How Novelists Can Fund Their Next Book With Reader Support

Novelists can fund their next book by opening a Brillay Goals: name the specific cost — editing, cover design, or a launch budget — set a target amount, and let readers contribute cash directly from a bio link, with no crowdfunding deadline, all-or-nothing threshold, or follower minimum required. A Goal is one named goal with a progress bar: followers make one-time contributions and every contribution is yours whether or not the goal is reached — no deadline unless you set one, and nothing to ship.

See Brillay — Pricing for the full fee breakdown. Stripe's payment processing is charged separately on top of that platform fee; Stripe's published standard US rate is 2.9% + 30¢ per successful domestic card transaction, with different rates for international cards and other payment methods (Stripe — Pricing).

A recurring reader message for many novelists is some version of "when does the next book come out?" or "how can I help you finish it?" — the same question webcomic artists field from readers waiting on the next installment, which is why how webcomic artists fund their next chapter follows a similar playbook. Traditional publishing answers that question with an advance, and self-publishing answers it out of the author's own savings — but book income is not reliable either way. The Authors Guild's 2023 Author Income Survey, based on responses from 5,699 published authors, found that full-time authors had a median book income of $10,000 and total median author-related income of $20,000 in 2022 (Authors Guild — Key Takeaways from the 2023 Author Income Survey). A goal that readers can contribute to directly, without a publisher deal or a crowdfunding campaign, gives novelists a third option: ask for support toward one clearly named cost.

What are Brillay's Goals for novelists?

With Goals, a novelist names one specific target, such as a developmental edit or a cover commission, sets a target amount, and supporters contribute directly from a link in bio. Each contribution moves the goal forward, and the novelist can show the amount raised, show a percentage, or hide the progress figure on their Brillay page (Brillay — How it works).

A Goal is a one-time way for supporters to fund one named cost, with no membership. Supporters make one-time contributions toward the named cost, with nothing to ship and no reward tiers. A Goal shows supporters what the money is for and how close the goal is to funded. Every contribution counts toward a Brillay goal, and the novelist chooses how long to keep the goal open. A novelist can leave a goal open for months while writing, or reset it for the next project once the current one is funded (Goals) — the same reset-and-relaunch pattern behind how cosplayers fund their next build between conventions.

How is reader-funded book support different from Kickstarter?

Brillay's Goals differ from a Kickstarter book campaign in three structural ways: no all-or-nothing funding threshold, no fixed campaign end date, and no campaign to relaunch between books. The fee stacks differ as well — Kickstarter charges a 5% platform fee plus 3–5% payment processing on successfully funded projects, while Brillay's own fee is spelled out in full further down this page, and applies only to contributions that actually arrive. Supporters chip in one time, every contribution counts toward the goal as it arrives, there is no cutoff, and there is nothing to ship.

Kickstarter states that funding on its platform is all-or-nothing: "If a campaign ends without reaching its goal, no money changes hands" (Kickstarter — Why is funding all-or-nothing?). Kickstarter's fee page states that successfully funded projects pay a 5% Kickstarter fee plus payment processing fees of between 3% and 5% (Kickstarter — Fees). Kickstarter also caps campaign length: projects "can last anywhere from 1 day, to a maximum of 60 days," and Kickstarter recommends 30 days or less (Kickstarter Help — What is the maximum project duration?).

Kickstarter is a strong fit for a single, big, time-boxed book launch: Kickstarter's own 2025 year in review reports that its Publishing category raised more than $45 million in 2025, its second-biggest publishing year ever (Kickstarter — A Year in Review: 2025 Highlights). A 60-day campaign cap is a worse fit for a novelist who wants a standing "help fund the next book" option that stays live between releases without resetting a campaign each time — which is the gap an always-open goal fills.

How much does it typically cost to publish a novel?

Self-publishing a novel typically costs a few thousand dollars, varying by genre, length, and how much the author outsources. Reedsy's self-publishing cost guide estimates a total self-publishing budget of $2,940 to $5,660, with professional cover design averaging $930 (Reedsy — How Much Does It Cost to Self-Publish a Book?).

Reedsy's $2,940–$5,660 range is exactly the kind of cost a goal is built for: specific, finite, and easy for a novelist to name plainly to readers. If asking for donations feels awkward, name the exact cost instead: “Help cover the $930 cover-design bill” tells readers what their optional support will fund without turning every post into a sales pitch. A goal does not need to cover an entire publishing budget either — some novelists fund only the piece that is hardest to pay out of pocket, such as a developmental editor, and cover formatting or ISBN costs themselves. Print-format novelists weighing a physical run face a comparable line item, which is the same cost how comic creators fund a print run walks through.

How much money do novelists make from a single book?

Book income is uneven and mostly modest, which is why reader-funded support works better as a supplement than as a replacement for other income. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $76,910 for the "writers and authors" occupation in May 2025, a category that spans technical, corporate, and editorial writing roles rather than book authors alone.

Book-specific income runs far lower. The Authors Guild's 2023 Author Income Survey reports that the median book income across all 5,699 surveyed authors, part-time included, was $2,000 for 2022, and that full-time self-published authors had a median book income of $12,800 that year.

"The median author income for full-time authors from their books was $10,000 in 2022, and their total median earnings from their book and other author-related income combined was $20,000." — Authors Guild, Key Takeaways from the 2023 Author Income Survey

Those Authors Guild figures describe the industry broadly, not any individual novelist's outcome, and reader contributions on Brillay should be read the same way — a direct, optional way for existing readers to help fund a specific named cost, not a projected or guaranteed income stream.

What should a novelist's goal actually name?

A novelist's goal should name one concrete, finite cost — a developmental edit, a cover commission, an audiobook narration — rather than "support my writing career" in general. Kickstarter's creator handbook gives crowdfunding creators the same advice about scoping a goal to a defined amount of work.

"Your goal should be the minimum amount you need to make what you promised and fulfill all rewards." — Kickstarter Creator Handbook, Funding

Common goals for novelists include:

• A developmental edit or line edit for the manuscript in progress.
• A cover design commission for the next release.
• A formatting and proofreading pass before publishing.
• A launch-week ad or newsletter budget to get the book in front of readers.
• Audiobook narration for an existing title that doesn't have one yet.

Each of those five goals is bounded: each has a real quoted cost and a clear finish line, which is what separates a book-goal from an open-ended "buy me a coffee" style ask — the same specificity behind how travel creators fund a next trip. For a full walkthrough of setting the goal amount and writing the page itself, see how to create a goal.

Should novelists combine a goal with other paid offers?

A book-goal does not have to be the only paid option on a novelist's Brillay page. Brillay lets a novelist publish several offer types on one page — Goals, Custom Work, Paid Questions, Tips, and Personalized Videos — and keeping each offer scoped to one purpose keeps the page easy for followers to act on.

Paid offers that commonly sit next to a book-goal:

• Custom Work: Custom Work lets you offer clearly scoped commissions and services: you set the price, the scope and the delivery time, and followers submit a brief and pay before you start.

• Tips: Tips let followers send a one-time thank-you, with nothing for you to deliver and no membership for them to join.

• Personalized Videos: Personalized Videos let a follower pay for a custom video for a book club or launch-day celebration that you record and deliver through Brillay.

BookTok creators who field constant "what should I read next?" requests may find that a paid reading-list service, not a goal, is the better fit for that specific ask — see selling custom reading lists as a BookTok creator for that offer. For a broader breakdown of which Brillay tool fits which writer request, the best Brillay offer for writers compares all five side by side.

How do you set up a book-goal on Brillay?

Setting up a book-goal on Brillay takes four steps: enable Goals in the Brillay dashboard, name the specific cost the goal covers, set a target amount, and publish the page so followers can contribute. No monthly fee, you only pay a small platform fee when you get paid. 8% platform fee when a follower pays for work, 5% platform fee on tips and goals. Card processing is separate. Readers contribute without creating an account, and creators can receive payouts in 41 countries.

Novelists coming from social platforms with book content — BookTok, Bookstagram, a newsletter, or a Discord server — link their Brillay page from their bio and mention the goal directly when followers ask about the next release. The goal's amount and purpose are already stated on that page, so there's no back-and-forth to have over DM. Pairing the goal with the writer persona page at Brillay for writers and BookTok creators is a useful starting point for seeing how a goal fits alongside other reader-facing offers. One link that carries every offer, with nothing to moderate and no community to keep warm.

Frequently asked questions

Common questions about reader-funded book goals cover three things: whether a following is required, how a Brillay goal differs from a Kickstarter campaign, and exactly what fees come out of a reader's contribution. Short answers to each are below.

Do I need a following to start a book-goal?

No. Brillay has no follower minimum for Goals or any other offer. A goal can be useful with a small, engaged readership just as much as a large one.

Are Goals the same as a Kickstarter campaign?

No. A Kickstarter project is a single, time-boxed, all-or-nothing campaign that can run for 1 to 60 days and pays a 5% Kickstarter fee plus 3–5% payment processing when it funds. A Brillay Goal has no all-or-nothing cutoff; you can add a countdown, but reaching that date does not stop contributions.

Can I fund more than one book at a time?

Yes. Create a separate Goal for each book or publishing cost, each naming one specific cost, so supporters know exactly what they are contributing to and can choose what to support; several goals can be open at the same time.

What exactly comes out of a reader's contribution?

Two charges, and neither exists until a reader has actually paid: Brillay's platform fee on goals, at the rate shown in the setup steps above and on the pricing page, and Stripe's card processing. Stripe charges its own payment processing separately, at a published US standard rate of 2.9% + 30¢ per successful domestic card transaction, with different rates for international cards and other payment methods.

Create your free Brillay page and give readers a direct way to fund the next book instead of waiting on an advance.