Creative Routes to Success: How Jane Bennet's Second Spring Shows Authors the Power of Choice
What every author needs to know about building a sustainable creative business on your own terms
Hi everyone, Caroline here!
As authors and creatives, there are more paths to success than ever before. Publishers, studios, and traditional routes still exist, but they're not the only options. The key is choosing the path that aligns with your vision, values, and goals.
Jane Bennet's Second Spring is a new movie I am working on with Susannah Harker, aka Jane Bennet from the iconic BBC TVs 1995 Pride and Prejudice and I want to share with you why Susannah decided to team up with a crowdfunding agency to launch a campaign on Kickstarter to support the development of the script.
Susannah had a choice to make. At 57, she had written a powerful story about navigating midlife invisibility in the entertainment industry. She could pursue traditional studio funding and give away control of her project, or she could follow Jane Austen's example of maintaining creative autonomy. She chose independence.
By choosing crowdfunding for the script development stage, Susannah is maintaining creative control, building direct relationships with her audience, and ensuring her authentic voice remains uncompromised. Rather than waiting for permission or the "right" studio partner to emerge that honours Susannah's script, vision, and values, including embracing the Jane Austen community in the journey, she's taking action now to get the project started and build momentum.
This is strategic thinking in action. Susannah assembled a team of talented women who share her vision, chose funding that preserves her current autonomy, and developed a campaign that turns supporters into participants. She's proving that creative entrepreneurs can thrive by making intentional choices about their path to market.
As authors watching this campaign, we can see the core principles of building a sustainable creative business in real-time:
Mindset as Foundation: Susannah reframed industry uncertainty from limitation into opportunity, proving that confidence and strategic thinking are a creative's most valuable assets.
Authenticity Builds Connection: Rather than compromise her vision to fit traditional expectations, she stayed true to her story and values which builds genuine audience connection.
Strategic Team Building: She assembled a powerhouse team, chose the funding model that preserves creative control, sought expertise from a specialist crowdfunding agency and built a campaign that turns supporters into participants.
Multi-Skill Integration: This project showcases how storytelling, marketing, and business acumen work together to create multiple pathways to success.
Community Over Consumption: By building relationships around shared values (women supporting women, authentic storytelling), she's created something bigger than just a film.
Adaptive Planning: The crowdfunding model allows real-time feedback and adaptation, while keeping future options open.
Jane Bennet's Second Spring demonstrates that today's creative landscape offers unprecedented choice. Here's what this campaign teaches us about the various routes available to authors and creatives:
Traditional Routes Still Have Value: Publishers, studios, and established industry channels can provide resources, distribution, and expertise. The key is finding partners who align with your vision.
Independent Paths Offer Control: Self-publishing, crowdfunding, and direct-to-audience models give creators complete autonomy over their work and message.
Hybrid Approaches Create Options: Many successful creators combine traditional and independent strategies, choosing different paths for different projects or stages of development.
Community-Centered Models Build Loyalty: By involving supporters as collaborators (not just consumers), creators build deeper connections and sustainable audiences.
Choice Creates Authenticity: When you choose the path that aligns with your values and vision, you can tell stories that connect deeply with readers because they're unfiltered and purposeful.
Community Builds Success: Notice how this campaign focuses on participation, not just consumption. Supporters can become film extras, attend premieres, and receive producer credits. They're not just buying a product; they're joining a movement.
Strategic Timing Matters: By crowdfunding script development first, Susannah maintains control while keeping future options open. This is smart business; test your concept, build your audience, then choose your next move from a position of strength.
Collaboration Amplifies Impact: Five women with different expertise areas are stronger than one person trying to do everything alone. The lesson for authors? Build your team, share your platform, and support other creatives.
Jane Austen was one of history's most successful creative entrepreneurs because she understood the power of choice. She built relationships with publishers, negotiated her own contracts while remaining open to good partnership, maintained the copyright ownership of most of her novels and supported other women writers while building her own success.
Jane understood that creative success isn't about rejecting all traditional routes, it's about choosing the path that serves your story and your values. Sometimes that means working within existing systems, sometimes it means creating new ones.
Jane Bennet's Second Spring follows this exact approach: independent funding for creative control, community building for authentic connection, and a commitment to supporting women in the arts. When projects like this succeed, they show the entire industry that creators have choices, and that authentic stories backed by engaged communities can thrive.
Here's how you can be part of this creative collaboration:
Whether you're contributing £5 or £8,000, you're not just supporting the film, you're becoming part of it. From social media shout-outs to walking onto our set as an extra, from holding exclusive script pages to joining us at the premiere, we've created ways for our supporters to be woven into the very fabric of this production. Susannah has even commissioned 30 limited edition ‘Jane’ bonnets to support the campaign:
Back Jane Bennet's Second Spring on Kickstarter and let's create this story together:
Every time we support creators who make strategic choices about their path to market, we're strengthening the ecosystem for all creative entrepreneurs. We're proving that authentic voices have commercial value, that audiences crave real stories, and that creative entrepreneurs can build sustainable businesses by choosing the right route for their specific vision and goals.
Jane Austen changed literature by making smart business decisions that served her artistic vision and Susannah Harker is demonstrating how modern creators can do the same.
As authors and creatives, we have the opportunity to learn from both examples.
What path will you choose for your next creative project?
Caroline
Ready to build your own sustainable creative business? Join The Austen Pathway community for tools, strategies, and support from fellow creatives who believe in the power of authentic storytelling.