Greenville's Creative Minds Look to the Web for Funding -- And Find It

Online, July 15, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Whether finishing a masterpiece or just getting started, the most daunting task for artists is coming up with the funds. In the not-so-distant past, innovators looked for investors for financial help or sought business loans from banks. But times have changed. With the help of crowdfunding, Greenville's artists, authors, and musicians are seeing their ideas grow into finished, sellable products, without the worry of having to pay back hefty business loans.
When Greenville author Andrea Cefalo published her first novel, The Fairytale Keeper, she was told that indie authors need at least $5,000 to help fund their projects. Sadly, that was a gross underestimate. Cefalo says she's spent far more than that, even though she does much of the work herself. "If I can learn how to do it, I do," Cefalo said. "I spend my money where I think it makes the biggest impact--editing, marketing and advertising." In order to fund the editing and printing of her second novel, Cefalo is turning to crowdfunding.
Crowdfunding relies on a large number of people donating small amounts of money via the Internet for projects or ventures. Sites like Indiegogo.com and Kickstarter.com allow regular people to submit a project, ask for a set amount of funds, set up rewards for their donors and watch the money roll in.
It's not as easy as it sounds. Artists only receive money from Kickstarter if they reach their goal. Let's say that someone asks for $10,000 but that they only get $9,000 from donors. That means that their project doesn't get fully funded, and they don't get any of the money. Instead, the money is returned to the donors. Indiegogo works a little differently. They offer a flex fund payment, so innovators don't have to reach their full funding amount in order to get the money donated for their project. But the competition on Indiegogo is steep because creative projects are up against non-profits.
Braxton Bellew and Sarah Black, who make up the Victorian chamber metal band Valentine Wolfe, have inspired others to turn to crowdfunding. When Ballew and Black ran out of money for their next album, they turned to Kickstarter. Their profile on the popular crowdfunding website was chosen out of thousands as project of the day and received $6,388 in only thirty days. "We are ecstatic about getting our project funded!" Ballew said. "We can't wait to share it with all the backers who took an interest in us!" Bellew and Black advise artists using crowdfunding sites to make sure they encourage friends to share their profiles through social media because people can't fund a project that they don't know about.

To view Andrea Cefalo's Kickstarter campaign, go to The Fairest of All
To view Valentine Wolfe's Kickstarter campaign, go to [url: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1243289558/once-upon-a-midnight] One Upon a Midnight [/url]

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If you'd like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Andrea Cefalo, please call Andrea at 864-509-3410 or email her at andreacefalo4@gmail.com.