You have a finished manuscript. You have never run a crowdfunding campaign. And somewhere in the back of your mind is the question every first-time author asks: how does this actually work?
This guide walks the whole path on InkSplode, from the application to the day your book funds. None of it requires money up front, a publishing contract, or a marketing degree. It requires a finished book and a list of people who want to read it.
Before you apply
Two things, and only two.
A completed manuscript. It does not have to be edited. That is the work we do. It has to be finished, start to end, in a document you can link to. A Google Doc with view access works fine.
Your first readers. Open a note and write down twenty-five people who would pledge $25 for your book today, no pitch required. Family who keep asking when the book is coming. Friends who read your drafts. People from your church, your group chat, your newsletter. This list matters more than anything else in this guide, and you will see why in step four.
Step 1: Apply
The application at inksplode.com/apply takes about ten minutes. We ask for your name and email, the book's title, genre, and rough word count, a short description of the book (up to 2,000 characters), and a link to the manuscript. You confirm the manuscript is complete, and you submit.
We are accepting a limited number of authors during the beta, so every book gets a real team. When your application comes in, we read it and get in touch.
Step 2: Get your Cost of Production, line by line
This is the number the whole model turns on, so here is exactly what it is.
Your Cost of Production is what it actually costs to turn your manuscript into a finished book: editing, proofreading, cover, layout, ISBN, and print. We quote each line separately, and you see every number before you agree to one.
That quote becomes your funding goal. Not the quote plus a platform fee. Not the quote plus a percentage. The quote.
Step 3: Build your campaign page
Your campaign page is where readers decide. A few things that help:
- Tell the story behind the book, not just the plot. Why you wrote it. Who it is for. What it cost you to finish.
- Show your face. Readers back people before they back books.
- Say the number out loud. Your goal is your Cost of Production, and most readers have never seen a publishing budget. Showing them yours is part of what makes this different.
You can add images, and you can keep shaping the page right up until it goes live.
Step 4: Launch, and tell your list first
Pledges start at $25 and have no ceiling. Every backer gets the ebook free, and anyone who wants the paperback adds shipping at checkout. Backers do not need an account; an email address is enough. Their card is charged when they pledge, and if the book does not fund, every backer is refunded in full.
Now, that list from before you applied. Before you announce the campaign anywhere public, message those twenty-five people one at a time. Not a broadcast. A personal note, with the link. A campaign with real backers on day one looks alive to every stranger who lands on it afterward, and strangers back campaigns that look alive.
Step 5: Keep your backers close
Your campaign has a fixed end date, set the day it goes live, and it does not move. Between launch and that date, your job is simple: keep talking.
Post an update at least once a week. Every update you publish is emailed to your backers, so a good update is also your newsletter. Share a chapter excerpt, the cover direction, the moment you hit halfway. Answer comments. Thank people by name.
Backers who feel close to the book tell other people about it. That is where the rest of your pledges come from.
When you fund
Our book crafters get to work. Editing, cover, and layout are ours to run, and you approve every pass and see exactly what changed. Your backers get the ebook, paperback copies go to the readers who chose them, and the book is published.
Everything your campaign raised above your Cost of Production is yours. Your royalties are yours, all of them. Your rights are yours, permanently. None of that changes after you fund.
If you don't
Every backer is refunded in full, by hand, by our team. You keep your manuscript and your rights exactly as you had them, and nobody is out any money. Write to us at support@inksplode.com and we will talk about what happened and what comes next.
The short version
- Finish the manuscript. Write down your first twenty-five readers.
- Apply at inksplode.com/apply.
- Review your Cost of Production line by line. It becomes your goal.
- Build a campaign page that tells the story behind the book.
- Launch to your list first, personally, then to everyone else.
- Post an update every week until the end date.