There’s hardly a writer who isn’t familiar with the horrors of completing funding applications. Sometimes it feels like they are specifically designed to filter out all but the most doggedly souls. So writers everywhere will be heartened by the rise and rise of a new model of raising funds for projects. It’s called crowd funding, and it’s typified by such websites as Kickstarter, one of the best of its type.
The Kickstarter model is based on a threshold pledge system. Pozible is an antipodean alternative, currently featuring Wheeler Centre Debut Mondays presenter Caroline Lee’s novel Stripped. Interestingly, the way it works is similar, in an online way, to the subscription model Mozart used to subsidise the composition of some of his work. Kickstarter helps artists raise money from private benefactors, including friends and family. Monies only become available when 100% of the stated total has been raised and, though artists retain copyright over their work, they ‘reward’ benefactors in creative ways, like gifting them a copy of their project once it’s completed. Here are some tips on how to make the most of crowdfunding.