The Monster Café—Unbound's First Illustrated Book

Children’s book author, Sean Leahy, teamed up with Hungarian illustrator Mihály Orodán and crowdfunding publisher, Unbound, to bring a cafe run by monsters to life for children.

The Monster Café is a humourous tale that deals with pre-conceptions, pre-school excitement and pre-tty big monsters.

Unbound is a UK-based publisher that utilizes crowdfunding to drive pre-orders for their book. You can see Sean’s Unbound campaign page here.

Curious about how Unbound worked from the creator’s perspective, I asked Sean some questions and he was kind enough to describe his experience crowdfunding with Unbound.

Questions About The Monster Café

Why did you decide to go with Unbound rather than crowdfunding the book on your own and self-publishing it?

I was attracted by the fact Unbound is a publisher, so they deal with everything; editorial, printing, publishing, distribution, fulfillment etc.

They deal with all the wholesalers and shops as any publisher would and have a manuscript review and approval process.

Did Unbound provide crowdfunding campaign assistance to you as an author?

They did. I was invited to a workshop before I kicked off my campaign. They provided the video team who filmed and edited my pitch film. They run the page and do all the fulfillment.

Do they help you strategize your crowdfunding marketing plans before you launched?

Yes, this was dealt with in the workshop.

What was your book’s total funding goal (this isn’t available on the website, only the % raised)?

I’d rather not divulge, as each Unbound author will have different totals, depending on their books and needs.

How long was your Unbound campaign live? Their website says 3-6 months which must’ve felt like an eternity. (Most crowdfunding campaigns are only 30 days long to prevent marketing fatigue).

It went live March, and I was fully funded in the December, so almost 10 months. Yes, it was a slog.

What was the most surprising thing that you learned about crowdfunding as you went through the process?

Just how much effort it is. I knew it’d be exhausting, but the constant reminders were the worst. People DO forget!

What 3 tips would you give to an author considering crowdfunding their book?

Make a list of everyone you think will be interested, and drop them a line about it and a reminder.
Don’t check on your progress every 10 minutes. It can get demoralising.
You’d be surprised just who will pledge. Don’t write anyone off!

Would you do the same model again or try something different?

Given it was such a long process, I would rather not. But I also would love to write more books. If I have to I will!

Bio

Sean Leahy is the flesh-and-bone edition of wonky tweetsmith, @thepunningman.

He writes very short and occasionally hilarious jokes to wild acclaim, featuring in Playboy’s 50 Funniest People on Twitter, and appearing on Buzzfeed, Comedy Central, The Poke, Huffington Post, Funny or Die and TimeOut among others. Sean lives outside the gates of Hampton Court Palace with his wife and two children.