11-Year-Old Author Raises $5K+ In Kickstarter Campaign

An 11-year-old author named Lauren has raised more than $5,500 to self-publish her first book, The Clown That Lost His Funny, Media Bistro reported on Wednesday.

Lauren’s Kickstarter campaign reached $5,620 with a little more than 40 hours remaining on March 13.

According to the official pitch via the Kickstarter page, the story centers on Hairy the Clown, who “loves his job at the circus” until “something tragic happens, and he ends up losing his ability to be funny.”

“He’s forced to get a job he doesn’t like. What happens next is really cool,” the pitch continued.

The 11-year-old author of The Clown That Lost His Funny worked in conjunction with her father Michael Lukaszewski of Atlanta, Georgia, on the pitch, but the “ideas and words belong to Lauren,” Lukaszewski stated.

Lauren’s dad said that test images were finished but that the $5,500 was needed to pay an illustrator for the 30 full images the book will contain and to print the first 300 copies of the already finished work. Most backers chose the “$25 or more pledge,” which earned them a digital copy of the book.

The next closest tier was the $50 pledge. Backers, who chose that option, received the digital copy as well as a signed hard copy and other incentives.

Rather than taking a chance on the traditional model like Nickolas Butler did successfully with his debut novel Shotgun Lovesongs, Lauren has decided to sell on Amazon when the book becomes available.

Amazon has blazed a trail for authors like Marcus Sakey, whose novel Brillianceearned a film deal on Tuesday as well as the outspoken J.A. Konrath, who switched to self-publishing on the platform.

Konrath eventually earned a contract with Thomas and Mercer, Amazon’s publishing arm, in 2012 following a series of bad experiences with traditional publishers.

He regularly targets traditional publishers on his blog for what he calls unfair contract terms, recently doing a number on the romance publisher Harlequin.

Konrath has stated in the past that the traditional publishing advance for one book is around $5,000, so Lauren has beaten that with her Kickstarter effort.

What do you think about this 11-year-old author and her decision to self-publish? Will you be picking up The Clown That Lost His Funny for your little ones?