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Are you an aspiring author? Meet Publishizer. It’s kind of like Kickstarter for books. Gripping, yes?

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Writing a book is hard. Really, really hard.

First, you have to be creative enough to come up with something worth writing about (and more importantly, worth reading). Then there is editing, packaging, pressing, marketing, and shipping to think about. Most authors are at the mercy of agents and publishers to make all that happen, due in large part to having nil budgets. What if something existed that would offset that disadvantage? There is.

What is Publishizer?

Publishizer is a new startup that aims at doing just that. Publishizer is a preorder launching platform for authors, aimed at helping them leverage a fair deal with a traditional publisher, or use the funds to self-publish their book.

Although Publishizer clearly takes a nod from Kickstarter, the startup is truly the first of its kind.

“Running a preorders campaign puts authors in a strong position to negotiate a fairer deal with higher royalties from a traditional publisher,” says founder, Guy Vincent. “Or, they can use the funds to pursue an alternative publishing route. It’s up to them.”

Backers are invited into the early draft, where they can suggest edits.

“We want to turn publishing into a community experience,” says Vincent. “Connecting authors and readers in the draft is a powerful way to harness edits from the crowd.”

The original platform was built on a blogging platform by Vincent. “It was basically a blog that let authors post chapters and get comments,” he says. “What was interesting was when authors started suggesting edits on each other’s work, and reciprocating edits. We want to build on that experience, with the preorders business model.”

Why fund through Publishizer?

The ultimate goal of any preorder campaign is to get to 1000 preorders. At that point, the author can cash out and choose what to do with the funds.

“1000 preorders is the tipping point for great books,” he says. “This is the minimum print run needed to benefit from the flexibility and cost advantages of traditional offset printing.”

Publishizer takes 5% of funds raised on successful campaigns. If the campaign is unsuccessful, nobody is charged. It’s free for authors to launch a campaign.

So there you have it. A new way to get published, with a little help from the crowd. Where you at? Yeah, we’re talking to you, the next Ernest Hemingway or Patrick White out there somewhere.