An excellent business model for music has launched in the form of bandstocks. The band stock allows for the music fan to invest in a band with a £10 stake. Once the level of investment has reached a defined level - the monies are released to the band in question for them to make their record/album.
The investors receive perks such as credit, percentage of the profits and priority claim on booking tickets. Not to mention the kudos when/if the band makes it big and they can then sell their share on Ebay.
Similar options have been used for films (I tried something similar with a short film ‘Hairflick’ - a 10 minute B&W thriller (summed up as 3 deaths and a sex scene) by offering Exec Producer credit (and a T-shirt) for £15. Sorry to say that the investment received barely covered T-shirt and advertising costs - though the film was shot and edited on rough (rushes) stock, it now dwells in a mates cellar).
Could a similar business model be introduced for authors and publication? Absolutely! Although writing doesn’t have the immediacy and instant appreciation that the other arts have. Music and film have their social medias all wrapped up (with myspace and such) whilst writers do tend to attract an appreciative audience - they’ll never get the mass ‘buy-in’ from strangers necessary to generate the funds for that first print run.
What it may do is allow for a bookstock concept to buy in to an author - a £10 stake with promise of a signed first edition. I guess this wouldn’t work so well on an individual basis - and perhaps writers would have to cluster together under the umbrella of a genre or a publishing house to attract enough attention from the interested public.
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