KickstarterForum.org

Hey all,

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!

Love the "quickie reward." You can always say the money is for "marketing."

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Lots of questions. I can help begin to answer a few, but I imagine you will figure this out over a span of time.

"What should I say the pledged funds are for?" - What do you actually need the funds for? In other words, why are you not just going to the market right now and selling it? If the reason is you need a large order from the printer and can't finance it, then the money would go towards hard copies.

If most of the project is already done, I would use the rewards to involve the backers in the actual story.

"There are four common reward types that we see on Kickstarter:

Copies of the thing: the album, the DVD, a print from the show. These items should be priced what they would cost in a retail environment.

Creative collaborations: a backer appears as a hero in the comic, everyone gets painted into the mural, two backers do the handclaps for track 3.

Creative experiences: a visit to the set, a phone call from the author, dinner with the cast, a concert in your backyard.

Creative mementos: Polaroids sent from location, thanks in the credits, meaningful tokens that tell a story."

What kinds of rewards can you offer under "creative collaborations."

"Should I post only the 20-page first story from Volume 1 as a teaser? " - I like this idea.

I don't believe I can claim to use the money for "marketing" - I think KS mandates that the money be used directly for the completion of a project.

In every case with my project, the end result of the money will be to have the book printed. But then, people are backing/financing the printing of a book. They've done nothing to help "bring the magic alive" or help with the "facilitation of the creation" of the story itself.

In reality, I think it really all how the project description is spun.

Would people rather pledge money so a book that's already written can be printed?

Or would people rather pledge money so a story idea they really like can be completed, then printed?

In some ways, that's almost like saying "OK people, if this project meets funding goals, I know the story is good, so I'll forge ahead. If it doesn't fund, that means I should stick with my day job. Help me bring these characters to life."

My advice to you is to be completely open and honest about your project. If any of your pledgers found out you were lying to them then you'd lose all credibility and any future kickstarters you might do would not go down well.

Give us some more details here. What's your fund goal, and what's your cost breakdown?

Hey all - absolutely - I certainly plan to be completely honest about my project. It's a book, or ultimately the printing of a book. But how does one make that sound inspirational?

Here's a better way for me to frame what I'm asking. Imagine I find a regional newspaper who wants to run a story about me and my KS project. "Here's a local guy who wrote a story and needs your help to gain funding so he can have it printed." Where is the story in that? There's nothing inspirational there. Yawn.

With a book, what is really in it for the backer? They get an autographed book? How is that appealing? Perhaps it's bragging rights? When the book is on the bestseller list, they can claim it's partially because of them? But they didn't have anything to do with the creation of the story - they just gave money so the book could be printed.

So again, it all boils back down to making "the story" of my project inspirational.

The real truth is that KS will be a proving ground for me. I've generally got enough content and ideas for my first book (which by the way, will actually be a collection of stories with the same characters - like episodes). If it doesn't fund, it may be time for me to go back to my day job.

THAT is my true story.

Therefore, it seems that my project would be far more inspirational if I let everyone ready the first bunch of stories, then I promise that if my project funds, I'll write/finish the rest and put them into a 200-page book and have it printed (and delivered as a reward). And of course - I'll keep writing.

Now - backers are in fact integral in "making the magic" come alive. Without them, it would never have been completed. They kept the dream alive.

So while getting the physical book printed is really the KS project, that really becomes a icing on the cake - it's just the symbol of what both KS backers and I did together.

As always - I really appreciate everyone's ongoing feedback here...in really short order, my understanding of KS projects has quadrupled since joining this site.

Hello again!

I'm sorry if I sound stupid but I'm still a bit confused as to what your funding money is actually going towards! What is the funding goal amount, and how much of that is going towards certain aspects of your project?

The funding would go towards the printing of the book. Funding goal TBD - I just have to figure how many backers I think I can get vs. the cost of the book/shipping and other production-related expenses.

But while the funding is for the book printing, I think I plan to strongly make my project about backer's interest and support in my book idea/story, which if it meets the funding goal, would result into the printing of the book.

Okay, thanks for that clarification.

I personally think people enjoy the feeling of knowing they helped a creative person complete their art. So for that reason I think a more inspiring campaign would be one that asked for pledgers to give money to support the creation of the remaining episodes.

But if that's not really what the money is being used for, I wouldn't say it. It sounds as though the money will be used just for the printing, so go with that. You can still explain that if it isn't funded, you'll be unable to release the other episodes. People will still get behind you on that. Transparency is key.

I would absolutely distribute episode 1 digitally free of charge. People love to try before they buy, and it'll instil confidence that they're backing a great project.

Also, the quick-reward is a stroke of genius. I might even use that concept for my own campaign!

Out of curiosity, if somebody backed any project on Kickstarter, they are a "backing-minded" person. That said, are there existing channels to tap into past backers of any project on Kickstarter?

And similar, what about us all scratching each other's backs? For example, say I like your project, and mine successfully funded recently. I could email all my backers and tell them about your great project. In my case actually, I'd be the one needing that help from someone else as I'll be launching my project in the coming months. But it's kinds of a "pay it back" deal.