I have been working on a novel series for several years now but it has slowly been growing into something that has become a great hobby for me.
I am curious, does Kickstarter have a success with Novels?
I looked on there today but it seems like most are established authors or creating anthology books.

I wonder if it is possible to have a novel funded?
The prizes are artwork from the book or concept art.
What would I need a novel funded for?
For starters, a good editor. It's rough reading your novel over and over and correcting errors or at least another set of eyes.
Secondly, marketing the book. That is not cheap by any means. Going to cons, making appearances, and such.

Jasen, I picked up a novel recently that got published through Kickstarter funding: "The Girl Who Would Be King". You might find the following links of interest -- the author also posted her thoughts about the experience, what worked or what didn't go as expected. I'd actually thought about posting it here but hadn't gotten around to it yet. I originally found out about her story through a post on io9:
http://io9.com/em-the-girl-who-would...best-453756801

Link to her post about what she learned from her Kickstarter:
http://litreactor.com/columns/what-i...my-kickstarter

Link to the original Kickstarter page:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...-would-be-king

- t

That's awesome! Thanks for the info.

Kickstarter is no more begging than pre ordering stuff from Previews. I dont get how some people look at it as begging or "Vanity Publishing". You are essentially ordering a product, like a network orders more TV shows THAT HAVENT BEEN PRODUCED UNTIL THEY ORDER THEM.

Evan
Studio-Hades
www.studio-hades.com

The argument certainly could be made that soliciting in Previews is akin to begging; and it often is vanity press, no question. In those regards, the two are very similar indeed. The differences come when, on Kickstarter, you're usually asked to pay a premium price for the product, higher than a feasible price point in Previews. Then there's no organizational support or guarantee you'll ever receive the product from Kickstarter (even if the promotion is funded), whereas Diamond offers some repercussions for perpetrators of vaporware.

Also, making comics involves pencils and paper. You want to do it, do it. There's no need to go begging for thousands of dollars.

Amobvious.

I like that Kickstarter gets hammered for providing TOO MUCH freedom. So, basically it's not ENOUGH of a gatekeeper. Maybe a 20 or 30 percent project approval rate or mandatory biometric data samples from all project creators should be mandatory. Criminal database registration, maybe. Perhaps this would keep the public "safe" from scammers. Maybe funded projects should all be manufactured and overseen and fulfilled by kickstarter itself. I'm sure that bureaucratic nightmare would delay projects well past what most projects are being delayed at this point.

Not everyone is gifted with the ability to write. draw, ink, scan, letter, color, pre-press, print, and market by a comic by themselves, with their own money.
Occasionally, someone has to be paid. You can't even walk out of Kinkos without paying the tab anymore. So in some sense someones lifestyle is being funded. Maybe some are content with circle jerking in the basement
over their pencils and paper, creating their dream project for themselves only.
No rule you cant be the next Henry Darger. But even getting a 24 page color comic lettered, colored and printed and distributed can run into the low thousands.


Evan
Studio Hades
www.studio-hades.com

Making a comic with pencil & paper regardless of polish and professionalism is fine if you want nobody to ever read your comic.

You say Freedom, I say lack of support. You must be a Republican.


If you lack the ability to do any part of the simple task of creating comics, either learn how or go do something else.

I'm trying to understand your position, other than, "I hate Kickstarter." We all know that...

When you say 'lack of support' are you referring to oversight?

I'm saying, what mechanisms does Kickstarter have to keep scammers from taking the money and running? The only one I can discern is some arbitrary and ill-defined submission reviewing process.

Amon, I'm making a Kickstarter to raise $72,000 to fund my Sponge Collector Society zine in September.
Hope to see you pledge. Could be a shirt in it for you.


Evan
Studio-Hades
www.studio-hades.com



unless I vanish to live like James Bond in the south of France.

New Topic:

Even though we're not planning to launch our Kickstarter until September, I've been working on the reward tiers.

Would appreciate any and all comments:


$1 Thank You on Facebook
$5 PDF Copy
$10 Your Name in the Thank You Section of the Book (TY) & PDF Copy
$10 Print Copy & PDF Copy
$15 Behind the Scenes PDF (BtS), TY & PDF Copy
$15 Print Copy, TY & PDF Copy
$20 Signed Copy, TY & PDF Copy
$25 Advanced View (AV), BtS, TY & PDF Copy
$25 BtS, Signed Print (SP), TY & PDF Copy
$30 8 1/2 x 11 Print (Print), AV, BtS, TY & PDF Copy
$35 AV, BtS, SP, TY & PDF Copy
$40 Print, AV, BtS, SP, TY & PDF Copy
$100 Cameo Appearance, plus all previous
$150 Original Art, plus previous (but not cameo)
$300 Cameo & The Original Art Page You Appear On, plus ...
$1000 Executive Producer Credit

How many pages is your book?

23 pages (plus the Thank You page). Full color.

Hey Russ! :D Okay before I give a rundown, I need to know

A. What is "Behind the Scenes" and "Advanced View"?

B. How much does each print issue cost you (INCLUDING shipping/packaging/printing)

C. How big is the print and what does it cost you to make?

D. What did you decide to go for in terms of funding goal (also remind me what your creative costs are to complete the issue/or any other costs you need reimbursed)?

Even without knowing what Behind the Scenes or Advance View is, I'd say that your rewards way overpriced.

My name being printed in your book is not worth 5 bucks. Likewise, I wouldn't pay 10 bucks for a 24 page book (and I don't even get a thank you for that one!)

Are you going to charge 10 bucks for the book at a con? You can get away with asking for 10 bucks for the book for the kickstarter, but you gotta throw in some other trinkets to make it look like I'm getting more than I would if I just bought the book from you at a convention. This is what prints, stickers, buttons, etc. are all for. Prints cost next to nothing.

Everybody above the $5 pledge should have a thank you in the book. The thank you is valueless. If you're going to put them in the book, then you should thank everyone, and it should be a freebee with whatever pledge I choose.

Also, you're signature is not worth 5 bucks either.

I agree with Aaron.
Give me a bigger book worthy of the $10 I'm giving you.
I'm working a KS for a 150 page art book and it's a $25 book. That's 6 times as many page for 2.5 times the cost. I hope my signature, limited edition numbering, and a sketch is worth $10 buck... and I'm hoping to raise $1500 via selling art and books.

Here's my suggestion for your rewards (pending answers to my last questions, which could change things).

Overall there's too many tiers and too many duplicate amount tiers. Keep it as sweet and simple as possible, and try not to put any rewards for the same amount.

Aaron & Jamal certainly have a valid opinion concerning some people who will be look at Kickstarter pricing. However, overall I've found Kickstarter backers don't mind paying a little extra to help a project happen (most realize costs are higher for KS runners), and my opinion on the $10 extras is to not bulk down that particular tier (beyond digital fare) because it makes your product unable to "shine" on it's own, and can send a message that you lack confidence in your product. Make it easy and simple to find the printed issue. (I.E.: "Physical copy of Sidekicks plus all the above" LOOKS better than "Physical copy of sidekicks, plus ______ plus ______, and all the above")

With that in mind, here is my suggested list for you (again, depending on your answers in the other post)

$1 Thank you (theme it to your project)

$5 PDF of issue (plus the thank you)

$10 Printed Issue (PLUS all the above)

$15 Printed Issue, plus PDF of "Behind the Scenes" (plus all the above) [You could also possibly include digital pin up artwork]

$25 Signed and numbered printed copies of the Comic, as well as a printed copy of "Behind the Scenes" (I'm assuming this is something you could print easily?)

$50 Same as $25, and two (maybe three, depending on costs) signed 8 1/2 X 11 prints (I couldn't tell if you had one or two prints available from your list?) Plus all of the above

[For the $50 tier you can get more creative in terms of "extras" to offer. If prints don't work, THIS is where you can include stickers, or anything else that's cost effective you wish to offer. People paying this much to back your project love it enough to want all the extras]

$100 Cameo (good, but could charge more)

$150 Art (Good!)

$300 Cameo AND Art (Good!)

$1000 (I am not sure producer credits will be exciting enough for this tier, you may need to offer something else. Like a fully drawn pinup featuring friends/family members? Kind of like a beefed up cameo? Any other ideas for this?)

As you see I got rid of the "advanced view" because I didn't know what it was and it felt like one too many printed/digital things to offer (but that's totally your choice).

You might also consider if you can offer a reward to have a backer help write a scene, or design a character, etc. People LOVE that stuff.

Hope that helps a little :) What did you decide to do with your video?

That's awesome, Jamal!! :D When is this happening? Can't wait for it!

Behind the Scenes: Basically I'm going to create a PDF of all the stages of development of the book (script, rough pencils, final pencils, inks, colors and character bios - like what I've been posting here).

Advanced View: I will e-mail each page as I receive them from the artist. For those who don't want to wait.

For printing and shipping only (without factoring in the cost to pay my artist) I've got $6 per book ($2.67 for printing, 25 cents shipping from printer, $3 shipping to buyer).

I'm assuming a 200 issue print run, but since I'm using a Print-on-Demand service...

I'm going to pay as much upfront as I can to keep the funding goal low. Right now I have it around $4000.

I'm going to have to disagree with you guys. I've looked at a lot of comic book KS campaigns, and $10 for a plain print copy is pretty nominal.

And while I know I couldn't charge $10 at a con, KS isn't a con. At the very least there are shipping fees to deal with (and I'm going to have a KS exclusive cover that will never be reprinted outside of the initial print run from the KS campaign. So... there's at least some measure of exclusivity).

And $5 may not be worth it to you to have your name in the Thank You section, but other people may think it is (and I don't extend it to all Tiers because people are still getting a product. Even the $10 print copy gets you a product at a relatively reasonable price). It's a Tier for people who want to contribute to the creation; beyond just treating KS like an online store.

Also keep in mind, I have to pay an artist. If I could draw and do the whole thing by myself my costs would be a crap-ton lower, and I could charge less for everything. But alas...

I do appreciate the feedback though, guys. It's certainly something to keep in mind. Thank you.

I was trying to create "All Digital" Tiers for people who don't want a print copy of the book (which is good for me since they essentially cost nothing to make).

Haven't tackled the video yet. I have a friend who is a decent short film maker who is going to help me later in the summer. Most likely it will be a little bit of me talking about the book, a little bit of the artist talking about what he liked about the concept to work on it, and of course artwork from th book itself.

Thanks for the advice. As always, very helpful.

numbers sound high to me as well.

Crowd funding works alot like a free to play gaming model.

higher tiers essentially pay for the lowest. Everyone one person that invests $200 is paying the entry fee of 5 people. In games, the model ensures an active playerbase. in comics obviously that factor is changed a great deal. however, word of mouth. everyone likes to talk about things they like with friends. so a popular book, will get even more popular due to social aspects just as much, if not more then actual quality of the book.

Taking a hit in profit, or no profit at all in your lowest tiers, may spur interest in the higher tiers.
Which is another question here as well. are you trying to make a profit on this?
Are you setting your goal as making a profit? or is your goal simply breaking even, or perhaps simply a "cut your losses", while overfunding is where your profit will come in?

I personally think trying to make a profit on publication of 23page comics themselves is a lost cause.

And that's why the online panhandling model isn't going to work.

I disagree.

I'm certainly not trying to make a profit. And while it would be nice to break even, that's not my goal either. Basically, I'm putting as much money down as I can afford (I've been selling off my comic book collection) and then using the goal as the amount needed to finish the project.

The thing with goals and tiers, though, is that one has to assume the possibility of the goal being met by an abundance of the lowest tier.

So even at $10 for a floppy, my costs for printing and shipping are ~$6. So only $4 is left to pay my artist. Even if I'm only paying my artist $2000 (which I'm not) then my Goal Amount needs to be $5,000 (500 backers at the $10 level). And that's a little high for my liking (perhaps I'm jut overly paranoid).

So to lower the price for that Tier would mean raising the Goal amount even more. And doing so (at least in my mind) decreases the chances of reaching my funding Goal (particularly when you consider most KS campaigns that are similar to mine only average around 200 backers).

And not to belabor the point, but backers at that Tier level also get the PDF copy, so it's not like they're just paying $10 for a standard size floppy, only.

I'm not trying to sound argumentative or defensive; these are just the realities of the KS campaign as I see them.

In July

Russ, $6 cost per $10 comic only leaves you with $4 (per issue) to go towards creative costs, Kickstarter/Amazon fees, taxes, dropped pledges, mistakes, and whatever else, so your pricing (in terms of being financially feasible) is a little low, but I think you'll manage :)

Hypothetical situation in which you sell nothing but the $10 tier (which won't happen, you'll sell other stuff, I just use this situation to get a quick look at how the numbers fare)

To raise $4K you'd need to sell 400 copies

400 x $6 (cost per issue) = $2400 fulfillment cost, leaving you with $1600

Amazon/Kickstarter fees will be around $400, leaving you with $1200.

That $1200 will be slightly less after you factor in dropped pledges, any refunds (rare), re-shipments (for those packages that get lost) and taxes.

So guessing around $1000 would be left to go towards creative costs IF you sold nothing but the $10 tier. However because you'll sell other tiers that yield a higher profit margin over reward cost, I think you'll balance out somewhere around 1.5K for creative costs.

My judgement based on the artwork so far, if you can make a GREAT video I can see you making around 8K (maybe more) for your Kickstarter project :)

That's just around the corner! :) I hope you'll post about it so I can help spread the word!

As always, thank you for the time and effort, Renae. It's very much appreciated.

That would be incredible. I can only hope.

No problem! :) I think doubling your goal is likely, just all depends on that video quality. If you ever wish to discuss that I could give input there as well.

Videos are overrated. I havent even watched the video on anything i have backed. They can certainly hurt your campaign, but the best video in the world is only as good as the product and the reward design. If those suck, you will still likely fail. A good twitter campaign is much more important than a video.


Evan
Studio-Hades

No. Videos are absolutely vital to the success of a Kickstarter. You might not have watched any but basically everyone else backing Kickstarters watch the videos. Most put their whole decision on the video and don't read all the text on there.

Your page design should be such that any potential backer can get all the information about the project and rewards in less than 30 seconds... which means entirely visually and a pitch that can be boiled down into a sentence. Videos might be useful for product and tech demonstrations or film trailers but for comics and art projects they are a waste of time. And as i said a bad video can certainly hurt you. And a lot of kickstarter videos are painful to watch. A kickstarter with a bad concept, shitty tier structure and muddled layout is still going to fail no matter how good the video is.

Keep it simple stupid applies.

Finishing up the video this week and will be launching it next week on Monday or Tuesday.

I agree that page design, solid reward structure (and pricing), and easy to understand information is also vital, but if you don't have a video you're shooting yourself in the foot. Bad videos are bad. Bad page layout is bad. But no video is also bad. Videos for comics and art projects are not a waste of time, they're a huge help if handled the right way.

Can I see how you set yours up?

Yes the video is essential. It's your one opportunity to get people emotionally involved with things like motion, music, humor, meeting the people behind the project (or whatever else you choose to use). The video is also a valuable tool to prove your professionalism/seriousness about the project. It was mentioned that no amount of good video will make a turd project look good, and that's mostly true, but that turd project may still get funded if the video is PERFECT.

Small goals or people with a gigantic following might be able to get away with no/bad video, but those same projects would possibly quadruple their fundings with the right video.

Page layout and reward structure & pricing (as well as the cover image chosen) are all part of the whole. All need to be in line for optimal funding, but the video is #1 priority.This is because:

MOST backers view the video first, then skim the page.
SOME of backers skim the page first then watch some of the video
SOME backers don't watch the video at all, but prefer to read about the project in detail.

The video is critical for a majority of backers, so I would suggest always spending a lot of time/thought on that dang video! :D

Nice! :thumbs:

This thread has become Infomercial Production 101.

We GET IT Amon! You LOVE Kickstarter and want to marry it at a Kickstarted wedding, and have little Kickstarter babies! :D

In interest of trying to understand, is your major dislike for the funding platform because of the trust factor ( no written guarantee of reward return)? Most opposers of crow funding are adverse to the idea because of that.

LOL CrowD Funding... not Crow Funding. That's an entirely different thing :D