Conversation with friends this weekend:

20/05/2019 in One writer's journey

I’ve been enthusing to friends about Thursday’s crowdfunding launch of my novel DRACA with publisher Unbound, in support of the veterans’ charity Combat Stress. Not everyone ‘gets’ it. Typical conversation:

FRIEND: “Great! Sounds fantastic. I’ll buy a copy. In fact, put me down for four. Presents for the family.”

[MEANINGFUL PAUSE BY AUTHOR]

FRIEND: “Oh, you mean I need to buy them now?“

AUTHOR, OPENING IPHONE: “Yup. Let me show you. Click here “

So here’s how crowdfunding publishing works:

Unbound select a manuscript (and with a Man Booker longlister to their credit they’re VERY selective!) but like all publishers they can never be sure which books will succeed. We live and write in an age of huge publishing ‘noise’; about 500,000 English language titles a year hit the market.

So Unbound make the author build support before they publish. In my case, that means ‘pre-selling’ about 500 books. With that lower risk, they pay high royalties, which is excellent news for the veterans charity Combat Stress, who get 50%. (The rest is the budget for fees, taxes and promotion.) The bad news is that I don’t even know 500 people, and I’m staring at Pledge Mountain.

What you can do:

  1. Click on Unbound here
  2. Pledge your support. Think of it as a pre-order.
  3. Spread the word.

Simples!

Thank you for helping me to help those whose wounds are more than physical

In case you missed the announcement:

DRACA is the story of a war-damaged veteran of Afghanistan who struggles to rebuild his life by restoring an old sailing boat, while his dysfunctional family push him ever closer to the edge. It is a subtle, ambiguous ghost story in that the reader must decide whether he is haunted by his past, or just haunted. Half the royalties to to Combat Stress. I’m crowdfunding so that contribution is financially meaningful. See full post here.