Book Funding

You know publishing is in trouble when even publishers need help. I’ve written before about a new thing: authors publishing via financial support from future readers. I’ve also written about big publishers raising funds to help with the publishing. And here I am writing about it again. This one, though, hits close to home for me since it’s my publisher.
TSTC Publishing, for whom I’ve written three books in their TechCareer series, is publishing a book by Bradley T. Turner called Cotton Bales, Goatmen & Witches: Legends from the Heart of Texas, according to Digital Journal. TSTC is a university press and wanted to publish this book, but needed more funding in order to be able to do it. The book will include photos. The promotion will include a video of one of the stories included in the book.

Contributors to the project will receive a variety of Cotton Bales gift items, based on the amount of the pledge, such as commemorative postcards, calendars, autographed copies of the book and framed metal art of the donor’s choice of photographs from the book.

TSTC Publishing plans to do this with other projects and is calling the program “Kickstarter.” You can go to the article to learn what other ancillary products might be included in Kickstarter projects, as well as what happens with the funds.

Now that this type of publishing is coming even to small presses and, in this case, university presses, what do you think of the idea?

Disclaimer: TSTC Publishing did not notify me about this new program. I read about it online. Nor did they ask me to blog about it. I haven’t even talked to Publisher Mark Long.