【百道编按】“众筹”在今天已不是一个新鲜词。2014年，Kickstarter平台上的出版类众筹项目共募得2200万美元，其中漫画类以高成功率成为众筹出版的最大赢家。出版人阿特维尔的众筹故事说不定能给你带来一些启发。
2014年，除新闻类项目外，众筹网站Kickstarter上筹款成功的出版项目共获得近2200万美元的资金。Kickstarter的出版经理马戈特·阿特维尔说，众筹平台上的各类出版项目（包括漫画和新闻）仍处于持续增长中。阿特维尔是位女强人，她刚创办了自己的出版公司Gutpunch Press，并启动了一个基于Kickstarter的众筹图书项目。
作为Kickstarter网站的两位出版经理之一（漫画出版设为独立类别，有单独的管理人员），阿特维尔介绍说，在2014年发起的7050个出版项目中，有2064个项目筹款成功（成功率为28%），筹款总额达到2190万美元——这个数据已逼近2013年出版领域众筹资金的总额（2013年，Kickstarter上出版领域筹款总额为2290万美元，其时新闻类尚未设为独立项）。2014年，新闻出版作为独立类别共发起950个众筹项目，其中158个筹款成功（成功率为17%），筹款总额为180万美元。
此外，2014年，漫画出版类项目共筹资970万美元（相较2013年的1250万美元略有下降），在发起的1582个项目中有826个筹款成功，成功率为52%。
阿特维尔是名出版界老将——在任职Kickstarter出版经理之前，她曾有7年的时间供职于独立出版公司博福特图书（Beaufort Books）。与此同时，阿特维尔还是美国轮滑联赛（Gotham Girls Roller Derby）中Manhattan Mayhem队的成员之一，她在这项业余运动上已有8年的轮滑经验。2011年，阿特维尔与人合伙创办了DerbyLife.com网站——这是个关于轮滑运动的网站，同时发布轮滑联赛的一些新闻及信息。如今，她又创办了Gutpunch Press，并计划在2015年出版3本图书。为了助推该公司的成长，2014年下半年，阿特维尔通过Kickstarter募集了9183美元的资金，打算制作一本整合轮滑运动的历史、人物故事和指导信息在内的平装书。这本《轮滑速成秘籍》（Derby Life: A Crash Course in the Incredible Sport of Roller Derby）由阿特维尔本人撰文，将于今夏与读者见面。“我刚进入这个运动领域时就很希望有一本这样的书能指导我。书中涵盖齿轮、受伤处理、竞赛、心理韧性等主题，适用于轮滑初学者。”阿特维尔说。
Gutpunch Press还将出版扎克·齐斯的中篇科幻小说《生存模式》（Survival Mode）和一部关于超级英雄的黑色幽默小说《莱蒙，可能与电子女郎》（Lemon, Maybe & the Electric Lady）。目前两本书都尚未成功募资，但阿特维尔说她将为之继续努力。两本书都会推出印刷版和数字版（《生存模式》可能率先以电子书形式亮相），印刷书的分销模式尚有待确定。阿特维尔正在招聘一位能担任Derby Life网站的自由编辑的轮滑运动爱好者。
“用于出版的新工具以前所未有之势涌现，且不需要大量资本的投入，这绝对是出版的好时机。”阿特维尔充满期待地说，她十分感谢投资者们给了她创办Gutpunch Press的信心。她认为，“要么获得全额资助，要么分文未进无法开展项目”的运营模式比运营一家出版公司所获得的现金流更有利——如果众筹项目没有募得其既定的金额，该项目就会取消，资金也会打回跟投人账户。
[原文]
A－15－1－13－1－550－漫画类成2014众筹出版最大赢家Publishing Thrived on Kickstarter in 2014
By Calvin Reid |
Successful publishing campaigns on Kickstarter raised nearly $22 million in 2014, despite a change that removed journalism projects from the publishing category. Publishing of all kinds—including comics and journalism—continues to grow on the crowdfunding platform, said Kickstarter publishing manager Margot Atwell, who is kicking off 2015 by launching Gutpunch Press, her own publishing house, with a Kickstarter-funded book project.
One of two publishing managers on Kickstarter (comics publishing is a separate category, with its own manager), Atwell said that in 2014 the publishing category had 2,064 successful campaigns, out of 7,050 projects launched (a 28% success rate), raising $21.9 million in pledges. Despite the removal of journalism, publishing pledges were close to the $22.9 million the category raised in 2013. Now its own, separate category, journalism produced 158 successful campaigns out of the 950 launched (a 17% success rate), raising $1.8 million.
In 2014, the comics publishing category raised $9.7 million (down from $12.5 million in 2013) from 825 successful campaigns out of the 1,582 campaigns launched, for a success rate of 52%.
A publishing veteran—before Kickstarter she worked for seven years at the indie house Beaufort Books, rising from managing editor to publisher—Atwell is not your conventional administrator. She also happens to skate for the Manhattan Mayhem of Gotham Girls Roller Derby, a fast-growing contemporary version of classic roller derby. Atwell has skated for eight years in the serious, hard-hitting amateur sport (her skating name is Em Dash). In 2011, she cofounded DerbyLife.com, a news and information website about the sport and the league. Now she’s launching Gutpunch Press (“Our books hit you hard”) with plans to release three books in 2015. To help start the company, in late 2014 Atwell used Kickstarter to raise $9,183 to fund a trade paperback collection about the sport’s history, with personal stories and coaching information. Derby Life: A Crash Course in the Incredible Sport of Roller Derby is being written by Atwell and will be released in the summer. “It’s the book I would have wanted when I first got into the sport,” she said. “Information about gear, injuries, competition, mental toughness—how to skate, hit people, and then go home and make dinner.”
Gutpunch Press will also publish two books by Zak Zys: Survival Mode, a sci-fi novella, and Lemon, Maybe & the Electric Lady (a working title), noir fiction about superheroes. Neither title is being backed by a Kickstarter, although Atwell said she will use campaigns in the future for specific projects. Both books will be released in print and digital (Survival Mode may debut as an e-book); print distribution is still to be determined, and Atwell said she’s in the process of hiring a fellow Gotham Girls skater as a freelance editor to work on Derby Life.
“There are so many new tools to publish without the massive capital investment you needed in the past,” she said. Atwell also credited the Derby Life Kickstarter for giving her the confidence to set up Gutpunch Press. She said that the “all or nothing” nature of running a Kickstarter campaign—if a campaign does not reach its stated goal, the project is not funded—was “a better crash-course in marketing than seven years running a publishing company.”
01月20日21时| 评论
“用于出版的新工具以前所未有之势涌现，且不需要大量资本的投入，这绝对是出版的好时机。”这话说得真带劲。
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