Bob Slayer explains why he crowdfunded Phil Kay's book

‘You love Phil Kay, you do...’ a journalist friend of mine said recently...

It was a playful taunt in reaction to the fact that all I seem to talk about lately is Phil and his new autobiography, which I’m helping to publish, but my reply came back quick and easy:  ‘Yes I bloody well do – and I am very proud to say so...’

What is more I am not alone, since we started the Kickstarter campaign to launch his book, The Wholly Viable, numerous people have come forward to support the project, including: Johnny Vegas, Alan Davies, Russell Howard (who incidentally heard about the project by reading about it on Chortle), Norman Lovett, Arthur Smith, Isy Suttie, John Robbins, Ian Smith, Boothby Graffoe and more... The project quickly passed its minimum target, but why should we stop there? The extra money raised will be spent on a bigger launch.

Why are we launching this book through Kickstarter anyway? Some people have commentated that we could release it purely as an ebook with little or no expense that would not need crowdfunding.

That is probably true, BUT this book deserves as full a release as possible with the extra costs of editing, design, printing physical copies, marketing and so on.

Then there is also a question of avoiding the compromises traditional publishers would impose.  Phil first told me about his book this year. He had recently left his literary agent, as they wanted to remove much of the book’s eccentricities and make it more commercial, but Phil did not agree. 

I read an early draft and found it to be wonderfully revealing, insightful and extremely funny - a gonzo romp around the world of comedy seen through the eyes of the most free-spirited man in the industry. Yes in places it can be strange, challenging and thought-provoking - but that is what is so wonderful about spending any time with Phil. 

There is a story in the book where Phil found a beautiful knackered-out old car in a neighbour's field. He spent a few days fixing it up so he could take it out for a drive, purely because he thought ‘It should be on the road...’  I feel the same about Phil's book: ‘It simply should be on the road’ 

So I proposed a plan to reach out to his fans via Kickstarter and although Phil is not a big user of social networks he jumped at the idea straight away, saying: ‘It seems like the best thing to use the internet for - to contact somehow all the folks that might be into it.’  Although the book will be released as an ebook, as well as in print, most  pre-orders have have gone for physical books. The printed format may be in decline but, just like vinyl records, they will never leave us. We are even setting up a bookshop at Edinburgh Fringe which will sell just one title: Phil Kay's The Wholly Viable.

My experience with crowdfunding, mostly with band related projects, is that, although raising funds is a large part of the result, the benefits go way beyond that. By using Kickstarter we are creating an event around the launch, building anticipation in the way traditional publishing would set and work towards a release date.

We are also able to connect with Phil Kay fans. The people who are pre-ordering the book are people that have known and enjoyed his comedy over the years. The project is helping many of them rediscover him before we launch the book at the Fringe and with their help we can reach out to many potential new fans and to those people who have seen Phil’s stand-up in the past and perhaps not understood him.

What that literary agent failed to see is that this is not a normal biography, it is made up of beautifully crafted stories and philosophy. Never mind making it more commercial, this book is perfectly wonderful in its natural state. And I am positive that once fully let loose on the world, it will reach a much larger audience than any homogenised version would ever achieve.

• A new extract from Phil's book has been published on Kickstarter here.

Published: 1 Jul 2013