Gentlemen,
Imagine the following. You are commander of a task force in World War II. "Men. The enemy has fielded two new weapons. We must find a way to counter them. Are you with me?"
May I suggest a new way to fund book projects called kickstarter? Here's an example:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...hape-of-design
The basics are this: you submit your book project for review. If accepted, you set your funding goal and time frame. Let's say, two weeks. You tell others in your niche community about what you're doing. Funding is all or nothing, but, in my view, it's worth a try. Finally, if successful, kickstsarter gets 5% of monies raised and there is a credit card processing fee of 3%.
Ed