Just as not everyone loves the same authors or wants to read the same books, we know not everyone will want to support BSP’s mission in the same way. That’s why BSP offers three different ways to support our goals. For those who believe in our mission, you can select your method of support from three options:
> Invest in BSP’s overall mission.
If you invest in BSP directly, you will own a stake in the company and in BSP’s overall mission. BSP is a privately-held company, majority-owned by founders Kristina Blank Makansi, Jason Makansi, and Jamey Stegmaier. To enable us to fully support our writers, additional investors who believe in our mission and share our commitment to the art and craft of story will be sought. BSP investors will help us expand and deepen our ability to support our authors through:
> writing classes and attending conferences
> building social media platforms
> connecting authors with readers
> providing feedback, editing and proofreading
> publishing finished work in print & e-formats
> securing distribution, promoting the author & marketing the book
> Support a particular author or a particular author’s project.
Similar to a micro-finance, or Kickstarter™ model, BSP provides the opportunity for investors to back an author in whose projects the investor truly believes. By helping our authors build a platform and interact with readers before their work is even published, readers have the opportunity to back someone in whom they believe even before they make it to the best sellers list. Unlike the Kickstarter model, however, a BSP author doesn’t have to depend on individual supporters to fully fund a project. When BSP signs an author, we commit to supporting that author whether they garner individual support for a particular project or not.
> Provide needed “sweat equity.”
As a “sweat equity” investor, you can support the BSP mission by 1) being a reader on the BSP Editorial Review Board; 2) promoting BSP and its authors in your book clubs, at your libraries, and in any other gathering where readers congregate, and 3) helping to spread the word through your blog, Twitter, Facebook, or other social media.
While BSP will rely on financial investments to support its authors, the “sweat equity” investor may be the most important investment of all because the “secret” of publishing is that books sell and authors become “bestsellers” by word of mouth. It is through book clubs, and at children’s “play dates” and over a drink after work where the real business of book promotions and marketing happens.
