So, I run a publishing company called Silence in the Library Publishing, and we use crowd funding (most often Kickstarter) as an integral part of our publishing strategy. We've run 7 successful crowd funding campaigns (the latest of which, for Rori Shay's young adult dystopian future novel Elected, is currently running here if you want to check it out), so we, obviously, have a bias in favor of the method.
I attend conventions around the country, however, and I find that there are many people out there -authors, fans, and publishers - who are wary of or have concerns about crowd funding. So, my questions are these: What are your thoughts on crowd funding? Do you think it is a rising tide, or a flash in the pan? Does it have a place in "serious" publishing, and, if so, what is that place? Do you have any innate bias for or against it?
I tend to like crowd funding not only because it allows me to effectively plan fiscally as a publisher, but because I believe that it gives the reader a voice that they may not have had in traditional publishing. That said, I recognize that there are many viewpoints on this issue, and would like to hear everyone's thoughts.
I attend conventions around the country, however, and I find that there are many people out there -authors, fans, and publishers - who are wary of or have concerns about crowd funding. So, my questions are these: What are your thoughts on crowd funding? Do you think it is a rising tide, or a flash in the pan? Does it have a place in "serious" publishing, and, if so, what is that place? Do you have any innate bias for or against it?
I tend to like crowd funding not only because it allows me to effectively plan fiscally as a publisher, but because I believe that it gives the reader a voice that they may not have had in traditional publishing. That said, I recognize that there are many viewpoints on this issue, and would like to hear everyone's thoughts.