Pubslush is a niche crowdfunding platform especially for authors, publishers, book lovers, and those steeped in the literary world.

You can create a book campaign on Pubslush.com at any stage of the process. My debut book, Amazon Wisdom Keeper, for example, is a completed, lightly edited manuscript dreaming of being published in the next year, but other pubslushers may still be working on their manuscript's first draft (or screenplay, etc) and already requesting support for the many stages of writing, coaching, editing, and marketing still ahead. 

Others already have a finished project, like my friend Grace Welker, who is soliciting support for Oasis Pages, a diary with inspirational quotes and prompts to help teen girls tune into their most authentic self and unique journeys.  Contributions will translate to diary purchases for girls with special needs and/or special interests, or given to girls as birthday or holiday gifts, or just because. The Girls Write Now organization, for example, would be an ideal group to gift these little gems to, a possibility that Grace is looking into.

At my stage in the game, Pubslush offered me the opportunity to showcase my project in all its glory. It's completely up to you how you would like to present yours online and I found the creative freedom to be invigorating.

My personalized project profile portrays my synopsis, first chapter, images, endorsements, and a behind-the-scenes interview. My brand-new book cover by Yan Sze Li will be up tomorrow and within the next week, I'll add the gorgeous book trailer (yes, I got a sneak peek!) that Nicole Van Straatum just recorded in the Amazon rainforest and is doing last edits on. Pubslush uploads, additions, and edits are super easy to make even by technology-challenged me, but Sarah Mendelson is the authors liaison and offers personal assistance, helpful advice, and email templates, holding your hand as much as you like to. 

The best part is that you are able to start accruing a "fan" base during the maximum 90-day pre-launch phase of your project. I decided that the longer the warm-up phase, the better my chances of spreading the word to as many people as possible before the actual launch.  My fan counter reads 64 at this point, which is just amazing, considering that I was completely new to platform building and social media just six months ago.

We will see how that actually pans out in terms of pre-orders and contributions when the campaign actually goes live tomorrow, October 21 and runs until November 21 (you are able to prolong the campaign duration to 45 days and longer, but it is better to run a tight, time-limited one in my opinion). 

The campaign requires that you provide specials and enticing offers, such as autographed books, book marks, personalized thank-you emails and shout-outs, and other rewards to your supporters based on the size of their contribution.  It's entirely up to you what you come up with.  You can also run a pre-order campaign without or following your book campaign like I plan to do, directing future fans and supporters to a virtual home-base for your book where they can pre-order (and later purchase) your book.  It's nice not to have to set all that up again somewhere else. 

Pubslush's usage rate is lower than most other crowdfunding platforms and a portion of this is used to remedy illiteracy and, hence, poverty around the world. I love that Pubslush similarly aims to level the playing field for authors and small press publishers as well. You can join different communities on there which exposes your work to other members of those groups and invites mutual support.  I'm a member of Tracking Wonder consulting and She Writes Press (my next step).

Mother and daughter entrepreneurs, Hellen Barbara and Amanda Barbara created Pubslush, because JK Rowling's wonderful manuscript was rejected twelve times before someone recognized the great potential of Harry Potter. How many books remain buried in the infamous slushpile for life because their authors lack JK Rowling's extraordinary stamina, confidence, or know-how to persevere in the face of this apparent failure and defeat (as most of us are not informed that this high and at times arbitrary rejection rate comes with the job description)?

Pubslush allows you to take your fate back into your own hands.  My birthday happens to coincide with Pubslush book campaign launch date tomorrow - October 21 - and about 100 lovely family members and friends blessed me with a wonderful surprise party to support me each step of the long haul still ahead. For a change, none of the technicalities - that this is a book campaign launch, not a "real" book launch in terms of even having a release date - mattered.  

It was a party to support me where ever I was on my journey.  But without a set auspicious pubslush date and the opportunity to learn the finer details about my book and my lifelong commitment to see it through, my solid back-up - who've always been there - probably wouldn't have gotten as enthused nor have rallied for me in such a moving and special way, complete with initial cover sketches, bookmarks, quotes, and a shadow box to safe-keep the final product, my book.

She Writes author Elizabeth Enslin of While the Gods were Sleeping recently wrote in her recent blog post, Rooting your book launch in community, "Now that I’m a week into my book tour, I’m still drawing energy, wisdom and courage from that first event. Launching the book close to home gave me a safe, supportive place to try out various messages, understand what moves readers in the book, learn how to respond to questions, gauge enthusiasm. And I now have a home team cheering me on wherever I go. That, I now understand, is the best foundation for a platform." 

I couldn't agree more.  

Loraine Van Tuyl, PhD, is a holistic psychologist

and shamanic healer at www.theSacredHealingWell.com

Also connect with her here: https://www.facebook.com/theSacredHealingwell

www.linkedin.com/in/lorainevantuylphd/

https://twitter.com/LoraineVanTuyl

Her dream is to publish Amazon Wisdom Keeper through She Writes Press 

with the help of $ raised on www.AmazonWisdomKeeper.pubslush.com

Thanks for your interest and support!