Crowdfunding & Self Publishing Books w/ Artist Naomi VanDoren

About this video

Dale Roberts interviews fantasy artist and self-published author Naomi VanDoren, who grew up in the Spice Islands of Indonesia, now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, and paints whimsical watercolor-and-pen fantasy work. Trained through a graphic design degree, online courses, YouTube, and a mentor rather than art school, she says her biggest business struggle was being seen in a crowded social world, and that she finally defined her audience by observing buyers at two large juried conventions, Gen Con and Dragon Con. Rather than chase traditional publishing, she collects each year’s finished artwork, sketches, and travel notes into self-published field-journal art books, because the format fits no traditional category; she fulfills orders herself and sells at shows and through her own store, noting direct buyers want a signed, personal connection while Amazon would reach a separate audience. She test-printed a very small run through Blurb (after weighing CreateSpace, IngramSpark, and Print Ninja), ordering two proofs of the first book and one of the second, and plans a traditional print run of maybe a thousand books next. She explains her plan to fund the next field journal through Kickstarter (targeting January or February), using backing tiers and scarcity, and to crowdfund a children’s book series of three she has been developing, with extra copies from the print run sold afterward on her website and in person.

Key takeaways

• Define your audience by watching real buyers in person: Naomi narrowed hers by observing who bought her work at Gen Con and Dragon Con rather than assuming the art was for everybody
• Self-publish formats that fit no traditional category: her field-journal art books collect a year’s finished pieces, sketches, and travel notes, and she fulfills and signs them herself for direct buyers
• Test small before scaling: she printed a very small Blurb run first, ordered two proofs of book one and one of book two, and only then planned a run of maybe a thousand books
• Use Kickstarter to fund production you could not otherwise afford, with backing tiers and limited editions creating scarcity, but build a core following first and have the book finished beforehand
• Even with a graphic design background, get a professional to review your cover and layout, because publishing best practices differ from general design

Episode details: published December 4, 2017 · 30:43 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dale L. Roberts’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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