Was it worth it?
The short answer is yes. For me it was worth running a crowdfunding campaign. Having said this, there are many downsides to crowdfunding and, in some instances, it might be preferable to find an alternative.
In my case, the goal was to get a book published. In order to reach publication and to start the editing process, I needed 200 pre-orders of the paper book or of the e-book in 100 days. That meant convincing roughly 200 people to pay in advance for a book that might never see the light of day.
I should point out that if the campaign had ended with fewer than 60 orders, the supporters would have been reimbursed. With 60-200 orders, my manuscript would undergo a “light editing” process. It would be printed and sent to my supporters, but not published.
Luckily my crowdfunding campaign was successful: I reached the goal while on holiday on a small and windy island in the North Sea with poor Internet connection (that's where the picture was taken). The book was published in January 2020.
Is there anything I wish I had known beforehand?
There are various reasons why you might want to start a crowdfunding campaign and, depending on your project (a book, an album, a film, a start-up, etc.), there are different platforms you can use and different amounts of money you can raise. Some people use crowdfunding to raise funds for medical costs. If you have no experience of crowdfunding, you may be wondering what all the fuss is about. There are numerous websites, articles, videos and books devoted to crowdfunding. Obviously, there are huge differences depending on the type of project and on the goal, but I would say that any crowdfunding campaign will require a lot of time and energy.
Before I started, I don’t think I realised how much work it would be. Moreover, I had no idea how difficult it would be to persuade and motivate people. Finally, I had not considered the costs of promoting a campaign (for example, for printing flyers or, in my case, postcards and organising events). It really was a full-time job and I ended up with repetitive strain injury caused by overusing my hands for typing and clicking!
Before you embark on a crowdfunding campaign, ask yourself:
Do I really have time and energy for this?
Do I want to be in the spotlight for the entire duration of the campaign?
What is my budget?
What was the best part of the crowdfunding campaign?
I think the best way to describe a crowdfunding campaign is as a roller coaster ride. There is never a dull moment, with plenty of ups and downs. For me the positives far outweighed the negatives. The support I received from family and friends was tremendous. And, as well as being in close contact with almost all my friends, I also made new friends thanks to the crowdfunding campaign.
Tips on how to run a successful crowdfunding campaign
• First of all, you need to establish whether your goal is realistic. I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t aim high, but you should try to aim for something that is achievable. In my case, it was realistic, but it wasn’t easy. The main difficulty I faced was trying to promote a book written in Italian, while living in Germany. Though I have a lot of Italian friends and my parents still live in Italy, I haven’t lived in Italy since I was 18. And although Berlin has a big Italian community, many of the people I know don’t speak Italian. So, the language was a problem. Still, I’m not sure that it would have been easier if the book had been in English, as many of my friends are not fluent in English. Writing in German is not an option as my language skills are inadequate (I’m not being modest). I’m especially grateful to friends and family members who supported my campaign, particularly those whose Italian language skills are very basic.
• Your project needs to sound appealing to a wide audience. Obviously, there is no point running a crowdfunding campaign for something that generates little or no interest. Just because I read a lot of books, doesn’t mean that everyone else does. Some people don’t read any books at all, as I’ve discovered.
• You need a strong supporter base, by that I mean friends and family, work colleagues, sports friends, friends of friends, anyone that will support you and help you to achieve your goal. Once you have established your core supporters, you need to expand your network. I contacted hundreds of people: nursery and school friends, university friends, work colleagues, neighbours, parents and teachers from my son’s nursery school and primary school, random strangers, people I met at book presentations and bookshops, people I met at cafés, basically anyone who came to mind or I happened to meet.
• You and your campaign need to be visible, so it definitely helps if you are a sociable person with lots of friends and contacts, both in real life and in the digital world. You also need to be enthusiastic about the project and be as persuasive as possible. I have no experience in politics, but at times it felt like being on the campaigning trail. Think of yourself as a politician: you need to be visible, convincing and win people’s support. Tell everyone you know about your crowdfunding campaign and organise events to promote it. I invited my friends in Berlin for an aperitivo to promote the launch of the campaign. I gave a little speech about the project, the crowdfunding campaign and I read the first pages of the book. About a month before the end of the campaign, I gave a party for friends and supporters. As well as providing music, food and drink, I also read some extracts from the book. When the book was finally published, I gave a presentation at the Italian bookshop in Berlin and had a little party with friends and family. I was lucky that I didn’t have to face the Covid restrictions, but you can also organise digital events and presentations.
• Social media is indispensable. If you hate using Facebook, Instagram and the like, then perhaps you should reconsider. If I hadn’t had social media, I wouldn’t have been able to reach my goal. Having said that, I’m not one of those people with thousands of Facebook friends and when I started the campaign, I didn’t have many followers on Instagram. I still don’t have that many followers, but I have a few more than I did 18 months ago. Make sure you post content on a regular basis to generate and keep up interest around your campaign and to find new supporters.
• You need to be patient. Even if people sound genuinely enthusiastic about your project, they won’t all rush to your crowdfunding website. Some may forget, some may simply be too busy, some may wish to spend their money elsewhere. Some may need a gentle reminder or two, while others will never get round to it. Some people struggle with technology and online orders. You will have to be patient and guide them through the process. You will probably find that not everyone is convinced that crowdfunding is a good idea, especially in publishing, and some people will refuse to support you on principle. In that case, just accept their opinion and look for supporters elsewhere.
• Try to keep an open mind and don’t be afraid of experimenting and of stepping outside your comfort zone. If one approach doesn’t work, try something new. I’m not very comfortable with videos, but I did make one to explain what the crowdfunding campaign was about. One friend suggested posting pictures of animals to attract interest, but that didn’t work in my case. What did work, was a postcard that another friend designed, and which became the image of the campaign. It showed an ironic sentence taken from the book and an eye-catching picture to accompany it. Handing out the postcard to people I met was a good way of introducing my book campaign to them and arousing their curiosity. I also left some postcards in Italian cafés in my area and in an Italian bookshop. They disappeared pretty quickly.
• Don’t give up. Try to remain positive and to stay calm and focused. There will be bad days, but hopefully they will be followed by better days. Even if you don’t reach the goal in the end, be proud of what you have achieved.
Good luck, or as they say in German, viel Erfolg (literally “lots of success”)!
If anyone would like to read my book, Liberate Lina Pellica, you can find it at Mondolibro, the Italian bookshop in Berlin Mitte, you can order it from most bookshops in Italy, you can order it from the publisher and you can also buy it on Amazon. It is also available as an e-book.
