Summary: In this week’s Critical Margins podcast, Jason Braun and Kevin Eagan discuss crowdfunding and crowdsourcing for writers. How might writers implement smart strategies online to get readers involved in the process? Crowdfunding is the way in which artists and writers can both get funding for their projects and find participants. Crowdsourcing, however, is about getting people involved in the creative and production process. Both approaches work for writers hoping to go at it alone. Show notes: Jason and Kevin discuss these articles: “On Crowdfunding Books: When People Vote with Their Money” by Adam Gomolin in Publishing Perspectives; “Crowdsourcing Tolstoy” by Sally McGrane in The New Yorker; “Walter Isaacson on Crowdsourcing His New Book” by Joshua Brustein in Bloomberg Businessweek Some books worth checking out: Get Known Before the Book Deal by Christina Katz; In the Beginning…was the Command Line by Neal Stephenson We also talk about some crowdfunding sites beyond Kickstarter: Donors Choose – Kevin’s wife Katie used this site to successfully fund some language arts supplies and materials she needed for her classroom but weren’t available to her at her school; Inkshares – promises “crowdfunded publishing”; Pubslush – another publishing/crowdfunding site for literarty types. Check out the Reading Rainbow Kickstarter. We want to hear from you! If you like the podcast, rate us on iTunes, Stitcher, or Soundcloud. Or leave us a comment in the show notes. Special thanks to Jason and the Beast for our show’s theme song, “Street Preacher.”
