Ask HN: Any Talented Writers Here?

[rosstamicah]

We have a startup launching soon which seeks to help authors raise money via "crowd funding" for their early stage novels. It's like Kickstarter for authors. We're currently looking for great writing samples to post initially on the site. Early stage stories welcome!

Please send writing samples to [e-mail] or visit http://www.storyfunded.com for more information.

[AmberShah]

Love this idea. Would definitely love to fund some of my fav authors, esp ones that post on free sites in spare time. I am wondering how this would work though. As a reader I'd totally do it for an author/excerpt I was psyched about.

As an author I'm wondering how useful it would really be. After all, if you already have a large following, getting a publishing deal would be pretty easy. And if you don't have a large following, then you're getting little to no money through the site. Is the site designed to actually help you gather an audience, or is it expected that people will divert their existing audience from other means (social media, etc)

I'm assuming if I give money I'd get the book for free (at least digital version). And how much would I have to give to get this. Would I get anything else? Like maybe a "funders-only epilogue" or something?

[jeromec]

Great questions. Authors of any level can use StoryFunded to develop a promising book. It's particularly suited to talented, but unknown authors since they can gain both exposure and finances to aid book development.

Rewards are offered in contribution levels, and every author has a thank you page which lists all contributors.

[wolfrom]

Have you spent any time at places like http://www.fanfiction.net/ ?

My wife is always saying that there are many authors on there that ought to focus on getting non-derivative work published (if they aren't already).

I imagine authors could use pseudonyms for their fundraising?

[AmberShah]

A few more suggestions I thought of:

literotica.com is similar to fanfiction.net except focused on erotica and some crossover into romance or other. Some of the authors there have published their stuff (from the site and otherwise) through regular publishers. I have personally polled certain author's profile waiting for the next installment of a novella, and since they are doing it on the side (for free) it can take awhile. That is what I first thought of when I read about storyfunded, that these authors could use that to get some $$ to write the stories, and thus justify spending the time to write the stories (the money made selling it after the fact would just be gravy)

In case you haven't heard of it, Absolute Write is a really popular forum for writers (http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/index.php) And of course, all these writers are readers and they are already into the community-support spirit since they are on a forum. If I were you, I'd totally take out an ad on there and/or get active on their forum (not spamming, of course, just providing help with your site in your signature)

I signed up as an author and the email I got said samples should be 10 pages. This seems like a lot. Of course, some could be that long, but it seems odd to make that the average. Not just as a writer, but as a reader, I am not going to take the time to get invested in a story 10 pages worth when I know there is nothing coming. Unless you do partial chapter releases? That would be cool. Not sure if you've heard of it, but Dear Author has a "First Page Saturdays" where they, obviously, provide the first page of a novel and people can critique or whatever. It's pretty easy to decide whether you'd keep reading from just that much alone (try it and see: http://dearauthor.com/category/features/first-page-features/) and btw, I'd have funded a couple of those myself...

[jeromec]

This is fantastic advice. Thanks a lot! :)

I will definitely look into literotica.com, and absolutewrite.com. I have noticed romance novels seem to be quite popular on writing sites.

As for posting around 10 pages, we certainly will be looking to find the optimum number of pages to post. I agree posting even fewer pages may suffice. However, some contribution levels will be $5, $10, or higher. We feel people donating higher amounts will want to see a little more of the story's direction. We do allow authors to release and edit writing as they see fit. Ultimately, the amount posted and read is determined by authors and readers, not us.

Again, this is all excellent advice. Thanks!

[jeromec]

Funny you should mention that. Just today I sent a message like that to the author of Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, which many people (including myself) really seem to like. Now that you mention it, I may have to spend more time on fanfiction.net. Authors must own the copyright on their work so they would have to create something original, but that shouldn't be a problem for such creative types.

Yes, authors can use pseudonyms, initials, etc. for their pen name.

[sambeau]

This is a really nice idea (and one, as a part-time writer with a very unfinished novel, I have been thinking about). My worry is that it would be hard to raise the ~$50,000 many authors would need to be able to be able to give up work and complete the tome.

[mahdireilly]

For little known authors the pay out is well bellow 50k going through traditional publication methods. This is why so many maintain jobs while writing. It is much akin to creating a startup where you do not expect an instant pay out, but our driven by a much higher return in the long run. Furthermore, most beginning authors have careers that pay considerably less than 50k a year.

[jeromec]

We anticipate authors will be able to raise several thousand dollars for promising book projects. Very promising ones certainly may raise $50K or more.

Crowd funding is proving to be a very powerful fundraising model. For example, the record, so far as I know it, is currently $190K for an iPad stand listing on Kickstarter.com:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jay-design/padpivot-lap-...

Edit: Also, successfully raising funds is just the start, as this would be a great indicator of ready market demand for the book.

[pbj]

Not even close to this one :)

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1104350651/tiktok-lunati...

I love the idea for your concept though!

[jeromec]

Wow, thanks for the correction! :)

I thought I heard about a project nearing one million dollars, but the iPad listing was what came to mind.

[jeromec]

clickable: http://www.storyfunded.com

[joeld42]

You should be posting in places that writers hang out, not here.

That said, maybe I'll send you a chapter. :)

[jeromec]

We're working with those places as well. However, for some reason I had a gut feeling any writers hanging out on HN would be the kind of writers worth connecting with ;)

Please do send in your writing!

[revorad]

How do you make money? Do you take a cut?

[jeromec]

Like Kickstarter.com our site earns 5% of funds raised. We may also assist authors with later book sales.