Book Riot, an online site devoted to promoting books, reading and writing, is jumping on the Kickstarter bandwagon, launching a crowdfunding campaign to fund a book collection of Start Here, a popular feature on the site that introduces readers to classic works of literature. The Start Here: Read Your Way to 25 Amazing Authors Kickstarter campaign has a goal of $25,000 and has raised more than $6,000 with about 25 days to go in the campaign.
The Book Riot campaign on Kickstarter is raising funds to publish an initial collection of Start Here, an anthology collection that will include essays on 25 classic authors—among them David Foster Wallace, Margaret Atwood, Charles Dickens, William Faulkner and Philip Roth—written by a list of prominent book reviewers, critics and bloggers that will introduce readers to the works. Book Riot’s Start Here feature offers a step-by-step introduction to these classic authors and to 3 or 4 of their books and why the readers may want to read them.
If the funding goal is achieved the book will be published in print and e-book formats in October 2012. Kickstarter is a crowdfunding site that allows anyone to propose a project on just about anything and appeal to the public for financial support.
Using Kickstarter, Book Riot is enlisting its readers to help publish the book. Kickstarter campaigns offer potential donors a series of rewards based on how much they pledge. If someone pledges about $55, they get to vote on a list of potential authors for the book. And if the campaign is able to raise more than $25,000, Book Riot will add more classic authors to the final volume
Book Riot executive editor Bethanne Patrick, who has also been a PW contributing ditor and book reviewer, said “As readers, many of us secretly dream of writing our own book one day. While traditional publishing mechanisms have their place, we wanted to develop a process that speaks to our particular editorial vision. The Start Here Kickstarter campaign proves that there’s a little Don Quixote in us all.”
