How to Kickstart your book project

Interesting post by Phil Simon over at Men with Pens, although I’m not really sure why the first half is spent berating traditional publishing. It’s really not true that all editors want to take your work and turn it into something else.
Anyway, the rest of the post is a very interesting take on Kickstarter, the site/service that allows you to crowdfund your writing (or any other) project:

The results of my first Kickstarter project were amazing. After about a week and a half, I met 40% of my goal! I hit 90% of my funding in less than a month and locked in the full amount I needed just a few days later.

That’s pretty sweet beans, but this is the most interesting part of the post for me:

I’m using Kickstarter to raise funding for my fourth book too, and I’m off to a good start. I budgeted out how much I needed for editing, proofreading, cover design, interior design and book production, and then posted up my financial goals and project description.

However you publish your book, it’s important to try and make it as professional as you can possibly afford. That doesn’t just mean creating some fancy cover (although you can if you want), but getting it edited professionally and properly proofread. The fundamentals.

You need qualified people to help you:

And to make great happen, you need to hire great professionals: a cover designer, an editor, a production person, and a proof-reader. You’ll also need a good-looking website and money for marketing and public relations.

Simon sounds like a perfect example of an author self-publishing in a way that puts quality first. And I’m totally down with that, as you well know.