Publishers can start preparing for some new competition — from readers. A new crowdfunded service called Unbound launched at this year’s Hay Festival. The platform, which sounds similar to Kickstarter, allows readers to fund the books they want to read. A post at the Guardian describes how it works:
The Unbound.co.uk publishing platform … allows writers to pitch ideas online directly to readers who, if they are interested, pledge financial support. Once enough money has been raised, the author will write the book, with supporters receiving anything from an ebook to a limited first edition and lunch with the author, depending on their level of investment.
And Unbound didn’t launch with unknown self-publishing authors — Terry Jones is on board, as are Tibor Fischer and Gavin Pretor-Pinney.
This raises the question: Would you fund your favorite author?
Please share your thoughts in the comments.
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