I’d like to share what this author learned about Kickstarter for anyone thinking about doing a campaign. It would be wonderful if an author could put a campaign on Kickstarter, eat bonbons, and do nothing while people back their project. If only! Kickstarter is a lot of work.
What This Author Learned About Kickstarter
There was much research to be done before I put Dream Interpretation for The Mystical Soul on Kickstarter. I’m grateful I took the time to do this for my first campaign because it’s very apparent when someone doesn’t know what they are doing on the platform. Especially when they make their Kickstarter all about them. Few people care if you need money to publish your book, rather they want to know what’s in it for them.
My Research
These are the steps I took to comprehend the Kickstarter platforms:
- Searched blogs
- Read books
- Watched videos
- Studied the help section and campaigns on Kickstarter
- Backed campaigns to learn what and what not to do
What helped me the most was joining the Kickstarter for Authors Facebook group. In this group, you will find wisdom from experienced authors. Plus, I found the feedback on each other’s campaigns (before going live) extremely helpful and fun.
Setting Up My Kickstarter’s Page
It was time-consuming for me to:
- Write and edit material for the page
- Create images for the page
- Set up the page
I spent most of the day setting up my page. Some of the images didn’t look right, so I needed to redo them. And there were other adjustments to make.
Then I found some of Kickstarter’s tech stuff confusing. This took time to figure out.
Marketing Before the Kickstarter Went Live
Kickstarter recommends prelaunching your Kickstarter on their platform a month or more before it goes live to collect followers. Why? These followers are notified once your campaign is live, thus making it easier to fund the first day.
Some of my friends, family members, and colleagues helped spread the word. I did my best to educate people about what Kickstarter really is through social media posts, articles, blogs, podcasts, and newsletters.
My Kickstarter
For my first Kickstarter, I kept my rewards simple: eBook, two meditation MP3s, PDF bookmarks, and three dream interpretation services. I didn’t do physical products because shipping isn’t my thing. That’s one of the reasons I closed down my Etsy shop a while back. I also kept the goal low to make it easier to fund and go over.
Honestly, I knew it was a risk doing a dream interpretation campaign because:
- In the ‘all categories’ of dream interpretation, 5 out of 15 funded
- In the ‘publishing category’ of dream interpretation, 1 out of 3 funded
I got these statistics after my Kickstarter funded. Hopefully, these categories will improve.
Here’s What This Author Learned about Kickstarter
- Even a small campaign can be exciting and so stressful
- The video I created for my campaign worked well for marketing on social media
- Some people I asked were generous about sharing my campaign, others not so much
- I could explain how Kickstarter is not GoFundMe fifty times and some people still won’t get it
- Many think that once you funded, that’s it, ah, no, authors desire to go way beyond their funding goal
- What a relief it was when my campaign was over
Results of My First Kickstarter
In case you are wondering, these are my results:
- My goal of $300.00 funded at $416.00
- The conversion rate was 33% of those who followed the campaign.
- Backers were family, colleagues, a client, and a few newbies.
- All payments went through, yay!
FYI Just because someone backs your campaign doesn’t mean they won’t cancel their pledge or their payment will go through.
Is It Worth Doing a Kickstarter?
Perhaps you’re thinking all that work and all you raised is $416.00? Well, it’s better than not funding, which happens. And the money helps cover the cost of creating the book. As many Indie authors know books cost money to produce and there’s no guarantee that your book will make a profit. I’m not too proud to admit how one of my books is still in the red.
Yes, Kickstarter is worth the time, research, and stress. Some authors love it, while others will never do it again. The authors who are well-known with a large fan base have raked in thousands to millions of dollars. Please note, for the average Indie author it can take time and doing several campaigns before the BIG money rolls in.
Whatever the outcome of your campaign, you can continue to earn money from the bookstores and/or your own site.
Preorder My Book
Dream Interpretation for the Mystical Soul is now available for preorder. Visit my book page for links to your favorite bookstore.