Yet there are so many voices along the lines of "I have experience in the industry and they have no clue what they are doing". But that's beside the point!
It really isn't.
Here's their business plan: give us $40,000 to set up a small business. $15,000 of that is advances to authors, and $25,000 is paying for everything else (advertising, printing, salaries, etc.) They're claiming this will be a sustainable business model-- but they need to earn at least $40,000 dollars in clear profit in order for the press to continue as a business, to pay salaries and buy cover art and give out these large advances.
And to anyone who knows *anything* about how any *part* of publishing works, it's incredibly obvious that they can't do that. Nobody can. Their books and ebooks are overpriced for the market. Their timeline is unrealistic, even if the books were already finished, which they're not. They're claiming they're not going to use a print-on-demand service, which is nonsense. Their editors don't have novel-editing experience. They have no clear plans for marketing. All three books are in different genres, so it's going to be really difficult to form a brand identity outside fandom.
Will those first three books come out and be published on time? Probably. So the kickstarter will, technically, have succeeded. (Because you're not actually allowed to use Kickstarter to start up a small business, so BBP is sneaking that in under the table.)
But what will happen to the other $25,000 that fandom gave them in order to keep this business running?
no subject
It really isn't.
Here's their business plan: give us $40,000 to set up a small business. $15,000 of that is advances to authors, and $25,000 is paying for everything else (advertising, printing, salaries, etc.) They're claiming this will be a sustainable business model-- but they need to earn at least $40,000 dollars in clear profit in order for the press to continue as a business, to pay salaries and buy cover art and give out these large advances.
And to anyone who knows *anything* about how any *part* of publishing works, it's incredibly obvious that they can't do that. Nobody can. Their books and ebooks are overpriced for the market. Their timeline is unrealistic, even if the books were already finished, which they're not. They're claiming they're not going to use a print-on-demand service, which is nonsense. Their editors don't have novel-editing experience. They have no clear plans for marketing. All three books are in different genres, so it's going to be really difficult to form a brand identity outside fandom.
Will those first three books come out and be published on time? Probably. So the kickstarter will, technically, have succeeded. (Because you're not actually allowed to use Kickstarter to start up a small business, so BBP is sneaking that in under the table.)
But what will happen to the other $25,000 that fandom gave them in order to keep this business running?