Tips from a Kickstarter noob.
Things I wish I knew
As most naïve beginners, I had such great ambitions. I was creating a book and needed to raise $6,000 to make that happen. So I went to Kickstarter to plead my case. (In case you didn’t know, Kickstarter is a way to fund creative projects.)
I posted a 9 ½ minute long video (what was I thinking?) and had a well written synopsis, a couple of teasers and videos thinking that would do the trick. Well I failed and only got a little over 15% of what I needed to raise.
The project was dormant for the first two months and picked up quickly towards the last weeks of the pledge. Towards the end I went into a promotional blitz that yielded results. But I was late.
Well I’m the type of person who likes to share what I learn from past mistakes, so I decided to impart some of the knowledge I’ve gained, to those of you thinking of starting a Kickstarter campaign.
So here are 7 things I learned that you might find helpful:
1) Have a video
People react to faces. They like to see the creators of projects and want to relate to them in some way. I learned this because I initially created a video without me in it. Let’s just say that my stuff got ignored. When I looked around I noticed most of the folks with successful campaigns made appearances in their videos. As soon as I did the same I got much more attention.
But what if I don’t have a webcam?
Create an intriguing graphic that will compel your visitors to read your text below. But when they go to read your text make sure to…
2) Have a hook
Read this “I’m writing an interesting book about superheroes”
Now read this “Fred is a Hero like no other. He uses his mucus to save the world”
Which one peaked your interest? It may be gross or jarring or even silly, but you want your opening sentence to make your potential donors to want to learn more about your project.
3) Use social media
Facebook and Twitter really helped me on this project. I used it to tell all of my friends to share my link and give some funds.
DON’T shy away from asking (I initially did). When I realized no one put a single penny on my project I realized that the tone of my posts never mentioned needing any monetary support. So I made sure to clearly say I needed funding for my project and sure enough the funds started pouring in.
DO use these social media sites but please…
4) Don’t Spam
DON’T keep posting the same thing over and over on Twitter or Facebook. It can really get annoying and turn people off of your project.
DO create clever action statement to make readers want to see your link. Try posting morning, noon and night to catch people at various times of the day.
5) Don’t spread yourself thin
I initially tried creating a separate Twitter account and Facebook page as well as a blog for my Kickstarter campaign. I found it much easier to use my usual Tweeter account to spread the word and not have to hide behind a cloak of mystery. This allowed potential donors to see me behind the scenes. And get a glimpse of who they are pledging their hard earned cash to.
For some of you this advise might not work. Let’s say you’ve got a potty mouth, but you’re writing a children’s book, you may want to create another account with less colorful language to get more “sensitive” parent’s to want to fund your idea.
6) Find niche blogs
Contacting a blog that features things related to your project goes a long way to getting it to like minded people. Try having a write up about your project, include some images and a small bio to make the editor’s life easy. With that pre-made package you can forward it to various blogs contact page. And cross your fingers and hope they find your work interesting.
7) Don’t worry!
So what if you failed? Kickstarter allows you post projects again so don’t let your initial setback stop you from trying again.
Well that’s that!
On a different note, I may have failed that campaign royally, but I did succeed on a second, totally different one. Also that book was adapted into a comic book! So don’t get discouraged and keep pushing forward.
