How crowdfunding helps publish books

Why can some books only be published with the help of readers? ePlaza Classifieds talked to publishers and authors who publish books on crowdfunding platforms and about how to make your crowdfunding campaign a success.

Olga Razmakhova. Head of the “Psychology for Human Rights” movement.

I had two successful projects – a book about social anxiety and phobia and a book about domestic violence. In the first book, people could find specific methods for working with their condition. And in the second – to learn how to support themselves, their loved ones, to get contacts of the organization, which you can turn to.

Anxiety is a common problem for a large number of people. There aren’t many books in Russian about social anxiety. For us it was important to show how belonging to a stigmatized group can affect the quality of life, including anxiety. These are the first books in most Russian stores that talk about different minorities. The product, in my opinion, was important, and it found its audience.

In socially important projects, it is important when a large number of people feel involved. I always say that this project is not only mine. It is not only the project of the authors who worked on it, but that it is also the project of the people who supported us. People are the mainstay, it’s the people who make us feel that we’re not alone, and that’s the essence of crowdfunding.

Credibility is very important in crowdfunding. It’s important to have collaborations with people who have some kind of social, public trust. In my case with my first book, I had a lot of help from Nixelpixel illustrator Nika Wadwood. I realize that it was largely because of Nika’s support that our books were able to be brought to completion. During the campaign for the second book, we already had trust in us – and that helped make it happen.

Yulia Petropavlovskaya. Head of the Publishing Department of the “Need for Help” Charitable Foundation.

Covid highlighted serious problems in our health care system associated with the focus on anyone but the patient. It has been proven that in hospitals where volunteers work, patients get better faster.

We just recently launched a project on the crowdfunding platform Planet. The essence of the book “The Healthy Man’s Hospital” is to show why people volunteer in places where infection is raging and why it has become so important for the whole medical system in Russia. If we manage to encourage some of our readers to try themselves as volunteers, we will fulfill our program to the maximum.

The author of our book, social journalist Polina Mokhova, was herself the coordinator of medical volunteers at the AdVita Foundation. From the very beginning, Polina got in touch with Alexander Vanyukov, head of the radiology department at Moscow Hospital No. 52, who launched the volunteer movement at his hospital. He helped her deal with the covid situation, introduced her to volunteers, arranged an interview with the head doctor, and much more.

Crowdfunding is a great way to spread the word about a socially relevant phenomenon, start a dialogue, and show the importance of grassroots initiatives. It’s part of our core message – “if not us, then who.” It’s corny, but it’s the only way it works.

Leonid Gusev. Publisher Treemedia

Dmitriy Markov’s collection Chernovik is the most successful project, which exceeded the requested amount by two or three hundred percent. The first circulation was in 2018. Yuri Duday’s film about Markov played a huge role in the second campaign. After the film was released, many people began to ask: Where can I get the book? By that time the first print run was over. We decided that we needed to print another print run. Four copies have already been sold out.

If you have to talk about photography in words, it’s not photography. When we did the second campaign, the new edition of “Draft,” we used the text of the famous photographer Valery Shchekoldin in its entirety. He once wrote a very good article that he called “Gospels from Markov. It says a lot about Shchekoldin’s own vision of the meanings that Markov puts into his work.

There will be no more “Draft” book, but we plan to publish a new book by Dima in the fall, which will be called “Russia Squared”. It can be called a collection of his best photos from all the time he shoots with his iPhone for instagram. The draft includes photos taken before 2018, and this book will include photos taken after, including this year. We’ll be raising money through crowdfunding, too.

Elena Tereshchenkova. Publisher

I believe that the more quality books on psychology there are, the better. I know from my own experience that a book can help you start to change the things you don’t like. It turns out that other people share my point of view and are willing to support me.

When I decided to publish my first book, Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents by Lindsay Gibson, I didn’t have enough money to make a pre-order website myself. With a crowdfunding site, there’s no such problem.

I always remember that I’m not just asking people for money, but offering something of value in return. It’s important to find an audience that is interested in what you’re doing and willing to support you in it.

When I translated “Leave or Stay. How to Survive a Relationship with a Narcissist” by Ramani Durvasula, I showed the translation process in my Instagram posts, sharing quotes. People are interested to see how something is created from scratch, they want to participate and support the author.

Daniel Alexandrov. PR-specialist of Nochlezhka charity organization

In 2020 Nochlezhka conducted a fundraising campaign to publish a collection of stories “Home”, which included works by popular Russian writers and journalists. It was a completely new experience for us: Nochlezhka had never worked with crowdfunding platforms before and had never raised money for a project that had nothing to do with direct help to homeless people.

Among the authors of the collection “Home” were Boris Akunin, Ludmila Ulitskaya, Dmitry Bykov, Ludmila Petrushevskaya, and Vera Polozkova, 24 authors in all. Their combined audience is enormous. Thanks to the agency Banke, Gumen & Smirnova, who brought all these people together under one cover with the important goal of talking about what home means to different people and supporting people on the street.

What should you look for when launching a crowdfunding campaign?

 Tips from the experts

First of all, you need to learn the basics of launching crowdfunding campaigns.

Take a responsible approach to selecting a topic. Choose one that will really appeal to people. “If the person himself does not want to read this book, he can support you only when he will understand that a huge number of people it is important,” emphasizes psychologist Olga Razmakhova.

Calculate the budget: consider taxes, postage, courier, printing costs, and more. Inattention can significantly damage the reputation.

“Contacts, contacts and contacts again.” Experts insist that you need to look for like-minded people among public people: bloggers, journalists, actors and many others. It’s better if these are people from a related field to your project or those who are passionate about it.

Make an introductory excerpt from the book and a cover. So that the campaigner can understand what he or she will get in the end.

Involve your audience in the process of writing the book or compilation. Keep them informed about how your work is progressing, fuel interest.

Be prepared for a crowdfunding campaign to take a long time. In addition to preparing the books, you’ll have to stay in contact with your audience long after the fundraisers are over to send out the promised rewards.