Kickstarter.com advice

[jiles1]

Hello guys and gals, I'm about to launch a kickstarter campaign and I wanted to see if any of you have used kickstarter and if so, did you have a good experience and do you have any advice?

Thanks in advance for any info!

Lee

[paul brian deberry]

Few things I've learned.

1. Have a moderate to large network in place. Close friends and family do not count. I've seen it happen! A great concept fail just because the creator failed to branch out. Find your niche crowd and sell the crap out of the story.

2. (This one I'm gonna type in all caps) DO NOT BE GREEDY! If you're trying to tell me it's gonna take 10K to make 140 pages, then you better have George Perez and Alex Ross doing the interiors and covers.

3. Offer interesting minimum pledge incentives. Sure It's great that Jim Lee is drawing a special mini comic for all pledges of a 100 or more. Most backers are only looking to pledge a few bucks. Come up with something cool for them.

Good luck. Keep us posted.

[Renae De Liz]

I got lots! Too much to post though, is there anything specific you were wondering about?

[Biofungus]

Just read this article. It's about games on kickstarter, but has some very valuable caveats that apply to all ks projects:

http://www.itworld.com/personal-tech...-does-money-go

[JMelloul]

There's plenty of good articles giving advice on it.

This is one such article with some good info:
http://www.comixtribe.com/2011/03/23...h-kickstarter/

[Renae De Liz]

Here is just some of my own input

1. HAVE A VIDEO. This will up the your chances immensely. Most people don't even read through the project description, they ONLY watch your video. So if there's something you should spend the most time on, it's your video. Along with whatever tone you want it to have:

1. Quick, concise, description of your Project
2. Something personal about you and/or the people on your project. Post pictures, be more personal than "I like to make comics" if you can. Depending on the tone of your video this can be through your humor, a walkthrough of your home, pictures of you that are endearing (people love cats!). If nothing else, tell them WHY this is important to you! Why should people want to make a difference for you?
3. As many graphics from your project as you can muster, not just stationary. Make it move.
4. Description of how Kickstarter works! A lot of people may that may find your campaign may not have a clue how Kickstarter works. Make sure they know that nothing is truly charged until you are successful, and if you're not, they get their money back instantly. In that note, make sure your description of how Kickstarter works is on the main page in writing too.
5. Keep it around 5 minutes or under, and again I stress to keep it concise! People will quickly click away if things go on too long without getting to the point!

2. REWARDS A good bet is to always have

1. $1 The reasoning here is that people see from the main page what the minimum pledge can be, if it's $1, they will be more likely to click on it to check it out. However most people will pledge up from $1.
2. $5 People will more likely pledge up from $1 to this
3. $10 - $15 A good in-between choice for those that would like to help more than $5 but not all the way to $25
4. $25 -$35 This is most bought reward bracket of Kickstarter. Make sure this one is a solid purchase!
5. $50-$65 These are pretty popular as well, and again a good in-between number for people
6. $100-$125 $100 is the average amount pledged on Kickstarter. Make sure this one is solid as well.
7. $300-$500 Having a few special big ticket rewards go very well.
8. Some Crazy Amount Make SURE you always have up some huge number as an option, like $1,000 - $5,000, or a couple of each. Believe it or not these people exist that have the money to spend and want to help people on Kickstarter, and if this option is not available for them when the time comes to pledge, they may not put that huge number up. Don't know what to do for this reward? A lot of people will fly them out for a trip ($5k at least for this) that has something to do with the book you're making. If you're doing a horror book, do a horror tour with someone, seeing locations you felt were inspiring for example. Just whatever this is make it as unique as possible!

Also make your rewards as cool and unique to Kickstarter as you can. You can always do cameos in your book, offer to let some backers help you write a part of the story, give art lessons online... whatever! The more personal the better!

Some other stuff on Rewards:

1. SHIPPING My hugest issue with fulfilling Womanthology Rewards was that shipping rates went up during the fulfillment period, meaning my estimates were WAY OFF. and it cost a lot more, especially internationally. Make SURE you check and double check your methods for shipping (especially internationally as I said). Ask INTL backer to please put in (X) amount of extra.
2. ESTIMATE REALISTICALLY Make sure you have a good amount of profit per reward after you figure out how much it costs to produce and ship the rewards. Always estimate UP so there's margin for error
3. CALCULATE & BUDGET Check and double check your numbers. Make sure the amount you ask for contains A) What you need to complete your project B) Enough to produce and ship your rewards (estimate how many of each you'll sell and use that as an example for yourself) C) Fees ( estimate about %10 of your asking number) D) a Buffer amount for those that have failed cards, want refunds, any errors, etc.

3. NETWORKING The beginning and the end of a campaign is always are the busiest time of a campaign, with lulls in between. So make sure you are prepared ahead of time for that beginning onrush! Some ideas:

1. Ask sites, blogs, ANYONE to cover your campaign. Doesn't matter if the blog gets 2 views usually, they matter! They are talking about your project and every bit helps! Spend the whole campaign emailing people & sites, never stop. which brings us to:
2. ETIQUETTE: Never bother people...EVER! And try to not be bothered if they do not reply to you. You only burn bridges by being annoyed. I find asking with the sentence "If you're interested in ..." Instead of " Please Can you/Would you/Will you" it takes a lot of pressure of the person you're emailing, which opens them up to further helping them out. I've had way too many people ask me "Please will you retweet my campaign? Thanks" I personally don't like this, it sounds more impersonal and uncaring towards the person you want help from. Instead asking "I am doing a campaign for _____ If you're interested in help spreading the word that wonderful. Thank you! (insert link)". Same goes with asking for special rewards. Be nice, and don't put any pressure one anyone. Sure you can follow up once or twice over a few weeks times, but not everyday.
3. Send a round of emails 3 times to all your friends/family/contacts. Once at the beginning, middle and end. You don't want to overwhelm/Spam them!
4. Make a Twitter/Facebook page for your project that links back to you in the description and HAVE A WEBSITE for the project too!
5. Don't forget your local news/newpapers/magazines/radio. Be forward and let them know about your campaign, and more than likely they'll do an interview. Why? A) because you're a local artist, people love to support local artists B) it's an EVENT that people can get behind and cheer on. If you live in a big city, this may be harder to get notices. Consider your families towns if they're smaller.

4. OTHER STUFF

1. Keep the length of the campaign to 25 - 35 days. Most think longer is a safer bet, and more money, but actually the most successful campaigns are at this length. This is because there's more energy and excitement in a quicker, more active campaign rather than one that sits and lulls for weeks on end. So my advice it make it quick and make every day count!
2. Kickstarters are a full time endeavor. You get what you put into it! Just be prepared for a little less free time during this!
3. Make sure the description is as concise as the video and HAVE GRAPHICS!
4. Have physical pictures of your rewards if possible, even photoshopped mock-ups (just make sure that's noted on the pic if so). When you go online, how often do you buy things that you don't see a picture of?

I'm sure I can think of more, but that's it for now I hope it helps a little!

[amon]

I was surprised when I saw that Womanthology was actually published by someone else. IDW wasn't it? What was that money for again?

[Aaron Thomas Nelson]

Originally Posted by amon

I was surprised when I saw that Womanthology was actually published by someone else. IDW wasn't it? What was that money for again?

All conspiracy theories regarding this were debunked months ago and covered by a number of comics journalists (including Bleeding Cool). Just google it and you'll find all the answers.

As for me, I'm fairly certain Renae is a member of the Secret Illuminati, though.

[Renae De Liz]

Originally Posted by amon

I was surprised when I saw that Womanthology was actually published by someone else. IDW wasn't it? What was that money for again?

All proceeds go to charities of GlobalGiving.org so the money raised was majority for the printing of the book.

IDW put their name on it, and helped A LOT with a lower price for printing, and they helped ship to backers. For the distributed copies, they got the books to Diamond for distribution, listed it in Diamond, distributed it to bookstores, and all just to be nice. They have been wonderful! I Absolutely think Publishers should start carrying more pre-paid through Kickstarter books like this too, btw.

[Renae De Liz]

Originally Posted by Aaron Thomas Nelson

All conspiracy theories regarding this were debunked months ago and covered by a number of comics journalists (including Bleeding Cool). Just google it and you'll find all the answers.

As for me, I'm fairly certain Renae is a member of the Secret Illuminati, though.

I *did* have this scheme to use the funds to build a giant kitten shaped rocket that would orbit the Earth and meow relentlessly (thereby driving people insane! Mwahahaha!), but that was RUINED by Bleeding Cool and their meddling dog!

[amon]

Originally Posted by Renae De Liz

I Absolutely think Publishers should start carrying more pre-paid through Kickstarter books like this too, btw.

A publisher sees that a project has met its funding goal. That publisher then offers to put their name in the indicia, run the solicitation and offer a gang-print discount. But the publisher doesn't actually pay any of the production costs. "Just to be nice," of course. Blurb at the back of the book: TO BE CONTINUED... IF YOU GO TO KICKSTARTER AND FORK OVER SOME MORE MONEY.

[ponyrl]

Have a video with a cute chick in it.



*cough* art wench*cough* lol

[Biofungus]

Originally Posted by amon

A publisher sees that a project has met its funding goal. That publisher then offers to put their name in the indicia, run the solicitation and offer a gang-print discount. But the publisher doesn't actually pay any of the production costs. "Just to be nice," of course. Blurb at the back of the book: TO BE CONTINUED... IF YOU GO TO KICKSTARTER AND FORK OVER SOME MORE MONEY.

For once, I agree with Mr. Negativity, here.


Would it be nice? Sure. Would it be ideal? For the publisher. Not so much for the actual creative team.

[amon]

Exactly. While I don't care for the idea of online panhandling sites, the whole point of Kickstarter is to circumnavigate the publishers and give creators direct control as well as recognition and compensation. The Womanthology project is an anomaly in many ways, and its success is not an easily-copied model. If it were, Womanthology Volume III would be out by now.

[Magnus]

The way I see anthologies is for creators to reach out to as many readers as possible. It's a showcase book. That way, IDW has helped these creators reach out to as many as possible.

It might look a bit dodgy from the outside, but we all know Renae and here motivation and ambition for this, so all kudos to her and the girls/women and for IDW helping to spread their creations.




:M:
www.magnus-aspli.com