KickstarterForum.org

Hi everyone, I'm looking for some advice and also personal experiences.

We launched our kickstarter, which is for a children's book, a week and a half ago and within a little over 24 hours were half funded. The second day of our kickstarter we got a staff pick and slowly rose to about 60% funded. That was all in the first three or four days.

And then our project completely lost momentum. I'm assuming it's because we had a huge influx originally from social media followers and friends and family who heard about the project and then that died, but I have no idea how to bring the momentum back up or if it's normal for it to drop off and then be more of a slow thing? What are your experiences?

The project is Turbo the Flying Dog, if you would be willing to take a look to possibly make suggestions to how we can make it better! Thanks!

I believe this is normal.

You have a lot of time to meet goal. I recommend getting as many eyes as possible to view your project. Emails, phone calls, tweets, etc

1. Your project video is too short. It's also boring. It also fails to take advantage of full motion video, It lacks having any people in it actually speaking. You've taken the concept of video, and you've chopped it off at its knees.

2. Your project page lists you as having 100 shares. The Kicktraq page for your project lists you as having 4 shares. Either way, word about your project isn't being widely shared. So, your project is making no noise in a noisy world. People don't pledge to support it, because they don't know about it, if for no other reason.

http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/509758 ... lying-dog/

3. Your project image is the same image as a photo below it. Why such needless duplication, when you could simply post something else, instead, and increase the visual variety of the page at the same time?

4. Increase people's options, by adding $10, $20, $25, and $50 pledge categories. It's like trying on clothes in a store. If your project offers only the wrong size of pledge category options, then many people simply won't buy, but prefer to pledge elsewhere.

5. Make some more short video clips, such as ones that tell us a bit about the dogs. Give people something to be interested in, aside form just the project, itself.

6. Your project is a 61 day project, according to Kicktraq. Yet, you've done only three updates, do far. Do an update each day. Think of something new to say, and then say it. You want those numbers at the top of your project page (Updates, Backers, and Comments) to grow and keep growing. They are indicators and reflections of life in your project, of it being alive, rather than dead. Be alive, not dead.

7. Your project is in the Dead Zone, an extended period of inactivity. If the world around your project is inactive, then that's all the more reason that you should be active. Otherwise, everything is dead, and dead isn't a good sign for any Kickstarter.

8. What are you doing that is animal-related, on the side? Anything? If so, then that qualifies as news, for your project and its page. Make the news, and word can spread better, quicker, and more frequently.

From experience with my own project, and just from thinking about it myself, this is definitely normal. How did your project start? You probably went and told all of your friends/family that you were launching it, right? When it launched you let everyone you knew know about it. It was in the new section on kickstarter. It was featured early on. Pledges came in quick. After that, you've now moved into the middle. This is where you are in the middle of people searching for projects. You're friends and family resources are about exhausted. So what do you to from here? You go big. You spend every single second that you can getting your name out. You post on childrens story blogs, you find mommy blogs and try and get them a copy that they can review and post, you connect with as many new people as you can to show off your project. You post here. You post everywhere you can to spread the word.

Here's the thing though. You actually connect and care about the project. You don't just spam a bunch of people, but you talk to them one on one and try and find a way to apply your project to them. You work hard and don't quit. You will be completely stressed out and exhausted by the end of the campaign. If you're not, you're doing something wrong or not putting enough into it.

Good luck with the project!

Each day many new products and ideas get launched on KS and this is what makes it difficult to keep the momentum going. Treat each day as a new beginning. For instance, you contacted friends and family, right? Now who else would be interested in a children's book? Teachers? Tutors? Libraries? Librarians? You have to constantly look for additional avenues of promotion. I collect about 350 rejection slips for my novel before I got a legitimate publisher to take it on. Persistence is the order of the day.

Press releases once a week posted everywhere possible online sure helps! - Stacy Menzies, Happy Fix www.happyfix.com

Hang in there! Like the responses above, you're in the slump. Try reaching out in creative ways and offer praise to those who have already backed your project. The more involved they feel, they will feel more willing to share about your project because they are a part of it. You know?

Thanks for all the replies, ideas, and suggestions everyone! I'm glad to know that this is normal: I definitely realized that there was an initial influx from friends and family, but we also got many unconnected backers those first few days (I was really surprised) and now I see that too was fueled by some of the benefits of being new.

We're trying to get press releases out there and slowly are having people talk about us, so I think that's just a matter of "keep plugging away" but some of these suggestions really got me thinking about ways to make sure we're in front of people! Thank you!