CHAPTER 2
The Evolution of Crowdfunding
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, many book publishers sold their offerings by means of subscriptions, what the industry today calls advance-sale copies. The publisher would solicit advance purchases from subscribers, print the exact number of books for which it received subscriptions, and mention the subscribers on the title page of the book. Many companies today use similar crowdfunding methods to test the market for new product and service offerings.
According to Wikipedia, the American Committee for the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor ran out of funds for the statue’s pedestal in 1884. Incensed that the statue might not be completed, newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer urged the American ...
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