel more validated as an author knowing that complete strangers really believed in me and my book.

Did you have any apprehension about the crowdfunding process?

I had never heard of crowdfunding before, understandably, I had many doubts coming into this. I didn't know if people would take to it. Not everyone did; and I was really surprised to see who did and didn't.

How would you construct your campaign and outreach differently?

Easy, I wouldn't.

What was your most effective method of communication?

Personalizing my messages to my friends on Facebook and joining online discussion groups really helped. People really appreciate the extra-attention, or placing a face to a project and getting the chance to speak to you. What it really comes down to is building connections and making yourself as relatable as humanly possible.

What were you able to achieve with your campaign dollars?

I was able to use Pubslush as a full service publisher* and get my book on Amazon. BOOYA.

Could Pubslush do anything better to assist in your campaign efforts?

They did everything in their power to help me. I basically owe them my first child, so no.

What did you learn about yourself or the world through this process?

The experience really made me question how badly I wanted to publish and what lengths I would go to make it happen. I'm not the type of person who feels comfortable asking others for help, let alone financial support, so it really pushed me to overcome that. At one point I literally went to a park and started sitting down next to strangers, telling them about my book; I was that girl.

How do you see crowdfunding fitting into the publishing process, now and in the future?

I have no doubt that crowdfunding will continue to grow and become an important aspect of publishing. It's a way for authors to maintain autonomy over their work while getting a sense of what their readers respond to, something which I think publishers also really value. Should authors and publishers continue to develop and explore all the possibilities crowdfunding offers, I can only see it playing an even stronger role in publishing.

Note: We provide ten optional questions to our featured authors. Honesty is encouraged. Answers are edited only for spelling and punctuation.

* - Since Ali's campaign, Pubslush no longer offers publishing services; opting to operate exclusively as a crowdfunding platform for literary based projects.