Inkshares Community discussion
Promotional Strategy Discussion
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2nd Time Around - Funding Discussion & Techniques
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My advice would to simply not launch a second campaign. If you have your first book and you are already funded, look into submissions regarding the traditional publishing route. It should be a little easier once you've already had work out there.The other thing to do is to focus on your first book, getting it done, and promoting in all forms of media, getting a website done, and really getting somewhat of an established audience before trying your second book.
In general, you should have enough to fund about 75% of your crowd funding BEFORE you begin any campaign. The second time could very well be easier than the first, provided you take the time and set it up right.
Personally, I would never launch another crowd funding campaign unless the stars were aligning juuuust right, or people had the first book well in hand.
Because all those personal friends and family? Once they finish reading your first book, if they like it, and want the sequel or something else... that's the perfect time for round 2.
Richard wrote: "My advice would to simply not launch a second campaign. If you have your first book and you are already funded, look into submissions regarding the traditional publishing route. It should be a litt..."Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Richard! I was contemplating on traditional publishing too. That seems like a more successful route than round 2.
I'm also trying to build a more interactive audience on my blog this year. I have readers, but they lurk more than interact. If I build a more vocal community, hopefully they'll show support for a 2nd book.
I know what you mean. I won't start a campaign unless I'm sure it'll be a success. Which at this point of time, I have doubts. Unfortunately, my 2nd book on Inkshares isn't a sequel to my first. If it was, I believe it stands a higher chance.
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I'll be interested to hear, probably in a few years, from any authors who transitioned from one Inkshares book to trad pub for their second, actually found a publisher, produced a book, were happy with the result, and were happy with the amount of promotion they needed to do to be successful compared to the amount of promotion they had to do with Inkshares. (I'm skeptical of that scenario ever being a reality for anyone, but since it hasn't happened yet, this is all just theory anyway.)
For my second book (She, the Defiant), I started the draft on the day my campaign ended in order to grab anyone who might be interested and enthusiastic about my progress so far. I'm intending to build my followers slowly and carefully like John Robin has been - not at all like I did for my Nerdist campaign. For Nerdist, I pulled favors and begged people and gave away stuff and pushed credits like mad; I'm sure a lot of those readers might not even read my book.
BUT... some of them might? I just need to get it into people's hands at this point. I'll be depending on people to love my first book and share it with their friends, and then I hope more people will be genuinely excited about my second book.
Joe and I were talking about this - both of us have around 75% readers out of our total project followers. That's from actively bringing in our own unique readers, not from passive reader interest in the project. He estimates the passive rate of conversion would be something like 10% (I can't remember what he said). Neither of these numbers show what will happen from slowly cultivating a sincere following after one successful book. I think Kris Calvin will be a good indication - her first Maren Kane murder mystery, One Murder More, was successful enough that she got offers from several trad publishers. She's sticking with Inkshares, though, and I'm reeeally excited to see how her next campaign goes (and to read her next book!).
One thing is certain: I won't switch my second book over to funding until the manuscript is completely done. No way. The lag time is too long and it's too stressful. I also won't switch until I have a really nice cover, all of my promotional text drafted, and a plan for promotion, and... maybe 500 followers for the project.
I'll be including an invitation to follow the second book draft in my first book, so that should help. :)
Cara wrote: "I think it just depends on what you're going for. Inkshares is the closest I'm ever willing to get to traditional publishing (barring Martian-like success), so this strategy wouldn't make sense for..."Your thoughts echo my own, though with me my first time around is looking like it won't be successful unless I can really pick up the pace over these next 12 days. I'm still doing far better than I anticipated when I first jumped into this with no real plan or support base to speak of.
My next time around I'm definitely going to try to have my promotion figured out before I try to fund, whether that time is for Exile, Magus again or for Exile, Hunted if I pull off the long shot with this current campaign.
Jeyna wrote: "I'm also trying to build a more interactive audience on my blog this year. I have readers, but they lurk more than interact. If I build a more vocal community, hopefully they'll show support for a 2nd book."
I've been trying the same thing, but I just can't figure out how to get people to actively engage with me rather than just passively reading. If you figure it out I would love some pointers, because at this point all I can think of is keep posting and be super-patient.
Cara wrote: "I think it just depends on what you're going for. Inkshares is the closest I'm ever willing to get to traditional publishing (barring Martian-like success), so this strategy wouldn't make sense for..."Thank you for your feedback Cara!
Hey, you never know, we are a bunch of talented people. We can be picked up by traditional publishers too. And who knows, be the next big name? So there's a reality there :)
Anyway, I definitely won't leave Inkshares. But I'd like to give traditional publishing a shot, should the opportunity arise. If it helps me garner new readers, it would make funding another book on Inkshares much easier. I see traditional publishing as a boost to hybrid publishing, in my case. Since I've been struggling to find readers who believe in me and want to buy my book.
Even if I pull The Slave Prince off Inkshares for a traditional publisher, I will be back with another book. There is no doubt in that.
And I agree, I wouldn't turn a book into a project unless it is completed. But in my case, I have more than one completed book and it pains me to see them not published. So I'm trying to push The Slave Prince out in order to focus fully on my trilogy.
Thomas wrote: "Cara wrote: "I think it just depends on what you're going for. Inkshares is the closest I'm ever willing to get to traditional publishing (barring Martian-like success), so this strategy wouldn't m..."
I'll be sure to do that, and please let me know if you've figured it out too. Sometimes, it feels like the number of readers we've collected are just numbers. The truly gung ho ones are only a handful.
I'm writing this post in hopes to brainstorm book funding techniques for second timers.
As we know, the ball game for crowd-funding a second book is completely different than the first. Personally, I find it more difficult. Hence why I'm seeking suggestions on how to get a book to (at least) hit Quill. Let's throw some ideas back and forth, as I believe it'll be helpful to all :)
Here's a little bit on what I've observed so far:
- Firstly, if you're funding a second book, you cannot rely on personal networks any longer. Unless all your family/friends are readers and love the genre you're writing in, you don't want to make them feel obligated to support you again.
- Secondly, less than 50% of followers of a book project will support the book (this is based on my 'The Slave Prince' project). So in order to hit Quill, you'd need more than 500 followers.
- Thirdly, a lot of authors are doing the 'trade e-book' technique. Nothing wrong with that. I would do it too, but I can't. Being one of the international authors on Inkshares, the currency exchange is making it difficult for me to support other authors. One e-book is the same price of a hardback in my country. (And yes, I feel like a horrible person for not returning the support of all the awesome authors who've supported me not just once, but twice as well.) Trust me, if I had credits, I would throw it your way - like I did after The Battle for Oz was successfully funded. Unfortunately, I no longer have credits.
So, here's where I'm hoping for some new ideas on how to make a second book a success on Inkshares. If you have any, I'm all ears!
On a personal note, I know my book (The Slave Prince) won't stand a chance in the Sword & Laser Collection Contest. Plus, there are more deserving authors around. If I launch The Slave Prince again, I hope to have it hit Quill. I want to start a project and succeed - it wouldn't be fair to those who've supported but find themselves having to return to back the book again. So my personal questions are: when should I restart the funding (only after 500 followers)? How many days should I set it? And of course, techniques to garnering pre-orders. All thoughts are welcomed :)
Thanks in advance!