Kickstarter is the favorite crowdfunding
site for authors. It’s been around a few
years, raising millions of dollars for writers seeking to defray costs for
printing, promoting, and marketing. A
good source for learning how to use Kickstarter would be www.kickstarter.com
and another useful tool is Kickstarter for Dummies. I read the latter recently and am happy to
share with you the basics of how to get started, run a successful campaign, and
use the seed money to grow your publishing empire!
“Successful publishing campaigns on Kickstarter
raised nearly $22 million in 2014,.” according to Publishers Weekly. Not all listed projects were successful. In fact, 72% of the 7050 campaigns launched
failed to secure the goal for funding, which meant no money was received by the
campaigner. Still, over 2000 projects
were successful, raising on average, $10,000 per campaign.
So how does it all work?
First, understand that if you don’t
raise the amount you set as a goal, within a prescribed period of time, you
receive nothing. That’s right, if you
raised $8,500 but your goal was $11,000, you walk away penniless.
Second, Kickstarter only makes money
when you do. It’ll take a cut of about
5% - and tack on around 3% for credit card transaction costs. So keep that in
mind when figuring out how much you really need.
Third, you can promote your Kickstarter
campaign to others – friends, family, media – so they can help you raise funds.
Fourth, keep in mind Kickstarter funds
projects, like books, but not a cause or charity fundraiser. If you aren’t sure
what your campaign falls under, consult www.kickstarter.com/help/guidelines.
Fifth, your campaign consists of nine
key areas:
a) Defining
your project
b) Creating
rewards for donors
c) Setting
an achievable goal
d) Making
and posting a video
e) Building
your project
f) Promoting
and marketing your project
g) Issuing
updates on your progress
h) Fulfilling
the rewards to donors once your goal is met
Sixth, come up with a catchy name for
your project – one that is memorable, easy to spell/say, and something that
could be searchable. For instance,
someone may want to support books about dogs or health and when they search
Kickstarter for such a word or term, your campaign should come up.
Seventh, though you only get 135
characters – shorter than a Tweet – to describe your project, you must be crafty
and strategic in your word usage. You
need to say what it is – and express it in a way that you differentiate yourself from
others.
Eighth, utilize multi-media to support
your campaign. There’s an area for you
to add photos, audio, and videos. Keep
these clips short. Use these images and
sounds to make people feel at ease with you.
They can’t meet you in person, but they can sense if you’re someone they
like, trust, or find interesting by listening to and viewing you.
Ninth, spy on competing campaigns. See what they offer and how they present
themselves. Learn from what you think are the do’s and don’ts. All projects are listed on the site.
Tenth, you need to do a good job of
describing, with passion and vision, what you need money for and why the book
is so important or interesting. Friends
and family will give to you just because they love and know you, but you need
to convince strangers they need to invest in you.
Eleventh, the rewards offered could act
as an incentive to give for some. You can have different price points for
rewards. For those who give $5 or less,
they may get a thank you on your website.
For a $10-$20 donation, they could get a free resource that you can
email to them. For $21-$30 they get a
printed book. For more money, they get
multiple book copies, signed copies, or access to other vents or resources. For even bigger amounts, you can offer gifts
from other people. Maybe you can offer a
friend's ebook or another’s audio book. Or access to a seminar. Maybe you can get a company to offer special
coupons or gifts, giving itself free advertising and you a gift of value.
Twelfth, you can advertise your campaign
on FB or with Google Adwords or your blog.
Like promoting a book, promoting the fundraising campaign requires an
all-out effort. Good luck – and be sure
to spend some of those funds that you raise on book publicity!
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Brian Feinblum’s views,
opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his
employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him
at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the
third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2015
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