Getting all bound up…

Crowd-funding is beginning to really take off in the world of publishing…

The wonderful indie publisher And Other Stories have sort of been doing it for ages based upon a subscription model. You subscribe and get your name printed in the back of the books produced over your subscription period, plus a copy of the book. It works, and I’ve been a subscriber as the books are rather brilliant.

Unbound is doing it book by book, and has been elevated into the spotlight recently with the selection of The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth in the Man Booker longlist for 2014.

Their model is a true crowd-funding approach – authors pitch books and ask for pledges towards producing them. When Unbound gets enough pledges, the author can start writing (if they haven’t done so already), Unbound will publish the book and depending what level you pledged at you get an e-book, tree-book, signed tree-book, invite to the launch party too etc., plus your name in the back.

I’ve now pledged to two books…

The first is the sequel to Letters of Note (which I mentioned in my Quirky Christmas Gift Guide last year. Letters of Note was one of the first Unbound successes, and Shaun Usher’s sequel is Lists of Note. It includes Newton’s list of sins he’d already committed, Michaelangelo’s shopping list and Chrissy Hynde’s advice for girl rockers amongst many others. Lists of Note is now fully funded and will, I hope, be due out for Christmas. If it’s as beautifully produced as Letters, it’ll be a volume to treasure.

The second is a novel by David Quantick to be called The Mule (click here for info). Quantick is primarily a comedy writer and has worked on many top TV and radio shows including The Thick of It, Mitchell & Webb, Brass Eye, and The Day Today – so the lure of a comic novel from him seemed irresistible, especially after I’d watched his video pitch. Here’s hoping that The Mule will make it!

There is a huge variety of books seeking sponsors – from memoirs to poetry to cookery to novels. It’s rather fascinating and every potential author has a pitch on their page…

To celebrate reaching £1,000,000 worth of pledges, Unbound have offered all their pledgers free e-books of any (or all) of the books they’ve published so far, which is absolutely lovely (and I’ve availed myself of that to download The Wake and several others!).

If you’re interested in Unbound – you can get £10 off your first pledge by quoting the code ‘newcomer’ when you check out.

12 thoughts on “Getting all bound up…

    • Annabel (gaskella) says:

      We’ll discuss! It’s addictive – I’ve now pledged to a third book – a novel described as Dickens Psycho!

    • Annabel (gaskella) says:

      Each book has a page – you watch the author’s pitches, read the synopsis and extracts, and if you like, select the amount you’d like to pledge…

  1. Col says:

    This sounds really interesting so will look into this. Am intrigued by David Quantick novel pitch – I’m pretty sure he wrote a column in Q Magazine for a long time that I really liked – he had this tongue in cheek style with a real eye for the ridiculous! So I hope The Mule makes it too!

    • Annabel (gaskella) says:

      I used to get Q when it was all there was before Mojo – can’t remember his columns, but he does write about music…

      • Col says:

        Then am sure it will be same guy. I think he might have had a hand in editing Q at one point – and subsequently he had a monthly column – it was always very witty, slightly self-deprecating and shamelessly nostalgic, harping back to punk rock and beyond to even prog rock – so it suited an old ex-hippy-turned-punk like me!

  2. susanosborne55 says:

    Such a good idea when so many of the big guns in publishers seem to concentrate more and more on eye-catching names, at least in terms of advances paid. Thanks for the link, Annabel

  3. Pingback: I get inside the Groucho Club (briefly)! | Annabel's House of Books

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