What I learned from my Kickstarter failure

[alhawke]

We probably should have a few posts on "what I learned from my Kickstarter success", but, alas, I cannot give you that. I wanted to get back to everyone on my experiences and what I learned. And I wanted to send this after it was finished so as not to look like I was looking for more backers.

Here is a list of my mistakes. If you're gonna do it, Do this:
1) Get backers before launch.
This is the number one thing to a Kickstarter. I learned after that the majority of successful Kickstarters start out with backers nearly fully matching goal on day 1. Why? Backers want to know a project will fund because most don't fund. Even if you don't completely fund, having most of the jar full of money also helps make the project look desirable.
2) Make the creative as beautiful as you can.
In fact, if I do this ever again, I'll probably use a cover artist for artwork. I dabble with ads and can work with Canva but I'm a a writer not an expert designer.
3) Limit your tiers and prizes.
Keep it simple. Being that it was my first Kickstarter, I had way too much fun offering too much. It made the campaign confusiong.
4) Advertise.
Advertise? No, that's the one thing I was unwilling to do with this project and might be something I'll never do. The whole point of my project was to bring in more funds.
But I've since found out that backers that do very well tend to advertise A LOT. Sound familiar? It's a bit like many authors in our writing biz. It sounds silly to me that someone would spend a motherland of cash on advertising that they need money to fund something. Ah, what a world...

The best thing I got out of my personal experience was creating trailers for my books. I also used the whole thing as extra advertising for my launch, so it wasn't all a loss. But I probably won't put the energy into one of these again.

[Lorri Moulton]

Kickstarter can be tough.  A low ask is crucial...as is the art work.

I don't advertise either, but a LOT of authors do.  And they cross-promo in the Facebook groups, which honestly used to be a lot more helpful (for me) over a year ago.

The key to Kickstarter is getting backers on Kickstarter.  I haven't had much luck bringing in people from other platforms.  The best way to do that IMHO is to start small and bring the same people back for the next campaign. 

I've found Kickstarter has done little to nothing to help my campaigns. Even when I joined Witchstarter or a few other ones.  Having someone who's already doing fairly well recommend your campaign can help. 

I think you'd have better luck with that than I...if you joined some Facebook groups. My campaigns are too sweet/wholesome for most of those authors.  They like their steam!

[djmills]

Did you send a link to Dean Wesley Smith to list on his blog on a Kickstarter Friday blog post? Lots of people (readers/writers) read his blog daily, and would have seen the mention and checked it out.

[alhawke]

Did you send a link to Dean Wesley Smith to list on his blog on a Kickstarter Friday blog post? Lots of people (readers/writers) read his blog daily, and would have seen the mention and checked it out.

No. Not sure he'd help me, though. He writes science fiction. Does he post new Kickstarters for anybody writing?

[alhawke]

Kickstarter can be tough.  A low ask is crucial...as is the art work.
I don't advertise either, but a LOT of authors do.  And they cross-promo in the Facebook groups, which honestly used to be a lot more helpful (for me) over a year ago.
The key to Kickstarter is getting backers on Kickstarter.  I haven't had much luck bringing in people from other platforms.  The best way to do that IMHO is to start small and bring the same people back for the next campaign. 
I've found Kickstarter has done little to nothing to help my campaigns. Even when I joined Witchstarter or a few other ones.  Having someone who's already doing fairly well recommend your campaign can help. 
I think you'd have better luck with that than I...if you joined some Facebook groups. My campaigns are too sweet/wholesome for most of those authors.  They like their steam!

Thanks, Lorri. I really feel like my greatest lesson was getting backers early. While watching other campaigns, I noticed that the most successful were backed within days, or already at launch. I think that's huge for a Kickstarter. (btw Lorri helped me improve my graphics a bit during my campaign. I'm really grateful for that).

Kickstarter is very different, I think, than even social media or publishing. And writers have to aware of that going into it. If you're willing to really put a lot of energy into it, it can work for writers as extra source of income. But it's a lot of work. I'm not sure it helps so much for visibility as a writer... unless you're combining it with growing social media at the same time...

[R. C.]

We probably should have a few posts on "what I learned from my Kickstarter success", but, alas, I cannot give you that. I wanted to get back to everyone on my experiences and what I learned. And I wanted to send this after it was finished so as not to look like I was looking for more backers.

Here is a list of my mistakes. If you're gonna do it, Do this:
1) Get backers before launch.
This is the number one thing to a Kickstarter. I learned after that the majority of successful Kickstarters start out with backers nearly fully matching goal on day 1. Why? Backers want to know a project will fund because most don't fund. Even if you don't completely fund, having most of the jar full of money also helps make the project look desirable.
2) Make the creative as beautiful as you can.
In fact, if I do this ever again, I'll probably use a cover artist for artwork. I dabble with ads and can work with Canva but I'm a a writer not an expert designer.
3) Limit your tiers and prizes.
Keep it simple. Being that it was my first Kickstarter, I had way too much fun offering too much. It made the campaign confusiong.
4) Advertise.
Advertise? No, that's the one thing I was unwilling to do with this project and might be something I'll never do. The whole point of my project was to bring in more funds.
But I've since found out that backers that do very well tend to advertise A LOT. Sound familiar? It's a bit like many authors in our writing biz. It sounds silly to me that someone would spend a motherland of cash on advertising that they need money to fund something. Ah, what a world...

The best thing I got out of my personal experience was creating trailers for my books. I also used the whole thing as extra advertising for my launch, so it wasn't all a loss. But I probably won't put the energy into one of these again.

AL is spot on.

Items 1,2 and 3 apply to my Patreon effort, especially "Get backers before launch." --- and I've yet to launch.

I'm hoping to overcome the lack of patrons with marketing to my meager following and ramping up the advertising.

R.C.