Helping More Stories Make It to the Shelf

Hi! I’m Chelsea and I founded Fund the Story using two things I know very well: fundraising and books.

For more than 15 years, I’ve worked in nonprofit fundraising, helping organizations around the world raise money for causes they care deeply about. My work has spanned crowdfunding campaigns, donor database development, marketing, outreach, campaign strategy, and the behind-the-scenes work that turns a good idea into a successful fundraising campaign.

I’ve helped organizations build campaigns, connect with their audiences, tell compelling stories, and ultimately raise the funds they need to make their work happen. Along the way, I learned that the principles of successful fundraising can go far beyond the nonprofit world.

And then there are books.

I love reading. A lot. My TBR list is somehow never long enough, no matter how many books I add to it. I regularly participate in ARC reads, which gave me an even closer look at the world of independent authors and the incredible amount of work that goes into getting a book from an idea to an actual published book.

The more I learned about self-publishing, the more I realized just how costly that journey can be.

Editing. Cover design. Formatting. Illustrations. Audiobooks. Printing. Marketing. Distribution. The list goes on…

And I kept thinking: What if authors could use the same fundraising strategies that organizations use to bring their missions to life?

And so Fund the Story was born!

A Different Kind of Crowdfunding

Fund the Story is a crowdfunding platform created specifically for independent authors.

The goal is simple: help authors raise the money they need to bring their books to life.

Instead of asking authors to figure out fundraising, campaign strategy, marketing, outreach, and audience-building on their own, Fund the Story gives them the tools and guidance to build a campaign around the story they want to tell.

Because I already knew how to build successful fundraising campaigns, develop audiences, create outreach strategies, and turn supporters into donors, creating a platform where I could put those skills to work for authors felt like a natural next step.

And honestly, it gave me an excellent excuse to spend even more time talking about books.

I’m Not a Publisher

I can read books. I can talk about books. I can enthusiastically recommend books to anyone who will listen. But I can’t make the books.

And that’s okay, because making books isn’t my job at Fund the Story. My job is to help authors get to the starting line of their publishing journey.

Fund the Story exists to help independent authors raise the funds they need to take those first important steps toward publication. Whether that means paying for editing, cover design, illustrations, formatting, or other publishing expenses, I want to help authors build the fundraising campaigns and communities that move their stories forward.

Down the road, I dream of Fund the Story having a network of vetted publishing partners, including editors, artists, designers, printers, and other professionals who can help authors navigate the next stages of the process. But that’s a future goal.

Right now, my focus is simple: helping authors raise the money they need to begin bringing their books to life.

I may not be able to make the books myself, but I can help authors get closer to the moment when those books finally make it onto shelves. And as a reader whose TBR list is never long enough, I’m very happy to do my part.