I'm currently running a kickstarter for a short story comic collection called The Dodo Knows - , which includes a lot of stories that I first published here on Tapas. It's doing much better than I ever hoped at over 400% funded. I'd done a smaller KS a few years ago, and I was able to build on what I'd learned this time around.
I know that there are probably loads of people on this community more experienced in running kickstarter campaigns than me, but I thought I'd share some of my feelings and throughts at this stage!
I wish I'd made my digital tier a lower price.
I'm always worried about lowballing myself, and so I decided to stand firm and make my digital tier reflect all the hard work that has gone into the comic.
I think there is some merit in this, but I'm also realising that there is a benefit to attracting a lot of low tier backers who will receive update emails etc and may become supporters of my work in the future. Next time, I'll make my digital tier a more attractive price.
I'm pleased I added in higher tiers
My last kickstarter was a much smaller affair and it didn't have any very high value tiers. This time around I thought I'd sell some of my original artwork, although I was unsure whether anyone would really be interested in it. Could I really ask for $90 for some pencil and ink artwork?
Thing is, all it takes is 3 or 4 people to pledge at these higher tiers and that's a huge chunk of money without additional production or postage costs. It was SO worth it.
The look of the page and the video really matter
At first most of my backers were coming from twitter, discord, and even some from Tapas! As the campaign has worn on, however, attracting frequent kickstarter users has become vital. I think that making an attractive looking page was really important for this. I made 3D mock-ups of the books, and animated a kickstarter video. This mean that the project got a "Project We Love" tag from kickstarter, which has brought quite a few backers my way.
Updates are important... I just hope I'm not bothering people too much!
I've tried to do frequent backer updates where I talk about the project and the rewards. Every 3-4 days at first, and once a week during the middle of the campaign. This has been great for keeping backers engaged and a few times it's caused people to increase their pledges.
I just have to fight the feeling that I'm "bothering" these people who have actually PAID to get access to those updates!
Kickstarter campaigns can be small.
Sometimes Kickstarter does a "Make 100" project where creators made 100 of something. It's a great demonstration that kickstarter projects don't have to be huge and run into thousands of pounds, or done by people with huge followings. Even a project with niche appeal can succeed with the right eyes on it.
Last but not least (for now, anyway)
It's tiring... but it is fun.
Plugging away at advertising it can feel like a game you can't win. But it has been thrilling, and I'm really looking forward to getting to print my book!