Books sell because of who is in them.
Publica is for publishing with new business models. This time I want to skip the blockchain talk, economics, sociology, and big words in general. This time I want to get personal.
Arnold Henry is trying to publish a children’s book called “Daddy’s Mini-Me.” He wrote it from pure love and you can see that in his face in Annette Ejiofor’s article in Huffington Post about his author’s journey.
A professional agent told him in the nicest possible way that he didn’t think this book would sell. From that agent’s perspective, that could be true. But I say that book is gonna sell, mostly because of who’s in it.
It’s a book of meditations from father to son, written for a child to read. Or the child’s father to read aloud. I don’t have a child but that’s irrelevant. I want to read this book because of who wrote it and why. When I do read it, I will probably want to give it as gifts.
Arnold Henry turned to crowdfunding and as of this writing, he’s halfway to his goal. I’m not gonna look into the details nor tell you about them. I’m gonna tell you what I would do.
The digital book can’t be the expense that he’s looking to raise $10,000 for, because he’s already written it. Another loving dad illustrated it. I hope he’ll offer paper and audiobook versions too. Those will cost him money to produce.
He should publish his book on Publica right now. He doesn’t need any money for that. He can share the revenue with the father/illustrator, on their own terms, automatically.
In his Publica Book ICO he should tell his story, in real time as it happens. People who want to buy the digital book and read it now can do so. They can buy two or three or more book tokens. When his Book ICO raises enough for him to print paper books then he can ask them how many he should print.
I don’t know the crowdfunding rules on the site he’s using now. At Publica the crowdfunding rules are whatever works for him and his readers. People might give ebook copies to the dads and children they know and love — only digital book tokens enable that. People might trade their digital book tokens back to Arnold Henry for paper or audio books when they’re ready.
I think of it as a new kind of crowdfunding based on owning book tokens. Arnold Henry isn’t asking for gifts or relying on the trust of strangers. He’s proud of what he’s written and he wants to publish it with suitable dignity to the people who want to buy it. And crowdfund the paper and audio editions at the same time.
I’ve written before that Publica enables all kinds of new business models. It’s an author’s own store automated on the trusted blockchain network on their own terms. If you want to talk about that, leave a comment below. The possibilities are endless. But back to Arnold Henry.
His book won’t sell because an agent or publisher decided it fit their worldview. The agent gave his opinion why it doesn’t fit into his. It will sell because it fits into your worldview and mine.
Whatever the word “sell” means — popular, profitable, income, price — revolves around him, right? Isn’t he the source of those things? Isn’t he the person who you and I want to deal with? Did any agent help you or me?
Books aren’t commodities, they’re personal. They’re personal to the author. They’re personal to me when I read them, and especially when I give them. They’re personal when you and I buy them and the author gets paid. And when he spends some of our money to print paper editions and record an audio version, those will be personal too.
This is one of the visions that I have for Publica. That loving dad and author should not feel frustration. Neither should you or I. Books aren’t that difficult. No book should have to compare with all other books, and especially not with any marketplace ideas from the 20th century.
The world has changed and we live in a connection economy now. An author should judge a book by how much of their authentic voice is in it, the story that only they can tell. People who read a book should judge it by what it means to them and to the people they connect with.
That’s why I say books sell because of who is in them.
[Related post Books don’t sell because of what’s in them.]
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