June 4, 2025
Need help with book launch funding? One of the benefits of self-publishing your book is that you get to choose how you address all aspects of the publishing process. From deciding when to plan your book launch funding to devising a compelling marketing plan, self-publishing authors have complete creative control over how they bring their book to market.
But a book launch funding can be expensive, so many authors look for ways to minimize their costs by looking at alternative funding sources. If you are seeking additional strategies to defray the costs of your book launch funding, consider one of these options to help you print and distribute your book while lowering your out-of-pocket costs.
Authors who would like direct book launch funding, including printing costs, marketing costs, or other expenses related to bringing their book to market, can pursue funding options through fellowships or grants by related organizations. These funds are typically connected to the book’s genre, the category of readers a book will target, or a writer-focused group.
The next type of funding opportunity that authors can use to help cover book launch funding is to offer a subscription service to their readers. Several websites provide an easy-to-use platform that can help you set up and manage your subscription structure.
This user-friendly site is a great place to set up monthly subscriptions for your readers to opt into different levels of memberships. You can offer things like chapter releases, behind-the-scenes content or even full-book releases using Ko-Fi. One of the benefits of using Ko-Fi is that you can also allow users to give one-time donations without taking a portion of your earnings, a nice benefit to authors seeking to maximize their book launch funding.
This popular funding site is a great way to create subscriptions for your fans that also comes with the chance to set up fun perks that keep them interested in your writing. Subscriptions can include anything from author Q&As to signed books at higher membership tiers.
Authors looking to widen their fan base as well as secure subscription-based book launch funding can turn to Ream to help. With subscription offerings as well as site support of fiction authors through large Facebook groups, Ream is a good place to boost your funding while also developing your audience.
A popular writing platform used by authors of all kinds, Substack offers a location for you to provide paid or unpaid subscription content to your readers. You can keep them in the loop with extra content about your writing journey or even sneak peeks of your book. Created originally as a blogging platform, authors can use their regular updates for readers in a variety of ways, mixing it up each month to create interest and keep your readers excited for your book release. Substack’s updates go straight to your subscribers’ email, so this platform is great for increasing engagement with your readers as well as providing you with a steady income stream to help you with book launch funding.
Many authors partner with Gumroad, a simple-to-use site that allows authors to presell their book and collect funds on a user-friendly platform.
This full-service site gives authors a place to sell physical books as well as subscriptions, digital downloads, and more. Payhip’s sleek platform makes it easy for authors to raise money through book presales as well as combine other money streams related to their writing to help fund a launch.
One of the biggest names in the ecommerce space, Shopify is a go-to option for a smooth transaction for both authors and buyers. A sleek storefront greets customers, and authors can enhance their buyers’ experience by adding fun additions like countdowns to increase excitement about book release dates.
Working as a plug-in for WordPress users, WooCommerce is a solid presale book choice for authors looking to presell their book to raise money for their book’s launch funds.
Another way to build your funds to help you print and launch your book is to ask directly for money from those who want to see you succeed. Several sites make this task easier by providing a trusted platform for donations, but each works a little bit differently.
GoFundMe is the biggest of the crowdsourcing sites. Creating a page that showcases your honest need for funding by telling how their funds will support your goal of paying for your book’s launch costs. This site works best when you share your link with those who know you or have some connection to you. The site tracks all money raised, and you can leave updates with contributors along the way so they can see your progress and cheer for you when you meet your fundraising goal.
Indiegogo is similar to GoFundMe but with one exception: you can create a crowdfunding site without setting a concrete goal. This flexibility allows you to take advantage of the funding in stages, so you can access the money when you need it rather than only when you meet a set monetary goal.
Kickstarter is a crowdfunding site that heavily supports creators, so authors will have all the tools at their fingertips to create a campaign, market it, and learn how to maximize its potential. Smart strategies like offering smaller goals to contributors to increase your campaign’s success make Kickstarter popular, and the Kickstarter website provides an easy-to-scroll-through listing of all campaigns that anyone can view, multiplying the number of people who may see an author’s plea for funding their book.
Publishizer is a different kind of crowdfunding site that specializes in book proposal campaigns for writers to raise money and connect authors with literary agents. The beauty of Publishizer is that it is a crowdfunding platform and a literary agent clearinghouse in one place. Authors write a book proposal for funding their book that will be visible on the site and can be marketed through shareable links. Book concepts that are crowdfunded at a set amount are then queried to traditional publishing houses and potential offers are given to the author. The funds are released to the author and then they can decide to self-publish their book or accept an offer from a publisher.
When you’re ready to print your book, check out the pricing calculators at Publishing Xpress.
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