Thread: Kickstarter: what do you think?

A while ago, Lin posted an article that mentioned Fundable as a way to get a lead on being published. I saw this one awesome site that focuses on creativity, and it seems like a good way to get you published in the new media way. I want to know what is not being said on their site. My question are:

1) Do you need to know your funders personally?

2) DO you have to solicit it from people you know?

3) What are some effective marketing plans? How do you get people to want to pledge money for you?

4) Do people really get motivated to pledge if they get a Tshirt and a mug with your characters on it?

5) How do you calculate what you geta and what you give in terms of money received?

That's it for now. Thanks in advance.


Here's a sample: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...&ref=spotlight

and another: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...you-get-a-copy

Fascinating. I never would have thought of soliciting funds to create artwork. It's rather like a fund drive to build a church or library, isn't it?

The "Toaster With Two Brains" writer has a really ambitious program there, with the shirts and print editions. Quite amazing. It's possible for such products to be available as "produce on demand", so it would seem that his investment is minimal.

From the (very basic) research I've done into providers of custom shirts and mugs and calendars I would say he is using a very wide margin. I beleive bookmarks can actually be printed for free, or at worst very cheaply, so a fifteen dollar donation is bringing him a profit of well over ten dollars, at conservative estimate.
I would surmise that the $160 package he offers involves giving between $40 and $80 dollars worth of merchandise. I would assume that he mails the bookmarks himself, but uses "drop shipping" for the larger products.

One thing I noticed was that his very attractive, ambitious program with substantial rewards to investors has only garnered $3200, whereas the "twentieth century Sherlock Holmes" offering, which seems more generic and is less temptingly presented ha raised over $13,000. An extremely impressive sum, by the way: I was highly surprised to see it.

My impression is that the Sherlock writer is known and is soliciting from fans of his past work. So, like everything in the arts, so much funding depends on reputation and promotional ability.
Neither of which would be strong suits. Though I am attempting to acheive both.

It would seem, by the way, that having attractive merchandise would depend on either very good artwork or very clever slogans.

Nice find, darknite!
Looks like I need to stick a line in my ebook.

It might be, as Corvus suggests, that advance pledges work best for later works. But who's to say? It's a new game and it's like, however you get the ball in the hoop, you win.

That includes a lot of behind the scenes research and convincing skills. I think to be successful you have to have a following that were already ready to support you. But it's not like I could participate anyway, they are closed on non-american based works. lol!

No American books? They need to make their peace with that revolution affair and get on with their lives.

But how can an online novel, or email serial, or even an online ebook be "national"?

Originally Posted by Corvus

No American books?

Sorry, I meant, if you don't live in the united states you can't participate, because of the Amazon card policies.

Getting funding is, in my opinion, the easiest part of any project. Actually walking in, asking and getting a payout is the easy bit. I say that as someone who has used funding from a range of high profile entities to produce projects. Many years ago I worked with a few guys who were incredibly cheeky and usually won through. Both now live abroad for tax reasons.

The interesting part is that so few people know how to go about it, so you're never going to end up in a queue of beggars, unlike the funding schemes and grants. If you want money, ask someone who has loads. It really is that easy.

However, here's the thing; you HAVE to pitch it right, 100 per cent, and treat it like business. If your offer is weak, you'll be out the door in a second!

Never ever ever go hunting unless your knife is sharp!

Wow.

Any tips or directions you might offer for how to do this?

Well, it varies. The first thing is that you have to have a viable offering. By viable, it needs to fall into one of the following camps.

1: Investment Opportunity (makes them money)
2: Marketing Opportunity (raises their profile)
3: Tax Deductable Good Works (cost them f*ck all, earns them kudos)
4: Recognition as Market Leader/Innovator (ego trip - trust me, CEOs are humans too)
5: Aspiration for Target Audience of the funder (they'll sell shit on the back of it)
6: Advancement Opportunity (if they're the first in, the get the cream)

In reality, if any project ticks at least one of those boxes, I'd be interested.

Step 2 is to incorporate the above into a genuine business plan. Yes, f*ck your artist's glad rags in the bin, put on a suit, and go sell the project. Do the figures, do the research, make certain that they can't mug you off. Also, keep a little something back or they'll have you over. Also, identify and protect your value with vigour. The more vigour, the more they'll think it's worth.

Step 3 is to identify the right source of funding, and then hit them hard. Don't beg; explain why THEY need YOU.

It's important to not waste their time. Treat them with respect, understand the business plan, and don't piss about asking for £1,000 or sh*t like that. Go in big to show them you mean business (but DON'T overvalue your idea, because they'll see that a mile off). Put a realistic value on it and demand that.

NEGOTIATE! Take part of the "funding" as a service. On my last project the funder approached was given two options; a high price or a lower cost but with distribution support from them. Just don't drop your trousers.

It's difficult without a specific, but this is the kind of thing I've been involved with for the last 25 odd years. In truth, I enjoy it as much as the creative side of my work.

Interesting.
Do you think this could be applied to publishing a book or serial like this?

There was a discussion somewhere about sponsorship of ebooks and online serials. Do you think that's possible?

The project wonderful banner you see at the top of this page is a small ad from a program that many online books use to a much larger extent--towers down the right side of the page, usually.

Do you think it would make sense to seek corporate sponsorship for something like this?

Originally Posted by lin

Interesting.
Do you think this could be applied to publishing a book or serial like this?

There was a discussion somewhere about sponsorship of ebooks and online serials. Do you think that's possible?

The project wonderful banner you see at the top of this page is a small ad from a program that many online books use to a much larger extent--towers down the right side of the page, usually.

Do you think it would make sense to seek corporate sponsorship for something like this?

It could certainly be applied, but for many corporates it would be too small. A good example of the sort of thing I'm talking about is recently in Europe (it might have been world-wide but I'm not sure) Becks Beer was supplied with limited edition labels, created by unknown artists. I think there we 12 in all. Now, take the idea of new media, take the idea of slipping a little "art" into some form of traditional data, or maybe even using some of huge amounts of free space on many multi-media products, and you are actually pushing your output into the hands of millions of people...

Now, to me, pulling off stuff (sorry Moderan, nearly wrote "sh*t" there) like that is as good as writing a classic piece of work. Its multi-media by stealth, into the hands of millions of people, and you get paid real money. It's a win-win, and for the funder it's a drop in the ocean!