I plan to put a project on Kickstarter for a children’s book. It’s actually a collection of stories with the same characters in the same world, and I have 10 stories mostly ready and about 100 more in various states. It's for kids who aren't quite old enough for Harry Potter yet. It's an adventure mash-up of themes similar to HP, Indiana Jones, Pirates, Lord of the Rings, etc. - except for the 6-12 year old crowd.
These initial 10 stories would go into a “Volume 1” book, be about 200 pages long, and be the project I post on Kickstarter. So each story within is about 20 pages.
It's important to note here that the series is really episodic. Each story is self-contained, yet there are minor and major cliffhangers. Picture it being like Lost, The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, etc. You watch an episode and you can't wait for next week. But for now, I'm including 10 "episodes" in Volume 1 - almost like a complete TV season.
I already have the cover designed – so I already have everything almost press-ready.
So my question – what should my Kickstarter project be about and what should I say the pledged funds are for?
- The cost of the physical “Volume 1” book being printed?
Assistance to help me complete this book and cover various costs, (even though it’s already pretty much done), then also to have it printed?
Assistance to help me get this “Volume One” printed and “out there”, because the backers will like the story so much, that’s the only way they’ll ever see stories 11-20 and beyond?
In any case, the main reward would be a printed “Volume 1” book, as well as other goodies.
Directly related – what should I show/present on my project page/website? Should I make the complete “Volume 1” available for free digitally so people can read it in its entirety? Should I post only the 20-page first story from Volume 1 as a teaser? Then if they love it, they'll back me because they'll want to find out what happens in stories 2 through 10 in Volume One? In this scenario, it's like you've let someone watch the pilot to a TV series and they like it, and the only way to be able to watch the next episode is to pledge money.
I also considered an "instant" reward. Assuming I only let people read Story #1, if they pledge $25, I'll instantly shoot them Stories 2 and 3 digitally as a quickie reward.
These factors/questions could drastically impact my campaign. I feel like there is a sweet spot there - but need your opinions!