Backing for Books

By Bob Hughes - Jan 31 , 2011

Is there a collective that can fund authors? If it works for movies, maybe it can work for writers. A new collective for movie music suggests that there may be a way for writers who are struggling on a project to get funds.

Cutting Edge, which recruits musicians and music for films, helps filmmakers save money on the nuts-and-bolts work of assembling a movie score.

There may be something to it – as publishers look to cut their advances for everyone except perhaps the most starry authors, more and more writers struggle to exist on their writing. I’m not only talking about creative writing, but all sorts of writing that might take more time than squeezing in an hour or two before or after work.

Already, some rock and pop singers now ask for donations via social media, and promise to include contributors’ names on the liner notes, and even pay them back when there’s a profit. It takes the pressure off the artist to search for a label (since so many more are self-releasing). And some artists are evening being inspired by sites like Facebook to create works of art.

Could the same thing happen with writers? As it’s becoming more likely that authors will be heading toward a world in which self-publishing is another option, rather than a last resort, getting backing for a project seems to make sense. It means, however, that an author has to structure his project as more than one where he waits for inspiration – he needs a plan.

Maybe a collective – perhaps funded by an angel fund that wants to offer some of its money to the arts at a time when a lot of funding, including government funding, is drying up (arts are the bane of politicians, despite the fact that arts contribute greatly to local economies – politicians loathe art as vampires fear the sunlight).

In order to attract funding, through donations or a collective, a writer needs to be able to utilize social media in a good way. We have seen the power of social media with the recent event sin Tunisia and Egypt, where Twitter has been the means of getting the word out about popular uprisings. Twitter is even the preferred method of getting in touch with airlines now for updates on cancellations.

Wouldn’t it work for proposals for donations for a project/ If you’re able to craft yor proposal in under 150 characters, it means you already have a good sense of where you’re going. Investors like that.

It means, though, that you have to be willing to be rejected. But writers are used to that. In any event, there are more and more options for getting funding – it takes a little creativity. And every writer worth his salt has that.