I have recently started a kickstarter, to raise the funds I need to edit and then publish the book that I have written. Much effort has gone into the making of the video (filming, editing, sound, computer graphics, releasing it etc), thinking up the rewards people would receive, completing the maths required for ordering books and dispatching them to the people who order them etc. However, without doing such a project, I don't see anyway of funding my project. So - with 28 days left to raise over a thousand pounds (which is daunting!) I was wondering; is it all worth it?
It can. I trawl a few different kickstarter search words on a regular basis, and would like to do something with it down the track. I think someone here had a successful campaign, but it included graphic novel work so a bit different to just a novel. Cannot for the life of me remember who, sorry :-(
I know nothing of Kickstarter, but I can only assume that it's basically a bit like Dragon's Den (Shark Tank in the US), where you have a money-making scheme to pitch, and where you'll get torn to shreds over any flaws in your Business Plan. If your business plan isn't going to make an investor a return on his capital (or enough return), why should he bother?
Nothing like Dragon's Den whatsoever. Dragon's Den / Shark Tank = investor purchasing % of your business / idea / personage for an investment of $X. Kickstarter, indiegogo, et al = crowd funding an idea through a donation, with no guaranteed promise of a product or fit for purpose thing at the end of it, although the intent is usually there and often fulfilled.
Bit more like a charitable donation, with a chance of a return? Seriously, why would anybody crowdfund? Either 1/ It's some sort of viable money-making scheme, which may or may not live up to the proposition, and the Dragons/Sharks/Crowd take a view on how much of a chance they're prepared to take, or 2/ It's a donation on a substantially philanthropic basis. In either case, surely it's incumbent on the person pitching to have as good a "business plan" as possible? After all, if I'm giving money to a good cause, I want to know that it really is a good cause, and not just another begging letter writing campaign by some serial millionaire con-artist.
No business plan. Just a product, or an idea for a product. Sometimes a timeline. Sometimes a demonstrable prototype, sometimes not. Some people do photography ones purely for "I want to buy a new camera. Your reward will range from $1 thank you to $100 8x10" print of a pic of your choice from my portfolio". They typically fail to get funding. Others are almost guaranteed success, but not always. www.kickstarter.com not too difficult to check it out
Yes it works, but you have to work it. A friend of mine raised double the funds she needed in order to create and publish a cookbook, which is an expensive kind of book to write. She did already have a massive blog following in her little niche market of the world, though. I'm not sure how well it works if you don't have the numbers to share it.
This is largely off-topic to your question, but what exactly is the money going to? Are you hiring an editor and/or publishing on paper?
Because of the ingredients to create the recipes (several versions of the same recipe), the photography of such recipes, photo editing, and graphic design, mostly.
It really depends on your hustle, social media presence/ savviness. I tried it once and it did pretty well but did not reach its goal. The trick is just promote, advertise, promote
One thing worth noting; whatever money you get on Kickstarter, you ABSOLUTELY will want to spend it on something, or else it'll be taxed. This is why you have people getting like 400,000 dollars for a 50,000 dollar project, then they have like 100 grand left over after the project is totally finished and they have nothing to spend it on but don't want to be taxed so they buy a new house or something and then the internet rages about how "THEY SCAMMED US ON KICKSTARTER FOR A NEW HOUSE!!!!".
The best selling cookbook these days are very glossy and filled with very tasteful (pun!) pictures. It's not like in our mom's day where it's a 5 inch thick book of rough paper with the occasional black and white picture of something that could be any of the dozen recipes on the page. @Shadowfax Kickstarter is crowdfunding. Basically, you have something you're creating and need funding to actually do it. You present it, get people hyped, and they donate X amount and typically earn extra rewards for bigger donations. Like, for video games, you help the devs make it by buying it before it's made technically. It's how Divinity got made and it was the best game of 2015. There's loads of legit projects on Kickstarter that help creators make things without having to go through big business' who will want a cut or make changes to their vision. It's not begging, it's simply a business pitch. The only real issue is that there is loads of shit there. Like the guy who got funded to make potato salad... And there is no real guarantee the person will actually make the product. They could technically not do it.
That's the big problem with crowd funding at the moment. People have this assumption that because they donated (technically you 'fund' it, it isn't a donation, you just don't get to be some kind of acting share holder or investor) to a project that the project creator is under some kind of legal obligation to fulfill anything, and they aren't. This, naturally, leads to some scams and, much more often, unorganized projects helmed by people who simply don't know what they're doing and even with 'proper' funding, they fail to ever deliver what they claimed they'd create. So of course this leads to lots of people having bad opinions on crowd funding, which is really just bad for everyone. Crowd funding is great, people just need to learn how to do it. Research a kickstarter project before you put your money towards it, make sure the creator is not only legitimate but also proves they have the means to actually deliver on their project. Conversely, don't start a kickstarter campaign until you're absolutely sure you're prepared and you have everything in order. You have some people who say ridiculous shit like "Kickstarter is bad, those people should find REAL investors!". The whole point of crowd funding is so you can, as a community, fund a project that will be free from profit-focused investors. It's one of the best things to happen to the creative world, people just need to learn how to fund; as well as how to get funded, so that everyone is protected and makes the best investments possible.
@TheRealStegblob I think it comes down to crowdfunding projects you have some sort of faith in or know that the creator is someone you can trust. The one's I usually back are companies I know and that I already enjoyed a product from them. If it's someone new, I look at what they did in the past and see whether it's something I can commit to.
Exactly. Anytime you consider funding someone on a site like kickstarter, you really need to look at who they are and what their presented plan is. If it doesn't look like something you could trust your money to, don't trust your money towards it. That and, ultimately, go with the knowledge that sometimes you'll fund a project that looked like it'd be 100% successful and yet it still flopped and that you essentially lost your funding, but that's just how it is, sometimes.
My suggestion that it was "charity" was in response to @Aaron DC 's post. My initial post was that it WAS a business pitch, so it needs to give the potential investor some reward for investing, even if that reward was as little as being one of the first 2,000 guys to get to play this new game.
It does work but success is often dependant upon how you advertise and promote your project. You could just put the project up on Kickstarter and hope that people will visit the page, but that will likely be unsuccessful. Instead, you might consider contacting websites and bloggers with high traffic, so that they might interview you about your Kickstarter campaign and raise awareness, driving traffic to your page. You can use social media to also assist with this. Once the project is up, it's crucial that you spread the word. I noticed that you didn't post a link to the project in your original post on this page - that's the sort of thing you need to be doing, assuming it's not against the rules of the site. In fact, whatever forums you use, I'd suggest putting your Kickstarter project in your signature, site rules permitting.
Usually, people ask for way more than what you're looking to get. A thousand pounds seems reasonable and I don't see why you couldn't get that, unless you're not trying to promote it. I've seen kickstarter campaigns asking for way more, but usually those people have a network of people they've worked with. From what I remember, this director who worked on various film projects easily acquired how much he needed because he reached out to people he's worked with and helped before. I think you'll be fine. Just make sure you really put it out there and express why this is important for you in the video.
