Crowdfunding: The Revolution and Innovation of Traditional Funding By: Sheng Jia, Ke Bing, Yang Qian Publisher: China Machine Press Published year: 2014 Pages: 204 Price: 49 yuan ($7.92)

In two weeks, the publisher earned more than 80,000 yuan, meeting its financial goal and generating news coverage with its success.

Li Xin, an editor with Chemical Industry Press who has overseen the company's book crowdfunding projects, says that for publishers, the promotion effect is "way more important" than the cash crowdfunding can generate.

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Li Yaohui, an executive with the crowdfunding website, agrees.

In mid-2013, he suddenly noticed that nearly all of his friends on WeChat, a popular instant-messaging service in China, were talking and posting about a book titled The Benefits of Social Network, which talks about the online networking.

At that time, few people had heard about crowdfunding, and the book was among the very first crowdfunding programs, to raise 100,000 yuan.

The author offered backers signed books and an opportunity to have afternoon tea with him.

The book and his author soon made news headlines and became famous even before it was published. In two weeks, the book got 3,300 pre-orders.

Within a month after publication, the book sold 100,000 copies.

Besides being a promotional tool, Li Yaohui concludes, crowdfunding can also help book producers to better understand potential readers, and to predict the market response.

"It is very useful for a publisher if there is a way to better know how many copies a book should be published on first round of print," Li Yaohui says.

"Crowdfunding certainly can help with that."

Meanwhile Li Yang, the college student, is still waiting for his dream to come true with the help of crowdfunding website users.