Backers of the Crossing Swords Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign have begun receiving their rewards! Advance copies of the paperback edition of the book is now being sent out to supporters. This has been a major undertaking. It has temporarily transformed the dining room table into a workstation. I think of it as the Launchpad. Each book has been carefully autographed and signed (when requested), and packaged with a thank you note for each of the 38 backers plus many others who supported the project in different ways.
The generous contributions of Kickstarter project supporters, totaling $3,190, paid for the cost of professional editing ($930), printing 250 advance copies ($2016), and some of the mailing expenses ($244). The advance print copies, besides going out to the Kickstarter supporters, are being used for promotional purposes, including getting celebrity endorsements, magazine and newspaper book reviews, and going to other influencers to rally support for the launch of the book.
The funds received through the Kickstarter campaign made a huge contribution to the expenses for publishing Crossing Swords: Mary Baker Eddy vs. Victoria Claflin Woodhull and the Battle for the Soul of Marriage by Cindy Safronoff (This One Thing, July 4, 2015). But the total expenses for producing this book (not including the four years of my time that went into research and writing), for 2014 and 2015 alone, has added up to over $8,500. For a book publishing project, this is an extremely low budget, all things considered, and the low cost is due in large part to my D.I.Y. approach and also many generous people who volunteered their time and expertise to help me along the way.
I believe that this book has the potential to reach a large audience, and so I am hopeful that I will eventually receive a return on my investment of time and money. However, ultimately, this book, like most books, has been a labor of love. I have done this because I had something to say and I felt impelled to put this out into the world. How well it is received, and how large an audience it gets, is not up to me.
But the message is going out into the world, starting with my Kickstarter backers and other close supporters — who should soon be receiving the packages I just dropped off at the U.S. Post Office. The book launch sequence begins!