CROWDFUNDING
Ellen Datlow, arguably one of the
most accomplished anthologists in the
field today, partnered with ChiZine
Publications to produce the horror an-
thology Fearful Symmetries after a suc-
cessful Kickstarter campaign. For her,
the decision came about
because publishers are re-
luctant to back nonthemed
anthologies, which don’t
sell as well as the themed
variety. “I’ve noticed that
most anthologies funded
through Kickstarter are ed-
ited and published by the
same person. I had no in-
terest in doing this as I’m
not a publisher. I love what
ChiZine Publications pro-
duces—both the content
and look of the books—so
I approached them with
the idea of funding an an-
thology through Kick-
starter. They were game
and so we went ahead with
the project.”
As Mike Allen says about
funding Clockwork Phoenix
4 via Kickstarter, “I wanted
to produce a fourth volume,
writers and readers told me
they were hoping to see
one, but every publisher I
pitched the idea to turned
me down. Clockwork
Phoenix simply wasn’t
commercial enough.” In
this case, he satisfied a
small but visible demand
for a product traditional
publishers had not been
willing to support.
Sometimes it’s a niche
product that appeals to a
limited audience; sometimes it’s the
sort of project that requires a nontraditional approach. Silence in the Library
Publishing decided to release a sci-fi
anthology featuring female authors.
Athena’s Daughters was “a project
conceived, developed, and driven by
women.” They raised over $44,000,
five times their $8,500 goal and
enough to spawn several other proj-
ects. Lightspeed magazine crowd-
funded a similar ven-
ture with the “Women
Destroy Science Fic-
tion” special issue. As edi-
tor John Joseph Adams
says, “We megafunded,
reaching more than
1,000% of our original
goal of $5,000, so it worked
out super well! The cam-
paign got all kinds of at-
tention the issue likely
wouldn’t have otherwise
and generated a huge
amount of excitement.”
Some see crowdfunding
as the way of the future.
Adams says, “I think that
it’s a wonderful new tool to
allow new projects to de-
velop and flourish that
would not have had the op-
portunity to do otherwise.
I’m actually kind of sur-
prised traditional publish-
ers haven’t gotten in on the
action yet.”
Datlow, however, dis-
agrees to an extent. “I don’t
feel it is a business model—
not for an ongoing business.
The idea behind Kickstarter
is in its name. It’s meant to
kick-start something—that
means it’s a one-off to help a
business get started. So you
can do a model of a maga-
zine/webzine or prototype
for a gadget, theatrical pro-
duction, etc., but I personally feel that
for an ongoing project, once you get it
going you have to create your own busi-
ness model for the future and not rely on
donations over time.”
C.E. Murphy remains realistic about
the potential pitfalls. “I’m doing all the
work. I’m writing the books, I’m find-
ing the cover artists, the editors, the lay-
out people, and generally project man-
aging on top of writing....And—unless
you’re very good at self-promotion—it
is difficult to gain an audience through
independent publishing alone, which is
why, once upon a time, I was a vehement
decrier of self-publishing. But that was
five to ten years ago; the system has
changed since then, and I think it’s go-
ing to change more. At this juncture, I
genuinely think the entire crowdfund-
ing and independent publishing scene is
good for the publishing industry. I’d like
to think it’s creating a more robust sys-
tem that allows both writers and tradi-
tional publishing some room to breathe
and learn a little more about what read-
ers want.”
So while it may not be the perfect or
all-encompassing solution, one thing is
clear: crowdfunding has become a via-
ble publishing alternative for those
willing and able to put forth the effort
and take a gamble on appealing to their
audience ahead of time. The floodgates
have opened, and we’re likely to see
many more authors, editors, and pub-
lishers choosing this method to fund
projects that otherwise would not be
feasible under the traditional or current
systems. ;
Michael M. Jones lives in Virginia with a
pride of cats, too many books, and a wife who
slides food under the door during crunch time.
He is the editor of the Scheherazade’s Facade
anthology.
