Back in the day, it was a real labor of love to get a book published. If you didn’t have an agent, you would write a synopsis of your book, get together the required number of sample chapters and write an outstanding query letter. Then you would send it all off with a stamped, addressed return envelope and sit back to wait. And wait. And wait a bit more. You might hear back, you might not.

Then we got print-on-demand publishing and, all of a sudden, indie authors were given an alternative to the traditional publishing methods, one that was affordable. And boy, did they take advantage of it. In 2017, the rate of self-publishing grew by over 28% and, for the very first time, the number of titles that were self-published went over one million.

For some authors, self-publishing isn’t the answer and it isn’t a route they want to go down. If you are one of those, you might want to consider crowdfunding your novel. It won't be easy and it will be exhausting but you can reap the most amazing rewards. Before you dive into it though, cast your eye over a few things you should be aware of.

It is Hard Work

Crowdfunding is one of the best avenues and up and coming writers can use to get published but there is far more to it than a simple “tell them about it and they will order” campaign. First off, you need to be prepared to put in a lot of time, not to mention the effort and the attention your campaign needs to succeed.

You must be deadly serious about this. About your book, about building that all-important audience and about making this crowdfunding campaign succeed. If you cannot or do not want to put in the time, you are not going to succeed and you are putting yourself at a huge disadvantage. Plan to invest two to three months in your campaign – incredibly focused attention. It will feel like a full-time job – if you already work at a full-time job, it’s going to feel like you are doing two.

The very worst thing you can do is assume that the road to successful crowdfunding is easy – it isn’t.

Make Sure You Are Prepared

Remember all the work that goes into submitting queries to a publishing house or an agent? How much preparation it takes? Double that – that’s how prepared you have to be for a crowdfunding campaign. Start with a fabulous synopsis and the very best pitch you can write – get help with it if you need to. Make sure you have a great online presence, particularly on the social media platforms. Very important, know exactly who your target audience is – these are the people are likely to support your campaign. Make sure you tell them exactly why your book is worth their investment. You have to sell it to them and you have a lot of competition for your audience – make sure yours is the voice that gets heard.