In an unpredictable economy, entrepreneurs in the creative field are forced to become ever more imaginative when it comes to funding new work. In an industry where banks are often reluctant to underwrite loans and venture capital is scarce, some business owners are turning to alternative funding methods to achieve their dreams.
Author and designer Shannon Okey is the owner of the small indie publishing company Cooperative Press, which focuses on fiber-arts related titles. The Cooperative Press business model equally divides the profits from each title between author and publisher (except on digital products, where the split favors the author even more), allowing authors to earn much more than they would with a traditional publisher. Authors also exert greater control over their intellectual property and are able to get their work to market faster.
"My experiences have always been the bootstrapping type," says Okey of her experience with funding creative ventures. "When I do something like organize Bazaar Bizarre, the indie craft show I coordinate, we're funding the costs of the event by spreading it across a large number of vendors, with me managing the things that need to be done." She finds that running a publishing business isn't much different, especially with the ability to set up pre-orders on books to fund print costs. "But if we really want to cut our costs and make the business better, we need a cash infusion."
However, banks proved unwilling to ante up, despite the billion-dollar-plus crafts market. "Our business is fully in the black, we've got steadily increasing revenues, but there's a certain closed-mindedness in traditional funding circles," says Okey. She ended up turning to Kickstarter, which calls itself "the largest funding platform for creative projects in the world." The site enables people - anybody at all - to pledge their dollars and fund projects in music, film, art, technology, design, food, publishing and other creative fields. Project creators retain complete ownership and control of their work, and in return, they offer products and experiences that are unique to each project.
For backers who pledge money toward Cooperative Press' goal, the publisher is offering everything from a PDF copy of Okey's The Knitgrrl Guide to Professional Knitwear Design (for a $10 pledge) to three days of private fiber arts instruction and/or business coaching with Okay (for a very healthy $2,500 pledge).
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