by asum » Sat Jun 18, 2016 3:44 pm
Hi @trisshala,
I will answer quickly but first I will honestly say that your questions are very generic. Such generic open ended questions, you can type your question into Google get a ton of blog posts with really thought out and thorough tips, lists, advice. You probably innocently, lightly, posted this not thinking too hard about posting it (maybe it's lightly on your mind or you just need to fulfill the forum rules before posting). But I suggest before asking a generic question to someone else, try asking yourself it several times. I usually only ask questions when it's one I have stumped on after searching and thinking a long while. Sorry, I am sort of making an example of your question, so this is directed to more than just you. I got a ton of emails and such with short generic questions like these. Initially I took time to respond to each sincerely, trying to show support. But over time I realized usually when people ask such generic questions, they either haven't done the research or they are just asking casually (too casually) without much thought. But it does take up my time, easily 5-15 minutes, (or begs to be ignored) and in the end I can't even give as good a response as those blogs, where writers took a lot lot more time to carefully put together. So it's not efficient. The undirected questions can even be a bit spammy. (There's too much spamming in the kickstarter.)
Anyways...
Shipping-- there's really good posts on this, even one or few that goes into details about amazon fulfillment options. My rewards are very bulky and so price sensitive. So I did a lot of work ahead to estimate shipping. I made a huge spreadsheet, researched on boxes to find least costly size (shipping cost). I spoke with the top providers (shipping provider sales reps to estimate possible business shipping discounts) and calculated shipping using the online calculators. This was very specific to me for many reasons. Others might not need to do this, or maybe better off getting a service. You need to do your own work and research to answer your question.
Receive backers (how does one even approach such a generic broad question...)-- I said briefly in an earlier comment, and follows what many many posts says, it starts with family and friends, fans/followers via social media, hopefully they support you early on and share for you so it gets some of their friends, and try to get some small press to get more strangers, each thing helps the next. I did get on kickstarter's staff pick and it helped lots later, but that was after I have already I think doubled or tripled my funding. So for me, I really owe it to my early supporters (many whom have seen my passion and pursuits for years). And then there's your project quality: video, description, ...Many many posts on all this...
Thanks, Angela