Funding a new book is always tricky for the self-publisher. One needs to spend enough money to reduce the per-piece cost (in hopes of making a profit on sales) while understanding that, as the per-piece cost is reduced, the volume of books, and thus the grand total, goes up. This creates quite a dilemma of economics, as the bank continues to insist I make a mortgage payment each month as well.

Kickstarter is a crowd funding site that has helped many independent authors publish their books by essentially offering books and other rewards in return for financial support toward a set dollar goal. It can also be viewed as pre-sales with bonuses.

We have initiated a project for The Whisper Stone on Kickstarter at: http://kck.st/16uZQ5l

Click the link to view the book tr

I  am sending out review copies of The Dragons of Pan Gu and hope to be hearing from reviewers soon. Chasing Watermelons received some wonderful reviews that have definitely helped sales to the library market.
The difficulty comes in finding reviewers that book buyers (of all kinds) respond to, that are also affordable to the independent publisher's bottom line. Unfortunately, some reviewers, like Kirkus, charge huge amounts to review a self-published book ($425 or $575 for express). And, I haven't seen separate fees for picture books, which take about 1-2 hour to read and review. We produce between two and three QUALITY books each year, so those prices start to feel more like extortion than reasonable fees for a service.  Publishers Weekly is another effective reviewer however that does not cost an arm and a leg. They don't promise a lengthy review, just a blurb, but they do feature the best submissions for a full review... so if the book really is as good as you think, no problem! The cost: $149.  This is much more reasonable considering the service provided and the results obtained.  The websites don't include a fee structure of any kind for  traditional publishers...
My favorite reviewers are those who do it for the love of reading and the free book they receive, and who also have a large enough following that the review can translate into sales. These combinations are tough to find, but worth the effort.