How to Crowdfund Your Board Book
Tips from a mom who crowdfunded $9k for her first board book.
Are you aware that crowdfunding campaigns, like Kickstarter, can be created to finance your print run? In this blog, we’ll share the story of how a mom of four created a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised $9,000 towards printing her first board book.
A Crowdfunding Success Story
Lindsay Kellar-Madsen is an author originating from southwestern Ontario, Canada who now lives with her family in the Danish countryside.
Lindsay Kellar-Madsen’s first Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign financed the print run of 3000 copies of her first board book, The Lovely Haze of Baby Days.
Lindsay received funding from over 230 backers through presale orders of her book and campaign rewards, allowing her to :
- test the market viability of her board book
- tweak her marketing assets
- offer exclusive access to an engaged target audience
Lindsay’s Learnings for Launching a Successful Kickstarter
1. Build your audience months before you launch your campaign
Getting people to notice and support your campaign takes more work than most people think. And you don’t want to rely only on family + friends to finance your project. You want to engage with people who will be excited to share your story and book.
Free Resource
David Gaughran offers a free marketing course called ‘Starting From Zero” that is enormously helpful for new authors who want to generate engaged, targeted audiences for their books.
2. Organize a launch team
Build an inner circle of people who are excited about your project and willing to promote you to their connections. This will expand your exposure and campaign’s reach.
Schedule milestones during your campaign to leverage this supportive group. The first 48 hours is really important for generating momentum, so this is a great time to ask your launch team to share your campaign on their social media accounts.
Free Resource
Canva is a free online graphic design tool that makes creating social media posts, reels, campaign graphics, and more super easy.
3. Back other publishing campaigns
Learn from authors by backing their crowdfunding campaigns. It helps build your community, gives you marketing ideas and builds your credibility on the crowdfunding platform.
Free Resource
Facebook Groups, like Crowdfunding for Authors, are a great way to find campaigns and network. SEARCH for topics you need help with to get information quickly. Offer your support. Provide advice. Reciprocity makes the world go round!
4. Create a campaign budget
Build a simple excel sheet to calculate your printing costs which will give you an idea of the financial goal you should set for your campaign. Keep in mind, the higher the crowdfunding goal, the bigger the audience you will need to fund it.
Free Resource
Use our instant calculator to get a quote for your board book printing costs.
You Don’t Have to Know It All
Successful crowdfunding requires a broad range of skills. Lindsay encourages you to think about what things you can do yourself and what you can (or should)
outsource.
If you want to learn more about Lindsay’s publishing journey, check out her website and connect on Instagram!
